Thinking Girls Bible Study

It's been a while since posting HAVING EARS TO HEAR, Part 1. Click here to read it or if you want to refresh. As we begin part 2 of this study of “Having Ears to Hear,” I noticed that throughout the Gospels when Jesus was on the earth and face to face with the disciples, He used the phrase “he who has ears to hear,” but when He had ascended into heaven after the resurrection and wrote the letters to the seven churches found in Revelation, He said, “he who has an ear to hear.” I wonder why the difference? Could it be that by that time, we, the Church, had already turned away a bit, so that we are just listening with one ear? Ear - ous - 1. An ear, 2. metaph. The faculty of perceiving with the mind, the faculty of understanding and knowing. We will begin this continuation with Matthew 13:13. Jesus tells His disciples after He has given them the parable of the soils, “This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do the...

There’s always more to the story. The Bible can never be exhausted. That’s one of the many beautiful aspects of God’s love letter to us. And the Lord has such a lovely way of bringing things full circle. Recently, I was talking with a friend who was dealing with an issue that has also been an ongoing issue in my life for many, many years. Without going into detail, this is something that involved decisions that only I could make for myself and I had to make those decisions according to what God’s Word says. If I’m being honest, those decisions come with lots of overthinking and caring too much that other people will think I’m dumb or foolish. But I know the only thing that matters is what I know the Lord would have me do. So when this conversation happened, all the issues that went into coming to these decisions came back into question. I was pleading with the Lord the next morning to please speak to me and show me, if indeed, we had already settled this. I opened up to Job 2:9-10: “Th...

I was reading Psalm 106 this morning in my new ESV Study Bible. I am enjoying reading a different version than my beloved New King James. As a side note, I have to say I’m a little disappointed that the ESV editors didn’t capitalize the pronouns referring to God for two reasons. The first is that it shows honor and respect and deference. The second reason is that it clears up confusion sometimes of who the “he,  him” is referring to. But back to the Psalm. Psalm 106 is a historical Psalm like Psalms 78 and 105. Psalm 106 recaps some of the events of Moses leading the Israelites in the Wilderness. This Psalm illustrates God’s faithfulness and steadfast love to the rebellious and unfaithful Israelites. It is good for us to know and to praise God for His many attributes. One of His attributes is faithfulness. God is always faithful. He cannot be unfaithful. 2 Timothy 2:12-13 says, “The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we e...