Sunday Scripture

  It's time for another Sunday Scripture!  This is part of an ongoing series on my simple study of Rachel Wojo's Everything Beautiful.  You can read about the plan here if you are interested in it for yourself: Everything Beautiful Bible reading plan. My answers and input on this series are a combination of what I learned back in 2018, and what I found in looking over the Scriptures now, six years later.  I'm attempting to SOAP the passages too, though some of them are longer. [Quick reminder that S stands for Scripture; O stands for for observation; A stands for application, and P stands for prayer.]  Today's study is from Job 12:7-13.  

S= "But ask, now, the beasts; and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee.
"Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
"Who knoweth in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?
"In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.
"Doth not the ear try words?  and the mouth taste his meat?
"With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.
"With Him is wisdom and strength; He hath counsel and understanding."  (Job 12:7-13)

O= These verses are part of Job's rebuttal to Zophar's charge: How can Job claim innocence?

Back in verses 2-3, Job responds to his critics: "No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.  But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you; yea, who knoweth not such things as these?"

Believer's Bible Commentary notes:  "Anyone knows that God is wise and powerful, but how do they explain the excruciating sufferings of a man who once received answers to his prayers, and the contrasting prosperity of the ungodly?"

This is what Job is saying in verse 5: "I am as one mocked of his neighbor, who calleth upon God, and He answereth him:  the just upright man is laughed to scorn."  He goes on to point out that his accusers are attacking him when he is about to fall: "He that is ready to slip is ... despised in the thought of him that is at ease."

The commentary summarizes verses 7-12: "Even the world of nature -- the beasts and the birds and the fish -- shows God's arbitrariness in destroying some and protecting others.  If Job's critics tested words as carefully as they tasted food, they would agree with the ancients, who uniformly agreed with what Job had said."

Cross-references for "whose hand" (v.10) --  "And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will Thou be wroth with all the congregation?"  (Numbers 16:22)

"And thou hast lifted thyself up against the Lord of heaven ... and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know, and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified."  (Daniel 5:23)

"For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring."  (Acts 17:28)

"Soul" (v.10) could be read "life".

"Mankind" (v.10) can be read "flesh of man".

"Mouth" (v.11) can be read "palate."

Warren Wiersbe writes in With the Word: "Job replied to all three friends and reminded them that he had wisdom as well as they.  In fact, all creation knew the things that they said to him.  God is great.  His hand made everything (v.6) and His hand keeps everything alive (v.10).  Job wanted to die and escape his suffering, but God held his life in His hand."

A= For this Scripture, there were also a number of ways to apply it as prompted in the journal.  

"God woke you up this morning because He has a meaningful plan for you." -- Rachel Wojo

My thoughts about this: This statement obviously fits with the words of verse 10 -- "In the hand of the LORD ... is the breath of all mankind."

 

"If your life is in God's hand, have you anything to fear?" -- Warren Wiersbe

 
Rachel also shares a "focus word" in each of the devotional pages.  For this lesson the focus word is "breathe". 

 

The question was asked: How can I realign the eyes of my heart to see the Father's present of everyday elegance?

My response in 2018:Even the fact that He gives us breath should make us stop and think.  He does indeed have a meaningful plan.  If He were finished with us, we would be in heaven.

Answering this same question in 2024: Life feels a little uncertain right now with our national circumstances.  But I must look to all that I know about God and not to the circumstances.  And there is so much truth about God just in these few verses from Job!

This prompt was given, along with a list: Today I will keep my eyes open for God's beauty in one or more of these places.

These are the places I circled: The words I read; the music I hear; the people I encounter; the food I eat;  the air I breathe; the weather I experience; the rest I receive.

In 2024 I can note that for the people I encounter, we recently reunited with old friends in Canada.  What a blessing to see them still growing, still walking with God through every circumstance of life.

For the food I eat, I recalled the carefully planned and prepared, delicious food our friends made for us.  They work full time (though they took vacation time the week we were with them) so they prepared much ahead of time.  So much thought and care was beautiful!

For the rest I receive, I mentioned how well we slept during our visit, even though we were in a different time zone and were getting to bed later than usual.

A journaling prompt was this:  Everything God made is beautiful.  Where have I noticed God's beauty in the last 24 hours?

My response in 2018: In the gorgeous profusion of colors and designs in the Easter flowers at church.  In glorious blue sky and sunshine.  In words from the Bible and also those penned by hymn writers concerning Christ's resurrection.

