Latest / Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms / #140. Micah: When Life Doesn't Turn Out How We Hope or Expect, How Do We Keep Loving Well?

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#140. Micah: When Life Doesn't Turn Out How We Hope or Expect, How Do We Keep Loving Well? · Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms

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  Speaker 9: This is The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.
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  Speaker 9: I'm Stephanie Hickox, and today we're meditating upon the words of the prophet Micah.
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  Speaker 9: In full disclosure, the Lord has used this book to wreck me.
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  Speaker 9: Because it's so personal, it might be best for mom years alone Micah wrote at the same time as Isaiah.
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  Speaker 9: He also lived in Judah, Not in Jerusalem, but westward in the area of Gath.
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  Speaker 9: His name means, "Who is like the Lord?"
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  Speaker 9: which indicates he probably had parents that were faithful to Yahweh Keep this meaning in mind for when we reach the end of the book.
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  Speaker 9: Micah's message is similar to other prophets as he says The Lord longs to be worshiped with a pure heart, and that
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  Speaker 86: Should transform how you treat others
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  Speaker 9: I like how simply Daniel Green says it.
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  Speaker 9: The purpose of the book is to demonstrate that true faith results in social justice and practical holiness with a view toward the ultimate reign of Messiah on the earth There are three main portions of the Book of Micah,
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  Speaker 9: and they all begin with the word hear.
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  Speaker 9: The first section tells us judgment will come.
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  Speaker 9: The next portion, blessing will follow, and finally, the blessing will surpass the judgment.
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  Speaker 9: Like several other prophets, Micah employs courtroom terminology, and the Lord uses him to condemn unjust practices the nations have committed Included in that would be seizing fields unlawfully, stealing, exploiting children and women, leadership that is corrupt, unethical business
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  Speaker 9: practices, violence and bribery the book begins The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 9: Hear you peoples, all of you.
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  Speaker 9: Pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
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  Speaker 9: For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and he will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
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  Speaker 9: Jerusalem was the head of Judah, and Samaria the head of Israel.
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  Speaker 9: He's speaking to both nations and warns God will come to defeat the high places Amen.
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  Speaker 9: Right?
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  Speaker 9: Chapter two begins, Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds.
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  Speaker 9: When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand.
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  Speaker 9: They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away.
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  Speaker 9: They oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
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  Speaker 9: Therefore thus says the Lord, Behold, against this family I am devising disaster."
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  Speaker 9: God rebukes those who plot wickedness and are set on evil But in contrast, I love what chapter two, verse seven says, Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly?"
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  Speaker 9: And at the end of the chapter, the tender shepherd emerges.
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  Speaker 9: I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob.
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  Speaker 9: I will gather the remnant of Israel.
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  Speaker 9: I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men."
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  Speaker 9: Chapter 3 is the beginning of section two, announcing the judgment of the Lord.
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  Speaker 9: And I said, "Hear you, heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel.
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  Speaker 9: Is it not for you to know justice?
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  Speaker 9: You who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones, who eat the flesh of my people and flay their skin from off them, and break
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  Speaker 9: their bones in pieces, and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron.
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  Speaker 9: Then they will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer them.
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  Speaker 9: He will hide his face from them at that time because they have made their deeds evil."
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  Speaker 9: In verse eight, Micah writes, But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord and with justice and might to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
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  Speaker 9: Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel who detest justice and make crooked all that is right, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity.
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  Speaker 9: Its heads give judgment For a bribe, its priests teach for a price.
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  Speaker 9: Its prophets practice divination for money, yet they lean on the Lord and say, "Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
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  Speaker 9: No disaster shall come upon us."
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  Speaker 9: Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed as a field.
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  Speaker 9: Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
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  Speaker 9: But even after these words of judgment, Micah offers words of hope beginning in chapter four, telling us that at one day, people from every nation will say, "Come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the
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  Speaker 9: house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths."
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  Speaker 9: And just like Amos, we're told that there will not be war anymore And nation will not rise against nation In that day," declares the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away, and
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  Speaker 9: those whom I have afflicted.
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  Speaker 9: And the lame I will make the remnant, and those who were cast off a strong nation.
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  Speaker 9: And the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore."
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  Speaker 9: Next we read a verse that would've been extremely surprising to the audience 4:10 says, You shall go to Babylon.
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  Speaker 9: There you shall be rescued, for the Lord will redeem you from the hand of all your enemies."
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  Speaker 9: At this point, Assyria was the enemy they feared, and Babylon was somewhat weak.
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  Speaker 9: When Micah says they'll be rescued from Babylon, it would have been an odd prophecy for them to hear, but we know it would come to pass In chapter five, verse two, we read another messianic prophecy that also came
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  Speaker 9: to pass But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old,
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  Speaker 9: from ancient of days.
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  Speaker 9: And verse four, And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name the Lord his God.
