Category Archives: Today in the Word

Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word –LOCATING SHAME

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Read Psalm 44; Romans 8:18-39

A story map is a tool that teachers use to help students understand the overall direction of a story. The map provides a context for interpreting the significance of the various events involved at different points in the narrative. Knowing where the story is coming from and where it is going keeps a reader from getting lost in the middle.

In a way, Psalm 44 and Romans 8 provide us with a story map to understand where we are in the biblical story about shame. Psalm 44 starts by looking back and recalling what God has done in the past. It can be read from different perspectives: that of the Jews in exile, that of Jesus on the cross, and that of people trying to make sense of the degrading experiences God has allowed into their lives.

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Today in the Word

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Sufficiency in Christ

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In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Recommended Reading

Psalm 107:1, 8, 15, 21, 31

The apostle Paul had a problem that he never specifically identified (2 Corinthians 12:7). It could have been a physical ailment (Galatians 4:15; 6:11), or it could have been attacks from false apostles (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Or it might have been something else entirely. Whatever the problem, we know it was uncomfortable. Otherwise, Paul would not have asked God three different times to remove it.

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Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – MARY OF BETHANY: PROTECTION FROM SHAME

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Read Luke 10:38-42; Mark 14:3-9

Every church has prominent contributors, like teachers, leaders, organizers, servers, and givers who keep everything afloat. Without them, everyone knows the church just wouldn’t be what it is. But what about those who tend to stand in the shadows, whose contributions are not the sort to get listed in the bulletin?

Martha—outgoing, energetic, and highly gifted—embodied both the Proverbs 31 and Titus 2 woman, rolled into one. Mary was quiet, sensitive, and contemplative. How did that help anyone else? Martha’s complaint to Jesus was really intended to goad Mary into some sort of productive action. This manipulative tactic was probably not her first attempt to get Mary to fit her mold of a godly woman. Despite Martha’s good intentions, Jesus noticed its shaming effect on Mary and came to her defense.

Martha wasn’t the only person who misunderstood Mary and underrated her contribution. Jesus’ disciples scolded her harshly for wasting her expensive perfume in such a rash, unproductive manner. Their shaming response implied that she and her gifts were a waste.

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Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – HEMORRHAGING WOMAN: HEALING FROM SHAME

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Read Mak 5:21-34

The life of a Dalit, also known as “Untouchable,” in India is defined by ritual impurity. Inherited from their parents at birth, this unclean status excludes them from mixing with so-called pure people, from doing clean work, or from entering any holy place. Their touch is considered defiling.

In today’s reading, the shame of the hemorrhaging woman’s unclean status was something she could not escape. The chronic nature of her condition was miserable. The doctors had bled dry her economic resources, too. But the worst effect of her ongoing illness was how it redefined all her relationships. Like a leper, the woman’s bleeding condition excluded her from approaching God in His temple or from interacting freely in her community. Anything she touched would be instantly unclean.

In contrast to the synagogue leader who could directly ask Jesus to touch his daughter, the woman had to try to figure out a way to get His needed touch without either making Him ritually unclean or receiving His rebuff. If she were caught, the whole crowd would deride her for daring to defile a holy man. Fear held her back, but faith compelled her to risk reaching out.

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Moody Global Ministries, Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word –JESUS: RESURRECTION FROM SHAME

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Read Matthew 28:1-15; Psalm 30

Every story needs conflict. In the best stories, the conflict increases the tension and complexity, causing a reader to wonder how any happy resolution could be possible. Often, when all hope is lost, something amazing happens.

For the next nine days, we’ll study biblical examples of how God heals us from shame, and we’ll begin with the greatest example of all. Jesus’ story is packed with edge-of-your-seat conflict, superseded only by its out-of-this-world ending. The depths of suffering that He experienced on the cross provide a fitting contrast for the glorious ending God has for Him.

God allowed Jesus’ enemies to succeed in their evil plan—for a time. But in the end, God was victorious. He not only raised Jesus’ body from death, He also took care to restore Jesus’ wounded honor. The crowd, soldiers, and religious leaders mocked Jesus on the cross—but when Sunday dawned it was a different story! Now the Roman soldiers were the victims of terror, and the religious leaders’ lack of integrity was exposed.

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Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – JESUS: SHAME IN ABUSE

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Read Matthew 26:62-68; 27:22-37

In his book Mending the Soul: Understanding and Healing Abuse, Steven Tracy argues that abuse attacks the image of God in a person. It not only damages the body but also wounds the soul. Emotional, physical, and sexual abuse work to break down their victim’s sense of identity and worth.

Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated in Scripture than in the brutal series of attacks that Jesus endured in the hours leading up to His crucifixion. The religious leaders used their spiritual authority to assault His identity. He was on trial for being Himself, the Son of God. Silence infuriated His accusers; His calm restraint incensed them even more.

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Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – TAMAR: SHAME IMPOSED

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Read 2 Samuel 13:1-20

A woman was on her way to an elegant charity event in New York City. She had gone to great lengths to make herself ready: her hair was perfectly styled, her dress was beautifully draped, and her jewelry sparkled in the streetlights. As she was preparing to enter the building, however, a car drove by and splashed mud from a nearby puddle all over her. Through circumstances beyond her control, her appearance was completely marred and she was no longer fit to attend the party.