For my response in 2024, I added: In the beauty of ocean and dunes.  In the color and form of shells.  In the gracefulness of a great blue heron.

P= "Lord,  I thank and praise You that You give breath to all mankind.  I praise You that in Your wisdom and understanding you have a plan for each of our lives.  I pray that You will help me to get serious about living out that plan each and every day of my life.  I thank and praise You for how You will help me to do this, in Jesus' name, Amen."

 And there is this week's Sunday Scripture!  I pray it's a blessing to someone.

Hodgepodge for September 11

 

Better late than never,  I'm joining in with Joyce and the gang for the Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.  Here we go ...

 1. When the Hodgepodge lands on September 11th I want to acknowledge that. Will you purposely pause to remember, pray, or attend any sort of ceremony on 9/11? Share any thoughts or memories you'd like to share about this day. 

I often post a link to A Prayer on Patriot Day -- a prayer for hope and healing -- which is really good, but I see it's been a few years since I did that.  So click one of the links if you'd like to read it.  

A takeaway for me from that day as I spent time in prayer for the terrifying situation: 

"At that moment I just remember being overwhelmingly thankful that I know the God of the universe, and that all events are under His sovereign control -- even when they appear out of control. I remember thanking God that even though these events were a terrible shock to us, that they were no surprise to Him, and that somehow, in some way, He would bring good out of this national tragedy. I found that He increased my faith during those dark days, and I trust that others experienced this also."

We are in dark times again.  Yet as His children we understand that God is with us in dark times and chaos, as He is in each moment of our lives. And just as Paige pointed out so beautifully in her prayer for hope and healing, "He goes before us; He can be trusted with every detail; and He is our safe place today, and for all eternity." 

Graphic by Abby at Little Birdie Blessings

 
2. Growing up, did you spend a lot of time with your grandparents? What's something you learned from a grandparent? 

I spent quite a bit of time at my maternal grandmother's house as she lived next door.  My grandfather died when I was four, so I didn't know him well at all.  I've written about my grandmother in the past.  Here's a snippet: 

"Her big farmhouse was spotlessly neat and clean, even the guest rooms, and she was also a wonderful cook and baker.  She was a homemaker par excellence (and her aprons always matched or coordinated with her dresses!)  but she was also an astute businesswoman and always dressed up to go to town. "

She also adored all twenty of her grandchildren and wanted life's very best for each of us.

Here are some things I learned from her:  

How to make doughnuts -- I really did very little cooking in my grandmother’s kitchen, but the one time I remember clearly was when she taught me to make her famous doughnuts.  These were cake doughnuts and were so scrumptious!  I remember her teaching me to mix up the dough, which was not really too different from other doughs I had made.  She had a special board for rolling out the dough on. 

In past years Gram always had used lard to fry her doughnuts, but by the time she was teaching me, she had switched to Crisco.  She used an electric skillet for frying, which worked so well for keeping the fat at a constant temperature.  She preferred to fry the doughnuts on her enclosed front porch, so as not to fill the kitchen with the aroma of frying doughnuts. 

My doughnuts turned out okay for a first try, and at the end of the session, Gram gave me her doughnut jar.  This was a large glass jar that had once been used for churning butter.  It held a lot of doughnuts, and she made me promise to fill it often.  

Some other things she also taught me:

Lessons in hospitality

Advice for cookie baking

3. What's your go-to breakfast? 

Coffee with cream only.  We do intermittent fasting.

4. Tell us the story behind one of your favorite photos. 

Oh, that's a hard one, but since my hubby's birthday was September 7, I will go with this one from September 2022.

Our Nevada family was out here visiting.  I had made Cornish Pasties to take along for a picnic in Franconia Notch State Park.  A lighted candle and a round of "Happy Birthday" from the assembled crew (which included eleven of our grandchildren" made it special!

5. This week Friday lands on the 13th. Are you superstitious in any way? Do you like scary movies, and if so what's your favorite? 

Nope, not superstitious in any way, and I don't like scary movies even a little bit.  There's enough scary stuff going on in real life right now.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Should I even admit that I'm seriously considering Write31Days for October?  Almost certainly I shouldn't.  So let's say instead for a random thought that we have had a string of incredibly beautiful fall days recently.

And there's the Hodgepodge for this week...

