Kings...me...God...etc.
Subscribe in a readerWe're studying 1-2 Kings currently. Reading the book, which records the lives of all of Israel and Judah's Kings, its fascinating to see the way an entire King's life is immortalized forever in just one paragraph. It's got me thinking "man if my life was summed up in one paragraph, what would that paragraph be about, and would I be surprised by the things that DIDN'T make the list?"
Scot Pitts brought up a great point in lecture today. He brought up the point that each one of the Kings of Israel, who so many of whom look like such tyrants in 1-2 Kings, would have most likely had a VERY DIFFERENT opinion of how their lives should have been immortalized for all time. Jeroboam 11 is a great example of this. Jeroboam 11 (2 Kings 14:23-28) took advantage of a weaker political climate in the region and expanded the borders of Israel to one of their greatest extents, ushering in Israel's last "golden era" of economic prosperity before the spiral into Exile. It's interesting to me that Jeroboam 11, while things were going so "well" for him , was BLATANTLY IGNORING God's direction and God's law.
Jeroboam spent 41 years as King of Israel, leading Israel the whole time down the same path of idolatry and sin that would eventually wreck the nation and send them into exile. The book of Hosea was written into this time (Israel, pictured as a prostitute running away from their true love). Ouch.
I wonder if Jeroboam went to his grave thinking he'd done Israel a huge favor by being such a "successful leader." I bet so. The problem is, his "success" is measured in every way OTHER THAN the the things God cares most about:
Relationship with him, love for Him, following Him.
listen up stup"e"d
Subscribe in a readerwhen I was like 11 years old my friend and I were riding our bikes around the neighborhood when we ran across some wet concrete. SWEET!. the hidden Rembrandt comes out in me so quickly when given the chance to immortalize my creative energies on the sidewalk. After our masterpiece was finished my friend signed our art project by writing "stupid"...but managed to spell "stupid" incorrectly in the process (wrong vowel...he used an "e") forever declaring on the sidewalk that the hastily created image was in fact a self portrait...ha.
Anyway, he's not the first one to be a little thick in the head.. We all get that way, and sometimes I feel bad for God about how hard it is to get through to us. Every now and then he does, and its encouraging. I wanted to share one with you that happened yesterday:
Two days ago while driving into work I felt that little voice inside my head say "turn off NPR and listen up..I want to talk to you." Normally I tune that out, but not this time. Then the thoughts started flowing: you know those thoughts: the ones that you're not sure about...whether they're God..whether they're just you. Anyway, during that time I had the thought "check the contact links on your website to make sure they work." When I got to work I found out that for about a month the links had been dead, and that anyone trying to contact the school in that time wouldn't have reached us. Luckily (wrong word to use) no one had tried.
Fast-forward 24 hours. Yesterday morning when I got to work I had an e-mail in my inbox from that corrected link. It was from a brand new student inquiry for next year. The first one that I've gotten from that link in several months. A day earlier I wouldn't have gotten it. Uh huh...get 'er done God!
so the lesson of the day for me is: "Listen up stup(e)d"...pay attention, God is in control, he's got something to say to you today, and everyone is better off if you'll listen.
Tom
Beach Retreat
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| Luke Phillips...scooting in the beach |
so my son is 8 months old...and he has decided that its easier to scoot everywhere than crawl...notice the drag track behind him.
we surprised the students with three days at the beach...and boy was it awesome. 70 degrees and sunny three days straight. No work...just fun. I wanna go back right now!
Thank you to everyone who made this happen..giving your time, resources, homes to make this the best numbers retreat we've ever had!
tom
I believe, Lord help my unbelief
Subscribe in a readerWe're solidly in the pentateuch now...the students are just finishing Exodus. It's always interesting transitioning back into the Old Testament world. It takes a few weeks to start to think like an Israelite again...
