December 12

Welcome to Day 12 of Advent! I am praying for all of you reading that you are growing in your appreciation and understanding of God's love story to you and to me.  As much as I've studied these many parts of Scripture before, I love walking through them like this in light of Christmas and preparing for Jesus' coming.

I've had several people comment to me how much they love Ann's writing but how full of thoughts it is! Didn't I warn you:)? She can't be read quickly or when you're unable to give your full attention to her writing. But good! This chapter especially - I don't have a lot to add or comment on as I was so overwhelmed by her words and imagery. I need to read this stuff with kleenex!

OK. So we're at Ruth. And as much as this book is about Ruth, it starts with Naomi. Naomi times (113) Ann coins the phrase, and ohhhhh, how I can relate. In some seasons, for all their gloss and glitz, it can be achingly hard to find gifts, and days can feel like fists. (113) True confession time. I have literally had to pry my tightened fists open lately and hold them up to God, taking what He has to give. I have not always wanted it.

I have been bitter and Naomi is bitter and she can't see the gifts in front of her and I haven't either. She sees how she was full and became empty and has no hope that it will ever be different. I am convicted by the words cynicism is simplistic. In a fallen world, how profound is it to see the cracks? The radical and the reflective, the Ruths and the revolutionaries - they are the ones on the road, in the fields, on the wall, pointing to the dawn of the new Kingdom coming (113) and everything else she says in the rest of the paragraph!

I read on to agree with her words - expectations can come steal the gifts.(114) How true! Ruth is standing right beside Naomi, ready to follow her anywhere and Naomi remains bitter. How many "Ruths" have I ignored or not appreciated? It happens. When we have an agenda for God, we can't see the gifts from God. (114)

There are no brazen miracles to be seen in the entire book of Ruth. (114)  Good point! And yet the unfolding of seemingly mundane and unrelated events all fall together in God's almighty plan.  Isn't that often the way? We just don't have that perspective always when we're living the mundane.  The mundane is what's making miracles. (116) 

Every little thing is going to be okay - you have a Kinsman-Redeemer who takes you and is redeeming everything.(116) The Concordia Self Study Bible says the term "kinsman redeemer" is used 13 times and illustrates the mediating work of Jesus. So not only is this another branch in the family tree of Jesus but he's all over this book though never mentioned.

Naomi doesn't stay bitter and empty but through Ruth and Boaz's selfless acts and God's blessing upon them, she is brought to happiness once again! And Ruth, a foreigner, is grafted into the family tree of the Saviour of the Nations!

I really liked the quote from Stuart Briscoe at the end of the chapter. If that doesn't say it in a nutshell! I should have that framed or made into cards:)

December 11

A Scarlet Lifeline of Hope (98) is such a fitting title for this chapter and this story of Rahab. I thought Ann did an excellent job of bringing out so many aspects of this one!

First off, there's the reality of her profession. It ain't pretty. It's hard to even believe that she could have had faith in the godless culture that she lived in. It's not like she was an Israelite that would have grown up the Word of God … She's one women alone with the grime of too many nights on her hands, the weight of too many wounds on her heart - a women who looks up in her godless mess and sees the tenderness of God. (101) 

There's so many good lines in this chapter!! It's clear that the author especially took to this story and appreciates what we know of Rahab. And that scarlet cord is her identity - that scarlet line running from the animal sacrifice covering Adam and Eve's nakedness in the Garden of Eden to the crimson markings of blood on the door frames of the first Passover to the willing drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane - and Rahab is delivered by that singular scarlet cord and tied into the Jewish family.(102) 
Here she's connecting the dots between the Old Testament sacrifices and festivals to the ultimate fulfillment of the Law through Jesus' sacrifice.

Isn't the family tree fascinating? Who Rahab goes on to marry, the son she has who later marries Ruth, where the family tree continues with King David that leads to Jesus … The great - grandmother of Christ many times removed - former prostitute, pagan, and profligate - Rahab finds herself the only other woman besides Sarah to be noted in the heroes' hall of faith.(103) 

There is such comfort found in this record of Rahab. "Nobody, no sin, should lead to despair when the cure of God's sovereign, almighty grace is engaged."
Nobody and no situation - no sin, no mess, no decision - meets the diagnosis of despair. Because there's God's cure of amazing grace. (103) I love that line!

