Lesson 5

Congratulations ladies! You've made it to the half-way point in our study Daughters of the King. We just finished Lesson 5 on Tuesday, tracing God's story for the world through the Historical Books of the Bible (Joshua - Esther). Our time together yesterday was rich with truths that you can apply to your own life story:

1. I must keep God at the center of my heart's affections.
2. My present life circumstances (no matter how painful) are not the end of my story.


God is at work in our lives, even when we can't see his hand. The Bible is clear. God has something special in store for all of his daughters - our final and perfect restoration into his image. At that time our hearts will be forever bound in the perfect image of his Son. But alongside that reality, we know he longs for more than just the hearts of individuals. In our studies of the Old Testament so far, we've seen that a greater restoration is coming. A restoration of his entire Kingdom, when:

• God's People will be restored to the Father perfectly,
• and be restored to God's Place, dwelling with God permanently,
• and be restored to God's Rule, worshipping Him and experiencing his blessings eternally.

But before we can get to all that good "restoration" stuff in the story, we must stay the course and read the story in the way the Biblical authors intended for it to be read. Lesson 5 ended on a low point, with God's people living as far from that Edenic ideal as possible. But we serve a good King, and he always gives his people a "seed" of hope. While God's people are in exile, God gives them a group of men called the Prophets. We will study the Prophets in depth next week in Lesson 6 - learning about both the men and their message. Here is our reading for next week:

• God's People: Is. 10:20-21/ Jer. 16:14-15/ Is. 44:1-2/ Is. 49:4-6
• God's Place: Ezek. 47:1-11/ Is. 65:17-18
• God's Rule & Blessing: Jer. 31:31/ Ps. 2:1-12

See ya next week!

Melissa