Genesis 31 - 33 :: Jacob - Wrestling With God + Others

Today’s studies on the podcast include LOTS AND LOTS of details about God’s plans to create a tabernacle as a place for Him to dwell among His people here on earth. I don’t know about you but this idea of God dwelling with us reminds me of one of my most favorite things about God… Emmanuel, our God with Us.

 

Annnnddd if you have listened for any amount of time at all, you have probably also heard me say quite OFTEN on OOBT, that our Emmanuel is not just a baby in the manger. Actually, we saw God’s desire to dwell with His people all that way back in the beginning… yes… the literal beginning… of creation that is… as found in Genesis… when God dwelled with Adam and Eve in perfect relationship in the Garden of Eden.

 

As we’ve seen throughout our studies, ever since sin entered the world, God has been in the process of rescue and restoration of His relationship with His people. And this tabernacle is just one more step in that direction.

 

We are also going to see in the tabernacle many pointers to Jesus, God’s character, and reminders from the Garden of Eden even. And don’t forget that all these directions are coming through the conversation between God and Moses during those 40 Days and 40 Nights on Mount Sinai. I can just visualize Moses sitting and taking notes as God speaks, can’t you?!

 

For the full episode show notes, please go to https://mfahring.com/exodus-25-27/

Law & Order. Anyone who knows me knows that ALL the Law & Order shows are my absolute favorites to watch… most specifically Olivia Benson and Law & Order SVU. 25 seasons and still going strong. So… yes… just in case you are wondering… the play on words in the title of this episode was 100% intentional! LOL!

 

Truthfully, though, it also directly relates to where we are headed in our studies today on OOBT. The 10 Words or 10 Commandments. The Book of the Covenant. So many examples of how God is using His laws to bring order.

 

And about those laws found in the Book of the Covenant… please know that while many of the laws we’re reading don’t sit well or don’t make any sense at all to us, we must remember that they are not written for us today. Instead, they are written for the Israelite culture as they were leaving slavery and the oppression of the Egyptians. The Israelites are newly freed from slavery and in a learning process.

 

 

Throughout this learning process, we see God so graciously not only provide the laws for order but actually give them detailed instructions as found in the Book of the Covenant of what these laws mean in everyday life for them at that time.

 

And please don’t miss out on the touching covenant ceremony between God and the Israelites during which they not only saw God, but they feasted with Him in the wilderness too. Can you even imagine my OOBTers? I can’t wait to study this and so much more with all of you!

 

For the full episode show notes, please go to https://mfahring.com/exodus-22-24/

Remember Egypt.

 

These two words seem to adequately sum up the beginning of our studies on today's episode of OOBT as we see God reminding the Israelites to remember their rescue … Oh gosh friends. What rescue or (if we're being honest) RESCUES, would God ask you to remember my OOBTers?

 

We’ve already seen God's rescue, His provision, and His loving relationship with the Israelites being formed WAY before He now prepares to give them rules to live by. Relationship over rules… guessing you have probably heard that saying before and, yep, we talk about that a bit today too.

 

And speaking of those rules, we also dive right on into the 10 Words otherwise known as the 10 Commandments. Well, you may be aware of the term and even one, five, or maybe all of them, but did you know that a survey showed that we are more likely to know the ingredients of a Big Mac than the 10 Commandments?! Ouch. Maybe you know that ad campaign? "Two All Beef Patties, Special Sauce, Lettuce, Cheese, Pickles, Onions on a Sesame Seed Bun."

 

Honestly though, even if that particular one’s not familiar, there are probably 1 million other ad campaigns to choose from that you could recall quickly if asked… Possibly more quickly than the 10 Commandments themselves. Today we lean into the 10 Words, God making His presence known to the Israelites on Mount Sinai, and that touching moment when we realize that Moses has come full circle with the promise God made to him at the burning bush. All that and so very much more in today’s episode. I hope you take a moment to tune in!

 

For the full episode show notes, please go to  https://mfahring.com/exodus-19-21-ten-words-for-them-and-us/

Happiest of New Year's to all of you my OOBTers!

 

 I’m so very glad to be back studying with you after a much needed break during the holiday season! However, I can assure you that I am now 100% ready to jump right into our studies as together we take a deeper dive into just who is this I AM referenced 6,519 times in the Old Testament alone. To revisit Moses’ conversation with our Mighty God at the burning bush and be reminded that God often chooses the most ordinary people (like Moses, myself, and possibly even you) to play a significant role in His unfolding story. Annnddd all of this leads us to a whole lot of talk in today’s episode about God’s cross-references as found throughout the Bible.