Rahab is a great example of God's grace that shows no sin is too great for God to cover. She was surrounded by unbelief and yet she was brought to faith despite the odds, for God is great!

December 10

The Ten Commandments tend to get a bad rep as a bunch of rules that take all the fun out of life.  The Ten Commandments are more than God saying, "Here is My Law for you" - they are God saying, "Here is My love for you." (89)

The Ten Commandments are our mirror, our reminder that shows us our sins - our realization that we could never keep them perfectly on our own. And then comes the Gospel; Jesus, our Greatest Gift kept the Law perfectly for us! Good news!

God knows us so well - God knows how we say I do - but don't.(90)

God gives the commandments to us - and God gives God to keep the commandments for us. God gives us the commitment of love at the top of Sinai, and He staggeringly keeps our commitment to love at the top of Calvary. (92)

Out of thankfulness and out of our love to Him, we desire to please Him. And now these commands don't lead to despair but they're an opportunity to give the best of ourselves,  being motivated by the Holy Spirit working inside us! We still don't live out these commands perfectly this side of heaven - Jesus did that when He came to this side from heaven:)

Question #1 - I so appreciate our Lutheran Confession and Absolution we start our liturgy with every Sunday.

Congregation: Holy and merciful Father, I confess that I am by nature sinful and that I have disobeyed you in my thoughts, words and actions. I have done what is evil and failed to do what is good. For this I deserve you punishment both now and in eternity. But I am truly sorry for my sins, and trusting in my Saviour Jesus Christ, I pray: Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. 

Pastor: God, our heavenly Father, has been merciful to us and has given his only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Therefore, as a called servant of Christ and by his authority, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (CW Common Service) 

December 9

I have always loved the unfolding saga of Joseph found in the Old Testament! To be able to lay out a life like that and feel with passion how "unfair" this was or "unjust" that is connects you with emotion to the real life characters and what they must have gone through.  But what's fascinating to me is to be able to "watch" it all work out as what was seemingly unfair or unjust turns out for good - exactly what God promises!

An even greater saga than Joseph's is Jesus Himself! From stinky barn to wooden cross - unfair and unjust for the Son of God!!! … but turns out for good - our good. Our good and perfect gift. Our Greatest Gift! So that whatever trials and storms in life overtake us, this gift can't be taken. Even when we don't have the eyes of perspective, we can know this in the midst of it all - in our own "Joseph saga". Blessed is the man who preserves under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12.  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trial. These have come so that you faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined  by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6,7. 

It reminds me of the analogy of a cross-stitch piece - looks like a hot mess on the backside but when you turn it around, it's a lovely piece of art and suddenly it all makes sense.

Ann likens it to Joseph's robe and the blood-dipped hem with thin, torn places where we touch the place of God. (79)

What was intended to tear you apart, God intends it to set you apart. 
What has torn you, God makes a thin place to see glory. (79)

It's interesting to study the great hero's of faith. And the more I delve into it, the clearer it is that they were not perfect. Their lives were often a mess! They didn't always make the right choice and seemed to make some downright dumb choices!! She touches upon this on page 80 - But out of a family line that looks like a mess, God brings the Messiah. That mess is something we can all relate too and what comfort comes from recognizing that no matter what intends to harm you, God's arms have you. You can never be undone. (80)

You can never have Christmas without also having the cross. It's easy to see the cute baby in the manger but can be harder to link that same baby to the bloodied man on the cross. But there it is. The cries of the innocent Babe under the stars of Bethlehem twist into the agonized cries of the innocent Victim atop the injustice of Calvary. The holy dark over the manger gives way to the heinous dark over the Messiah and the slamming hammer and the tearing vein and the piercing thorn - the created murdering the Creator. (80) 
And God takes the greatest evil ever known to humanity and turns it into the greatest Gift you have ever known. (81) Merry Christmas!

I love her repeating verse you cannot be undone. A failed relationship, an awful diagnosis, a life spinning too fast around you to keep up - you cannot be undone.

"All is grace" (81)  And then there's this song.
Download it for free here.