Sunday Scripture

 

Graphic from Scripture Images

 Yes, it's time for another Sunday Scripture!  This is part of an ongoing series on my simple study of Rachel Wojo's Everything Beautiful.  You can read about the plan here if you are interested in it for yourself: Everything Beautiful Bible reading plan. My answers and input on this series are a combination of what I learned back in 2018, and what I found in looking over the Scriptures now, six years later.  I'm attempting to SOAP the passages too, though some of them are longer. [Quick reminder that S stands for Scripture; O stands for observation; A stands for application, and P stands for prayer.]  Today's study is from Psalm 72:12-18. 

S= "For He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.
"He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.
"He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in His sight.
"And He shall live, and to Him shall be given of the gold of Sheba; prayer also shall be made for Him continually, and daily shall He be praised.
"There shall be an handful of grain in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth.
"His name shall endure forever; His name shall be continued as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed ih Him.  All nations shall call Him blessed.
"Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things."  (Psalm 72:12-18)

O= My Bible titles Psalm 72 "A Psalm for Solomon".

C.I. Scofield gives it this additional title: "Messiah's glorious kingdom".

Scofield adds this note: "The 72nd Psalm forms a complete vision of Messiah's kingdom insofar as the OT revelation extended.  David's prayers will find their fruition in the Kingdom (v.20, which says, 'The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.') Verse 1 refers to the investiture of the king's son with the kingdom ... Verses 2, 7, 12-14 give the character of the kingdom.  The emphatic word is 'righteousness'."

Cross-references for "redeem" (v.14) -- "For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth."  (Psalm 74:12)

"And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto those who turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD."  (Isaiah 59:20)  

Scofield says, "The time when 'the Redeemer shall come to Zion' is fixed, relatively, by Romans 11:23-29 following the completion of the church."  

Cross-reference for "Sheba" (v. 15) -- "The multitude of camels shall cover thee; the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; they all from Sheba shall come, they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall show forth the praises of the LORD."  (Isaiah 60:6)

Cross-reference comparison for "and they of the city shall flourish" (v.16) -- "Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry."  (1 Kings 4:20)

"Shall endure" (v.17) literally means "shall be."

Cross-reference for "endure" (v.17) -- "His seed shall endure forever, and His throne as the sun before me."  (Psalm 89:36)

Cross-reference for "in Him" (v.17) -- "And I will bless them that bless thee; and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed."  (Genesis 12:3)  

Scofield notes that the above is "the great evangelistic promise fulfilled in Abraham's seed, Christ, and in all the spiritual seed of Abraham who, like Abraham, are justified by faith.  The Abrahamic covenant reveals the sovereign purpose of God to fulfill through Abraham His program for Israel, and to provide in Christ the Savior for all who believe."

Cross-references for "Him" (v.17) -- "But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD."  (Numbers 14:21)

"For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."  (Habakkuk 2:14)

A= For this Scripture, there were also a number of ways to apply it as prompted in the journal.  

"In a world still saturated by trouble, God still does wondrous things." -- Rachel Wojo

This thought of course fits with verse 18, which exults: "Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things."  Our world is surely saturated by trouble, even more so now than when this study was written, but God does only wondrous things.  What a wonderful reminder!

 
Rachel also shares a "focus word" in each of the devotional pages.  For this lesson the focus word is "glimpse". 

 

Yes, our world indeed seems saturated by trouble.  Yet even in the midst of trouble,  even with all of the strident voices trying to convince us that lies are true, we see glimpses of God and the incredible things only He is able to do.  A friend of mine wrote: "Every time I start to get anxious, God shows that he’s in control!"  I have absolutely found this to be the case. 

The question was asked: Which of my own words have blocked the beauty of God's Word?

My response in 2018: I try not to do this, but at times I lose sight of the fact that God is still doing amazing things.  May I not ever forget that God, and God alone, does wondrous things!

Answering this same question in 2024:  Any words of unbelief or doubt.  Any words that question the indisputable fact of God being sovereign over all things.

This prompt was given, along with a list: Today I will keep my eyes open for God's beauty in one or more of these places.

These are the places I circled: The words I read; the music I hear; the people I encounter;  the air I breathe; the weather I experience; the rest I receive.

In 2024 I can note that for the music I hear,  I had the blessing of hearing a loon on the lake near our cottage, and the haunting cry of Canada geese passing overhead.

For the people I encounter, I recalled hosting our monthly Ladies of Grace meeting at our cottage recently.  Such sweet fellowship and testimonies!

