40 Days of Seeking Him Lent 2012 ~ Day 11: God’s Faithfulness

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The third week of Lent is upon us and time is surly flying by me. I feel like there are so many things I want to do, but not all of it is getting done.

 

Last week I had a crash course in a few books from the Old Testament in order to do a presentation to the Truth Seeker group that is preparing for an April competition.  How I have managed to live over 40 years without reading a few of these books is amazing.

 

Now, for those who are not Catholic or Orthodox, the 2 books of the Bible I had not read will not be found in yours.  Tobit and Judith are both like religious novels, pointing the way to how we should live our lives.  While they give historical names to try to set the stage, the dates do not line up correctly with other historical documents.  According to scholars, they were written at a time when the Jewish people were again losing heart and needed to be reminded that God is faithful to those who keep His laws.  If you are curious, there is a long discourse on the history of The Bible and differences between Catholic and Protestant Bibles  on a site titled Agape Bible Study.

 

Tobit shows not only that God will listen to our prayers and rescue us in ways we might not envision, but also that He might use an angel to help guide things.  When I did my retelling of the story for the teens, I must have been drawing from my past experience in drama as things that others might not see as comical came across as such.  But, a little levity is sometimes in order.  After all, how willing would you be to marry someone who’s lost their 7 husbands on the wedding night due to a demon?

 

As the reader hears about the journey Tobit’s son, Tobiah, makes as well as his marriage to Sarah, you are also given rather lengthy instructions in how to live your life faithfully.  Tobit had done this, yet still suffered in life.  But, his faithfulness is what allowed for his ultimate healing.  What really stuck out at me is the quote of Raphael:

⁸ ‘Prayer with fasting and alms with uprightness are better than riches with iniquity. Better to practise almsgiving than to hoard up gold.

⁹ Almsgiving saves from death and purges every kind of sin. Those who give alms have their fill of days;

¹⁰ those who commit sin and do evil bring harm on themselves.

During the season of Lent, we are called to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as well.  Reading this just cemented the need and desire to head God’s call in those areas a bit more for me.

 

 

Judith is like a spy novel in some ways.  There isn’t the same intervention by God, but rather He blesses his faithful servants by allowing their actions to bring about the salvation of His people.  The spy novel part is because Judith uses her great beauty, which had been downplayed as a widow for years, to ‘disarm’ the enemy.  She was able to maintain her virtue, behead the leader of the attacking army, and return to her city where those who had lost faith during the siege now see that God keeps His promises.

 

The final book which I spent time preparing was Esther.  I’ve read or seen so many variations on this story that I wasn’t sure how I felt reading directly from Scripture.  The Catholic Bible is a little different as they have gone back and included from a Greek text.  The way they put those fragment back into the Scripture make for a disjointed reading of the story.  However, the overall story of Esther’s actions leading to the salvation of the Jewish people is the same.

 

Reading these three books from the Bible and doing a presentation on them to teens was not in my Lenten plans.  However, I know that taking time from my busy days to do this act of service has also blessed me.  I’m reminded that even in the midst of a storm, God is there with me.  If I just hold true to the course, the reward can be great.

 

The ‘moral of this post’?

 

Do not get caught up in the plans you make for spiritual growth as God will sometimes lead you down an unexpected path!

 

 

This year, I am joining Trish @ A House Upon the Rock in co-hosting the 40 Days of Seeking Him meme. The linky will be up each week so you can add in posts daily, weekly, or whenever you are able. The posts can be about anything related to Lent and preparing for Easter ~ crafts, food, devotions, music or reflections are all welcomed.

I hope you will join us on this journey as we prepare our hearts to receive the wonderful gift of salvation we’ve been given through Jesus’ death and resurrection.