FYI - loved the quote by Bonhoeffer!

December 8

 

The promise continues with Jacob and the family tree continues. God speaks to him in a dream and allows him to see a ladder reaching up to heaven with the angels of God going up and down. What a sight that must have been!

I really appreciate where Ann goes from here, equating our lives to a ladder and feeling the weight of trying to climb up the rungs alone and failing miserably.  That may be how it seems sometimes but the truth is that Christ came down one to get you. (68) and goes on to quote John 1:51 where Jesus explains this.

This is another chapter I've done a lot of underlining to! Jesus doesn't show you the steps to get to heaven - Jesus is the steps to heaven.
Jesus doesn't merely come down to show you the way up - Jesus comes down to make Himself into the Way to carry you up.
Jesus doesn't ultimately give you a how-to, because Christianity is ultimately about Who - to. 
Every religion, every program, every self-help book is about steps you have to take. Jesus is the only One who becomes the step - to take you. (69)

I also appreciated Elisabeth Elliot's quote and it made me think of the opposite which also seems like profanity - why do we make such a big deal out of that which is meaningless? Why do we spend so much energy and attention to the fleeting and trivial?

The only ladder over you is Love - and Love came down.(70) Which then brings to mind a Christmas song from Jars of Clay - Love Came Down at Christmas. 

December 7

This story of Abraham being willing to sacrifice his son is always one that's hard for me to imagine. This particular instance recorded for us is one of the reasons Abraham is known as a great "Hero of Faith".  It's the object of his faith that is truly Great.

It can be hard for us today to relate to the whole OT laws and regulations. And the fact that a sacrifice even had to be made regularly is foreign to us today. It shows us, and it showed them, that there are consequences to sin and that there is a price that needs to be paid. But the Lord provided the ram and then he provided Jesus once and for all - sacrificing His Son to make it complete. He continues to provide … Every mountain that every Christian ever faces, the Lord levels with sufficient grace: The Lord Will Provide. (59)

I need that reminder when it seems like things are getting worse. I don't always want to see His provision because maybe I think I know what I need rather than trusting He knows best?
God gives God. That is the gift God always ultimately gives. Because nothing is greater and we have no greater need, God gives God. God gives God, and we only need to slow long enough to unwrap the greatest Gift with our time: time in His Word, time in His presence, time at His feet. (60)

I love how she ends - Advent is the time to see the Tree in your thicket (what a great picture!) and whisper the echoing words of your God: Now I know. Now I know. Since You did not spare Your only Son, how will You not also graciously give - even me - all things You know I need? (Romans 8:32). 
Now I know. Now I know, because You have not withheld from me Your Son, Your only Son. Now I know how You love me. (61) If you or I ever doubt His love, remember this!

*I have so appreciated your comments both here and through email! Please continue to share when you feel comfortable so that we may continue to build each other up! 
I've had a challenge commenting at times throughout this week. My family and I have been on holiday this week in New York City! Crazy enough in that big city, we had a hard time finding wifi and getting our phones to connect so I could make comments. Anyway, I'm back now:) 
Thank you again for joining me here! Love, Rachel

December 6

The Lord kept his word. Doesn't he always? Another promise kept and another branch on the family tree of Jesus with the birth of Isaac. And Sarah laughs with joy!

-we who were barren now graced with the Child who lets us laugh with relief for all eternity. There is nothing left to want. There is nothing left to fear. (50) What a great reminder for me to loosen up and laugh with relief, with joy! Because in light of eternity, it's all good. It's good because he made it good. The only thing that could ever really threaten us - sin, death and the devil - has been annihilated. For good.  And as long as we live on this earth, those pesky three will attempt to do damage.  But - that ache is not the last word for those who believe God. Jesus is. (51)

I liked how she uses the word barren. A life-less womb. That's by nature what we all are until the Holy Spirit changes our hearts and makes us alive!! Now like Sarah, we too can laugh!

Unwrapping  more ..

I'm totally doing this. I'm going to attempt to keep a smile on my face all day and see what happens. Bring. It. On.

Question #3 - I'm going lighter on …. Pinterest perfection for something more genuine and grace-filled. Simple can still be special.