1Samuel 7
3: "If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid your selves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."
Wow. That is very difficult. Get rid of foreign gods. Not that I've been bowing down to the shrine of Michael Jackson in my room or anything. I know I hear this all the time, "Lose yourself and you will find Me" bit. If I am really returning to the Lord, with all my heart, ALL my HEART, it should be easy to get rid of all this crap that I spend such huge portions of my day on. With ALL my heart? If I don't, then I'm not delivered? I want to be delivered. I waste so much time, God, so much time that I could be using to spend time with you, to live in a way that's pleasing to you, to worship you. It takes a little at a time, I think. I could definitely start with being a better student--to do my work as if being a student, doing homework, and reading ahead, as if that were to advance your kingdom. Isn't that what you say? Work at everything as if it were directly serving you. I way need to get a better grasp on this serving you thing, this living all the time, spending every moment with a purpose. Then, I know I will be delivered out of my Philistine.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
What in the world?!
1st Samuel 4-6 (NIV)
It's often hard to read a chunk and really pull meaning out of it. It's also pretty difficult to say what I got out of the passage without just doing a synopsis of the events. I guess I can start there, though. ...
Basically, Israel (land of Samuel, Eli, etc) fights Philistine, Philistine kicks their butts and now has the ark of God's covenant. Eli's sons both died in battle, on the same day, just as God said they would. Upon hearing the news, Eli, now blind, falls, breaks his neck and dies. Phineas(one of Eli's sons)'s wife goes into early labor, dies, named her kid Ichabod, which means "no glory."
Philistines have the ark, plagues start happening, people are dying, they pass it on to some other country. These people get tumors, other plagues, start dying, ark gets tied to two cows who bring it back to Israel. Oh, I can't forget that while Phil had the ark, they put it in their god's temple who later lost his hands and head while apparently involuntarily worshipping the ark.
This passage mentions an awful lot this idea of the Lord's "heavy hand" being on the people while they had the ark. I'm not entirely sure what this means, I just get this mental image of God spanking all of the Philistines. Whenever I think about God's heaviness, it's really when I feel a definite heavy presence. That's why this "heavy hand" is bad business kind of confuses me. I mean, isn't the ark the ultimate God presence anyways? What are the Philistines being punished anyways? They were attacked by Israel, land of the screw-up sons. In fact, the Phils were the ones who helped carry out the prophecy of Eli and his sons dying. They basically earned the ark. Maybe I just don't realize the history of the Philistines. Are they bad people?
God, ... I know I don't get it very often. I am very often left wondering what in the world this has to do with my life. ... Please God, reveal to me the message. The relevancy.
I realize this was a complete ramble. My goal isn't to articulate or to teach, just express my thoughts to get them out of my own head. Sorry. Well, not really.
It's often hard to read a chunk and really pull meaning out of it. It's also pretty difficult to say what I got out of the passage without just doing a synopsis of the events. I guess I can start there, though. ...
Basically, Israel (land of Samuel, Eli, etc) fights Philistine, Philistine kicks their butts and now has the ark of God's covenant. Eli's sons both died in battle, on the same day, just as God said they would. Upon hearing the news, Eli, now blind, falls, breaks his neck and dies. Phineas(one of Eli's sons)'s wife goes into early labor, dies, named her kid Ichabod, which means "no glory."
Philistines have the ark, plagues start happening, people are dying, they pass it on to some other country. These people get tumors, other plagues, start dying, ark gets tied to two cows who bring it back to Israel. Oh, I can't forget that while Phil had the ark, they put it in their god's temple who later lost his hands and head while apparently involuntarily worshipping the ark.
This passage mentions an awful lot this idea of the Lord's "heavy hand" being on the people while they had the ark. I'm not entirely sure what this means, I just get this mental image of God spanking all of the Philistines. Whenever I think about God's heaviness, it's really when I feel a definite heavy presence. That's why this "heavy hand" is bad business kind of confuses me. I mean, isn't the ark the ultimate God presence anyways? What are the Philistines being punished anyways? They were attacked by Israel, land of the screw-up sons. In fact, the Phils were the ones who helped carry out the prophecy of Eli and his sons dying. They basically earned the ark. Maybe I just don't realize the history of the Philistines. Are they bad people?
God, ... I know I don't get it very often. I am very often left wondering what in the world this has to do with my life. ... Please God, reveal to me the message. The relevancy.
I realize this was a complete ramble. My goal isn't to articulate or to teach, just express my thoughts to get them out of my own head. Sorry. Well, not really.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Drop it like it's fragile
1Samuel 2:27-3
Eli was responsible for the actions of his sons... Yikes. So, does that mean I am held responsible for those I teach? I can hardly keep myself on track. I thank God that I live in the New Testament world, where I am given forgiveness simply by asking for it.
I can definitely relate to Samuel not knowing the voice of God when he heard his name called. So many times, I tell God I'm listening, and then turn up the music. I ask why He's not speaking to me, when often he's yelling out to me. Granted, it's not the same situation--Samuel actually heard his name called, and simply didn't realize it was God. So, do I just ignore Him altogether? I don't even hear Him. I think that's why I have initiated Project: Closer. That's a really dumb name, I just put it down on the spot. That's not actually what I'm calling this...
Anyways, my favorite quote from this passage (3:19): "The Lord was with Samuel, as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground." NIV I know that's not literal-you can't drop a word, unless you physically write it down, then I suppose you can. How many times, though, have I read the Word, or knew what God was telling me, and just dropped what He was telling me.(Do rhetorical questions get question marks?) Samuel actually took God's words to heart. He used them in his daily life, no matter what. He didn't care if it wasn't fun. All of Israel knew that he was a prophet of the Lord because of this lifestyle. Lord, help me be that example. I don't want to be famous. I just want to be that much of a servant for you. Help me to hold on to your words.
Eli was responsible for the actions of his sons... Yikes. So, does that mean I am held responsible for those I teach? I can hardly keep myself on track. I thank God that I live in the New Testament world, where I am given forgiveness simply by asking for it.
I can definitely relate to Samuel not knowing the voice of God when he heard his name called. So many times, I tell God I'm listening, and then turn up the music. I ask why He's not speaking to me, when often he's yelling out to me. Granted, it's not the same situation--Samuel actually heard his name called, and simply didn't realize it was God. So, do I just ignore Him altogether? I don't even hear Him. I think that's why I have initiated Project: Closer. That's a really dumb name, I just put it down on the spot. That's not actually what I'm calling this...
Anyways, my favorite quote from this passage (3:19): "The Lord was with Samuel, as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground." NIV I know that's not literal-you can't drop a word, unless you physically write it down, then I suppose you can. How many times, though, have I read the Word, or knew what God was telling me, and just dropped what He was telling me.(Do rhetorical questions get question marks?) Samuel actually took God's words to heart. He used them in his daily life, no matter what. He didn't care if it wasn't fun. All of Israel knew that he was a prophet of the Lord because of this lifestyle. Lord, help me be that example. I don't want to be famous. I just want to be that much of a servant for you. Help me to hold on to your words.
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