Bible Study Guide for Sunday, November 12, Year A

● Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
● Psalm 78:1-7
● 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
● Matthew 25:1-13

 

​As I read the selection from Joshua this week, it reminded me of the previous times (and those yet to come) the people of Israel had promised to follow their God, obey His commandments, and abstain from worshipping other gods. It’s certainly a recurring theme in the early history of the people and a frequent complaint of the prophets. Despite their promises to be faithful, again and again, the nation of Israel backslides into disobedience and forgetting God. 

​A priest once said in a different Bible study I was in several years ago that much of the story of the Old Testament can be summed up with: “God is faithful, and people are not.” We can see a bit of this in Joshua reiterating to his fellow Israelites that their God has high expectations of those who promise to follow Him. God doesn’t take this vow lightly, he tells them. They promise up and down to serve God in remembrance of Him bringing them to the Promised Land. And yet, the rest of the Old Testament has story after story of individuals and the nation of Israel as a whole failing to live up to that promise. Those failures are the source of great brokenness and hurt in Israelite families and the larger community. 

​And yet, the nation of Israel remained God’s chosen people. The Old Testament contains plenty of stories of people really screwing up, and God being truly angry at them for it. He does mete out punishment for bad deeds and when Israelite society as a whole falls away from God’s path. But at no point does God throw up His hands and walk away from His people. God is faithful, even when people are not. Even when His people are at their worst. 

​I think this carries some hope for us in the present day. Christians believe that we have been adopted as children of God as well; we make vows during baptism and confirmation that the Lord is our God. Then we go forth into the world and make huge mistakes. We get frustrated; we’re in too much of a hurry to think about God or church; we start down a path and only realize months or years later that it was bad from the start; we hurt others without noticing it. But God is faithful even when people are not. He never forgets us and He waits patiently for us to turn to Him again. Our mistakes do cause God to sorrow, but they don’t cause Him to throw up His hands and walk away. Again and again, every time we turn back to God and ask for forgiveness, He is waiting with open arms. — Lindy Noecker

 

Questions

● Who is your favorite example of a person in the Bible who makes a huge mistake and turns back to God after it? What about their story resonates with you? 

● Describe a time in your life where you made a mistake, large or small, and then acknowledged your mistake to God. How did it feel?