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  Speaker 9: And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and he shall be their peace."
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  Speaker 9: About 800 years after this prophecy was written, the Lord would use a political census to cause a virgin girl and her faith-filled husband to travel 100 miles so this prophecy might be made true, and the newborn king would
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  Speaker 9: be worshiped.
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  Speaker 9: And speaking of kings, we've talked about how Deuteronomy 17 condemned the accumulation of several things for kings.
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  Speaker 9: and in chapter five, verse 10, we read that the Lord will cut off the nation's reliance on earthly things.
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  Speaker 9: And in that day," declares the Lord, I will cut off your horses from among you and will destroy your chariots, and I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds, and I will
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  Speaker 9: cut off sorceries from your land, And you shall have no more tellers of fortunes, and I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you."
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  Speaker 9: and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands Hallelujah, right?
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  Speaker 9: When we read scripture chronologically, we might be tempted to think, "God, why didn't you do it earlier?"
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  Speaker 9: He has been so patient And we can understand his continued indictment in chapter six.
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  Speaker 9: Hear what the Lord says, Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.
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  Speaker 9: Hear you mountains the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth.
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  Speaker 9: For the Lord has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel."
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  Speaker 9: O my people, what have I done to you?
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  Speaker 9: How have I wearied you?
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  Speaker 9: Answer me.
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  Speaker 9: For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
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  Speaker 9: That you may know the righteous acts of the Lord?
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  Speaker 9: With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high?
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  Speaker 9: Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
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  Speaker 9: Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with 10,000 of rivers of oil?
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  Speaker 9: Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
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  Speaker 9: God reminds them, look at all I've done for you.
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  Speaker 9: And do you think that you can please me like you please these despicable idols like Molech, sacrificing your children to them?"
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  Speaker 9: And this is the context in which God tells them what is truly required.
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  Speaker 9: He has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."
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  Speaker 9: It again reminds us that our love of God must be shown in how we treat others.
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  Speaker 9: We'll come back to this convicting verse in a moment Chapter Seven Verses eight through 20 are Israel personified, and Micah tells them God will rescue you because of His character and His promises I told you to keep in
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  Speaker 9: mind what the name Micah means.
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  Speaker 9: It's who is like Yahweh or who is like the Lord.
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  Speaker 9: And the concluding section of this book is a play on those words as it begins, Who is a God like you?
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  Speaker 9: Pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance.
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  Speaker 9: He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love.
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  Speaker 9: He will again have compassion on us.
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  Speaker 9: He will tread our iniquities underfoot.
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  Speaker 9: You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
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  Speaker 9: You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have shown to our fathers from the days of old In the midst of all this judgment, Micah points to a God who forgives sin.
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  Speaker 9: He has compassion on us and is faithful to His promises, delighting to show His love to us.
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  Speaker 9: And now I'd like to make it a little bit more personal because though my circumstances may be unique, I know there's a struggle I have that many other women also endure I wanna be clear that I am not
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  Speaker 9: speaking to circumstances of abuse but rather situations of hurt, rejection, and disappointment I've shared before that my husband was diagnosed with MS eight years ago.
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  Speaker 9: But really, as I look back, I can see that his symptoms began right after we got married.
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  Speaker 9: For years, I've sought the wisdom of many counselors, pastors, and wise friends.
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  Speaker 9: It seems that no one can tell me how to be married and raise four young kids with a man with brain damage.
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  Speaker 9: It's a daily struggle and affects our marriage and our family on every level Add to this absence the fact that shortly after I got married, my father passed away, then my father-in-law, and then my mom got engaged to
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  Speaker 9: a man who also passed away.
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  Speaker 9: The Lord has allowed every man I could look to for wisdom, protection, and provision to be taken away.
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  Speaker 9: But in His goodness, I've had to look to Him.
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  Speaker 9: What my family requires of me is often exhausting, overwhelming, and daunting, and every time I try to invite my husband into the process of carrying the burden with me, I'm reminded he can't What makes it more complicated is
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  Speaker 9: that there are many times I can't looks like I won't, and I'll never know for sure what are choices and what are a lack of capability?
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  Speaker 9: And if you know our story, you know that I didn't marry him because I thought he was the most charming, dashing man alive.
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  Speaker 9: I married him because he was the man I thought would run after Jesus with me.
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  Speaker 9: There were clear differences in our personalities and our interests, but we had a mutual respect for each other's walks with the Lord and felt called to serve Him together As I continue to walk through the changes in this
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  Speaker 9: person I thought was going to be my partner in the marathon, it's brought a lot of deep disappointment and hurt.
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  Speaker 9: The man who planned the most complicated proposal I've ever heard is now a man who can hardly remember my birthday.
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  Speaker 9: My requests are rarely remembered or understood, and part of me is tempted to just keep running after the Lord full speed But the Lord has convicted me that I'm also to help my husband become the man he couldn't
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  Speaker 9: be without me It reminds me of a friend whose husband has a ministry where they run races pushing wheelchairs of those who have special needs.
