Savoring the Scripture

In the first post, I noted that one of the requirements for a widow that was to be put on the list for the church to care for was that she would have brought up children, nurtured them. I am first exploring how a mother can nurture her children spiritually. Next, a mother can nurture her children spiritually by teaching them to apply the Word of God in their daily living. Deuteronomy 6:6-7, "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”       The first thing I see is that the Word should be “on your heart.” The Word of God must first be on our heart, our inner person.  The innermost place in us that only God Himself can discern is the place where His Word is abiding.  Col. 3:16, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing ...

While studying 1 Timothy 5:3-16 and specifically the qualifications of the widows who were to be cared for by the church in verses 9-10, one of the qualifications stated that the widow was to be one who had brought up children. I looked at the meaning of “brought up” and it means to bring up children and to fulfill the duties of a mother.  It came from a word meaning to nourish and nurture.  Nurturing is the process of caring for and encouraging the growth or development of someone or something. A Christian mother, as she brings up her children, ought to nurture them.  In what ways should a Christian mother nurture her children? In what areas should she apply diligent effort in caring for and encouraging her children to grow and develop? I thought of four: spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. The specifics of how these are to be applied will vary from family to family and may even vary from child to child within a family. However, there are general princi...

The Care of Widows in the Scripture In the Old Testament, a widow was left in a difficult position with the death of her husband.   She could not inherit from him and thus if she was childless she may have the opportunity to marry her husband’s brother and stay in the family.   If she had children, her eldest son was to care for her. In the OT, God made provision for the widows by having them participate in the triennial third tithe, gleaning, and religious feasts (Deut. 14:29; 24: 19-21; 26:12). There was blessing from the Lord for those who followed this command to help provide for the widow, orphan, and alien.   God commanded the people not to pervert justice for the widow (Deut. 27:19), and He Himself would be her defender and execute justice on her behalf (Ex. 22:22; Deut. 10:18, 24:17,19; Ps. 146:9). In the NT, Paul expected families to care for their widows (1 Tim. 5:4-8), and the church would care for widows who were widows indeed (1 Tim. 5:3-16). However,...

In my last post encouraging women to study the Scripture, I looked at three reasons to study the Word of God. As believers we want to know God truly for who He has revealed Himself to be, we want to know the truth and guard ourselves against deception, and we have a deep privilege to dig into the Scripture. In this post, I will look at three additional reasons why we, as women, should study the Word of God: to grow and bear fruit, to be adequate and complete, and to have His Word richly dwelling in us. Grow and Bear Fruit We study the Scriptures so that we can grow and bear fruit.   The Word of God is necessary for our growth. 1 Peter 2:1-3 says, “like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”   The word long means to desire earnestly and is a command. The object of our longing is “the pure milk of the word.” Milk is used figuratively here as the sincere and sweet word of Christ by which believers grow in...

The Westminster Confession of Faith states plainly about the Word of God, that the people of God: ...have right unto, and interest in the Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to read and search them...that the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship Him in an acceptable manner; and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope (Art. 1.8). This understanding of the necessity of reading and searching the Scripture is for all the people of God, not just for pastors, seminarians, or bible teachers. The Word of God to the believer is to be more desired than gold and sweeter than honey (Psalm 19:10). In fact, we live not by bread alone but by these infallible words which have proceeded from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). Women are included in the church of God and ought to take seriously our call to search His Word deeply. In this post, I will explore three reasons why we should study the Scripture. Know God First, we study the Sc...

Several mornings a week, I climb out of bed and after an early morning quiet time, I get my running gear on: shirt, reflective pants, shoes, headband, Garmin watch, phone, and ear buds. Some mornings, it’s easy to gear up and head out for that run. Some mornings are harder and require more effort. Some mornings are cold, or hot, or I’m tired. Some days the miles require lots of effort and other days they breeze by. But I love the quiet and stillness of the break of day and I love the accomplishment at the end of the run. What keeps me going out there week after week? Through pregnancies and nursing infants? Through the chilliness of below freezing temperature? Through heat and tiredness? Discipline. Spiritual Discipline Discipline is  the act of training and developing by instruction or exercise especially in self-control. [1] As believers, we are called to train and develop our spiritual senses for the purpose of attaining godliness, a life both in attitude ...