A couple weeks ago I began an Old Testament survey class through Liberty University Online. Right now i am studying Exodus. In reading about the Israelites, I think many times we wonder why they grumbled and failed to trust in God after He had already accomplished so many miracles for them.
God freed them from the Egyptians through the 10 plagues and through crossing the Red Sea. I mean, how amazing would it be to see these miracles performed just so you could escape slavery. However, right before crossing the Red Sea, in Exodus 14:11-12 the Israelites said:
"They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!""
After they had seen the miracles of the 10 plagues, they failed to trust that God would continue to save them - yet God still saved them even though they lacked faith. He opened the Red Sea and they crossed it and the Egyptians were killed when the Sea fell on them. Again, a little later in Exodus, the Israelites again questioned God's provision. In Exodus 15:22-27, the Israelites came to Marah where the water was bitter and again they grumbled to Moses asking what would they drink? Again, the Lord provided for His people by changing the water to make it drinkable for them - even though they complained and lacked faith at that moment.
Again, in Exodus 16:2-3 - "In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."" And again, the Lord provided for them by giving them manna every day - telling them to take just the amount they needed to eat each day. Yet, some Israelites did not listen and took more than what they would eat in one day. The manna that they kept overnight became spoiled and probably made it smell quite badly. Thus, the Israelites were given food from God and they still did not listen to His orders regarding it. Yet God still continued to provide them with manna.
Throughout their wilderness time, God continued to tell them that He would provide Canaan to them. He continued to provide for them even when they grumbled and lacked faith in Him. However, in Numbers 14, after the people had reached the edge of Canaan, the promised land, the people lacked faith and told Moses that they would not try to enter the land because they were afraid of the giants in the land. They lacked faith that God would fulfill His promise to them to provide Canaan to them. The people even said they should just go back to Egypt - back to the land that had imprisoned them! This time, God would provide Canaan to the Israelites except not to those Israelites that had left Egypt. He told them they would wander in the desert for 40 years, until all those over 20 had died, and only those who were born after they had left Egypt would be able to enter the land of Canaan.
How many of us look at this story and think the Israelites were completely stupid for not having faith in God and His provisions after everything He had already done? Yet how many of us do this every day? We constantly worry about God providing what we need. We worry about finances, relationships, fear of the future...yet God has promised to always be with us and always provide for us. It may not be in the way we think things should happen, but we need to trust in His will. We need to have faith that He will provide for us. We need to not be like the Israelites continually grumbling at God and continually trying to go back to our "Egypt" - our live before Christ - our prison. We need to strive toward what God has promised us and His daily provisions.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Tonight's Dinner - Chicken Marsala
Tried another new recipe tonight. I would give this one a B - pretty good, but not as good as the Chicken Marsala from Bone Fish Grill. Here is the recipe I used:
1.In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper and oregano. Coat chicken pieces in flour mixture.
2.In a large skillet, melt butter in oil over medium heat. Place chicken in the pan, and lightly brown. Turn over chicken pieces, and add mushrooms. Pour in wine and sherry. Cover skillet; simmer chicken 10 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink and juices run clear.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour for coating
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded 1/4 inch thick
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup Marsala wine
1/4 cup cooking sherry
1.In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper and oregano. Coat chicken pieces in flour mixture.
2.In a large skillet, melt butter in oil over medium heat. Place chicken in the pan, and lightly brown. Turn over chicken pieces, and add mushrooms. Pour in wine and sherry. Cover skillet; simmer chicken 10 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink and juices run clear.
And the finished meal with leftover mashed potatoes and green beans....
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Tonight's Dinner - Filet Mignon with Tarragon Butter, Mashed Potatoes, Corn Casserole, and Green Beans
Tonight's dinner was fantastic. In fact, hubby said that this steak was the best I have made at home - and he ate the whole steak in under 5 minutes - so it must have been good. I love to make things he likes. So here are the recipes below:
Corn Casserole (recipe courtesy of my sister in law)
Ingredients: 1 can whole kernel corn (undrained), 1 can cream style corn, 1 8oz container of sour cream, 2 eggs (beaten), 1 box of Jiffy corn muffin mix, 1 stick of butter (melted)
Mix it all together and put in pan and bake at 350 for about 1 hour.
