Smeagol is Free!
A hermitudinal view of...stuff...


10.02.2004  

Road Trip

Scott and Rob and I rolled in to the 'Ville somewhere around midnight last night, juuuuuust catching the end of Five for Fighting's Superman as we pulled up to the door outside of Carver Hall. I love that song...it portrays exactly how I feel nine days out of ten.



Yesterday was great. Excellent. Stupendous. Outstanding. Catch my drift? No? Better than ice-cold, fresh-squeezed lemonade on a day so hot the heatwaves can be seen coming off the grass, better than a long ride in a thick barrel with your friends raising their hands and cheering, better than a fat steak, rare to medium-rare, dripping, succulent, and still practically mooing at me. Yes, that good :)



What made it so good? *Sigh*...Dr. Orrick would say, "specific details!" Unfortunately, I can't go into too much detail other than to say that Scott and Rob and I met up with Jewel and spent the day enjoying Jesus together. We (the guys) were pretty silly...being in a different city did something to us, methinks. But you know what? It's ok. Once we settled down, we showed our good sides, which was great for Jewel, because she saw what the Men of Boyce are all about. I've recounted to her countless times how blessed I am not only to have friends I'm close to from back home, but to have guys come into my life that I've met at Boyce that I'll be calling upon for the rest of my life for prayer and counsel and fellowship. Sharing that, more than almost anything else, truly brought joy to my heart.



I suppose that, in a sense, that's how God designed the church to operate. We ought to do that with everyone we meet: show them the Light that is within us. When I was talking to Jim this morning, we spoke of how amazing it is that God is so gracious to us. Sometimes, people will tell us that since we're in love with Jesus and steeping ourselves in the Word, we deserve the blessings that God brings our way. *Sigh*...so not true! In one sense, yes, because of Christ, we can expect the Lord to bestow upon us all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). Yet, is it not still grace which brings this about? Is not God's grace to us, whether in the past, present, or future, still grace? And is not that grace so overflowingly and saturatingly infinite and intimate and wonderful and beautiful, that we should be constantly praising the glory of it in Christ, and not ever think that we deserve it? Yes, grace is that way. Jim and I agreed that we are simply undeserving vessels through which Christ shines His light, for He is Light, and we have Him in our hearts.



Good stuff, indeed :)



Several weeks ago, I wrote a little tidbit on Peter's denial as depicted in Luke 22, and spoke of the Howdy Group meeting that I used that passage in. I also mentioned that I had read through Deuteronomy for those guys out loud, and as I confirmed through the "find" command in Internet Explorer, I said you (meaning whoever's reading this) should go read Deuteronomy 8 for yourself. Well...I think I've since written a little bit on a portion of it for someone in an email, and since I like the thoughts and convictions that have come from it, I'll post it here. Cool? Cool :)



Here's the passage from Deuteronomy 8, along with some thoughts on it...



2 "You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

3 "He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.

4 "Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

5 "Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

6 "Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.



The wandering in the wilderness was a journey that could have been completed within a matter of days. What purpose did such a wandering serve?



It humbled them. God knew the rebellious ways of His chosen people, but He wanted to show them the contents of their heart. He showed them that they were frail, prone to failure, and that they needed to rely upon the Lord daily. In giving them manna, He showed them that He was their provision, He was their sustenance. The Lord instructed the Israelites that they were not to save the manna from one day to the next; rather, they were to eat only what they needed each day, and were to wait upon Him to provide for the next day. Muchlike His mercies that are new every morning (Lam 3:22, 23), so was the manna which He provided.



In doing so, He also gave the Israelites knowledge and understanding of Himself. They were a people who were given every opportunity to apprehend and comprehend the knowledge and understanding of God, yet they were, much like we are, very slow to learn. God's prescence dwelt amongst them in a tabernacle until the time of Solomon, when God gave to him the privilege of building the temple. John 1:14 says that the Word (Jesus) "dwelt" amongst us. The word that John uses literally means "tabernacled," much like God had tabernacled amongst the Israelites for those forty years and beyond. God gave to them knowledge and understanding of Himself as He dwelt amongst them, yet they did not learn very well. The difference now? Jesus not only dwelt amongst us, He now dwells *in* us, for we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). God did not leave them alone in the wilderness, and neither has He left us alone in our wanderings. Rather than simply dwelling amongst us, He dwells in us. Much like the manna and His mercies, He gives to us from Himself each day that we might walk in faithful obedience!



The Lord disciplined the Israelites in their wanderings, and He did it for their own good. In His perfect discipline (Heb 12:4 - 11), He disciplines us as a father disciplines his son, yet He does so in a far better way than any earthly father could.



The Lord led them in this way that they might keep His commandments and revere Him. Did they do this? Hardly! Over and over and over again, Moses must make intercession for them. Yet, as much as Moses' intercession is seen as that which stalls the hand of God's wrath, we see in the New Testament that Moses's intercession is but a foreshadowing of Christ's perfect intercession. As Moses was given the Law, Christ was the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law. As Moses was often left to plead for the pardon of God's chosen people, so was Christ the perfect propitiation and appeasement of God's wrath upon us. As Moses gave to the Israelites the revelation that God led them that they might be humbled, hungry, living by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord, disciplined as by a father, in order to keep His commandments and to fear Him, so did Christ Himself know that humbling, hunger, dependence upon the Father, the discipline of the Father, all in order that Christ might demonstrate not only the perfect example of how to keep His Father's commands and revere Him, but also to provide us the means to do the same (Heb 8).



Our wanderings are often the vehicle of God's gracious discipline. Wanderings are not something that God bestows upon a people whom He has forsaken. Wanderings are an opportunity for us to consider Him who has died for us, and to realize that He has not only gone before us and wandered much as we do, but He also has gone before us into the veil and ensured that we, too, may enter, that we may walk in His commandments and revere Him.

posted by Bolo | 2:05 PM
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