Hold on! I’ll get to today’s devotional blog in just a second. But first, let me whisper something in your ear!
I have created a brand-new Bible study for small groups that will be ready for sale in a month: “Eternal Decisions and the Games We Play” is an exciting seven-week series with a 30-minute video followed by group discussion. In addition, each participant receives a study book to use during each session as well as three days of deeper study during each week.
This fun, yet deeply challenging study, is launched from popular family board games that quickly transition into spiritual challenges that can’t be ignored. If you’re looking for a new Sunday school curriculum or Bible study, you’ll love this! I’m taking pre-orders now. Please don’t respond to this email. Instead, email me at: PastorSusieLVP@gmail.com with your desire to place an order. (Clarification: This is different from the “Trusting in God as Illustrated in TV Game Shows” that many of you have already used.)
Email me for a description of each session and price for the series: PastorSusieLVP@gmail.com
By the Numbers
SEVEN
Siete (Spanish)
Sieben (German)
Sept (French)
Saba (Swahili)
Sabea (Arabic)
In Genesis—the very first book of the Bible—we see 7 used quite frequently:
• God rested on day 7.
• Noah took the clean beasts into the ark by 7s.
• 7 days after Noah went into the ark, the floods came.
Interestingly in the very last book of the Bible—Revelation—we see 7 used 54 times:
• 7 churches
• 7 angels
• 7 spirits
• 7 stars
• 7 seals
• 7 trumpets
• 7 thunders
• and 7 last plagues.
It’s fascinating that in the bookends of our Bibles (Genesis and Revelation), we see 7 used over and over again.
Jesus told us to forgive 70 x 7 (see Matthew 18:21-22).
Obviously, the number 7 is used a lot in the Bible . . . in fact, it’s used 735 times! And this begs the question WHY???
Only God knows for sure, but many Bible scholars believe that because 7 represents perfection, wholeness, and completion, God is confirming his divine perfection.
But the cycle of 7s doesn’t end in Scripture. The number 7 also comes to
life in our human body!
• 7 bones in the neck
• 7 bones in the face
• 7 bones in the ankles
• and there are 7 holes in our heads.
We’re told in Luke 8:2, that Mary Magadalene had 7 demons cast out of her. Only God could heal such a sin-ravaged life. And He was absolutely delighted to bring wholeness to her through His Son, Jesus. According to Proverbs 6:16-19, there are 7 things God hates:
• Pride (Philippians 2:3)
• Lying (Proverbs 12:22)
• Murder (1 John 3:11-12)
• Plotting evil (Micah 2:1)
• Eagerness to do wrong (1 John 2:16)
• False witness (Exodus 23:7)
• Arguing with each other (2 Timothy 2:14)
In 2 Kings 5, we see Naaman—the commander of Syrian’s army—and the equivalent of a five-star genera —distressed due to his fatal diagnosis of leprosy. However, in 2 Kings 5:10, the prophet Elisha instructs him to bathe 7 times in the filthy Jordan river.
Leprosy wasn’t the only thing God wanted to cleanse from Naaman. He had a huge issue of pride (Ooops! One of the 7 things God hates). We’re not told what kind of bubble bath he used, but when he poked his head from the Jordan on the 7 th time, he was cleaner than the Charmin bears waggling their bottoms toward a roll of soft tissue paper.
Only God can make something new and beautiful
and clean
and whole
from something so bad.
I like the way Natalie Grant sings it:
“There’s nothing too dirty that You can’t make worthy, You wash me in mercy, I am clean.”
Ahhhh 7. Absolute perfection.
Thank You, Father.
Love,
Susie
