Hidden Treasures

I started on a new treasure hunt this week! It has been an amazing adventure! I wrote earlier about the Beth Moore Bible study I was going through. On the 27th, the Lord impressed upon my heart another Bible study. As you know, Eric and I are going through a time of trying to discern God's will about a ministry position. During my time of waiting this week, I started thinking more about how God guides His people. Eric and I want to be 150% sure that when we take the step to move elsewhere to serve that that place is exactly where God has called us to be. How do we make sure this happens? Examining characters from the Bible who were guided by God illuminates the answer. The personal Bible study I began doing this week is called Guidance and Faith: A Study of Biblical Characters God Guided and the Faith They Had to Follow. It is not a study I bought from a store, it is just what God laid upon my heart to dig in to. As I started sifting through the topic on the 28th, I realized that this could take me over a year to study! Every little dot on the Bible passage map I put my finger on took me to another place on the map. I realized that before I really put my shovel in to see what treasure lies beneath the Bible character surface, I needed to lay a foundation on which to display my treasure when I find it. I have spent the past three days examining scripture passages with the words guidance and guide. I am already finding hidden treasure and my journey just began! I have enjoyed my time of reflection upon God's might with which He leads. He thinks of everything! God has guided people and all of creation since the beginning of time. He never changes. That means that if God was a counselor, a guide, and a leader to the Israelites a long time ago, then He is still the same to me now. One of the passages I read today was the song Moses and the sons of Israel sang to God after being delivered through the Red Sea and onto dry land. It was so amazing to read their praises to God - it felt like I was in a worship service! What I really thought was neat was reading about people thousands of years ago praising the same God I praise now. I think that is incredible! I call these hidden treasures because I set out looking for one thing and found so much more than I ever expected to. God's Word contains such amazing and priceless treasures! What I have really enjoyed about connecting the dots on my treasure map is that I have so much time to sit and soak in all the discoveries and to allow things I learned a long time ago to resurface - something that is difficult to do with my busy teaching schedule of meetings, lesson plans, grading, and everything else that comes with life. I am looking forward to the many other hidden treasures God will reveal to me in the future!
(Picture from http://www.treasurehuntsouthern.co.uk/images/pirate-treasure-map.jpg)