A Perfect Timeline
Today I am guest blogging over at BibleDude.net as part of a group study of the book of Philippians.
I’ll provide a link to the post below. But first, I’d like to share with you a timeline.
June 13: Dan King sends the schedule for the study and invites participants to choose a passage. I sign up to comment on Philippians 4:1-9, noting the post will appear on July 15.
June 28: I consult the calendar and determine to write my post over the long holiday weekend, as we will be on vacation the week of July 15. I read through the book in a few different translations.
June 29: I determine that Sunday, July 3, is my best shot at working up the post, so I block out some time to work on it.
July 2: A household dispute starts our day. It’s not a big, bitter, ugly dispute. It’s the nagging kind that surfaces on occasion when young adults have returned to the nest, desperate to keep their sense of independence and adulthood intact while parents, equally desperately, seek conformation to household standards.
It leaves a bad taste in my house. I feel wronged. And I find myself, through the morning, prodding at that wrongedness now and then, inflaming into something that smells, just a bit, of resentment.
July 3: A mini-version of the previous day’s dispute overflows again. And I poke, again, at my wound.
And then, a few hours later, I turn again to Philippians and I’m stopped short by what I find there. If you hop over to BibleDude.net to read the post, you’ll see why. I’ll wait.
In the commentary, I wrote:
This passage convicts me and gives me hope. I suffer from a tendency to dig through a conflict all the way to its bedrock, often insisting that my partner-in-conflict grab a shovel and a pick and excavate right along beside me. And it’s hard for a godly spirit to shine through all the dust and mud I pick up while busily digging in that pit.
This episode reminds me that the Bible isn’t simply a book. It’s God’s living Word, intended to guide us, soothe us,…and sometimes rebuke us. The Word delivered exactly what I needed, at exactly the right time.
God is SO Good.
5 Come and see the works of God,
Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men.
Psalm 66:5 (NASB)
And, this was just what I needed today – right now. Bless you.
The bible has a way of doing that! I remember teaching a bible study on patience and on the way to church completely lost it with my kids. "Hypocrite" was the only word I could think of
Thanks, you two. Our God gives us amazing stuff, doesn't He?
David, I have earned that title on more occasions than I'd care to mention.
I carry shovels and picks for my p-in-c's, too, Sheila.
That's so, um, thoughtful of you, Sam.
Thanks for coming by. 🙂
I had some Pastor friends who specialized in Marriage seminars. He confided that each time they head out to do one of these meetings; he and she almost have a divorce! Satan is so crafty, and we must be wise as serpents and strong as lions. Sometimes it is better to just let those little nit picking things go!
A little grace can go a long, long way, hmmm, Hazel?
Kind of reminds me of the prayer "Lord give me patience … Quick." 🙂 Thanks for the reminder not to dig the hole so deep one can't climb out. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel reminds us "The hand from above is always there, if one just reaches out as Adam did."
It's the remembering to reach out that trips me up sometimes, Red. Thanks.
Sounds like even in the tough excavating, you've unearthed real treasure — a word from God. Oh Glory! He is so, so good, Sheila. (And thank you for sharing about your struggle. I appreciate your vulnerability here.)
Jennifer,
YOUR timing in bringing me back to reread this could not have been better.
Is it weird to say I needed to be reminded of my own two-day-old post?
Thank you.