Tamar’s shame came upon her in an unforeseen and uninvited manner, through no fault or choice of her own. She savored her status as a royal princess, wearing the beautiful robes that signified her virginity (v. 18). She went to her brother’s house only out of obedience to her father, King David. When it became obvious that Amnon’s intention was dishonorable and repulsive, she did all within her power to stop him.

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Moody Global Ministries, Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – THE LAW: SHAME ENACTED

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Read Leviticus 13:40-46; 14:1-20

To our modern Western sensibilities, the treatment of lepers prescribed in the Old Testament law can seem harsh. But in ancient times, such illnesses were a deep cause for shame. People born with deformities or afflicted with certain diseases were thought to have been cursed by the gods, and they endured lifelong public shame.

As painful as it seems, the treatment prescribed in the Law (13:45) would be an external enactment of the internal shame that a leper already felt. Though everyone might know he was without guilt, his shame was unavoidable. His status had been redefined by a condition outside his control, rendering him unfit for the company of normal people and excluded from the public worship of God.

Such ostracism might be shocking to us, but in the context of the ancient Near East, the Law’s provision for a shamed person’s restoration was merciful in comparison. The Mosaic Law instructed priests—those closest to the worship and holiness of God—to examine the leprous person outside the camp (14:3). Hope remained that if their disease had cleared, their shame could be dealt with, too.

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Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Noah: Shame Exposed

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Read Genesis 9:18-29

For in the image of God has God made mankind. Genesis 9:6

Many people have experienced a nightmare in which they find themselves in public half-dressed or even naked. They feel mortified over being so exposed and spend the rest of the dream desperately trying to cover themselves and escape the situation, hoping no one else has noticed.

Noah woke from his sleep to discover that the nightmare had really happened. He had always been conscious of living an upright life before God and men, and God had honored him accordingly (see Gen. 6:8–9). But Noah was human, and he fell prey to the temptation to misuse the fruit of the earth for which he had toiled and with which God had blessed him. In a moment of weakness, he consumed too much wine and fell into a drunken sleep, oblivious to the fact that his nakedness was shamefully exposed.

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Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Cain: Shame Covered Up

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Read Genesis 4:1-16

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. Hebrews 11:4

Presenting gifts is a customary part of official government visits. Lady Kramer, the British transport minister, discovered too late that her present to Mayor Ko Wen-je of Taipei, Taiwan—a watch from the House of Lords—was more gaffe than gift. In Chinese culture, giving someone a clock or watch is considered in bad taste, since the phrases “giving a clock” and “attending an old person’s funeral” are pronounced similarly. “I had no idea a gift like this could be seen as anything other than positive,” Lady Kramer said. “In the U.K. a watch is precious—because nothing is more important than time.”

Cain had worked the earth by the sweat of his brow to produce a gift for God, but God favored his younger brother’s instead. We are told in the book of Hebrews why Cain’s offering was insufficient: it was not offered in faith (Heb. 11:4). Cain might have responded to God’s rejection of his offering with humble contrition, but he chose to turn away from God in anger.

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Moody Global Ministries, Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Shame Provided For      

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Read Luke 1:5-25

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Genesis 3:21

A Ugandan pastor tells the story of the day his father kicked him out of the house. The young man had grown restless and disrespectful, thinking he knew better than his father. His father told him to leave the family home and directed him to a hut at the edge of his property. He provided his son with enough goats to start his own herd. At the time, being forced from the family home felt like a punishment, but later the son was able to see how his father’s gracious provision allowed him to mature and to learn how to be a man.

God’s treatment of Adam and Eve following their rebellion was a severe but fitting punishment. Because they had not cooperated with God’s rulership, the woman’s body wouldn’t cooperate with her attempts to bear children; the ground would not cooperate with the man’s attempts to bear fruit. Even their relationship would be defined by tension and frustration (v. 16). Their lives would become a constant struggle against death, reminding them of the dust from which they were made and the low position to which they would return.

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Moody Global Ministries, Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Shame Uncovered

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Read Genesis 3:1-13

You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:16-17

A child playing hide-and-seek will often cover her eyes with her hands, thinking that the rest of her body is then also hidden. An adult learns to hide his secrets more effectively, avoiding eye contact in order to disguise his thoughts and feelings.

As we saw yesterday, Adam and Eve were created by God, and they were innocent and guileless in the way they related to God and to others. When Eve encountered the serpent, she was not guarded or discreet in her interaction with him. Like a child, she took his questions at face value. She did not have knowledge of good and evil—though she did know God’s command (see Gen. 2:17).

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Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Life without Shame

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Read Genesis 2:4-25  The LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Genesis 2:7

Marketing specialists know that an image of naked babies—cooing or playing or smiling—will capture most people’s hearts. Wide eyes and chubby tummies catch our attention, appealing to happy thoughts of a world full of innocence and wonder.

Today’s passage paints a similar picture, one of freshness, beauty, and discovery. God had just created the earth, bathing it with freshwater streams and preparing it to produce life. Finally, God shaped some dirt into a being who would bear His own likeness (Gen. 1:26; 5:1–2). He exhaled His own breath into this sculpture, filling it with life, personality, and spirit (v. 7).

God placed the newly created man in a garden and surrounded him with beautiful things to explore, create, and enjoy (v. 8–9). This human would be God’s image-bearer on the earth, imitating His creative work and tender care (v. 15).

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