And the finished result:
Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients: potatoes, milk, butter, and salt (all amounts as you desire to taste)
Peel potatoes and cut in smaller pieces and put in boiling water
When the pieces are soft enough, place in mixing bowl and mix with milk, butter, and salt until finished.
Steaks with Tarragon Butter (recipe courtesy of Southern Living Cookbook)
Ingredients: 2 steaks (I used filet mignon), 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 shallot (finely chopped), 1/4 cup of butter (softened), 1/8 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh tarragon
Sprinkle the filets evenly with the 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper. Place a 10 inch cast iron skillet over medium high heat until hot; add oil. Cook fillets in hot oil 2 minutes on each side. Place pan in oven, and bake, uncovered, at 400 for 10-20 minutes (depending on your desired level of cooking)
For the tarragon butter, cook shallot in 1 teaspoon butter in small skillet over medium-high heat until tender, stirring often; cool 2 minutes. Combine shallot, remaining butter, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and tarragon in a small bowl. Top each steak with it evenly before serving.
AND THE FINISHED DINNER....
Danger of Doubting
I recently began studying the book of Hebrews using Warren Wiersbe's book, Be Confident. I have never really studied this book and have really enjoyed it so far because it definitely speaks to Christians in their faith and things to watch out for. Last time I wrote about the writer's first admonition to Christians about being careful to heed the Word and not neglect our faith. Here is the second admonition about not doubting the Word and God's promise through the life of our faith because then our hearts will become hard and we will not be open to all God has for us in blessings and future inheritances in heaven.
Hebrews 3:7-4:13
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, 9 where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. 10 That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' " 12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15 As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." 16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' " And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." 5 And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." 6 It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7 Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living 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. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
This is the second of the writer’s five exhortations/admonitions -- Danger of doubting and disbelieving the Word because of hardness of heart. The background regarding this section is about the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their experiences of unbelief in the wilderness. The nation's bondage in Egypt is spoken of in Hebrews as an illustration of the sinner's bondage in this world. God's desire was that the people enter their glorious inheritance in Canaan – but when Israel got to the border of their inheritance, they delayed because they doubted the promise of God (Numbers 13-14). Because of this, they missed their inheritance and died in the wilderness. Canaan represents our spiritual inheritance in Christ. The wilderness wanderings represent the experiences of believers who will not claim their spiritual inheritance in Christ, who doubt God’s word and live in restless unbelief – God is with them (just like Israel), but they do not enjoy the fullness of God’s blessings
Rest is pictured in this passage in three areas:
o God’s Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:4) – this is a picture of our rest in Christ through salvation (Hebrews 4:3)
o Israel’s rest in Canaan (Hebrews 3:11) – this is a picture of our present rest as we claim our inheritance in Christ (Hebrews 4:11-13) (submission)
o Future rest that all believers will enjoy with God
Take Aways:
- We need to take heed to the sad history of the nation of Israel and the important lesson it teaches
- The heart is always the problem – their hearts wandered from God and His word and they had hearts of unbelief in that they did not believe God would give them victory in Canaan
- When a person has an erring heart and a disbelieving heart, the result will also be a hard heart – this is a heart insensitive to the Word and work of God – so hard was the heart of Israel that the people even wanted to return to Egypt
- Every believer is tempted to give up his confession of Christ and go back into the world system’s life of compromise and bondage
- Hebrews 3:12 – the sin of Israel – departing from the living God – refusing God’s will for their lives and stubbornly wanting to go their own way back to Egypt
- The confidence of our salvation is no excuse for sin
- Hebrews 3:12 – Word of God is like a sword because it is powerful enough to penetrate and expose the inner heart of man
- Hebrews 3:13 – important that we encourage each other to be faithful to the Lord
Hebrews 3:7-4:13
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, 9 where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. 10 That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' " 12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15 As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." 16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' " And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." 5 And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." 6 It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7 Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living 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. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
