hey dry bones
I used to be baffled by just about everything at the end of the Old Testament. I’d be reading through the Bible, and somewhere around the end of Isaiah I’d just start speed-reading until I got to the New Testament. Of course the stories in Daniel and Jonah were familiar, but besides that it just seemed like “judgment judgment woe woe destruction destruction” for chapters on end.
Father’s been very patient with me, and I’ve come to love this part of the Bible. Now I can soak in Jeremiah and ache over how badly God wanted (and wants) to interact with his people. I can pull on Obadiah for every last drop of God’s passion for brotherly love. I can connect Ezekiel’s dry bones to Jesus standing in the opening of Lazarus’ tomb calling the dead man to life (just like he did for me). Jesus drew so deeply from the prophecy of the Old Testament; and most of it spells out MERCY.
There really is a heartbeat in every single word.
I’ve always liked the little prophet books. I usually skim over Paul’s letters because the sentence structure is distracting.
the best way to take in Paul’s letters is to memorize them. seriously. they’re so potent, you’ll get things you never came close to understanding before. try ephesians.
i read somewhere where the chinese house church guys were memorizing a chapter a day because they had so few Bibles & those could get confiscated at any point. that totally inspired me to go for inhaling the Word at that level.
I’ve never tried memorizing anything really. I’ll start with Ephesians, for the heck of it, and see how it goes.
chinese house churches reminds me… read “the Heavenly Man” for an awesome
modern-day book of Acts - a literal true story account of Holy Spirit’s move in china.
seriously, so amazing.
A little off topic… but I’ve been reading Watchman Nee’s “A Table in the Wilderness” daily devotional book (he’s from China). I absolutely love it and would recommend it to anyone. He makes everything seem so simple and easy to understand (in a good way).
there’s no question these brothers have lived lives worthy of the gospel, & Father has testified on their behalf over and over. book-of-acts lives are born not just out of severe persecution, but out of book-of-acts faith.
the unflinching faith of leaders like Watchman Nee and Brother Yun and Brother Xu have allowed the church to flourish in the face of decades of ruthless governmental extermination. the underground church of china is now approaching 100 million people, all tested in this fire. and when that church stands up there’s no doubt the world will be shaken by the power of their testimony.
true dat to “the heavenly man>”
old testament violence - just read in Exodus 33-ish where Moses comes down from the mountain of God and they’ve made the golden calf, so Moses has the Levites slay 3,000 men of Israel. harsh. I’m still unpacking why that is just when God’s commandment “you shall not make for yourself an idol” and “you shall have no other Gods before me” hadn’t even been handed to the people yet. is idolatry worse than murder? on my insides, i feel it is not, but by this it seems God’s love is indeed a jealous love.
i have faith, but certain parts of the old testament still seem like moral constructs with severe “God will smite you” consequences that moses composed to help govern his wayward people. and if that’s true, then i believe it is even moreso a testament to God still using our impure intentions to still further His purpose, His glory.
well you have to start from hebrews 3 telling us moses was “faithful in all God’s house.” that’s not a carte blanche endorsement of everything he ever did, but it is God’s testimony that moses ruled as a faithful servant, not a pragmatic dictator.
so much of what God taught his people in the wilderness was immediate, very visual, and very drastic; because the consequences for not obeying God’s every instruction were very literally life or death. try staying alive in that kind of desert for 40 days, let alone 40 years! we’re told that God’s purpose was that they learn that “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
& when it comes to leadership, intentions cannot be impure - look what happened to miraim & aaron when they questioned moses; korah, dathan, & abiram when they opposed moses; & nadab & abihu when they came in before the Lord drunk offering strange fire.
what you can count on is that every one of God’s decisions is & has always been based on absolute equity based on God being consecrated never to act outside of Love - & he always judges the heart, not the appearance.