Sarah Oct. 6

Ladies Bible Study Oct 6

We started the Bible study singing the song  ”I love you Lord” (modified to We love you Lord)

There were less people here at the study this morning due to other folks’ commitments.

To what degree is a wife called to help her husband fulfill his destiny?  Answer:  it is a help to pray for your husband to be a man of God and to fulfill the destiny that God has laid out for him.  A man that leads his family in God’s way is a great destiny.  As you start to fulfill your destiny, pressures of time and energy and attacks from the enemy are prevalent.  Even family members don’t always understand your destiny and work against your efforts.     

In what ways, and why, is it important for a wife to root her hope and expectation in a promise that she sees as including her?  Answer:  Peter’s wife must have been a believing wife from the beginning.   1 Cor 9:5.  Perceptions of the Church is that you can’t take your wife with you at all times.  Peter took his wife with him wherever he went.  No one chose to bring out the qualities of Peter’s wife in scripture but if you study the word you can see the influence she had on him.  Encouragement from the wife will be fruitful. 

In what ways might the Lord be challenging you to seek a new “description” for your life in the days ahead?    We are all in different seasons of our lives.  Some are learning to care take for parents, empty nesters, mothers, learning to live without spouse.  Every new description requires new learning and study of the word to know the will of God and to have faith that God knows best. 

The core of what Sarah has offered will stay with us for a long time, forever?  We know Sarah, Bible verses and the journey of her whole life.  Her life is a testament to trials and negative events, but she was deemed faithful.

Lasting implications (page 22): What are the challenges that God-fearing people face today as they are confronted frequently by godless people who are making godless decisions?  Gen. 12 and 19.  Abraham was directed to go to …. As they got to Egypt Abraham feared for his life and told Sarah to say that she was his sister.  Indeed she was commended to Pharaoh.  The Lord plagued Pharaoh with great plagues, which caused him to release Sarah back to Abraham.  Can we condemn Pharaoh for the sins of Abraham?  The pressures of society must have an effect on our decisions.

Abimilech:  Same sort of story.  Perceptions of God-less is a very slippery slope.  Even a non-god fearing person is influenced by God. 

Lying has a varying degree of impact.  Financial infidelity, when we hide or lie about purchases we make with the family finances.   How does the sin of the world affect our decisions?  Abraham chose to lie to Pharaoh and possibly endanger Sarah.  How many times do you need to sin and get corrected before you can make decisions that demonstrate your faith. 

We should all be like Daniel, prostrate on the floor begging for relief for his people. 

The person we have the most trouble with is the person we see in the mirror.  That is the person we have to ask for forgiveness for, that annoys us, that don’t live up to expectations.  We need to get our own house in order before we judge others. 

Sarah was often remarked to be a beautiful woman.   She was spiritually beautiful as well.  She was obedient to God and that was evident.  That is something we can try to attain in our lives.   Sarah wasn’t along for the ride, she had her own purpose.  Why would Abraham want to give up Sarah to Pharaoh?  Wasn’t he the spiritual leader of the family? 

Women’s role in the family,  generally to be the heart of the home not the leader.  Questioning the events that happen at the time is hard to maintain faith.  But he has longsuffering love for us and has always been there with us.   Fortunately we can learn from past demonstrations of God’s unfailing love and faith. 

We go from judging Sarah, Hagar, and Abraham to seeing that we are looking in the mirror when we review the events in their lives.  When picking through the life of Sarah there seemed to be some scary events. 

Next study will be Rahab. 

The ethics of smuggling, how do you rationalize breaking the law to meet the seemingly clear goals of Christianity.  Perhaps we will be seeing some answers through this study.