 

I’m just going to stop right here and say that if you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to go to today’s show notes or my post on socials to see the image of overlapping arc on top of overlapping arc. This graphic depicts the 63,779 cross-references in the Bible (places where what is mentioned in one part is mentioned in another). It is so amazing to see this visual when considering the fact Scripture was written by 40 authors over 1500 years on three different continents and all very much a part of the story…the plan… God is still working out to this very day. Honestly, don’t you think our God who has 63,779 cross references in Scripture is more than able to still be cross-referencing our lives with His plans today even? Let’s choose to trust Him more and more as we move into 2024, shall we?!

 

Oh friends, all this and so much more is found in this first episode of OOBT in this new year…many, many threads to pull and connections to the Christmas story, Exodus, Isaiah and so much more. Please don’t miss out on this one!

 

For the full episode show notes, please go to https://mfahring.com/gods-cross-references-and-i-ams-plans/

Merriest ALMOST Christmas to all of you my OOBTers! It’s hard to believe this episode release happens less than one week before Christmas so let’s be sure we spend some time slowing our hearts and minds to lean into that story; to be fully prepared to celebrate that baby in the manger on Christmas Day.

 

With that thought in mind, how about we start our time in this episode in the Christmas story with the Passover and dedication of the firstborn…. Makes perfect sense right?! Well, I certainly hope it does by the end of our time together anyway. LOL! This connection leads us to an often overlooked part of Jesus’ birth story, his first visit to the Temple where Simeon and Anna met him. Oh, that one is such a beautiful example of God as our Promise Keeper. We’ll then move right into a part of the story that took place roughly two years after Jesus’ birth = the visit of the Wise Men, God warning Joseph in a dream to escape to Egypt for safety, King Herod’s massacre of the innocents, and then God later calling them back out of Egypt and to Nazareth where Jesus spent the rest of his growing up years.

 

We are also reminded once again that all of this… the light and the darkness, the hard and the good of the Christmas story, are all part of God’s rescue plan… the plan in existence and in process since that first sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden. Through it all, we see the threads of redemption and rescue weaved throughout the storyline of Christmas…actually the storyline of the entire Bible. Beautiful. Just beautiful.

 

For the full episode show notes, please go to https://mfahring.com/advent-out-of-egypt-i-called-my-son/

 

Advent.

 

A time to turn our attention toward preparing our hearts and homes to celebrate Jesus’ birth… prepare Him room so to speak. Today’s episode highlights some Old Testament threads, promises, and prophecies of the Rescuer who came down to the Israelites in Egypt just as our Rescuer came down in the form of the baby in a manger. How amazing it truly is. God Himself would come. God came down to rescue.

 

Yes, the gift of that baby in the manger on Christmas morning is absolutely amazing but even more amazing is the mystery of our Savior’s presence forever with us, wherever we go, through the Holy Spirit. God With Us wasn’t one event on Christmas Day or one lifetime lived in the 33 years that Jesus walked the earth. God With Us is most definitely now AND forevermore too. He was and still is our Emmanuel, our Wonderful Counselor, our Mighty God, our Everlasting Father, and our Prince of Peace.

 

This season unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Jesus is Emmanuel… God With Us; God come down to us; God come down to you; God with you (and me). Amazing… just amazing to take it all in, am I right? Beautiful.

 

Be sure to listen in for all this and so much more my OOBTers!

 

For the full episode show notes, please go to https://mfahring.com/advent-rescue-came-down-his-name-is-emmanuel/

I am guessing this will come as no surprise to any of us, but gratitude is not often our default setting. Complaining and grumbling is. Ouch.

 

With that said (and since we are just coming off the grumbling and complaining of the Israelites in the wilderness after their Exodus from Egypt in our studies), I felt this is an ideal time to lean in here a bit more to have us all consider to true antidote to complaining and grumbling…. Yep… you guessed it. Thankfulness and gratitude. While we can all know this at a head level, it is much more difficult to live, am I right my friends?!

 

Be sure you listen in to this EXTENDED BONUS episode covering so many other things too… wilderness seasons of life. joy and pain. hard and good. friendship with God. God’s presence in it all. Emmanuel. God With Us.

