Theological Thursdays

http://ourbarnesofgrace.blogspot.com/p/theological-thursdays.html

Click on the link above to see today's Theological Thoughts.

Theological Thursdays

Okay, so we have covered a bunch of names and characteristics of God so far. I am finding as I search out God's names/characteristics, that so many of them are similar in meaning and use. I don't really want to continuously cover a name/characteristic that we have already covered, so this means a little more work on my part, to check ahead of time on the names I want to cover each week.

I said that we were planning to cover God as the, "I AM", but I think that it would be redundant to cover this once more. At the same time, I don't wan to leave any information out, either, because there could always be the slightest difference in these similar names.

So, now that I have confused you and myself, I will sum up God as the "I AM" and move on.

We first covered, "Yahweh/Jehovah", in the beginning of this study. The "I AM" form is pretty much the same, just a different translation. Yahweh when translated to the Hebrew verb form means, "to be", this literally equals, "I AM" or "He is".

This form of God is used so often in the Old Testament, that it proved to the people that God is the Self-Existent Eternal One. He was not created by anyone. He is, He was and He will always be.

God refers to himself in the form of "I AM" when speaking to Moses, in the Old Testament. When Moses asks God to reveal himself, God returns with:

"I AM who I AM". This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you'"
Exodus 3:14

God had not not left it up to man to define himself, He has already done that for us. He is the Great "I AM" - the Lord.

So, knowing that God is Self-Defining, that "I AM" stems from Yahweh, and God is, was and will always be....does that mean that He wants to do something for us? He seems to be reaching out to us, telling us who He is and that He has created us and loves us, but what does that power mean directly to us?

Over the next few weeks, we will cover the Yahwehs, of God. We know that Yahweh or I AM means the All-Sufficient One, the Lord, the beginning and the end. So, what are these additional Yahwehs that I am talking about? Here below is a list of Yahwehs that define God's intent and character, directly to us.

Yahweh-jireh
Yahweh-rapha
Yahweh-nissi
Yahweh-mekoddishkem
Yahweh-shalom
Yahweh-sabaoth
Yahweh-raah
Yahweh-tsidkenu

Some of these names I had heard before, but at least half of them where unfamiliar to me. That is what makes me look forward to being in the Word. No matter how much you think you know about God, there is always so much more to absorb.

I am excited about covering some new areas in the Bible. So, I have a big job this week: search, research and gather. I want the next few weeks to be interesting, intriguing and full of things that you all (and myself) have not heard many times before.

So, stay tuned and get ready for something new and exciting!!!!

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." James 4:8

Sarah

Theological Thursdays

Adonai & Elohim

So last week we talked about the character of God in the name YHWH/Yahweh/Jehovah and we ended with the a lead into Adonai.

As I discussed previously, that the intent of this study that I am working through, is to get to know the characteristics of our personal God. I love this idea. How awesome that our God, who created us, walked in the form as Son of Man and died for us, would allow us to get to know who He is through His Namesakes and character.

I know as a human being, who feels insecure at times, that I am not always ready to give up all information about myself to just anyone. But God offers this revelations to everyone. Not just a few very dedicated people. Not just through Priests, as in the Old Testament, but a deep and personal relationship to every person on this Earth. That is something I cannot even grasp. I, as a sinner, am selfish. Sometimes I just withhold parts of myself from others, because of that selfishness, but God, who has every right, the greatest right, does not.

So onto the point of today's personal lesson: Adonai.

The first interesting information I learned was this: Adonai or Elohim are plural "Hebrew" nouns. Basically if you breakdown the meaning of the two words you get "Lord" from Adonai and Elohim which is the expression of the divinity of "God". These being "Two" parts of of God's character. I believe as do many other Christians that this was a foundation for the belief in the Trinity.

To early Phoenicians (I had to look up the meaning of this, because I was totally clueless. It describes the writers of the Greek, Roman and all other Western Alphabets) the word "Adon" being singular, was used to describe the pagan god Adonis. The word "Eloah" (being feminine, which was interesting to me) refers to the pagan idea of multiple gods.

In the present day when Adonai is used, and I did not know it was plural until now, as a singular form referring to God. Adonai as a singular in the present day is thought to be translated as all majestic and that our God contains all the attributes of every god that the pagans had.

Adonai, by itself has been translated to "Lord" or "my Lord", it can be found using the character of Adonai, 439 times in the Bible. There is not tons of information on this name of God, but it is clear to me that this is an important recognition of who God really is to us.

I have heard many, many songs with the title Adonai. In each of those songs, Adonai is used singularly but it definitely gets the message accross that God is Master, Creator, Owner and Sovereign Ruler.

To me Adonai has always been a tender description of God. He is the Master of the Earth and Sky, He is Creator and Ruler over the heavens and earth, the Lord of Hosts, worthy of ALL praise, none are comparable to Him, "Father of my hope", "Maker of each moment", "Freedom", the Miracle Maker, Majesty...The I AM.

