Fire shut up in my bones: Joshua

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Joshua

You've got at least 19 good stories in Joshua. Which reminds me of my favorite line in Walk the Line, the movie about Johnny and June Carter Cash. Johnny's brother Jack Cash, who is 14 (when Johnny is about 12) and wants to be a minister when he grows up, is explaining to Johnny why he studies the Bible so zealously: How can you help people if you don't know what story to tell 'em? Out o the mouths of babes. Narrative is powerful and that's why so much of scripture is narrative, why Jesus told so many stories...rather than just the standard alliterative three point sermons.

major themes? well, be people of the book, tattoo it all over yourself, be strong and courageous, leave the old guard behind and come in with new wine skins for new wine.

Big point: Failure of handing off the baton of leadership at the end, setting Israel up to slip into the apostasy that would be the 300 years of Judges. After all those very explicit instructions in the first five books of scripture, Israel scrapped almost everything after Joshua's era. There is no evidence, for example, that Israel EVER actually observed the year of Jubilee. Somebody dropped the ball. And though the Law was Beautiful and Important and pointed towards holiness, it was clear that the law alone was not going to save Israel. There was going to have to be a Relationship between God and His people...one that included mercy and forgiveness...

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The Essence

Beloved Child of Mine, you who have lived in My home and in My Love for so long and have yet allowed a part of your heart to be hardened as stone, won't you reach out with Me to Love and recover those who have been lost from Our home?? Won't you let your heart break with Mine over their suffering? I did not say, They will know you are Christians by your LAWS. I said, They will know you are Christians by your LOVE. Can you please tell Me why that is Not the first thing that comes to people's minds when they hear the word 'Christian' in this country? I am waiting for you to change your heart, to join in their suffering, in My suffering, until all have come safely into the fold. I need you to be on My side before I restore all things, permanently. Please walk in My footsteps and lay down your life for the love of the lost--I call you not to rail at them, but to pull them away from the rail over which they are on the verge of falling to their deaths.

The fear for your own salvation and the hardness of your heart does not come from Me. Trust Me to keep you safe and cling to this lifesaver-- Love that is perfect and complete-as it can only be through Me--casts away all fear-and does so with attitude! Love drives you through the fear to victory--the victory where you let Me use you as My rod and staff to rescue those who will otherwise perish. You are My hands and feet and voice--you are My Body. I have chosen to make you the instruments of My salvation. When you are stiff and afraid and more concerned about your own welfare than that of these little ones, you foil My efforts. And that's causing some considerable delay.

Dear Children, if they don't know you for your love, I don't want you to call yourself by My Name! That, My Beloved, is what I meant when I solemnly warned you, Do NOT take the Name of the Lord your God-My Name-- in vain. It is only to be used by those who have surrendered to My love so that they can become My Love Poured Out. Please be My love poured out, and discover how I can fill you faster than you can pour. You will feel My Love for you far more when you make others feel My Love for them. When you pass the finish line and enter into the fray of celebration, you will find that your greatest reward, after Me, will be those you've carried with you, on your backs, across that line. We will savor that reward together, and forever.

What You Will Find Here

There's kind of a mixed bag here--mixed but not minced. The focus is on seeking to know the truth, to know our own hearts, to know the heart of God, to pursue the beautiful purposes of God in our lives, to acknowledge the ways we have fallen short of those purposes-- not only in our individual lives, but in society as a whole-for which we bear great responsibility--to urge us all to let the Holy Spirit soften the places where our hearts have turned to stone, to learn to hear Him and to obey Him, to get shaken up out of our lethargy (I'm thinking of Charles Wallace in the presence of the Big Evil It in A Wrinkle in Time, almost falling under its hypnotic spell, but ultimately triumphing, when he turns away from focusing on himself and his will to focus on the love in his heart instead, and Love conquers Evil). . . Some of these postings are essays in kind of an academic/literary tone, but most are much easier to read in terms of form and structure (not so jolting with the disjointed, stream of consciousness style and probably off-putting vocabulary of the former), but perhaps not in terms of content. The Bridegroom is preparing to be united with His beautiful bride--she must be whiter than snow, in brilliant gleaming robes, without spot or wrinkle. Lovelessness and Hypocrisy are Enemy #1 (Yeah, I'm counting them as one because I think they come hand in hand). Perhaps not every post will resonate with you--perhaps not even one--but I pray that they will stir up your heart and mind to get off and/or stay off the mindless conveyor belt of warm bodies with cold souls and no apparent effect on the world around them--get off to be agents of Truth, and Mercy, and Justice-agents of the Most High God, pouring out His love in all its many forms everywhere we turn. This is the mission. For those who choose to accept it. Let's Roll!

Straight from the Source. . .

What Do You See?

⁴Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, "What are these, my lord?" ⁵So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord." ⁶Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts. ⁷'What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!"'"

The Hands that Have Laid the Foundation Will Also Finish It

⁸Also the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ⁹"The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. ¹⁰ "For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel--these are the eyes of the LORD which range to and fro throughout the earth." ¹¹Then I said to him, "What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?" ¹²And I answered the second time and said to him, "What are the two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes, which empty the golden oil from themselves?" ¹³So he answered me, saying, "⁽Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord." ¹⁴Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth."

Zechariah 4 NASB

The Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37

²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"²⁶"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"²⁷He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"²⁸"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." ²⁹But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" ³⁰In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³²So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' ³⁶ "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" ³⁷ The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Lamentations 3:17-26

I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord. I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, the Lord is my portion. therefore I will wait for Him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

The Death of Lazarus in John 11

¹Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. ³So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."⁴When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." ⁵Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.

⁷Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea." ⁸"But Rabbi," they said, "a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?" ⁹Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world's light. ¹⁰It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light." ¹¹After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." ¹²His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." ¹³Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. ¹⁴So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." ¹⁶Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

¹⁷On His arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed at home. ²¹"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."²³Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." ²⁴Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. ²⁵Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ²⁶and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" ^27"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." ²⁸And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." ²⁹When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

³²When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." ³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴"Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. ³⁵Jesus wept. ³⁶Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" ³⁷But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"

³⁸Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹"Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." ⁴⁰Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" ⁴¹So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." ⁴³When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

Joel 2:28-32

And afterward I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants both men and women I will pour out My Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.