My Choice

 

For the latest Bible study I lead, I chose the book by Dane Orthund titled, Gently and Lowly.

Christian knows what Jesus has done, but who is he? What is his deepest heart for his people, weary and faltering on their journey toward heaven? Jesus said he is, "gentle and lowly in his heart." This book reflects on these words, opening up a neglected yet central truth about who he is for sinners and sufferers today. (This is from the jacket of the book)

There are 9-10 ladies who meet every Thursday at my house to learn to be more like Christ. We have gone through several books of the bible and several books that are designed to help us grow in our understanding of God and His ways. Since its all women who attend the study, its always geared toward being a wise hearted women of God.

So, what can a group of women in their 60 to 80 have to learn about the Lord. All of us are asking God what do you want us to do at our age. Prayer is the first thing that comes up and we have a couple of women who are hard core prayer warriors. Because we have lived a long time does not mean we do not have trials and struggles. The one thing we all have is more time to study and reflect on the things of God. Time to pray more, time to come along the younger women in our lives. And as we are learning from this study time to go deeper in our knowledge and understanding of who Jesus is.

All of the ladies come to the study with years of experience of walking through life. We understand pain, we understand struggles, most could say, been there done that about whatever we talk about. All of us have felt the guilt when we fail, blamed ourselves way too much. All have felt alone many times, especially at our age when we suffer. As heaven gets closer, we cling to our hope of being there when we leave this earth. I tell them this every week, God is not done with us yet, we are not useless just because we are older. This old world needs us to bury ourselves deep into the love of God so we can help our family and friends and maybe a stranger we meet know there is hope. Just because our world is a mess does not mean Jesus is a mess. He is the most solid thing in we ladies life.

It's been my joy as I lead this study and hear how it is affecting each of the ladies. I try to be sensitive to each one because a couple do not say much but I see them write thing down as we go through the book. I have always led a Bible study where ever we have lived. The last move was to northern Mn. where are daughter and family lives. I looked for a Bible study to attend, no one was having one so I stepped out in faith and ask our pastor if he minded if I started a study in my home. Knowing only a few women from our church I did not know if any would come, my husband and I are pretty new to the congregation. About 10 of us gather every week and not just from our church, word of mouth works.

A couple of quotes from the book:

Our sinfulness runs so deep that a tepid measure of gentleness from Jesus would not be enough; but as deep sinfulness runs, ever deeper runs His gentleness.

When we sin, we are encouraged to bring our mess to Jesus because He will know how to receive us. He doesn't handle us roughly. He doesn't scowl and scold. He doesn't lash out, the way many of our parents did. And all this restraint on His part is not because He has a diluted view of our sinfulness. He knows our sinfulness far more deeply than we do. Indeed, we are aware of just the tip of the iceberg of our depravity, even in our most searching moments of self-knowledge. His restraints simply flow from His tender heart for His people.

A quote on this book from another of my favorite authors, Paul David Tripp, "On the rough, rocky, and often dark path between the already and not yet, there is nothing your weary heart need more than to know the beauty of the heart of Jesus. It is the beauty that alone has the power to over-whelm all the ugly you will encounter along the way. I have read no book that more carefully, thoroughly, and tenderly displays Christ heart that what Dane Orthund has written. As if I was listening to a great symphony, I was moved in different ways in different passage, but left each feeling hugely blessed to know that what was being described was the heart of my Savior, my Lord, my Friend and my Redeemer. I can't think of anyone in the family of God who wouldn't be greatly helped by spending time seeing the heart of Jesus through the eyes of such a gifted guide as Orthund.