This is the second of the writer’s five exhortations/admonitions -- Danger of doubting and disbelieving the Word because of hardness of heart. The background regarding this section is about the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their experiences of unbelief in the wilderness. The nation's bondage in Egypt is spoken of in Hebrews as an illustration of the sinner's bondage in this world. God's desire was that the people enter their glorious inheritance in Canaan – but when Israel got to the border of their inheritance, they delayed because they doubted the promise of God (Numbers 13-14). Because of this, they missed their inheritance and died in the wilderness. Canaan represents our spiritual inheritance in Christ. The wilderness wanderings represent the experiences of believers who will not claim their spiritual inheritance in Christ, who doubt God’s word and live in restless unbelief – God is with them (just like Israel), but they do not enjoy the fullness of God’s blessings
Rest is pictured in this passage in three areas:
o God’s Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:4) – this is a picture of our rest in Christ through salvation (Hebrews 4:3)
o Israel’s rest in Canaan (Hebrews 3:11) – this is a picture of our present rest as we claim our inheritance in Christ (Hebrews 4:11-13) (submission)
o Future rest that all believers will enjoy with God
Take Aways:
- We need to take heed to the sad history of the nation of Israel and the important lesson it teaches
- The heart is always the problem – their hearts wandered from God and His word and they had hearts of unbelief in that they did not believe God would give them victory in Canaan
- When a person has an erring heart and a disbelieving heart, the result will also be a hard heart – this is a heart insensitive to the Word and work of God – so hard was the heart of Israel that the people even wanted to return to Egypt
- Every believer is tempted to give up his confession of Christ and go back into the world system’s life of compromise and bondage
- Hebrews 3:12 – the sin of Israel – departing from the living God – refusing God’s will for their lives and stubbornly wanting to go their own way back to Egypt
- The confidence of our salvation is no excuse for sin
- Hebrews 3:12 – Word of God is like a sword because it is powerful enough to penetrate and expose the inner heart of man
- Hebrews 3:13 – important that we encourage each other to be faithful to the Lord
Monday, May 16, 2011
Tonight's Dinner - King Ranch Chicken Casserole
I promised Sam that once finals were over I would start cooking dinners. Last Thursday night I made meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, and sauteed green beans. Tonight I made King Ranch Chicken Casserole. I forgot to take a picture of it before we ate it, but I found this one online that looks similar to mine.
It's really not that hard to make. Cook chicken - I used four chicken breasts that I cut up in small pieces and just cooked real quick in a pan on the stove. You can also just cook a whole chicken and then cut that up if you want some dark meat in it too. Then saute a chopped up onion and chopped up bell pepper in a pan with butter. Then add a can of cream of mushroom soup and a can of cream and chicken soup. Then add a can of diced tomatoes. Add the chicken. Add a teaspoon of chili powder and half a teaspoon of garlic powder. Then soak 12 six inch corn tortillas (each cut in four pieces) in some chicken broth. In your casserole pan, layer some of the soaked tortillas along the bottom of the pan. Then, pour some of your chicken mixture, then pour cheddar cheese, then repeat with tortialls, chicken mixture, and cheese. I only had room to do it twice but if your pan is deeper, then you can layer a third time. Then bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes and you have dinner. Enjoy!
It's really not that hard to make. Cook chicken - I used four chicken breasts that I cut up in small pieces and just cooked real quick in a pan on the stove. You can also just cook a whole chicken and then cut that up if you want some dark meat in it too. Then saute a chopped up onion and chopped up bell pepper in a pan with butter. Then add a can of cream of mushroom soup and a can of cream and chicken soup. Then add a can of diced tomatoes. Add the chicken. Add a teaspoon of chili powder and half a teaspoon of garlic powder. Then soak 12 six inch corn tortillas (each cut in four pieces) in some chicken broth. In your casserole pan, layer some of the soaked tortillas along the bottom of the pan. Then, pour some of your chicken mixture, then pour cheddar cheese, then repeat with tortialls, chicken mixture, and cheese. I only had room to do it twice but if your pan is deeper, then you can layer a third time. Then bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes and you have dinner. Enjoy!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Come Home
I love this song by Meredith Andrews and sometimes when I am singing it totally makes me cry because it just takes my heart. I hope it is an encouragement to you if there is someone in your life, a friend, a child, a parent, a spouse, whoever, that you just want to come home back to you and back to Jesus - maybe it is even you that needs to come home...