I have learned that as the Adonai in my life, He is all powerful, He is ALL things, ALL ideals and Majesties are contained within Him. He IS the Trinity, three in one. There is no limit to Adonai, how comforting that truth is to me.

As always, I would love to know your thoughts about todays Theological Thursday and if you know other songs you would like to add, please send them to me and I'll put them on here as well.

Enjoy this week and get ready for next week's characteristic of God....I AM.


Here are some links of old and new versions of the song "Adonai".

"Adonai" by Petra

"Praise Adonai", by Paul Baroche

"Adonai", by Hillsong

the version I am most familiar with is this:

"Adonai", 1Hope

Verse using Adonai:

Adonai= "Lord", Exodus 4:10-12

Theological Thursdays

Yep, I'm a day behind again. It amazes me that I can get behind on a short week,but it happens to me every time. At least in this situation, I can still Blog on my topics,even if I am a day behind. I guess that you just get double information on the days I try to catch up. LOL

So, here we go..... YHWH/Yehwah/Jehovah/Lord




Last week I discussed knowing God intimately and finding this intimacy through learning His names and their meanings. It amazes me how I am learning His vast number of names and that there is truly a change in my relationship with Him as I read and soak in the truth behind them.

This week I am reading about His name "YHWH / Yahweh/Jehovah/Lord". I had not ever read His name as YHWH, but then I read the NIV version of the Bible andthe last three names are more familiar.
These names are most used in the Bible, when referring to God. Though there are arguments, with Bible Scholars, over the number of times this word is used in the Bible (anywhere from 5000-7000 times) it is obvious that this is the name that is most understood by believers.

This name is the personal God, the four letter word YHWH, when translated, is read as "LORD". This referrence means, "the self-existent one". He was not created and has always been. Sometimes to me this is so difficult to grasp. It is with great awe that I sit back and imagine the idea of something so great and so powerful that He was here before all things were created and He chose to create "us".

I don't want to get too detailed, but I do find that the breakdown of the word YHWH is very interesting. In the Bible study "My RedeemerLives" they say the following about the stem word of YHWH:

Most litterateurs agree that the Tetragrammaton is a form of the Hebrew root "Havah" ("to be" or "to exist"). Thus, YHWH becomes "He who brings into being" (compare Exodus 3:12 and 14: "I will be with you" and "I will be who I will be").

This goes back to the fact that He is the one true creator, who has been, is now and He will always be. How amazing is that? We know that if we believe in Him that He will always be there. Not temporarily, not until He passes away or someone or something defeats Him, but ALWAYS.

I thought I should include some places where, this name and character of God, is found.

YHWH is first seen in Genesis 2:4: "This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that YHWH (or as my Bible says,"Lord") God made earth and the heavens."

However, God did not reveal Himself to mankind as YHWH until Exodus 3:14 when God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM," and "This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' "

Moses was one of the first of men to have such a direct and personal relationship with God, that God would reveal this part of Himself to Moses. How scary and exciting would it be to be the first to speak so directly to our God?

Then in Exodus 6:2-3, He said to Moses: "I am YHWH; and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty; but by My name YHWH I was not known to them." This further sets Moses apart, as no one else had seen this character of God.

Exodus 14:4 shows a more powerful part of God's character. It says: ". . . and the Egyptians will know that I am YHWH (the Lord)." This was not a statement of introduction to the Egyptians, but a warning of self-proclaimation and Divine self-disclosure.

During the time of the Old Testament, there were many Jews that had great fear of the word "YHWH/Yahweh/Jehovah/Lord". This was stemmed from the Commandment:

"You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain," (Exodus 20:7) and "Do not profane My holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am Yahweh (the Lord), who makes you holy." (Leviticus 22:32)

Since they had a fear of committing sin, just by reading or speaking this name,they would train themselves to translate His name into "Adonai".

So, next week we will get to know "God" as "Adonai". This will help us understand why the Jews used this word in place of YHWH, and what the meaning of "Adonai" means to us.

I am so grateful that I was born after our Savior, Jesus Christ, paid the ultimate price for our sins. To know God's character can be revealed to us. We do not have to have fear when speaking, reading and knowing God's names and character. We now have an open channel to YHWH/Yahweh/Jehovah/Lord and create that personal relationship with Him, that we were made to have.

"Let them praise the name of the LORD:
for His Name alone is exalted;
His splendor is above the earth and the heavens."
(Psalm 148:13)

Theological Thursdays

"Teach us to number our days carefully so that
we may develop wisdom in our hearts."
Psalms 90:12 (NLT)

So, what does this mean? Well I understood the numbered days part, but how does knowing how long you are going to live help you develop wisdom?

