Preservation of the Covenant

You know, I had big plans of this covenant bible study going through finals and all that jazz.
It didn't happen. Somehow, my life got a wee bit too busy. Something called Quantitative Methods and American Lit, and Survey of the Hebrew Scriptures got in the way. Um, oops.
So, we're back at it. I have big plans to finish this. Promise cross my heart.






Moses is our man today. As I talked about on Day 2, God always remembers His people and never forgets them. Exodus 2:24 reads, "So God heard their groaning and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob." When a new Pharaoh came to town and enslaved the Israelites because he saw them as a threat, because they were multiplying in number, God steps in and rescues his people from the Egyptians. He sent this guy named Moses. But, before I get ahead of myself here, I better back up and tell you how we got to this point.So, God told Abraham and his people to "be fruitful and multiply". So, they took that as a sign that they should have a bunch of babies. And while Joseph was in power, that was a-okay. I mean, he was BFFs with the king and all. But, then Joseph died and a new king came to power. This king wasn't too fond of all the Israelites. He feared that they would revolt and try and take over Egypt, so he enslaved them and killed all of their male children. Well, one day, Moses's mom gave birth to Moses. But, rather than telling everyone about him (and thus having him be thrown into the Nile) she kept him hidden away. She hid him for three months. But, it became to hard to hide the child, so she placed him in a little basket and put it in the river in the reeds. Miriam, Moses's sister, was to watch him to see what happened. Pharaoh's daughter was walking into the river to bathe when she came across the basket. She saw Miriam and sent her to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for her. She said, "Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." This showed God's provision to Moses's mother, and it showed how God was planning on doing something big with Moses's life.So, Moses grows up. Sees God in a burning bush. And tells Pharaoh to let his people go. Pharaoh says no. God sends some plagues, kills some firstborn sons. The Israelites cross the Red Sea. You get the idea. Let's fast-forward a bit. Moses goes up to Mt Sinai to get the 10 Commandments from God (It's kind of a big deal). On the first day, we talked about how part of the covenant was that there were sanctions. These sanctions were rules that had to be followed. The 10 Commandments are the ones that we refer to the most, but there were also lots of other laws that God gave the Israelites during this time via Moses. He gave these rules for a reason. With that many people living together, certain behaviors had to be prohibited for the sake of community. If one person in the community began to sin, other people might also begin to sin. That is why the rules were so strict. After the law had been read, Exodus 24:7 says that "Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said,'All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.'" Then Moses gets a covenant with God. Just as we talked about the Adamic Covenant, the Noahic Covenant, and the Abrahamic Covenant, there's also a Mosaic Covenant. God tells Moses in Exodus 24:10, "Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you." Later in verse 27, God says, "Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." By entering into a covenant, it shows that God isn't just interested in the Israelites "following the rules or else". Rather, he wants a relationship. It's a mutual thing. It's not an ultimatum, it's a promise that things will be better if you do things they way he asks. He knows the greater good for the Israelites. I mean, he's bringing them to the Promised Land!We know how the story goes. Even though we would think that the Israelites would jump on board and follow everything...we know they don't. Apparently, even though God can part the Red Sea, send manna, and lead them through the desert with pillars of fire and clouds...the Israelites still think they know better than God. So, they rebel against his law. There's consequences (i.e. they don't get to enter the Promised Land and must wander in the desert for 40 years). But, God doesn't forget them, and God doesn't forget his covenant with Moses. In Leviticus 26: 42-45, God says, 

Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. But,the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes.Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.

We're never too far from God. He saved Moses even though Pharaoh was killing all the baby boys. He called to Moses through a burning bush and took care of all of Moses's excuses (by sending Aaron). He led the Israelites out of Egypt (and parted the Red Sea). He gave them the law to preserve their community, but even when they broke the law, he didn't break the covenant. When he walked through the fire to ratify the covenant with Abraham, he knew that he was taking responsibility. He remembered the Israelites even thought they forgot him. Even now, he remembers us even when we forget him.


Discussion:

1. Do you ever think you are too far away from God? What does Moses's story tell us about this?
2. If you were in God's position, would you want to forgive the Israelites? Or would you want to utterly destroy them?
3. What does this tell us about how we need to live our lives if God is our example in all things? 

my heart is breaking.