It's amazing how much you can learn about your own heart through studying the lives of the early Israelites. One thing I'm seeing today: It's crazy how quickly we tend to blame God for the slightest bit of hardship that arises, and in the blaming we tend to gloss over/minimize/conveniently dismiss and forget all the other times in the past that God bailed us out/came through/blessed/provided...you name it. I used to think that maybe it was all the late nights up with my kids that's been causing me to be so forgetful...but reading Exodus its pretty clear to me that selective amnesia towards the saving Acts of God on our behalf is something that plagues us all.
If I didn't know myself so well I'd think its ABSOLUTELY OBSURD that Israel, just THREE DAYS after seeing the most AMAZING act of deliverance the world has ever seen, began to complain and doubt God. Just three days after walking through the Red sea on DRY GROUND the Israelites are acting like they've been hopelessly abandoned in the wilderness to die of thirst (Exodus 15:22-25). Three hot days...three thirsty days...and its just as if all the plagues, the passover deliverance, the Red Sea crossing and the TOTAL destruction of the most powerful nation on earth right before their eyes never even happened.
Wow.
If I didn't have so much experience doing the same thing with God myself I'd be mad as heck at Israel for how they acted...but....how quickly we all play the "what if" scenarios out in our minds..."what if the year end bonus doesn't come, what if my health deteriorates, what if I lose my job, what if the roof leaks again...what if...what if...what if...until we're all blue in the face and TOTALLY forgetful of the fact that none of the scary "what if" scenarios have EVER taken us completely out of the game...and not once, have ANY of them materialized in a way that God couldn't and hasn't brought us straight through and out the other side.
I don't want to be like this anymore. I want to trust like a little kid (Mt 18:3) I want to see the kingdom, believe it, live it, love it, trust it like my three year old daughter does. She's got no "what if scenarios" no contingency plan beyond childlike trust. I love that...the thought of living with abandon like that totally draws me into God, and completely freaks me out at the same time. But that's what the journey of following Jesus is like...you gotta try and see it like a little child would, or you don't see it at all.
I don't want to be the type of person who hurried through the Red Sea afraid that the walls of water were going to crash back down before they made it through. If I'm going to have to make the journey regardless, I'd much rather enjoy the ride, take a second to pick up a shell or two from the ocean floor, put it in my pocket and NEVER FORGET that it was God's hands who parted the waters of my darkest past. He did it once, and he will do it again.
Upcoming special lecture
Subscribe in a readerWell everyone is back from a great Christmas break and we're two days into our journey through the old testament. We have an exciting quarter ahead, I think everyone is fired up to dive into the rest of the Bible.
One exciting invitation to present to you: We have an entire week of lectures on Biblical archaeology and the peoples and places of the OT world coming up in February with David Hansen, an expert on Biblical geography and military affairs. He's an amazing lecturer and his talks are the product of years of study. During his stay he'll be giving a special evening lecture on Feb 7th on "The Exodus Route at the Red Sea: Evidence that Suggests a Possible Solution". Come on out at 7 pm if you can, it should be a fun evening. Check out his bio below, and be sure to download the audio files from his upcoming lecture series.
Colonel David G. Hansen (Ret.) served in the US Army for thirty-five years. He taught at the US Army War College for nine years where he was chairman of the Department of National Security and Strategy and a tenured professor. He left active military service with four academic degrees in geography and international relations. He then taught at Penn State University for eight years while finishing a Ph.D. in biblical studies. He has lived in Europe and Asia; travelled, taught and lectured extensively in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Middle East where he also has participated in archaeological expeditions; published over 32 articles in several journals about the impact of geography and military affairs in the Bible; written chapters in three books, authored one book (In Their Sandals, Xulon Press, 2008) and co-authored five. David’s 2009 co-authored book, A Visual Guide to Bible Events (Baker Books) was one of five finalists for the 2010 Christian Evangelical Publishers Association (ECPA) Book Award in the “Bible Reference and Study” category. His latest co-authored book, A Visual Guide to Gospel Events (Baker Books) was released in September 2010 and it, too, was a finalist in the 2011 ECPA Book Award. He was President of the Associates for Biblical Research for seven years and is now an Associate with over 30 man-years serving on various boards of nonprofit organizations.