I guess in my mind, I think that if you do not know the Word than you probably are not concerned about getting more wisdom from it. But, when I took another glance, and prayed about it, I developed the wisdom that they are speaking about.

God calls us to Him. He asks us to make time for His Word. We cannot "number our days" only God can do that. But if we knew that our time is limited, would we go about our lives differently? I know if I had been told that I had cancer and only had 3 months to live, that I would try to fit everything I ever wanted to do into those 3 months. God calls us to live as if this is our last day.

We cannot slack when it comes to our faith and be stuck in the "domain of drudgery". When we have walked with the Lord for some time, we tend to get comfortable and slack, procrastinate and get lazy.

God wants us to continue to be in the Word so that we can continue to gain wisdom. He never stops teaching, in fact He tries to teach us in everything we go through and do in our lives.

To God, everything we do matters. If we believe that this is true, than we would have to change our attitude and intentions each morning. Rather than wake up with the intention of just getting through the day, we would have to wake up and ask ourselves, "What will I do today that will have an eternal significance"?

I am NOT a morning person. I never have been. I've tried, but I always come up short (and extremely grumpy). But you give me my morning cups of coffee and the Word and my day is brighter and fuller. On the days that I lack one or the other, you can guarantee that my day will not go as smoothly. I am so grateful that my God gives me new days and a chance to renew my learning process with Him. I am grateful that He tolerates my grumpiness each morning and still talks to me through His Word. I am also so grateful that He knows the number of my days and that He does not share them with me.

"Before I formed you in the womb
I knew you, before you
were even born I set you apart."
Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)

How much more intimate can it be than for the Creator of all things to know us so personally that He set us apart? Let us make the most of the life we have been given and wake-up refreshed with the wisdom that God cares about every action we make. Let us make the most of our actions each and every day!

More Today Than Tomorrow

The question was asked, this week in my Bible Study, “Do you ever daydream about the moment when you will encounter Jesus face to face?” Well, I guess I was kind of shocked to realize that I really don’t think about that too often. Also, they asked how will you feel and respond? Will you be silent, struck with incredible awe, will you immediately sing praises or will you fall at His feet? These are wonderful questions to think about, but honestly I never take time to think about that. What will I do?

When I study the Word and think of Jesus, I tend to think about what I must do here and now, not what it will be like when here is no more. I think in my mind I wouldn’t know until I got there. But it does bring up a really good point…

What kind of relationship do I have with the Lord? If I have spent an earthly life of intimacy with the Lord, then my response would be much more personal when I actually get there. If do not know the Lord so intimately, like a Father, I cannot come to Him like a child.

They use the verse, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all of your mind.” Matthew 22:37, to show the depth of the love we should have for Christ

Theological Thursdays

Okay, so I'm a little late on the theology for today, but it was a busy day and I am always a little behind on everything.

Anyhow, today was a day of little and big lessons and one in particular has sat with me all the way through this crazy day.....so, here it goes:

Hurry Up and Wait

"Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for Him."
(Psalms 37:7)

I read this verse in the Lifeway Journey, that our church passes out each month, and I breezed through it like I do with most things. I wanted to have my prayer time with the Lord, but I also had a very long list of things that needed to be done, and done before 3:30PM. So I read this verse and the comments that went with it and was ready to get up and get going with the children, dishes and everything else that needed to be done.

I went out into the den to get the kids moving. I told them to go get dressed and brush their teeth and be ready to start working on their schoolwork. My son, who is very bold and quite direct, asked me why I was always rushing them. Actually, I think his reaction was more like, "why do you always come out of your room in a bad mood and make us stop having fun, so that we can do whatever you want. I don't want to brush my teeth, yet, and I don't want to do my school yet. I just want to sit here until my body wants to go."

Well, I guess on a normal day, I would have just gotten frustrated with him and told him to go do it anyway. Because I had read that verse, and even if it was quickly and not really studied carefully, it stuck.

This morning, I just stopped. Instead of hurrying everyone along and getting frustrated because they were going to mess up my plans and my list, I just stopped.

I told them to go ahead and watch a few more minutes of t.v. and if they were really quiet while Mommy did her "real" Bible Study, that she might even take them out for ice cream that day, even if it wasn't on her list.

Of course this made them very happy, but it also made me go back and re-read God's Word, a little slower this time.

One of the first things that stuck out at me was this, "Obviously, God's timing is not based on our schedules--". You mean God doesn't sit around waiting to fit into a line on our planner? I guess we all know this deep inside, but I know I get so wrapped up in what I think "has" to be done, that we don't take the time to be still, really still.

I can be still for a t.v. program (if it is on after all of the children go to sleep, so that I can actually watc more than 2 minutes at a time). I can be still waiting in the grocery line, the fast food line, the Post Office, the Doctor's Office...but not for God?

