“There is a world of difference between knowing the Word to God and knowing the God of the Word.”
I read that quote in my latest obsessions of Tessa Afshar books. She’s a biblical fiction author and I’m on a book binge I must confess. But for me, sometimes reading these books brings about faith, grace, mercy, and the Bible and all its teachings and wisdom to what I like to call “heart moments”. I can get stuck as this quote says simply wanting to know the Bible more. Rather than falling in love with the God of the Bible. I love diving into the Bible to understand it more. To connect Old and New Testaments. To find symbolic meanings. And that’s not wrong. But I can get stuck in the trap of knowledge vs heart. Information vs soul. And to make another confession, heart and souls comes a lot harder to me than mind and knowledge. So these Biblical Fictions help me in this process. Are they semi for entertainment…. Absolutely. Do they replace the Bible… absolutely not. But I share this to show there are many ways to connect with the Lord. You don’t have to just spend mornings propped in your special chair, hot coffee in hand, pretty blanket nicely laid out, Bible on lap with your pretty journal and special pen. In fact, this idea cringes some people. Example my husband. My morning routine would bore him to death and stir him crazy rather than connect with Jesus. He would rather be out in His creation alone, on hike, run, or bike, listening to the Word and gazing at His beauty.
So if you feel stuck or dry in your daily connection with the Lord, I encourage you to switch it up. Find a new pace. A new read. A new way to let God speak to your heart and soul. Then come back to the Word. Because you need both. The God of the Word and the Word of God.
Warning From James
I love reading the wisdom in the book of James. He has short little wisdom nuggets for us as we read throughout the whole book. His writings are less about theological information and more about how to challenge us in our daily living. He includes little one-liners and metaphors that are easy to remember and memorize.
In Chapter 3 James talks about the tongue. Or our words. I was especially challenged when he warns us to be careful with how we speak about other people because those people were made in the image of God. It’s easy to talk “smack” or slander others. But when we do, we are putting down what God created. And not just created but created in his likeness.
The tongue is a powerful muscle. We talk about this often with our kids especially with them being in their playground years of life. But let us not forget this as adults. That powerful muscle God created… the tongue. Use it for good. Use it to build up rather than to tear down. Use it to encourage rather than slander. Use it for praise over insult. Use it for truth over gossip. It sounds easy to do but this is no easy task. We need to constantly be aware. Constantly be in-step with the Lord. Aligned with his will. It is not an easy thing to do on our own so it’s a good thing we have the Helper within us.
I pray that we see people, all people as images of God. Because when that shift takes place, we see them as broken and beautiful. Rather than an object.
In His likeness.
Strength In Suffering
#bereminded
Meaning of BEHOLD
Behold! That got your attention, right?! Idare you to say“behold” out loud without giggling or cracking a smile. Go ahead. Try it! While “behold” is not a common word in our vocabulary today, we do see it in scripture, and this little word is meant to grab our attention in a big way.
Before we had such a variety of translations, the word behold showed up in scripture muchmore frequently. According to Bible Gateway, behold appears1298 times in the original King James Version.As time has gone on, we nowfind it about half as often in the New King James version, 1069 times in the ESV,& 1,134 times in the NASB. The NIV no longer includes the word behold at all.
Why do some translations continue touse the wordbehold and what exactly does this word mean?Behold is taken from the word bihalden which is an Old English word. If we break this word down, it means to thoroughly hold something (bi- ‘thoroughly’ and haldan ‘to hold’).When we look to Strong’s Concordance, in the Old Testament Hebrew, behold is a translationof the wordhinneh. When this word is used, it is generallyintroducing something new or unexpected. This word indicates that we needto pay close attention to what followsit.In the New Testament Greek, the wordhinnehbecomesidou, which holds the Hebrew meaning and also ties more to our verb “to see”.So why not just say “Look” or “See”?The simple answer is because those words alone don’t accurately conveythe meaning of behold in its entirety.
To beholdis to do more than justglance or look at something.To behold is to be captivated. When you behold something, you see it with your eyes, but you also hold your gaze on it in order to search and to understand. If we take what we know from the Hebrew, Greek and the Old English definition, we’d think of the word behold as more of an intense indicator- something more along the lines of“stop, look and listen”, “don’t miss this”, “this is super important”, or “this changes everything”. The word behold is alerting us that we want to pay attention so that we can truly see and thoroughly understand. We want to behold what comes next because it is so important!