I'm not sure I can even put how I'm feeling into words.
I know I'm supposed to hate Tuscaloosa.
I loath the University of Alabama with every bit of my being.
But, I would never wish this on anyone.

And my heart is breaking for the city of Tuscaloosa.
The families impacted by this storm.
The students displaced.
I started crying when the reports started coming in.
I put myself in their shoes...and I can't imagine.

Prayer is a powerful thing.
At the moment, 15 people are dead in Tuscaloosa and 50 in the state as a whole.
They are estimating that number to rise.

Pray for Alabama.
Just pray.

Pictures not my own obviously.

From Twitter.

Figured they wouldn't mind the prayer.

motto for the week:

Study, study, study...this girl needed a break.

A little "Secret Life".

A little bit of Teddy Grahams.

And...then back to the Stats book.

Easter Recap

Yesterday was Easter.

This week is finals.

Makes for very busy girl.

But, I'm taking a study break, 

So I thought I could post some pictures.

We'll start inside.

My church is celebrating "Christmastime All the Time".

It was a sermon series my pastor did at the beginning of the year

About how we need to Pray all the time, Serve all the time, etc.

So, all that to say, we still have a Christmas tree up at church.

Don't judge.

I know you wish your Easter pictures were in front of a Christmas tree.

Now to the outside pictures.

Every year, we take pictures by the flower cross.(See 2009 and 2010 pictures)

If you haven't figured it out by now, I didn't make my dress.

Just not interested in looking like a clown.

We'll fix it a bit and finish it and I'll post a picture.

Promise. I like embarrassing myself like that.

So, here are our two "cropped down" pictures I like the best.

I'm not a fan of the family picture (so I'm not posting)

And I secretly think the last one should be our Christmas Card picture.

Haha.

Hallelujah! The Lord has risen!
Now, let's just remember...
The tomb is STILL empty.
Jesus has STILL risen from the dead.
Death has STILL been defeated.
It's not a once a year thing- It's an all the time thing.
May our lives continue to reflect this- not just in the Easter season.

Hey!
Maybe it should be Easter-time all the time!
Haha! :)

Brief Interlude

We're going to take a brief interlude off the traditional path we trace when discussing the covenant. Bear with me for a bit, and it will be worth it.

So, to catch you up to Genesis 25, Issac grows up and marries Rebekah. Abraham dies. Rebekah becomes pregnant with twin boys, Esau and Jacob. She knew they were going to be trouble from the time she was pregnant. Esau was born first, but Jacob followed soon after because he was born "gripping to Esau's heel". It was a big deal (even at infancy) who was born first, because they would get the inheritance. So, since Esau was first, he got the privilege of being "man of the house" after his father died and all that fun stuff. Jacob on the other hand? He got to learn to cook and stay at home. As they grew up, Esau grew into a great hunter and Jacob stayed around the house. Here's where our story starts.

At this point, Esau had everything going for him. He had a great life ahead. I mean, the family line (from Abraham and Issac, the covenant relationship, everything) was going to go through him. But, one day, he came home from hunting and he was hungry. I mean, starving. And, as he walks in, he smells Jacob cooking up some marvelous stew. And it smelled divine to this hungry hunter. So he says, "Dude. Gimme some stew." and Jacob replies, "Dude. Gimme your birthright." And Esau is like, "Um..DUDE. I'm STARVING. What good is a birthright to me if I'm about to DIE." (Drama queen much?). So, Jacob makes him swear an oath to give him his birthright. And Esau does it.

Did you catch that? ESAU DOES IT. He gives up everything he had. All his inheritance. All this "family line" stuff. All this "big man of the house" stuff. For some stew. And he really doesn't seem to care all that much. I mean, he just sits down and eats his stew. Like the biggest mistake of his life didn't just happen. Esau continues to make bad decisions in his life. Like, he marries a girl his parents don't like. And another girl his parents don't like. And causes his parents grief (it actually says that in Chapter 26). 

