✯✶✰☆ Kadosh ☆✰✶✯ ✯✶✰☆ Holy One ☆✰✶✯ by Diane Stortz ~~ Isaiah 40:25, "God, the Holy One, says 'Can you compare me to anyone?'" ~~ From Exodus 19-20, 24-31, 35-40. "Three months after God rescued the Israelites from Egypt, He told Moses to give His people a message: 'You have seen how I take care of you. Obey Me and be My special people.' The people agreed. Then God said to Moses, 'On the third day, I will come down on the mountain and visit my people. Tell everyone to get ready!' ... All thought their camp in the wilderness, the Israelites scrubbed their clothes and hung them up to dry. 'Isn't this exciting?' one person asked another, ' I wonder what will happen when God visits us!' On the morning of the third day, the people stood near Mount Sinai in their clean clothes. They saw lightening in the sky and a thick cloud on the mountain. The mountain shook and the cloud smoked when God came down on the mountain in fire. Then the Israelites heard God's voice speaking to Moses and to them. 'I am the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt,' God said, 'Worship only Me. Never make or worship idols. Speak My name wisely. Rest on the Sabbath day, and honor your parents. Don't kill people. Be faithful to your husband or wife. Don't steal. Don't lie. Don't be jealous of what others have.' The thunder and lightening, trumpet and smoke frightened the people. But Moses said, 'Don't be afraid! God wants you to honor Him. That's why He has come to give you these rules.' Then Moses again went up on the mountain to hear more from God. He wrote down God's rules and read them aloud to the people. God's rules showed the Israelites how special God is. They agreed with Him again and said, 'All that the Lord has told us, we will do.' Not long after this, God gave Moses instruction for making a beautiful worship tent called the tabernacle. 'Tell all the people with willing hearts to bring gifts,' God said, '...I will show you how to use these gifts for making a tent where I can live among My people.' People gladly brought their gifts, and soon the work began. God told Moses how to build the tabernacle and all the emts to go with it... When the work was done, God told Moses how to set up the tabernacle. Then the cloud that led the Israelites through the wilderness cover the tabernacle as the greatness of the Lord filled it. ~~ People can sometimes do certain things perfectly, but we can never be perfect because we sin, we do things that are wrong. But God is perfect--holy--all the time. God is good, loving, kind, merciful, powerful, and just. He never does anything wrong... Isaiah 6:3 says 'Holy, Holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory!'"
I am continuing with my one letter per month goal, with a letter aimed for younger kid (above), and for older kids. I also plan to send a personal letter every-other month, with photos and will respond if I have letters to respond to!
The letters for this month and through 2022 will be on the theme of the book of Judges. I realized two things this summer, 1) that these stories are not often read or told in usual Sunday school lessons, and 2) there is a lot of tragedy, which many of our Compassion kids have seen in their communities, and I hope our teens will be encouraged by the faith of these judges even in the midst of great difficulties.
Dear Friend,Have you ever read the book of Judges in the Bible? It is a pretty short book in the Old Testament, and in many ways sad, because the Israelites had broken their covenant with the Lord time and again, and so would fall under God's judgement. And then they would cry out to God, and God would send a judge to rescue them from their oppressors (you can see the cycle in the image). There are some incredible stories of faith and trust in God, and how God works even through broken and sinful people. I hope that these stories will encourage you in your walk with the Lord, and that even when you find yourself tempted to sin, or giving into sin, that you will cry out to Christ Jesus for help and forgiveness. 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."I encourage you to read Judges chapters 1 and 2 to get the background of the stories. These take place after Joshua led the children of Israel into the promised land (remember, only Joshua and Caleb trusted God out of their generation that followed Moses out of slavery in Egypt). If you remember from the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20, God had told the Israelites not to follow false gods.We'll pick up in Judges chapter 3: "These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): 3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses. 5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. 7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. 9 But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. 10 The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. 11 So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died."God bless you, my friend. Love, Hannah
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Happy Writing!