A journaling prompt was this:  List one or more ideas to remind myself to intentionally look for God's beauty throughout the day.

My response in 2018: Walk outside on the porch.  Breathe deep and listen for birdsong.  Soak up any available sunshine.  Notice the beautiful color and form of foods and in everyday items.

For my response in 2024, I added: Pay attention to the glorious colors of late-summer flowers.  Listen for loons, Canada geese, and owls at our cottage.

P=

"Lord,  I pray that You will help me always to remember that You, and You alone, do wondrous things.  Your glorious, blessed name will endure forever.  We celebrate Your wondrous work in rising from the grave in victory over sin and death.  You still have that same mighty power and You are my Helper!  You are indisputably sovereign over all things and You will work wondrously in our lives and in our world.  I praise You for all of this in Jesus' name, Amen."

 And there is this week's Sunday Scripture!  I pray it's a blessing to someone.

 

How my word for the year -- "Continue" has looked so far

 

 Back in March I wrote a post about how I hoped that my word for the year would be looking.  Here's the link: How my word for 2024 will look.  

So it's probably high time I report in on how the year is going in that regard.  I'll say up front that there is good news and bad news.  I will put the updates in a different font.

As you may remember, this was the definition:

And, as I mentioned, in choosing the word continue for this year, I was mostly thinking about continuing on faithfully with a number of things, most (but not all) of them related to my spiritual life. Let's look at the various parts of the definition and how they might look in everyday life.

First, "persist in an activity or process".  I'd relate this to Bible study and blogging.   I intend to persist in both of these. 

 Bible study is a given.  There is so much more I want (and need) to learn about God's Word!

And I can report that now, at the end of summer, I've continued with Bible study as I planned.  I'm currently working on the study of Habakkuk pictured below.  I want to study Hosea next -- not a formal study like this one, but something simpler.  That said, I love the Daily Grace studies!

Blogging might be considered much more of an option, a personal choice.  But is it really?  I don't think so, at least not for me.  Blogging, I've come to believe, is an integral part of living out God's purposes for me.  It's a way to use the talents, skills, and even some of the spiritual gifts God has given me, to bless others.  So, as I said at the outset,  this is an activity I'll be persisting in for sure.  It's looking fairly consistent, and I did manage to post every day in July for Christmas in July at my Christmas blog.

Recently, too, we were visiting with old friends in Canada who hadn't been familiar with my blogs.  When the wife realized how many of my recipes were located therein, she declared, "I'll never use Goo*gle to search for a recipe again!"  So I see another reason for continuing to blog.

Then, "carry on with something that one has begun".  I had been hoping we could get back to getting together regularly with a younger couple we had been informally mentoring.  I had been chatting with the wife weekly by phone, and that has been wonderful, but in-person time is important as well. However, some changes in their living situation may have brought that hope to a halt for now.  We will see.

I had been hoping and planning, too, to get back more faithfully to decluttering and downsizing.  I've started that; have done some closets and dressers and have continued going through our many bookshelves.  We've made a good start on the attic and my craft closet, but oh, there is still so much more to do!

In another instance in carrying on with something I've begun -- I had gifted six of my teen grandchildren the Stand Firm Bible study from The Daily Grace Co.  I've finished my own study of the book, and found it a great blessing.  My intent had been to have a group chat with them weekly via email, but so far that's only happened once. 🙄.   Obviously I want to carry on with encouraging them to study their Bibles for themselves.

I have learned that two of them have completed the study.  I'm pretty sure at least one hasn't even started, and I'm not sure about the other three.

I do have some ideas for Christmas and birthday gifts along this line that I hope will get them meditating on God's Word for themselves.

I failed to mention this in my first post, but another thing I'll be carrying on with is my volunteer work at The Wilds of New England.  I imagine my hubby and I will be spending a good bit of time helping  with maintenance projects there in the late fall and likely some in the winter too.

Another thing to carry on with (unless or until God shows me differently) is listing and selling small vintage items from my childhood home on Etsy.  There is so much more to go!  I have shelves, a half dozen boxes, and even an entire dresser full of these small treasures.  It could take me years just to list all the paper items, so I'm thinking I may need to zero in on the children's books and see if I can get some of those out of the way.

I have listed a few more books and cards, but it's been slow going.