 

Annnddd be sure you don’t miss the end where I talk candidly about the one-year anniversary of my Dad’s unexpected death and how I am STILL trying to find a way to fight for thankfulness this Thanksgiving season. One WHOLE YEAR later. To be aggressively grateful for what God has done, is doing, and promised to do in my life… right where I’m at. Right here. Right now. As I grieve the loss of my Dad, and yet, in the same breath, am so truly thankful for the example of a life well lived, one in which he chose to love me and others in a meaningful way. Every day. Clear up to his last day. ❤

 

Truthfully, I am reminded just how much thankfulness and gratitude for my Dad over the course of this last year has been so valuable in the healing process. Once again holding that tension of both blessing and loss together. Oh my still grieving but also still healing heart. Heartbreak and Thankfulness. Joy and Pain. Hard and Good. Both/And. Only God can do this in our lives am I right my friends?!

 

Oh goodness. You’re really just going to have to listen in as I speak words into the mic to find out more… a message I know I so desperately needed to hear… and maybe you do too right about now my friends?!

 

❤ M

 

For the full episode show notes, please go to https://mfahring.com/once-again-thankful-for-god-with-us-my-dad/

Hello and Welcome to this episode JAM PACKED FULL of ALL SORTs of celebrating OOBT’s 50th episode + 2nd ANNIVERSARY. Eek! Can you believe it!?!

 

For that reason, we promise you are in for a TREAT today on OOBT… and that sure does seem fitting since we are celebrating not one but TWO big milestones am I right?! Anyway, this episode finds me not just talking to the wall by myself but instead sharing the mic with my Podcast Editor + Coach (and great friend), Tammy Munson of Wildfire Creative, for what we lovingly call the Tammy Takeover. LOL! She asks all the questions today and I do my best to give all the answers about things both serious and silly related to me and to OOBT such as –

 

Truthfully though, I am so over the top thrilled to reach this 50th episode + 2-year milestone by the grace of God + alongside each one of you. ANNNDDD I am EVEN MORE excited to see where our studies continue to take us together in the future of OOBT! WOW. Just wow.

 

For the full episode show notes, please go to https://mfahring.com/oobt-50th-episode-2nd-anniversary-celebration/

Grumbling. Complaining. Manna from Heaven. Bread of Life. Water from the Rock. Living Water. Rest. Provision. Moses’ Raised Hands. Victory Over the Amalekites. “The LORD is My Banner.” Jethro’s Visit + Zipporah and Their Sons Return to Moses.

 

((How about I just go ahead and say it right now… the more I read about the grumbling of the Israelites and their many MANY complaints in the book of Exodus, the more I realize that I AM the Israelites. Ouch.))

 

Then there is that advice Jethro gives to Moses… those words found in Exodus 18:17-18 which read… “This is not good! You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself.” Oh my. This seems to land somewhere deep in my heart and mind. Don’t go it alone Moses… Don’t go it alone M. Do you feel the weight of that reminder too my OOBTers?!

 

ANNNDDDD… please be sure to listen all the way to the end for an exciting announcement about what is to come on OOBT! It may or may not include some confetti in the air!! 🎉🎉 🎉

 

For the full episode show notes, please go to https://mfahring.com/exodus-16-18/

FIGHT.

 

This one word seems to accurately sum up today’s episode of OOBT. So. Much. Fighting.

 

Pharaoh and his army came for the Israelites. The Israelites fought against Moses about bringing them out into the wilderness to die. God fought for the Israelites when their backs were to the Red Sea. A fight for freedom. A million voices singing praises to Yahweh their warrior and rescuer only for them to end our readings for today fighting against God and Moses by complaining of thirst in the desert.

 

However, even with all this fighting going on today, let’s not overlook the most important takeaway of all OOBTers… God alone fought for them + rescued them, AND more than 1,200 years after this Red Sea miracle, God fought again for His children… this time on a hill called Calvary. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus made a way for each one of us to experience salvation.

 

Like the Israelites at the Red Sea crossing, we did absolutely nothing to help in the fight. Our salvation, just as the Israelites’, was and is a gift from God. End of story friends.

 

Oh, that we would choose to quiet our souls before our Father God and realize that He still fights for us, His children. We may not see it in the moment, but God can make a way… ”The LORD will fight for you, and you only have to be silent” (Exodus 14:14 ESV). Now that’s a GOOD FIGHT worth fighting, am I right?!

 

For the full episode show notes, please go to https://mfahring.com/exodus-13-15/