Welcome back to our summer bookclub. Thanks for joining my, ladies. There is a richness to doing this with you in community. Today we’re looking at chapter three, God of the Wild. This chapter thrilled me because it was all about God and His glory. I don’t know about you, but I want my life to matter for Him and for His glory. Everything else is dust that doesn’t last.
Could any of you relate to Jess’ story at the beginning of the chapter? Have you had a time where you tried to step outside normal and seek God? You longed to feel His presence and worship, but everything seemed stacked against you? I think it’s in those moments that we really come to know what worship is. Worship isn’t about us and what we feel. It is about the God of the Universe who deserves my praise just because of who He is and who I am.
The point of our worship is not our joy or our advancement. God’s sole purpose in calling His people to worship Him is allowing them to give Him glory because He wants it. P. 65
It’s so easy to lose sight of this and make it all about me. God wants His glory. Period.
And if I focus on worship for how I feel, then I’m missing the whole point. And people who know me will tell you I’m a worship girl. I live and breath worship. It changes the atmosphere of my life. But it does that as I focus on Him and who He is and who I am in relationship to His greatness.
Worldly fear drives us away from the object of our reverence, but the fear of the Lord pulls us in closer. P. 69
Then Jess takes a step deeper into the relentless love God has for us. I think this is where many of us struggle. We’ve yet to experience a love on earth that is a good reflection of God’s relentless love. Our parents didn’t love us unconditionally. Our spouse sets limits on his/her love. We love with restrictions. God loves because He created us to love Him and so He could love us.
That is a fathomless wonder.
S
he talks about the story of Hosea, the living parable of God’s love for Israel, and by extension us. Hosea was told to marry a woman he knew would be faithless…and then to love her without excuse or limitation. This is how God loves. And as we look at verses like Romans 8:39, Romans 5:8, Zephaniah 3:17, and First John 4:8, we begin to grasp how very much God Is Love.
And God jumps out of the boxes we put Him in. We want to understand Him, but we can’t because He is so much more than we can understand and comprehend.
God’s version of wild and free looks like interruption to us because even the least organized of us have some preconceived notion of how our lives should and could go. But He is bigger. He is wider, and His plan is better than we could ask or imagine. P. 76
How has reading chapter 3 challenged you to collapse the box you have placed God in? How did it challenge you to realize His love is wilder and freer than you knew?
Assignment: for this week read chapter 4. But don’t get caught up and frustrated if you can’t do that. Read as you can. I’ll post each week on Thursday with thoughts on that week’s chapter.
Want to join the bookstudy? Wild and Free is on ebook sale for $1.99. It’s a great time to snag it and read it on the run. You can add the audio for a few dollars through Amazon. Then let me know through this form that you’re joining in, and I’ll keep you updated on posts.
More fun:
Looking for a book to read this week? Be sure to check out Dying for Love. It’s the prequel to Beyond Justice, and free if you join my newsletter. Or you can buy it ebook formats for $2.99.
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