And then, "remain in a specified position or state".  I'll continue teaching Sunday School to ladies, at least for the foreseeable future. We are going to be doing a video series next (starting in a couple weeks) which will be watched as a group with all of the adult Sunday School class, then we will divide up as men and ladies to discuss.  That way the ladies will still get to keep their class and teacher.  I've been praying about what to do when that series finishes, and I do believe God has given me direction on that.

  I'll also continue with writing Sunday Scripture blog posts.  And with other things like writing notes and doing other things to encourage friends and family.  I've been keeping up with all that, and am praying about what to do next when I finish my Everything Beautiful Scripture series.

And "carry on traveling in the same direction".  To me this zeroes in on spiritual growth.  I've said before how our former pastor who retired after decades often reminded us that there is no standing still in the Christian life.  If you're not moving forward you're moving backward.  Period.  So very obviously, I had purposed to carry on with traveling forward in my pursuit of spiritual growth.  And I've been doing that.  I've even changed up a little bit in my devotional life to keep it fresh and varied.  It helps so much.  You can read about it here: Variety -- the spice of my devotional life.

Finally, "extend farther in the same direction".  For me, this speaks to my prayer life. I'd been hoping for some time to update some of my prayer journal pages to make it even more of an effective tool.

And at last this is an area where I can report progress!  If you read my "variety" post above, you'll see that I'm incorporating prayer journal pages into my quiet time one day a week.  I only have a few pages left to update in my own prayer journal, but I'm trying to make one for my husband as well.  That is going to take some time to complete.

This "extending farther in the same direction" also applies to my memorization of the book of James, which my younger friend Jennifer and I had been working on together.  We finished chapter 2 and that's where it seems to be stalled.  I do need to get back into it.  Gayle, a lady in my Sunday School class this summer, has shared with us how she has memorized entire books of the Bible and it really has been an encouragement to me to jump back into it.

And, I see now that some of the things on my list really fit with definition 2 of continue at this point -- "to recommence or resume after interruption."  My James memorization, my checking up on the teens with their study of Stand Firm, our in-person time with our younger friends -- all of these have been somewhat interrupted or stalled, so it's time to face that fact and see about resuming the ones I can.

What about you, friends? If you chose a word for 2024, how is that playing out for you?

Working on the hodgepodge

 

 After a little break, I'm joining in with Joyce and the gang for the Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.   Today's questions have a Labor Day connection.  And ... here we go!

1. Something you're working on currently?

Confederation Bridge, PEI

Getting back into real life following a short but wonderful vacation in the Canadian Maritimes.  Trying to catch up with housework and other tasks.  I'm also working as part of a team trying to pull together a missions conference at church for early October.

Bouctouche, NB

Bouctouche, NB

2. Tell us something about your first job? Was it a positive or negative experience for you? 

 It was a summer job washing dishes in a busy restaurant.  In general I guess it was a positive experience, but there wasn't much I enjoyed about it at the time.  Particularly terrifying to me was the necessity to light (with a match) the propane burner for the dishwasher.  I nearly always got someone else to do it for me.

Did your parents insist you work while in school (either high school or college) or did you work because you wanted to? 

They didn't insist I work during the school year, only during the summers.

3. Have you ever had a job that required overnight travel? How did you feel about that? 

No, thankfully. I would have hated it.

Have you ever had a job that required you to wear a uniform? 

Yes.  I waitressed at a quaint New England inn where the girls wore flowered dirndl-type dresses.  I also had a "second cook" job at that inn where I subbed for the chef on his day off and the pastry cook on her day off.  You can read about it here: Memories of a summer place.  For that job I wore a white dress similar to a nurse's uniform.  There was a dress shop in our town that also sold uniforms, and that is where I purchased the ones that I had.

Do you work better in the morning or at night? 

In the morning.

4. What's something you bake or cook that is labor intensive? Is it worth it? 

A few Christmas cookies including these:  Eggnog Logs; Sacher Torte Cookies; Mint Chocolate Spritz Trees; and these special-occasion cookies: Spritz Chocolate Sandwiches.

 
The Eggnog Logs in particular are very labor-intensive, but so many people love them that we just have to make them.  I think all of these cookies are worth the trouble it takes to make them.

Sacher Torte Cookies

Mint Chocolate Spritz Trees

Chocolate Spritz Sandwiches

5. One thing you're looking forward to in the month of September? 

A ladies' retreat at The Wilds of New England!   The sunrise photo below was taken at The Wilds of New England during a ladies' retreat one year.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I am absolutely astounded that it's already September and also astounded at how fast our calendar for the month is already filling up.

