Know God - Day 26

Pastor jumps around today.  In the print version, he includes the text of the verses.  I am not doing that here.  You have to go look them up...enjoy the sound of the paper, the smell of the ink, or the click of the mouse as you go to one of the many bible resource sites online.  Pastor challenges us to underline these passages in our bibles and see them in their original context to understand them better.

The pattern Pastor is following, as stated in the beginning is to look for, "God said..."

Jeremiah 1:7-9
Jeremiah 1:19
Jeremiah 2:2-5
Jeremiah 2:22
Jeremiah 9:25-26
Jeremiah 31:33
Hosea 1:2
Joel 2:19-20
Jonah 4:1-4
Amos 8:11
Micah 5:10-14
Nahum 3:5
Haggai 1:1-11
Zechariah 1:3
Zechariah 1:16-2:5
Zechariah 2:6
Zechariah 3:7-9
Zechariah 8:17
Malachi 1:6
Malchi 3:10

Which passage is your favorite? Why?  That is a tough question.  I think Zechariah 1:3. In v2, God was telling him he was angry at his forefathers, but basically, he'll give Z another chance.  "return to me and I'll return to you." God is forgiving and will give anyone another chance (how many chances did he give the Israelites???)  How many chances does he give us to return to him??? As many as we need.

In a personal, devotional sense, which passage challenged you the most personally? Malachi 3:10.  "Bring the FULL tithe into my storehouse."  I have been praying, thinking and talking about tithing for about the past week while anticipating my first paycheck from my new job.  Part of this journey is learning to be obedient - even when we'd rather not.  God wants us to be obedient.  The debate I had in my head was, do you tithe on the net or the gross?  Well - according to my (imperfect, often wrong, but still works for me until I am shown otherwise by someone much wiser than I) interpretation, FULL means from all of it.  Not just the part our gov't dips into.  Part of my obedience is to write a check for the tithe first every other week.  Before daycare, taekwando, dance, food, gas, etc.  I have only done this once.  Why aren't we doing this as a family?  Husband handles the finances (I do know where to find everything...)  He doesn't feel we are in a position to tithe off the net.  Or the gross.  But he is supportive of me in this endeavor to be obedient to God.

Which passage is the most like God?  Hagai 1:1-11.  God gave them everything they wanted.  And they squandered it.  So it took it away.  Use it or lose it.  God or the US Military???

Which passage is the least like God? I don't know.  I see God in all these.  If anything, this study is teaching me that God is too massive/impressive/overwhelming to understand. He is capable of turning away from a people, reminding someone just who he is, loveing, expecting obedience, rendering discipline...They are all God.

Pastor writes, "When something doesn't sound like God, that means it's usually time for me to start expanding my understanding of God."  How do we need to expand our picture of God based on these revelations from God through the prophet?