2010 March | Paula Wiseman

STT: Ten Minutes

Dr. David Jeremiah said, “Most people don’t realize that half the books of the Bible can be read in ten to forty-five minutes each.” Ten minutes. My son has to read ten minutes every night for homework. I’ve suggested to him that it would be a quick, easy way to knock out homework AND Bible study if he read his Bible during those ten minutes. So far, he’s not made the connection.

Ten minutes… waiting to pick the kids up from school… waiting while dinner cooks… waiting at the doctor’s office… Just ten minutes. Just reading, so you don’t need your big study Bible and notebook and colored pens and commentaries. (You use all that stuff too, right?) Just reading.

What would happen if you took ten minutes and read some of those “one sitting” books… Ruth, Lamentations, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Malachi, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude. (That’s 28 books right there!) Then Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, Zechariah, Mark, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians and Hebrews aren’t much longer. (14 more. Now you’re up to 42! That’s almost two-thirds of the Bible.)

Don’t worry about understanding everything you read. I know that some of those minor prophets can be tough, keep at it! The Holy Spirit will bring the Word to life for you as you read and reread. If you want more proof, take one of those 10 minute sessions and read Psalm 119 for all the benefits of God’s word: Blessings, rejoicing, revival, strength, salvation, liberty, comfort, hope, life, guidance, and more!

Ten minutes…

stopwatch Dr. David Jeremiah said, “Most people don’t realize that half the books of the Bible can be read in ten to forty-five minutes each.” Ten minutes. My son has to read ten minutes every night for homework. I’ve suggested to him that it would be a quick, easy way to knock out homework AND Bible study if he read his Bible during those ten minutes. So far, he’s not made the connection.

Ten minutes…

Doing It

By Paula

“But you’re doing it.”

That’s what my husband tells me when I vent my eternal frustration with my lack of stamina. He hops up on Saturday mornings and runs 8-10 MILES. When the weather finally eased above 30 degrees in the mornings last week, I started running again. I had trouble running 2 TENTHS of a mile. (I got a whole mile in eventually, running and walking, but then I was so sore I couldn’t move for two days.)

“But you’re doing it.”

I want results. Progress. The measurable and immediate kind. I think that’s what made the Wii Fit appealing- two minutes of activity and boom! A score. (And a ranking!) The downside is that I get too hung up on artificial measures and lose patience with myself very quickly. Real progress comes slowly after a series of incremental victories.

Writing is a slow process, lots of long hours alone at the computer with very little measurable progress. I often need a healthy dose of encouragement. Faith-building is another slow process. I get frustrated when I see myself making the same mistakes, falling into the same struggles again and again. What is hard to remember and more difficult to measure, is that each time, I come away a little stronger. Plus, while God expects obedient effort on my part, He doesn’t hold me responsible for the results. Sometimes I forget that part.

“But you’re doing it.”

Whether in areas of faith and personal growth, or health and self-discipline, celebrate that effort. It’s easy to recognize you “should”, or even have a “want to”, but overcoming the inertia and doing it counts for a lot.

What is it that you’re ‘doing’?

j0438680 “But you’re doing it.”

“But you’re doing it.”

What is it that you’re ‘doing’?

Filed Under: Living Tagged With: Running, Wii Fit

Working While Waiting

By Paula

Techie stuff – No new stuff this week except that links to my posts are not getting shortened when they post to Twitter. I haven’t figured out why yet.

What I’m reading – Justinian’s Flea. It’s a history of the Plague that hit during the reign of the Emperor Justinian and nearly wiped out Europe. More devastating than the Great Plague, but yet it receives less attention. I love histories that focus on the personalities and the interconnectedness of the events. Next up for school, The Golden Compass.

What God has taught me – I blogged Monday about getting out of the boat, about being where Jesus is and not relying on what seems to me to be the best course of action. Now that I’ve been made aware of that in theory, in abstract, I expect a ‘practical’ test soon.

Writing update – I am holding my breath right now. The publisher asked for the full manuscript, and he should receive it tomorrow. It’s anybody guess how much time he will need to read and decide whether he wants the book. (He’s read it before, but I made several revisions, and tightened it up a bit.) I will certainly let you know. Should he offer to buy the book (and hopefully its follow-ups!) we will be ordering a new laptop, a Blackberry and a Lego Death Star (fulfilling a promise made to a little boy years ago). Just for the record, I started working on the book July 28, 2005, the date the story opens. However, I had to drop the year from the text as later books have put us some twenty years in the future. I’m not into writing future stories.

Other stuff – Jon was gone this week, but made it back safe last night. SPRING! It is warm enough to run again. I was so sore after Monday’s run that I didn’t get back out til this morning. Such a wimp. Picking up my bifocals today and we’re closing on the refinancing of our house. Even when I’m not busy, I’m busy.

