Spiritual Growth – Page 42 – REACHING HURTING WOMEN MINISTRIES

REACHING HURTING WOMEN MINISTRIES OFFERS FOUR TOPICS FOR CONTEMPLATION EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR. EACH TOPIC IS A 12-MONTH STUDY SERIES ASSIGNED TO A SPECIFIC FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH. IN MONTHS WITH FIVE FRIDAYS I’LL BE REVIEWING VARIOUS INSPIRATIONAL MEDIA.

On the first Friday of each month in 2022 we’re studying the Ten Commandments; why we need to know, memorize and obey them.

“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.” ~ Exodus 20:8-11

While some see the Ten Commandments as rules to keep us from having a fun time, the Ten Commandments are God’s laws given to humanity to help us, protect us and make our lives better. After the fall in The Garden of Eden, God began working on a plan to restore His relationship with humanity. With sin separating us from God’s holiness, He needed a way to show us our need for a Savior who could provide the way to bring people back to Him.

NOT JUST RULES

God knew what kind of life He wanted us to have. He also knew that we couldn’t do that on our own. The Law was given to show us that no matter how hard we try we can’t do life without God and be happy, healthy or successful. If He didn’t love us, God wouldn’t have give us rules to live by. Just like a good human parent puts rules in place to guide and protect their children, God gave us the law to help us.

THE GRACE OF REST

God’s grace is seen through all the commandments. Here we see the grace of rest bestowed on us as a blessing from being obedient. In Genesis chapter 2 we see the first six days of creation showed God separating light out of the darkness and water from the dry land. When God rested He separated what was ordinary from what is holy. This would later be the foundation for Israel’s worship and pave the way for the ultimate rest in Christ taught in the New Testament book of Hebrews.*

FREEDOM TO WORSHIP

When we honor the Sabbath by resting from our ordinary duties, chores, activities and the sort, we free ourselves from the cares of life so that we can freely focus on time to be with our Creator and Lord Jesus. This allows us to bring ourselves fully to a sweet place of worship in the Holy Spirit, where God can minister to us, energize and renew us for our upcoming week. If we fail to do this, not only are we dishonoring what God has put in place for us out of His ultimate best for us. But we are setting ourselves up for unnecessary stress and possibly potential illness. Certainly our marriages and families are happier and healthier when we take a full day to be with God and with them.

Not in a spirit of legalism, but for the sake of our physical & mental health, for the health of our families and our growing relationship with God, let’s commit ourselves to honoring God by faithfully keeping the Sabbath to the best of our ability.

UPDATE YOUR MEMORY

Our memory aid for the Fourth Commandment shows us the image of someone watching television. This is a good reminder for us not to waste a day on frivolous activities.

Take a few minutes to watch this short video from PragerU with Dennis Prager teaching on the fourth Commandment.

RESOURCES:

The Evidence Bible

Thompson Chain Reference Bible

New Living Parallel Study Bible*

Spirit-Filled Life Bible

The Rational Bible: Genesis by Dennis Prager

The Rational Bible: Exodus by Dennis Prager

The 10 Commandments: What They Mean, Why They Matter, and Why we Should Obey Them by Kevin DeYoung

Pathway to Freedom: How God’s Laws Guide Our Lives by Alistair Begg

The Ten Commandments: Reasonable Rules for Life by Dwight L. Moody

The Evidence Bible: Ten Commandments Memory Aid

REACHING HURTING WOMEN MINISTRIES OFFERS FOUR TOPICS FOR CONTEMPLATION EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR. EACH TOPIC IS A 12-MONTH STUDY SERIES ASSIGNED TO A SPECIFIC FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH. IN MONTHS WITH FIVE FRIDAYS WE’RE REVIEWING CHRISTIAN MEDIA.

On the fourth Friday of each month in 2022 we’re studying the RHW 2022 Theme: God’s Law, Grace & Freedom.

“Without God’s law and grace there is no opportunity for recovery from any addiction and therefore no true freedom!”

God spoke to Moses, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I didn’t make myself known to them by my name, the Lord. I even made a promise to give them Canaan, the land where they lived as foreigners. Now I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians hold in slavery, and I have remembered my promise.

“Tell the Israelites, ‘I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under the oppression of the Egyptians, and I will free you from slavery. I will rescue you with my powerful arm and with mighty acts of judgment. Then I will make you my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the forced labor of the Egyptians. I will bring you to the land I solemnly swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as your own possession. I am the Lord.’ ” ~ Exodus 6:2-8

As we are now in the Passover and Easter season of the year, this is an interesting study to reflect on. Today we’ll look specifically at how God’s grace was displayed to the Children of Israel before, during and after their exodus from Egypt. And we will look at how that grace brought freedom from Pharaoh’s slave law

Grace In HIS PROMISE

Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.~ Exodus 2:23-25

Our Scripture reading above reflects God’s grace as He has heard the cries of His people in slave bondage under the Pharaoh. It’s not because the Children of Israel deserved God’s grace and mercy. It was because God remembered the promise He had made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God is always faithful to fulfill His promises.

GRACE IN THE PLAGUES

The homes of the Egyptians will be filled with flies, and even the ground outside will be covered with them. But on that day I will treat the region of Goshen differently. That is where my people live. There won’t be any flies there. This way you will know that I, the Lord, am here in this land. I will distinguish between my people and yours. This miraculous sign will happen tomorrow.’ ” ~ Exodus 8:21-23

But the Lord will distinguish between Israel’s livestock and the livestock of the Egyptians. No animals belonging to the Israelites will die.’ ” ~ Exodus 9:4

All over Egypt the hail knocked down everything that was out in the open. It struck down people, animals, and every plant in the fields and destroyed every tree in the fields. The only place it didn’t hail was the region of Goshen, where the Israelites lived. ~ Exodus 9:24-25

Moses lifted his hand toward the sky, and throughout Egypt there was total darkness for three days. People couldn’t see each other, and no one went anywhere for three days. But all the Israelites had light where they were living. ~ Exodus 10:23

Then Moses called for all the leaders of Israel. He said to them, “Pick out a lamb or a young goat for your families, and kill the Passover animal.Take the branch of a hyssop plant, dip it in the blood which is in a bowl, and put some of the blood on the top and sides of the doorframes ⌞of your houses⌟. No one may leave the house until morning. The Lord will go throughout Egypt to kill the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, he will pass over that doorway, and he will not let the destroyer come into your home to kill you. ~ Exodus 12:21-23

From the above selected Scriptures you can see that God graciously protected the Children of Israel during the ten plagues in Egypt. While there aren’t specific verses for all ten plagues, we have no reason to believe that God didn’t protect the Hebrew people through every plague.

GRACE IN THE EXODUS

The Egyptians begged the people to leave the country quickly. They said, “Soon we’ll all be dead!” So the people picked up their bread dough before it had risen and carried it on their shoulders in bowls, wrapped up in their clothes. The Israelites did what Moses had told them and asked the Egyptians for gold and silver jewelry and for clothes. The Lord made the Egyptians generous to the people, and they gave them what they asked for. So the Israelites stripped Egypt of its wealth. ~ Exodus 12:33-36

Even after all of God’s grace bestowed on the Hebrew people, He still had more for them on there way out of Egypt. The Egyptians were so afraid of what God would do to them they begged the Hebrew people to leave quickly. Not only were they now free to go, God made the Egyptians have generous favor so much that Egypt was cleaned of its wealth!

God heard the cry of His people, remembered and kept His promises. His mercy and grace found them in their bondage just like He does for us today. God blesses all His people with His grace and freedom.