Here's the thing for the day. Esau could have had everything. He would have been in genealogies and chronologies and everything. You know the whole "Abraham begat Issac who begat Jacob" thing? It would have been "Abraham begat Issac who begat Esau" all the way down to Jesus. He could have been in the family line of Jesus...but he gave it up for a bowl of soup. He decided to put something petty over the promises of the covenant. And in the end...I wonder if he really thought it was worth it or if he suffered from regret.

Discussion:

So, for today, let's think about what the "soup" is in our lives. What are you trading God's promises for? Yes, you may not be trading your spot in the "family line", but you might be trading your spot in God's family. Is it worth it? Is a little thing like soup worth a lifetime separated from God? I'm thinking not. 

retail therapy.

End of semester is almost here.
One more day of classes...and then finals.

Since Sunday is Easter, I needed some Easter shoes.
I found them after searching for approximately 30 minutes in a shoe store with no air conditioning.
But they're cute. And white. And ruffly.
But you can't see them until Easter.
Since they are in my car.
(I didn't want to forget them when I went home)

Since I was out and about in Sketchville
(Well, there was a shooting in the parking lot a few weeks ago)
I decided that I should do a little looking around.
I remembered I needed some index cards and tape for finals.
(Well, index cards for finals...tape for when I need tape)

I also went to a cute little shop where I found this.
It's a toothbrush holder.
I've needed one all semester because my hairbrush is right next to my toothbrush....
And you know what that mean.
Ick.
2 dolla. Steal of a deal, right?
(It's almost better than a 5 dolla, 5 dolla footlong from Subway. Almost)

But my deal of the day?

My steal of a deal?

My best of the best.

It's this baby.

I've always wanted a bump.

But, this girl's hair doesn't want to bump.

Until Mr. Bumpit came into the picture.

We're bffs already.

And he only cost 1.45 plus tax.

I've already tried it once.

And let me tell you...I can give Snookie a run for her money.

Just watch.

monday link love.

Since my laptop (that I love oh so dearly) has decided that the screen no longer wants to work unless I hold it at an incredibly awkward angle with my finger pushing on the screen (I've diagnosed it with LCD Matrix failure from doing a little research on YouTube and the interwebs, we'll see what Dell has to say about it in the upcoming week), I'm taking a brief break from the covenant study (since all my research is on my sick computer). Lucky for me, HC gives a laptop to each incoming student. So, all I have to do is switch stuff over and I'm a-okay until Dr. Dell fixes my luckily-still-under-warranty computer. I'll be working on that for the night, but I thought I would leave you with some links that have been on my mind this past week.

1. Is Mother Earth human? And does she deserve global human rights (such as "the right to life and to exist; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered; the right to have nature’s processes free from human alteration.")? That's what the UN is debating this week. Apparently Bolivia wants to stick up for Mother Earth. What gets under my skin is these Bolivian government officials care more about the planet than the massive amounts of poverty in their country (and around the world). The earth deserves pure water? What about the humans?
2. Nicole wrote this wonderful post on her experience at Living Proof Live in Little Rock this past weekend. While I know most of the points she makes are from her notes from Beth Moore's talks, it is simply wonderful and really made me think. 
3. Amy Beth has become my inspiration. Like really, I want to be like this girl when I'm twenty six and have the passion to live it out for God like she does. Just when I think I'm close, she goes out and becomes a foster parent. (Which means, keep her in your prayers, guys.) Most 26 year old single women would not go out of their way to take in two teenagers and a toddler. Just go read every post. I really can't pick one (but the ones she talks about corn nuggets and buffets are pretty funny. Just saying. If you need somewhere to start).
4. I have a pinterest now. (Haha, it took me long enough to figure out!) If you want to see how my wedding planning is going (haha. No worries. Not engaged. Not in a relationship. I just like weddings.) or look at pretty pictures and quotes...you might want to check it out.
5. Annie posted the following picture on her tumblr this week. And it made me smile a wee bit. I love stereotypes. Especially when we're talking about Alabama. (Note: I love my state and all the ridiculousness that comes with it. But, I also like to joke around and be silly about how we're fat, happy, stupid rednecks that carry around guns. Or at least, that's what Obama thinks.)  

And my dears...that's all for today. :)