How many times in our life do we hurry up to get some place only to have to wait? When we ask God for help in our crazy, motherhood lives, we want a quick and easy answer. We want to pray quickly and get the fix right then and there. God really asks so little of us and for me I do even less than that.

Sometimes we will have to wait for an answer. Maybe we will never get the answer, which means it probably was no to begin with. Maybe God has your answer and if you only took that extra few minutes to stop, be silent and read the Word or talk to a friend He has placed in your life, or just do nothing at all, maybe then you could get the answer God has for you.

I know I am the worst at this. I feel like I am always running behind and frustrated that my "To Do" list is never totally complete at the end of the day. But I know for certain that I need God, wholly and that when I wait on God's answer, it will always be right. I will trust that the time I give to God, to wait on God, will always prove to be right.

I am thankful that God speaks to us when we are quiet. I am thankful that He uses my children as tools to set me back on the right path. I am also thankful that He gives us a period of waiting on Him. This way I will have to rely on Him fully and put all my trust in Him.

I might not like things that I think slow down my busy day, but there is clearly nothing that will mess with your day more than rushing through and skimping on prayerful time with Him. He is a patient God and what could be better than that....

Here are some verses I found for today:

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His Word I put my hope."
Psalms 130:5

"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your path straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.." Psalms 37:7

"Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; I wait for You all day long.." Psalms 25:5

And last but not least:

"You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand." Psalms 16:11

I hope you enjoyed this and if you have any thoughts or comments, I'd love to hear them.

Sarah

Theological Thursdays: My Religious Perspective on Life

I am sad that I am having to re-write this entire entry, but I guess errors happen.

Anyhow, I am excited to start this weekly entry on my blog. I have a great passion for the Lord and for finding a lesson in even the little things in my life. It is a blessing for me to be able to share these lessons with you.....

Do you ever have those smack-in-the-head moments, where you literally smack yourself upside the head? Fortunately for my few brain cells that are left after four children, don't get those moments too often, but every once in a while, I do.

One thing most of your don't know is that i am an avid gardener. I have not always been this way, but joining my husband's wonderful family, has made this hobby blossom.

Even though I have learned so many tips and techniques over the years, I still lack knowledge is many areas.

One area I thought I was smart in was in knowing how to weed properly.
1) Wear gardening gloves (well, I have just started doing this step this Spring, because I pulled weeds without them and ruined my beautiful ring with my children's birth stones. Not too smart on my part!)
2) Find weeds (this is never difficult in any of my many gardens).
3) Find the lowest point of the weed, closest to the ground and grab it (that sounds easier than it can be)
4) Pull with all of your might. (Sometimes this goes smoothly, sometimes you land on your behind).
5) Hope that you pulled the root out, fully.

This theory seemed to work, over the years, but not this Spring.

Every single time I went out to my gardens, I'd find more and more weeds.

I felt frustrated and helpless and not a very talented gardener.

Well, this situation is similar to the people in our lives. We have our family, our friends, our co-workers and so on. We are attracted to the people that have the same beliefs, standards, ethics. We look for similar characteristics that our families had, or the beliefs they shared with us.

Sometimes those things can be pretty and sometimes, well, maybe not so much.

There are those people that we befriend, live with or are related to that are like those weeds. These are the people I refer to as "energy sucking weed people". They are the negative, gossiping, nitpickers. No matter how many times you plant those "flowers" of positive words and thoughts, you always feel emotionally exhausted after wards. Whether you talk to them on the phone or are physically with them, minutes make your body and mind feel like it was months and years.

Our Pastor, talked about these people, in a sermon, one day. He talked about how we have to remove those "energy sucking weed people" (my words, not his) from our lives.

This is easier said than done. Don't get me wrong , I totally agree. But, I wonder how do we apply this to family? Yes, f-a-m-i-l-y! We love them. We know that they tire us, but we LOVE them.

Well, I wish I had the right answer for this, but I guess all I have is this....we just LOVE them. We can prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually before we spend time on the phone or with them. We can avoid activities with them that we know will exhaust us. We can thank God everyday for giving us the insight into these weed-like behaviors and make sure that we do not cause this same exhaustion in others.

Our words, our behaviors and our beliefs will effect our actions with everyone. Words can be a blessing or a curse, our behaviors can stem from love or from hate and our actions can be from kindness or selfishness......we decide.

I'd love to know your thoughts on this new weekly theme and today's entry. It is great to hear other people's thoughts and ideas and even there disagreements.

I pray that this will be a regular thing. It is a blessing to me!!

"Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."
Proverbs 12:18

"A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his tongue." Proverbs 11:12

I really liked this next verse, it hit me hard the first time I truly understood it.

"Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down." Proverbs 26:20

Sarah

Theological Thursdays: A Religious Perspective on Life

I am very sad to say that my "Theological Thursday" for today was messed up and had to be deleted. It kept overlapping all of my other posts. Hopefull, I can work out these kinks.