And there's the Hodgepodge for this week!  Why not head over to From this Side of the Pond and join in? 

Some goals for September

 

A new month means new goals (and with me, always some ongoing ones as well) -- so here goes!

* Keep up with Flylady's homemaking zones of the week
* Get back to working through the "Make Room Challenge" from Make Room for What You Love
* Spend time with our friends who are younger believers
* Enjoy our church ladies' gathering
* Post in this blog as often as possible
* Post in my Christmas blog as often as possible
* Continue planning for family birthday gifts and crafting any handmade ones
* Use Charles Swindoll's devotional Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life for my quiet time daily
* Continue studying and preparing for my Sunday School lessons
* Continue studying and preparing for my Sunday Scripture blog posts
*Work on Even If, a study of Habakkuk from the Daily Grace Co.
* Continue stocking my Etsy shop and continue selling vintage items
* Write at least 4 encouraging notes to friends and family
* Touch base with teen grandchildren regarding the Stand Firm Bible study
* Help and encourage my local daughter as I'm able
* Plan meals with a greater emphasis on healthy eating
* Continue to work on memorizing the book of James
* Continue to help a widowed friend with the challenges of life in general
* Get to bed by 8:30 each night we are at home
* Drink enough water each day
* Walk and/or exercise at least 4 times each week
* Get together with friends for breakfast
* Get together with other friends for supper
* Spend time with our friend Charlotte up north
* Attend a ladies retreat
* Continue planning and preparing for our church's missions conference in October

HEALTHY HABITS FOR SEPTEMBER:  Drink more water/get more sleep/get more exercise/intermittent fasting/limit carbs

WORD FOR 2024: Continue 

And there you have it -- my goals for September.   We will see how I do!

Sunday Scripture

  

Graphic from Scripture Images

It's time for another Sunday Scripture!  This is part of an ongoing series on my simple study of Rachel Wojo's Everything Beautiful.  You can read about the plan here if you are interested in it for yourself: Everything Beautiful Bible reading plan. My answers and input on this series are a combination of what I learned back in 2018, and what I found in looking over the Scriptures now, six years later.  I'm attempting to SOAP the passages too, though some of them are longer. [Quick reminder that S stands for Scripture; O stands for for observation; A stands for application, and P stands for prayer.]  Today's study is from Matthew 23:27-39.  

S= "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  for ye are like whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 
"Even so ye outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous,
"And say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
"Wherefore, ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye are the sons of them who killed the prophets.
"Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
"Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and some of them ye shall crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city,
"That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth; from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zechariah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
"Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them who are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
"Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
"For I say unto you, ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord."  (Matthew 23:27-39)

O= In the Scofield Study Bible, C.I. Scofield has titled Matthew chapter 23:1-12 "The marks of a Pharisee."   These verses note that here in chapter 23 Jesus was speaking to the multitude, and also to His disciples (v. 1)

Scofield titles verses 13-36 "Jesus announces seven woes upon the Pharisees."  (I counted eight woes,  and two of them are in the passage we're looking at (verse 27 and verse 29).

Cross-references for "whited sepulchers" (v. 27) -- "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them."  (Luke 11:44)

"Then said Paul unto [the high priest], God shall smite thee, thou whited wall; for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest thou me to be smitten contrary to the law?"  (Acts 23:3)

"Iniquity" (v.28) literally means "lawlessness".

Cross-references for "build the tombs of the prophets" (v.29) -- "Woe unto you!  For ye build the sepulchers of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.  Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchers."  (Luke 11:47-48)

Cross-reference for "fathers" (v.32) -- "Who (the Jews) both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always; fot the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost."  (1Thessalonians 2:15-16)

"Generation of vipers" (v.33)-- means "offspring of vipers".

"Damnation" (v.33) means "condemnation".

A note for the word "hell" in v. 33 explains that it's the Greek word "geenna" which is referring to "Gehenna, the place in the Valley of Hinnom where, anciently, human sacrifices were offered, and where the continuous burning of rubbish illustrated for the Jewish people unending judgment upon the wicked.  Every place in the Gospels where Jesus used this word, He was solemnly warning of the consequences of sin.  He described it as the place where "their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched."

Cross-references for "kill and crucify" (v.34) -- "Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute." (Luke 11:49)

"They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service."  (John 16:2)

Another cross-reference is Acts 7:54-60, which describes the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr.