Techie stuff – No new stuff this week except that links to my posts are not getting shortened when they post to Twitter. I haven’t figured out why yet.

What I’m reading – Justinian’s Flea. It’s a history of the Plague that hit during the reign of the Emperor Justinian and nearly wiped out Europe. More devastating than the Great Plague, but yet it receives less attention. I love histories that focus on the personalities and the interconnectedness of the events. Next up for school, The Golden Compass.

Filed Under: Friday Update

Hope in a Hopeless Psalm

By Paula

I get to lead a Bible study group and we’ve been doing a leisurely study of the Psalms. Yesterday morning, we came to Psalm 88. Now, I have one of my characters say, “There’s always hope at the end of a psalm.” That’s not the case with this one. The writer pours out his heart- he’s sick, abandoned by family and friends, ignored by God, miserable in soul and spirit, and despairing of life itself. And that’s it. There’s no rousing ‘but God is my refuge’ ending. In fact, the last word is ‘darkness’. God never speaks. The psalmist walks away just as depressed as when he started.

But there is hope and comfort in that psalm. Here are some things I took away from it.

It is not uncommon to feel this kind of anguish. And that longing for God to hear, to intervene, is a sign of genuine faith. You won’t long for a God you don’t trust in.

There are times when prayer is like that. We leave our knees with no answer, no resolution. Sometimes, we get sweet peace and relief as quickly the words leave our hearts… and sometimes we don’t. In both situations, God is still God. He still loves us and still hears us. He doesn’t have to explain Himself to us though. He is GOD.

Then sometimes, I think God doesn’t answer because our judgment is so messed up we wouldn’t listen anyway. Maybe the psalmist was wrong about being abandoned and ignored. Maybe God’s answer was something like “You’re upset. I can’t talk to you when you’re like this. Calm down. Get some rest, and then we’ll talk.”

God is always at work. He will never leave leave us or forsake us. He’ll never abandon us or leave us to fend for ourselves. Regardless of our circumstances, our feelings, or our thoughts.

j0433335 I get to lead a Bible study group and we’ve been doing a leisurely study of the Psalms. Yesterday morning, we came to Psalm 88. Now, I have one of my characters say, “There’s always hope at the end of a psalm.” That’s not the case with this one. The writer pours out his heart- he’s sick, abandoned by family and friends, ignored by God, miserable in soul and spirit, and despairing of life itself. And that’s it. There’s no rousing ‘but God is my refuge’ ending. In fact, the last word is ‘darkness’. God never speaks. The psalmist walks away just as depressed as when he started.

But there is hope and comfort in that psalm. Here are some things I took away from it.

It is not uncommon to feel this kind of anguish. And that longing for God to hear, to intervene, is a sign of genuine faith. You won’t long for a God you don’t trust in.

God is always at work. He will never leave leave us or forsake us. He’ll never abandon us or leave us to fend for ourselves. Regardless of our circumstances, our feelings, or our thoughts.

Filed Under: Devotional Tagged With: hope, Psalms

STT: Learning about God

By Paula

We’ve examined several reasons for studying Scripture. By far, the most significant reasons is what we learn about God from His word.

In Psalm 36, verses 5-6 outline a few of God’s attributes.

Mercy vast as the heavens

Faithfulness beyond the clouds

Righteousness like mountains

Justice deep as the sea

All of these are poetic images used to convey the idea that God is limitless. He is infinite. That’s one of the simplest ways to distinguish God from the rest of us. I am constantly aware of my limitations. I get tired, irritated. I fail in my dealings with others, withholding mercy at times, crossing a line from justice to vindictiveness on other occasions. I know my righteousness doesn’t measure up to a dirt clod, much less a mountain.

Thankfully, the psalm goes one more step and includes God’s precious unfailing love, and as an outworking of that He offers shelter and provides for us, satisfying the deep longings of our souls.

Sometimes, in my quest for intimacy with God, I lose sight of His uniqueness, His God-ness, of everything that makes Him God alone. It’s good to be reminded regularly, because it is in recognizing that separate-ness of God that I begin to grasp how wondrous, how beyond description, His desire for a relationship with me truly is.

[This is an updated repost.]

We’ve examined several reasons for studying Scripture. By far, the most significant reasons is what we learn about God from His word.

In Psalm 36, verses 5-6 outline a few of God’s attributes.

Mercy vast as the heavens
Faithfulness beyond the clouds
Righteousness like mountains
Justice deep as the sea

Thankfully, the psalm goes one more step and includes God’s precious unfailing love, and as an outworking of that He offers shelter and provides for us, satisfying the deep longings of our souls.

[This is an updated repost. And I'm a day late besides. I sent a query to a publisher and he asked to see the full manuscript, so I've been preparing it. Thanks for understanding!]

Filed Under: Study Tip Tuesday Tagged With: Bible study, Psalms