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  Speaker 9: I'm astounded that people feel led to not only push their own body past the finish line, but also someone else's.
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  Speaker 9: But it's the picture I have in my marriage right now, that God has called me to not just get myself and my kids past the finish line but to help my husband reach it as well.
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  Speaker 9: Even though I thought pursuing Christ as a family would look entirely different, I'm realizing that the pushing of this imaginary chair is taking up my cross, and the Lord is requiring me to become more like Him in a
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  Speaker 9: way that I certainly didn't want, expect, or plan.
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  Speaker 9: But it doesn't take God by surprise.
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  Speaker 9: He knew this is what He had planned for my family and when I've sought Him for how to endure well,
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  Speaker 86: this is the verse He keeps bringing
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  Speaker 9: Me back to.
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  Speaker 9: Micah 6:8.
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  Speaker 9: He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?"
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  Speaker 9: He has allowed a circumstance in my life that is impossible to do without Him.
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  Speaker 9: I must walk humbly with my God for a long time, I was meditating on the fact that God was calling me to do kindness But recently when I went back to study it, I realized it doesn't say to
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  Speaker 9: do kindness.
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  Speaker 9: This is not a checklist.
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  Speaker 9: It says to love kindness.
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  Speaker 9: This is a whole nother level of me becoming like Christ.
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  Speaker 9: Loving kindness or loving mercy, as some translations say, is entirely different than acting out of kindness or mercy When my husband forgets something so important to me yet again, do I love to show him mercy?
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  Speaker 9: I don't.
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  Speaker 9: I am so far from my Savior.
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  Speaker 9: And this circumstance, if I can walk humbly with my God, is going to be what makes me look more and more like Him on the days when it feels beyond me to accomplish this, I'm reminded of Matthew 25,
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  Speaker 9: Whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me."
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  Speaker 9: And echoing that sentiment, an entrusted Betsy says, Love is what you do for those who can do nothing in return."
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  Speaker 9: When I'm tempted To think I'm just pushing my husband in that invisible wheelchair it helps me to be reminded I'm pushing my Savior, and hopefully I'm setting an example for my kids that this is not about me.
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  Speaker 9: It's not just about my comfort and my happiness, But I'm reminded of Romans 5:5 which says, And hope does not put us to shame because He has poured out His love upon us."
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  Speaker 9: Other translations say, And hope does not disappoint us."
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  Speaker 9: I believe the Lord is going to use my transformation journey to bring Him glory, and that I'm not gonna be disappointed or ashamed by it In thinking about all of this, I did something kind of silly.
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  Speaker 9: I'm pretty cautious about my AI usage, but I uploaded a picture of my husband and asked it to morph this with an image of Jesus from The Chosen.
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  Speaker 9: It took a couple iterations, but once complete, I printed out a copy to remind me that what I do unto my husband, I'm doing unto the Lord Maybe you're loving a husband that's very different from the man you
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  Speaker 9: married.
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  Speaker 9: Maybe a child going through rebellion, or maybe it's loving the lost that reject you as they reject Christ.
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  Speaker 9: Whatever you do to the least of these, you do unto the Lord We have an opportunity to live out exactly what Micah said, that our love for the Lord can transform our love for people.
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  Speaker 9: I am wrecked by this, the fact that I can love my Savior so deeply and yet struggle so intensely to love well in my own heart.
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  Speaker 9: I'm thankful for the God who has walked in complete patience with me Who is like this God who pardons iniquity and passes over transgressions, that does not retain His anger forever, but delights in steadfast love?
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  Speaker 9: He has compassion on us, and He casts our sin into the depths of the sea.
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  Speaker 9: And it's this God, and through His strength, that I will live for each day Heavenly Father, we thank you that you see to the inward parts and that our outward acts are not enough.
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  Speaker 9: You long for purity in the inward places.
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  Speaker 9: We confess the times that we don't walk in love, that we long for our comfort and our joy over our holiness you are a savior that humbly took on the role of a servant And I pray that you
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  Speaker 9: will give us the capacity to honor you in this way, that we would love those you've placed in our path even when it's difficult, exhausting, or feels fruitless Thank you that you see us in this, that your Holy
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  Speaker 9: Spirit enables us, and that you're honored by it And we pray for something that only you could do, that as our kids watch us love others in a way they do not deserve that it would not turn them
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  Speaker 9: away from carrying their own crosses, but that they would be drawn to also laying down their lives for Your glory We know only you can make the sacrifices of the kingdom seem worth it to them, And we trust
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  Speaker 9: you for that fruit in their lives.
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  Speaker 9: We pray for miracles and testimonies and yet for patience when you have a better plan.
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  Speaker 9: Thank you, Jesus, that you're coming for your bride.
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  Speaker 9: We love you.
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  Speaker 9: Amen