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Kindle Notes & Highlights
The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception. —PROVERBS 14:8
“No, my girl. Never be grateful for tragedy, but always trust that God can use it in His good plan for you.” She knew she sounded so wise, so sure of God. But how could she tell a girl who already doubted El Shaddai that even His prophetess now struggled to understand Him?
“Our God always has a plan. We just don’t always know it.”
If this girl was silent, her mind was whirring.
I know a few girls like that.
I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. —PSALM 119:10
Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, “The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.” —EXODUS 3:16
Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up. —PROVERBS 12:25
The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. —EXODUS 15:2
This isn’t about you or me, Miriam…it’s about Yahweh showing the world He is the One True God.
“The bigger question is how could an all-powerful God let His people choose not to love Him? He lets us choose and then live with the consequences. He could force our obedience and impose His will, but instead He patiently treats us like wayward children. Only a God-sized love could restrain His power.”
THIS is the true question.
We can accuse Him or trust Him. It’s a choice each of us must make for ourselves.”
“God is God, and He decides how He will speak and to whom. We must all be ready to acknowledge Him in whatever ways He reveals Himself.”
“When God is silent, He expects our patience and will reward our faith. Rest in the silence, and trust He’s near.”
Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. —ECCLESIASTES 5:2
“To see the true measure…of Yahweh’s power…and authority…things must get…worse.”
“Greater suffering means deeper revelation as you near God’s promise.”
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. —JOB 42:3
“Our trust in Yahweh grows like trust in any other. The better we know Him, the more we can trust Him. But because He is a Being beyond our knowing, His ways will always be beyond our understanding. That’s where trust and faith divide.” He kissed her head and tilted her chin to capture her gaze. “Even when I can’t trust Him, I can have faith in the fathomless God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose power and promise work for the eternal good of His people.”
It is that eternal good that I need to keep my eyes on when I don't understand the "right now".
“Of course it’s simple, Miriam. It’s simply not easy.”
And that's the crux of the issue - a thing can be simple while still being hard to do.
“When people care more about their lifestyle than the people they love, they are as imprisoned by their desires as we are enslaved by Pharaoh.”
It’s also called “idolatry”. Scary, huh?
“Obedience to Yahweh is seldom an easy path, but it is ultimately the only path to freedom.”
Oh, so true.
Faith was a battle, its battlefield the mind. Surely, this moment would determine victory or defeat in their struggle to trust the God they proclaimed as good.
The mind IS a battlefield that must be turned over to God on a daily basis by the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot fight the battles of faith alone.
Only after we see God’s fierce holiness through the Old Testament Law can we fully appreciate Jesus’s great love through grace in the New Testament.
I have to say that I most definitely agree with this statement. I also very much enjoy Mesu Andrews’ writing and the way that she makes the women of the Bible become “real people” for me.