Cross-references for "scourge" (v.34) -- "When they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go."  (Acts 5:40)

Paul said, "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.  Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned."  (2 Corinthians 11:24-25)

Cross-reference for "all the righteous blood" (v.35) --  Revelation 15:24 makes reference to "the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth."  

Note for "Abel" (v.35) -- "Our Lord here confirms the record of Genesis 4:8-10."  (Below.)

"And Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel ... and slew him.  And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel, thy brother?  And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?  And He said, What has thou done?  The voice of thy brother's blood calleth unto me from the ground."  (Genesis 4:8-10)

Cross-references for "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem" (v.37) -- "And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!  But now they are hidden from thine eyes."  (Luke 19:41-42)

Cross-references for "stonest them" (v. 37) -- "Nevertheless, they were disobedient, and rebelled against Thee, and cast Thy law behind their backs, and slew Thy prophets who testified against them to turn them to Thee, and they wrought great provocation."  (Nehemiah 9:26)

"And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoida, the priest, who stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God: Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper?  Because ye have forsaken the LORD, He also hath forsaken you.  And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD."  (2 Chronicles 24:20-21)

"And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending, because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling place, But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His Words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of God the LORD arose against the people, till there was no remedy."  (2 Chronicles 36:15-16)

Cross-reference for "gathered thy children" (v. 37) -- "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."  (Matthew 11:28-30)

Cross-references for "wings" (v.37) -- "Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me under the shadow of Thy wings."  (Psalm 17:8)

"He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust."  (Psalm 91:4a)

Cross-references for "Blessed is He" (v.39) -- "That the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations where the LORD thy God hath scattered thee."  (Deuteronomy 30:3)

"This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven."  (Acts 1:11b)

A= For this Scripture, there were also a number of ways to apply it as prompted in the journal.  

"May I reflect His beauty through a humble spirit." -- Rachel Wojo

My thoughts about this: True beauty begins in the heart, with a heart change only Jesus could provide.  We don't want to be like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and uncleanness.  We don't want to be hypocrites.  Hypocrisy is decidedly not beautiful. 

 
Rachel also shares a "focus word" in each of the devotional pages.  For this lesson the focus word is "humility". 

 

Humility is beautiful.  Pride is ugly, and is one of the things that God hates (Proverbs 6:16-18).   God's Word also tells us that He resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5). 

The question was asked: What one thought can I surrender to create room for seeing moments of grace?

My response in 2018: Maybe the thought that my life is spinning out of control: physical issues, heavy responsibilities, disrupted plans, many unknowns.  I need to remind myself that none of this has ever been out of God's control and that He IS working.

Answering this same question in 2024:  Any thought that our life situations somehow escape God's notice,  He is in full control of our circumstances, has a good purpose and a planned outcome for each situation,  and is our circumstances with us.

This prompt was given, along with a list: Today I will keep my eyes open for God's beauty in one or more of these places.

These are the places I circled: The words I read; the music I hear; the people I encounter; the food I eat;  the air I breathe; the weather I experience; the rest I receive.

In 2024 I can note that for the music I hear,  we went to a wedding recently and were blessed by a beautiful strings and piano prelude.

For the food I eat, I recalled the gorgeous carrot wedding cake so artfully presented on a slice of wood on a picnic table.

For the people I encounter, I noted the lovely wedding we attended and all of the friends whom we saw there.

For the weather I experience, I mentioned an entire day of gentle rain.

A journaling prompt was this:  Everything God made is beautiful.  Where have I noticed God's beauty in the last 24 hours?

My response in 2018: In hearing the songs of the first robins I've noticed this year.  In a day warm enough (though cloudy) to open a window and let in fresh air.  In a riot of colorful spring plants and flowers at the grocery store.  In a beautiful, colorful meal we enjoyed for supper last night.

For my response in 2024, I added: In the marriage vows of a dear Christian couple.  In the summer rain that has made everything so green.  In the blessing of believers praying for one another at a cottage prayer meeting.

P= "Lord,  I pray that you will help me to be reminded every day that You are in control of all things, even when they seem to be out of control -- disjointed, interrupted, unplanned, scattered, painful, uncertain, unknown, frightening ... They have never been and never will be out of Your control.  Help me to rest in that every day, no matter how the circumstances may look.  I love You, Lord.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

 And there is this week's Sunday Scripture!  I pray it's a blessing to someone.