Weekly Word

Hi, friends! Here we are at the beginning of another week, and I am not ready for it! School has been swamping me as always, and the constant tiredness is starting to creep in. I've done pretty well with reading my Bible this week, and I finished Genesis!! I'm so excited! I really enjoyed the book, and I learned so much more than I had expected from it. I hope that these lessons are a blessing to you, and they help encourage you for your coming week. 

This week I learned: 

We will be able to see that God was with us all along 

I know when we are going through life, and especially rough times, it can seem like there isn't a reason for what is happening. But, once we get to the end of our journey, we will be able to look back and it will all become clear. I love this testimony from Jacob in Genesis 48:15-16- "The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all harm...." Jacob says this to his sons as he is at the end of his life, and I love this testimony. He is able to look back and see all that God has done, and he sees that God was with him all along. 

Our suffering is not in vain 

Suffering is a necessary part of life, but that doesn't make it any less painful. Why does it have to happen? Why doesn't God just stop it all? Because although it hurts, it has a purpose. Joseph went through years of suffering, but in Genesis 50:20 Joseph tells his brothers "You planned evil against me, God planned it for good to bring about the present result- the survival of many people." Take comfort in this realization of Joseph because it is the same one you will be able to come to some day- your suffering isn't for nothing. Your suffering has a purpose, and God is using it for good.

Nothing can stop God's blessing! 

This was just something that gave me encouragement and comfort that I can't mess up my entire life with one bad decision. I don't know about you, but I always get stressed out when big decisions come my way because I think that if I make the wrong one I will mess everything up. But, in Exodus 1:12 we are told that "The more they [the Egyptians] oppressed them[the Hebrews], the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites." The Egyptians tried to force the Hebrew population into extinction, but it didn't work. God blessed them regardless of the Egyptians, and He will bless us too regardless of the wrong decisions we might make. 

God will always choose us, but we have to choose Him back 

The story of the burning bush is in Exodus chapter 3, but there is a detail in it that many of us over look. I over looked it until I read the devotional in my Bible that pointed out this fact- God didn't speak to Moses until Moses noticed the burning bush and went to look at it. Then, God spoke to him. He won't push Himself onto us and He won't make us hear him, but He will always be there waiting for us to reach out to Him. Once we seek Him, He will always choose us back and speak to us. 

Even when we make mistakes, God always has patience and grace for us 

Moses kept telling God that he couldn't be the one that God sent to Egypt because he couldn't make them believe, couldn't speak well, ect. This made God angry because of course He knew who He wanted for His plan, and He didn't make a mistake in choosing. Yet, God still extended grace to Moses. He still heard his worries and gave him his brother to go on the mission with him to speak for him. God will always have patience and grace for us, no matter the mistakes we may make. 

I hope you enjoyed this week's lessons. I'm so excited to begin diving into Exodus, I've enjoyed it so far! I hope that this can give you some encouragement for the coming week and maybe some relief for any suffering you may be going through. If you have any thoughts you would like to share, I would love to hear them and chat in the comments! Thank you for reading!