In Awe of Gods Living Word

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:11-13

I haven’t blogged for a long while, and I've had some pretty big thoughts going around my head. But today I just want to share a discussion we had as a family last night that meant a lot to- well, all of us I think.

As usual, putting the kids in bed was taking ages, and as usual the kids, especially Miles used the opportunity to talk about everything that came to his head. I had just told him “I wish you would be quiet” when he made a statement.

 “God puts more and more stuff in the bible all the time, so it’s always new and we can learn more”

 “Well, no, everything we need to know is already in the Bible, Miles”

 “So the bible is full then? What about when you know it all?”

Miles has recently learnt the value of “learning” as opposed to “knowing” and how it’s good for our brains and I guess the same thought processes were carrying through to learning about God. How can one keep “learning” or in a spiritual way “growing” once you “know” it all.

Obviously this seems like quite an arrogant question- It is quite a big and pretty much impossible job to “know” it all even just intellectually, but at the same time I know I’m guilty of often coming to the bible with very little expectation of learning something new from it.

But the answer Miles really needed to hear was the spiritual answer. “Yes theoretically you could intellectually “know it all” but the Bible is different from other books, the bible is ‘living’”

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 Peter 1:22-24

“The words, content and message of God’s word always stay the same, but the way the Holy Spirit works in us and in our lives means that we can always learn more.”

Not surprisingly this answer didn't mean much to Miles. “But if you know it all, how can you learn more?”

“Let me think of an example…I know… look at this verse: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow”. When we lived in Adelaide I thought this just meant God makes us clean by taking our sin away, but when we moved to Dunedin and I saw snow, and I looked at this verse again, I realized that God doesn't just make us clean- he makes us beautiful, just like the snow. The verse was the same, but God helped me to learn something new from it”

You should have seen his eyes, he practically jumped up in bed from the realization. “So God gives us the same bible, and makes new things happen in real life, and shows us how they fit together, and then we can learn more!!!”

When was the last time I stood in awe and amazement at the work God does in our lives and the way he teaches and grows us though his word and his world? 
How often do I read the words in the Bible as living words expecting to grow and change from them?

When was the last time I stopped, looked around me, read his word and listened to what new precious truth the Holy Spirit had to show me? 

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.
1 Thessalonians 2:12-14

Hard Work, Rest and Waiting

I love making bread. The old fashioned way- no bread machine for me. The whole process  is therapeutic. For a good 20 minutes there is just me, my bench and the dough. and I relax and I think. Everything else is tuned out “Sorry kids, you’ll have to wait- Mum is making bread”

Today’s bread making was no different (although somewhat easier with both little kids asleep) Our family is just recovering from a bout of the flu and I’ve been getting quite frustrated by the slowness of the recovery, general grumpiness and strained relationships among other things- to put it bluntly- I wasn’t in a good mood.

So as I worked hard, flour everywhere pounding that dough, squashing it, pulling it, pushing it I had myself a little pity party.  I feel just like this bread, I feel like I’m constantly getting pushed, pulled and squashed by things in my life again and again. One thing after another happens to try me and I feel “hard pressed on every side” and there’s no way out of the hard work, mess and the constant bombardment of more.

God gives Rest

Yes life is hard but I look at the rest of that verse and am encouraged
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

No. it is hard but its not ruined. It will be ok. I will make it through this.

“When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place.” Psalm 118:5

I finish working the dough and leave the bread to rest, because that too is necessary.

God gives Growth

But God wants more for me than to just make it through, and I want more. I want to grow. I want it to all be for something. And I know just like the bread, its not just the rest that enables the bread to rise, it needs to be worked too, the working is good.

Without that hard work and without the mess of life I wouldn’t be able to learn and grow. God doesn’t just help me through it- he Grows me by it. The hard times are good.

 Then, as I punch down my nicely risen dough, because although it rose, it still needs more work, I feel it again, “God I thought I was growing, but now I just can’t see it, I just see myself getting squashed. Is this really good?!” I just feel– discouraged.

and I remember  Miles’ new school verse:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Josh 1:9

God calls me to wait
And I know that through the hard work, the constant pushing and the discouragements God will work it together not just so I survive but so I GROW and I am “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

I believe it. I know it, but mostly I’d like to see it. and thats when God calls me to trust, obey and wait on him, and that trusting, obeying and waiting is how God is growing me.

Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord! 

                               Psalm 27:14

I put my bread in the oven, and I wait.

Be With Me!

My kids always want my attention.

Dakota crys for a cuddle at crazy hours of the night.

Antigone wants me to read her a book, and another, and one more.

Miles, my most demanding one, wants everything. He talks non-stop, he wants me to explain everything, he wants to help with everything and he wants my help with everything.

Last night I’d had enough.   “Stop crying.   No.   No more games,  no more cuddles,  no more stories- it's bedtime.  No you can’t get into bed with me.  No, you don’t need me all the time.  Ask Dad...   Just leave me alone”

And when they finally did leave me alone,  I finally heard them.  “Love me mum,  help me,  show me, guide me,  comfort me,  I want to be with you mum,  BE with me!”

BE WITH ME

And I realized as much as their constant need for me annoys ME sometimes, it is exactly what God loves and wants in his children.

Unlike my kids with me, I DO need to be with God all the time, in everything and GOD always wants to be with me.

I desire that they also whom You gave Me may BE WITH ME where I am.   

    John 17:23                     

HE wants me to cry for him in the night,  to read His word again and again,  He wants me to talk to him about everything I do,  to listen to everything He says,  He wants to help me in everything,  to teach me and to guide me all day long!

God wants me to BE with him.


How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. 
                            Matthew 23:37

Remain in me, as I also remain in you.

                                                                                                  John 15:4

ALWAYS

I often notice that when I do something special with my children,  hoping to exchange it for a break,  it doesn’t satisfy their need to be with me.  In-fact- it makes it stronger,  they want more.  One book is never enough!  One song at bedtime is never enough!  One wizzy is never enough!

One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,   

 Psalm 27:4

And again that is what God wants from me.  He doesn’t want me to be satisfied with a little bit of bible reading every now and then,  he doesn’t want me to be satisfied with a quick prayer when I’m at the end of my patience.   He wants me to be with him always.


The more time I spend with Him,  the more I’ll want to be with Him,  the more I’ll realise my need to be with Him,  the more I’ll see His great love for me.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

 Psalm 23:6                                           

And when I come to him like a little child, He won’t turn me away

Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.                                                                                                                 Matthew 19:14

At night his song is with me (Psalm 42:8),  His right hand will hold me (Psalm 139:10)  and though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. (Psalm 27:10)  He will comfort me.(Psalm 23:4)  He will be my Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6)

He promises to BE with me always.

I am with you always, even to the end of the age.     
                                                                  Matthew 28:20

NOTE: For all you Mums out there, who often feel like you need a break. Its not always wrong of us. As Miles reminded me when i told him about this post "Yeah mum, but you're not God".
Although we should be there when our children need us, our children also need to learn to ultimatly rely on God in the same way we need to learn it.