Let’s consider a fewfamiliar verses that contain the word behold.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2:10
“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, Matthew 9:20
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. John 19:26-27
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. Matthew 27:51
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” Revelation 3:20
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Revelation 21:3
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Revelation 21:5
We probably won’t start using the word behold in our everyday lives,but we can be intentional about beholding his Word. Inthe busyness of this world, it can become so difficultto take the time to do this.When we do, we allowhis Truth to reframe what we see. Beholding his Word allows us to understand his plan for restoration, and it reminds us that we can look forward to his promise for the renewal of all things.
Whenwe truly see and seek to understand, itcan change everything!!
Meaning and Use of Olive in the Bible
How do you write about the use of the “olive” in the Bible? Where do you even begin to dive deep? There are so many facets to the Olive Tree. There is the tree, the branch, the shoot, the oil, and the Mount Of Olives and I’m pretty sure there are more areas to dive into with the Bible! I mean the Olive tree/branch is referenced from Genesis as a sign of peace when the dove brought back an Olive Branch during Noah’s Flood all the way to Revelations with the vision of the two Olive Trees. Leviticus uses “olive” 38x in the NIV for rams, bulls and for grain offerings. In Numbers, and other parts of the Bible, the Israelites are instructed to use only the finest olive oil for setting apart and for ceremonial rituals. Later we read in Deuteronomy about how olive oil or the olive crop will be blessed among other things if the Israelites pay careful attention to the law and follow God’s ways and if not destruction will come up the olive crop.
Throughout the Old Testament it references olive oil being used to anoint various kings. Samuel anointing Saul is one of the most notable and Elisha’s instructions for anointing Jehu in 2 Kings 9. We also read parables with olive oil and olive trees to teach the people. Example, Judges 9, Jothem is warning the people of Shechem of their choice of King. The good and passed on Kings are compared to the worthy and desirable Olive tree. In 2 Kings 4, Elisha provides a miracle to a widow with jars of oil. It’s a beautiful and true story of faith and provision from God.
And there’s more. In 1 Kings we read about olive wood being used for the building of the temple and pure olive oil to light the sacred lampstands. These materials were also used in the rebuilding of the temple in Nehemiah. Olive oil was used in ancient times for medicine and healing balm as we read about in Isaiah 16 and Luke 10. We read about the stature of the olive tree and the flowering beauty in Psalms 32 and Hosea 14. God uses the imagery of an Olive tree in Jeremiah 11 to remind his people of the covenant relationship he has with them.
And the references keep going! Paul even used the olive tree in Romans 11 to speak to how the Gentiles were grafted to the Jews “the olive root” and the Gentiles were the wild olive trees incapable of bearing fruit. But now grafted to the Jews, they were now able to share in the blessing. But it is not the branches that sustain the graft but the root and the root is Christ.
We read about the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem. The Olive Trees were a desert tree and thrived in the hardship of the heat. It’s here the olives were harvested. Beaten from the tree and processed through a series of extreme crushing to create a pulp and then pressing to extract the oil. We read about various people of the Bible retreating to the Mount of Olives like King David in 2 Samuel 15 when he went to the Mount of Olives weeping and in Zechariah 14 when he foreshadows that the persecuted will flee to the Mount of Olives when Jesus returns. Jesus often went and escaped during his life on earth to the Mount of Olives to pray. What a beautiful place that represents peace (pointing back to the flood) in the midst of hardship.
A beautiful representation though of what the Olive truly symbolizes and means is when we look at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest. The Garden of Gethsemane was in the Mount of Olives. Here Jesus was praying and pleading before God to take away the hardship of the world. Our anointed King was taking on the sin of the world. Here in the Garden among the Olive trees Jesus is pressed knowing he will be crushed and beaten. Yet here he finds peace with God only to leave with a peace that passes all understanding… “Thy Will Be Done” as he’s arrested.
While we might not have olive trees surrounding us or a place like the Mount of Olives to retreat to, we can still find the peace that our Savior provides when we feel crushed and when life continues to beat down on us. Life is not easy. In fact, Jesus said it wouldn’t be. Sometimes it is just down right hard and crushing. Yet every hardship we walk through we can know that He is there walking with us. Refining us. Purifying us. Bringing us to completion as is stated in Philippians 1:6.
And if you are at a point when the crushing just feels too much. Remember the process of the beating, crushing and pressing of the olive produced an oil that was so valuable that it was used to anoint Kings.
The beautiful news is… you are already anointed, royalty in His heavenly family BEFORE the refining.
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