Be Restless, Wiggly, Jumpy

My quiet time is different every morning. It usually starts the same way and sometimes I study the same topic/word/etc for quite awhile. BUT. . . I do really try to allow the Holy Spirit to direct me. If I feel the urge to pray, I will stop what I am doing and go to the spot where I really pray. If I feel led to leave a study and just read a certain passage and meditate on it, I do that.

Today has been different. I have been meditating on some things said at my Bible study last night. The main focus is how we change the meanings of words. I pulled out my copy of C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity last night with the goal of actually reading the whole book this time. He talks about how the definition of the word "gentleman" changed. (Read the intro if you want specifics).

Made me ponder how we update the Word of God. Now before I hear anything from someone about how great this or that translation is - actually I'm not hearing from anyone so before I start telling myself which translation I just love - I know the people who have given us different versions supposedly really searched for the correct words to use in translation. But if I just always take someone else's word without searching out meaning for myself, aren't I just selling God short? (Ramble, ramble)

Back to Restless, Wiggly, Jumpy!!

In Psalm 83:1 the psalmist uses the word NOT three times. "Do not" implies "DO". So I started looking up the opposite of the words I found in my concordance. I looked up a whole bunch of words.

The word I am studying right now is: STILL.

The opposite of STILL is: RESTLESS, WIGGLY, JUMPY

I loved that. Instead of saying to my God "O God, be not still." I can say,

"O God, be RESTLESS!"

"O God, be WIGGLY!"

"O God, be JUMPY!"

I like thinking that my God will be RESTLESS, WIGGLY, AND JUMPY on my behalf.

Pierced Ears

Friday morning I was reading and praying Psalm 40. If you have never prayed through the Psalms, please do it. You will end up learning so much and just falling in love with our God all over again.

Anyway, I am having this wonderful time with God, praying His word for myself, my family, my friends, and just for people everywhere. I arrived at
verse 6.

"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced;"

What does any girly girl do when she reads "but my ears you have pierced" when she is taking everything literally?

You guessed it!! I touched my pierced ears! When I realized what I had done I started laughing and then couldn't stop laughing.

Ok, I know God didn't pierce my ears. I got my ears pierced when I was 19 in a jewelry store in Darlington, SC. My dear husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, gave me a present one day. The money to have my ears pierced.

Anyway, when I settled down I thought, I just called myself a "girly girl". Such a change from my younger days.

I had laughed about touching my pierced ears. I had called myself a girly girl.
Then I just sat and thought about how God has changed my life. And I began thanking God for all He has done for me.

When God pierced my ears - opened my ears- to His call, He changed me.
From darkness to light,
from death to life,
from sadness to joy
from chaos to peace
from ok to great
from oppressed to free
from hungry to filled
from . . . . . . .

I am sure there are a gazillion ways he has changed us all. My list is not poetic and probably there is a list similar to this in a book or on the internet that would move a million hearts. This is my list for right this minute, ten minutes from now it might be different depending on where He leads me.

Just made me wonder how did God change you when He pierced your ears?

Psalm 83:1
O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still,

Learning to be at rest is not easy. To quote a popular saying, "It is a process."

I don't really like to hear things like, "It is a process", "Think outside the box", "We need a paradigm shift", "It will just take time".

I think I will have to "stay put" on the verse for awhile. Does that ever happen to you? You read a short verse of scripture and you just know that this verse is short in words but not short in message.

I've started digging on this one just today. Three words are calling out to me.

1. Silent
2. Quiet
3. Still

SILENT - Hebrew word (d-m-m II) maybe derived from (d-m-m I) (1954)
silence, rest:-rest, silent

QUIET - Hebrew word (hares) (3087)
to be silent, be quiet; to become deaf; to be quiet, say nothing, be silent; to make no moves, keep silent:- silent, quiet, says nothing, deaf, altogether silent, fail to speak, holds tongue, keeps silent, kept quiet, made no move, reduce to silence, remain silent, said no more, say nothing, saying nothing, says nothing, still, stop, turn a deaf ear, without saying a word.

STILL- Hebrew word (saqaf) (9200)
to be at rest, be at peace, remain calm, quietness, unconcerned

My first research into Psalm 83 has been reading the commentary in my study Bible and at this website - http://www.easyenglish.info/psalms/psalm083-taw.htm.

First impression:
Think I have a long way to go on this one. The meanings that have struck a cord with me are in bold above.

I am still focusing on "being still" but I need to understand the three words: silent, quiet, and still in the context of Psalm 83.