Heed the Word and Don't Drift
I began a study of the book of Hebrews last week, but with final exams taking over my life I haven't had a chance to write down everything I was learning. I am using the commentary by Warren Wiersbe called Be Confident to help me go through the book and a lot of what is below is from his book.
Background:
- Author of Hebrews is unknown
- Letter written to the Hebrew people
- Theme of Hebrews is the superiority of Christ and His salvation to the law of Moses (Jewish law) – the people were being tempted to go back to their Jewish faith and all the laws of Moses instead of following Christ’s salvation – they wanted to stop being persecuted for believing in Christ and that is part of what tempted them to go back to only following Jewish law
Hebrews 2:1-4
1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
- This section of Hebrews is the writer’s first of five admonitions to the Hebrews
- The purpose of the admonition is to encourage all the readers to pay attention to God’s word and obey it
- Admonition is written to believers, for the writer included himself when he wrote “we”
- Danger here is of neglecting our salvation
- More spiritual problems are caused by neglect than perhaps by any other failure on our part
- Vs. 2 – “transgression” refers to sins of commission while “disobedience” suggests sins of omission
This passage really spoke to me this week for a number of reasons - it was like God picked it out especially for me when I needed it. It was just an emotionally up and down week for me between finals, work, and a few issues some of my friends have been dealing with lately. And I felt pretty broken and upset a few nights during the week. But God really touched me when I read this section because it was like He was totally explaining to me what was going on with some of the issues I felt were right in my face. When we don't heed His word, when we are not constantly in His word, we are neglecting our salvation. Heeding the word does not just mean reading it either. We could read it a ton, but if we aren't following it or taking it to heart, then it does us no good. We are simply making our lives harder when we say we follow God, but don't heed His word. We are being hypocritical and we are causing ourselves more hurt and pain than God ever wanted us to be in. Now, I am not saying that if we heed God's word everything in life will be great, because that is certainly not true because God tells us that we will go through trials and tribulations in His name. But when we don't heed His word and aren't following Him and neglecting our salvation, we are putting ourselves in situations that He never intended us to be in and that are not the best places we should be in. Then we end up living through the consequences of our choices and having to try to move forward - hopefully now heeding His word and making the right decision with our next steps.
Background:
- Author of Hebrews is unknown
- Letter written to the Hebrew people
- Theme of Hebrews is the superiority of Christ and His salvation to the law of Moses (Jewish law) – the people were being tempted to go back to their Jewish faith and all the laws of Moses instead of following Christ’s salvation – they wanted to stop being persecuted for believing in Christ and that is part of what tempted them to go back to only following Jewish law
Hebrews 2:1-4
1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
- This section of Hebrews is the writer’s first of five admonitions to the Hebrews
- The purpose of the admonition is to encourage all the readers to pay attention to God’s word and obey it
- Admonition is written to believers, for the writer included himself when he wrote “we”
- Danger here is of neglecting our salvation
- More spiritual problems are caused by neglect than perhaps by any other failure on our part
- Vs. 2 – “transgression” refers to sins of commission while “disobedience” suggests sins of omission
This passage really spoke to me this week for a number of reasons - it was like God picked it out especially for me when I needed it. It was just an emotionally up and down week for me between finals, work, and a few issues some of my friends have been dealing with lately. And I felt pretty broken and upset a few nights during the week. But God really touched me when I read this section because it was like He was totally explaining to me what was going on with some of the issues I felt were right in my face. When we don't heed His word, when we are not constantly in His word, we are neglecting our salvation. Heeding the word does not just mean reading it either. We could read it a ton, but if we aren't following it or taking it to heart, then it does us no good. We are simply making our lives harder when we say we follow God, but don't heed His word. We are being hypocritical and we are causing ourselves more hurt and pain than God ever wanted us to be in. Now, I am not saying that if we heed God's word everything in life will be great, because that is certainly not true because God tells us that we will go through trials and tribulations in His name. But when we don't heed His word and aren't following Him and neglecting our salvation, we are putting ourselves in situations that He never intended us to be in and that are not the best places we should be in. Then we end up living through the consequences of our choices and having to try to move forward - hopefully now heeding His word and making the right decision with our next steps.
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