February 3, 2014
Good Morning!
Margaret Feinberg defines the wonder of God as “a moment of spiritual awakening that makes us curious to know God more.” For some of you this past week, maybe, that moment was a spectacular sunset, the purring of a kitten, the unexpected kindness of a stranger or the unexpected experience of a snowfall.
This first week of our study, we focused on the wonder of divine expectation. On Day 1 and Day 2 of the study, we considered how immune we are to the wonders of God, how we take them for granted and we, also, considered what prevents us from living in the expectation that God wants to do awesome work in, through, and around us. We, also, began recording three wonders of God a day in the back of our member book in the section entitled, The Wonderstruck Journal.
Day 3 of the study is the day that stood out for me personally. Although I have studied Isaiah 6 many times, Margaret Feinberg wrote that “God forever ruin{ed} Isaiah” which captured my attention. I began to think about Isaiah and his experience in a different, more personal way. I think it was her choice of the word, ruined, that grabbed me.
Isaiah was transformed by his experience. He was never the same after he encountered God. Isaiah could never go back to living like the experience had never happened. He couldn’t go back to who and what he was before. His eyes had been opened wide to the wonders of God in a way he would’ve never fathomed. He was ruined. Not just a ruined man because of sin but a man ruined to normality. Isaiah would never again be satisfied with his former experience with God because he had seen the very throne room of God.
Have I ever encountered God in that way and been transformed like Isaiah had? Do I want to live eyes wide open and experience the wonder of God in ways that I can hardly fathom? Do I want to be ruined? I have been pondering these questions over the last few days and the answer is: yes.
On Day 4, we studied the praiseworthy deeds of God done in the ancient past and looked at those He has displayed in our own lives. Our remembrance of these actions of God in our lives builds our faith and helps us to stand amazed by our God where He has shown Himself mighty, faithful, merciful, loving and many other attributes of His character. Our memory verse for this week also emphasizes this point.
“I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.” Psalm 77:11
Our last assignment for the week focused on the two things that caused Jesus to marvel: faith and lack of faith. I’m discovering that after this week, my expectation is heightened and renewed. I feel that I’m looking and longing more for the wonders of God. How about you?
Just as a reminder: Before you begin each day’s assignment, prepare your heart in prayer to hear from God. Also, if you’d like to watch a companion video to Week 1, a video is available for download from Lifeway for a cost and is optional to the study, click here.
Okay, now it’s your turn. I’m posing questions to you. If you’d like to respond and discuss, answer in the comment section.
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Have I ever encountered God in that way and been transformed by the experience like Isaiah had?
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Do I want to live eyes wide open and experience the wonder of God in ways that I can hardly fathom?
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Do I want to be ruined?
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How can I become more aware or awake to the wonders of God?
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How can I live a life that causes Jesus to marvel as He did of the Roman centurion who had great faith?
Blessings,
Mimi
Mot Lyons
Great recap, Mimi! I’m really enjoying this study! Thanks
Mimi
Thanks Mot!
Allison
I think that in order to be more aware or awake to the wonders of God I have to slow down. I will have to let some parts of my fast paced life pass me by. The world is loud and flashy and is deafening and blinding me to God’s words and His wonders. I need to be still, and watch and listen.
Mimi
Good point! I really like the part where you said that the world is deafening and blinding your ability to hear and see God’s words and wonders. It’s so true. Thanks.
Margaret Feinberg
Mimi, thank you for leading and for the recap! What can we be praying for?
Mimi
Oh, thank you for prayers! I think specifically that our eyes will be opened to the wonders of God and that we will not see with glazed over eyes but with eyes that glisten. Our group has expressed their recognition of how aware they became this week during the study that they they had difficulty writing in the journal because they took things for granted. We want to see!
The second request would be that the message of Jesus spreads and that participation in bible studies grows. Thanks so much! We’re praying for you too!