Fruitcakes!
Here's a thought. It's quite possibly something that doesn't leave your mind often so it should be easy enough to bring to attention. Can you think of having to pay for something that wasn't your fault to begin with, but have to go through with it just because someone or possibly more than one person did so, and you have to bear the yoke also? Strikes more than a chord, doesnt it?
I really haven't a clue as far as why such things happen, but I can agree with you that I have gone through similar situations. And in some cases, have been that someone thanks to whom a whole bunch of people get affected. Neither is an envious position to be in, and both leave emotional scars that somehow etch themselves deep where it matters - across the heart.
Was thinking about Joseph's life and how he had to go to prison through no fault of his, when the Lord reminded me of two other people who probably had to suffer the longest - forty years! Let me take you some five hundred years after the Joseph incident, and you meet two guys, no more than soldiers, who endured in silence.
Meet Joshua and Caleb. One was Moses' assistant. Read Exodus and Numbers and you get to know a person who seldom ventured beyond Moses' tent, except of course, when it came to war. Interesting pasttime, wouldn't you agree? And nothing more is said of the other person except that he was another warrior. They probably fought together many times, or didn't even know each other - Israel had one HUGE army, easily numbering five hundred thousand soldiers and odds are, they hadnt even met before the spy operation.
Spy operation? Sounds interesting, and these men were part of an elite espionage team sent to check out the promised land, Canaan. They went, and found the most beautiful land they'd ever seen, and brought back fruits of sizes that we can only imagine or see in cartoons these days. Two men, who saw the promise of God coming through, not only in their lives, but also in the lives of their countrymen. And then came the pinch.
'...they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 Then they told him, and said: "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan."
30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it."
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants[ d] (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." ' [Num 13:27-33]
Again, I must confess I've read this passage so many times earlier, but then, God's got His ways of reminding His children of things that have been there for all eternity as far as we're concerned, quite simply so we could know we're not the only ones having to go through such situations, and possibly, even why. I re-read the passage, and I coudln't help feeling sorry for Joshua and Caleb, not to mention everyone else. They had to wait 40 long years before their dream of possessing the promised land finally came true - for no fault of theirs! Can you imagine the frustration? The eternal dream, foiled by their own counterparts, who in all probability had no idea of what they'd got themselves, and others into...
Sadly, it is the situation we end up having to live with more often than less. Life across history has been the same - sometimes we're in Joshua's shoes, and sometimes, we're the ones who have wrecked that eternal dream. And what do we do about it?
Looking back at Joshua's tryst with destiny scares me. Read Numbers 14 for everything that happened. Those who'd done the damage wanted to reverse and it, and they tried, with disastrous results. Maybe, just maybe, could it be possible that we are expected to go through certain areas of life which seem to be there for no reason at all? Kinda reminds you of those thorns that come along with the rose.
But, God had something in store which young Joshua never had thought about. Moses' assistant was foreordained by God to become Moses' replacement. And if Moses had to go through 40 years of trudging in the wilderness(after his murdering one Egyptian soldier) for the kind of training he needed to lead Israel through trudging in the wilderness, Joshua needed 40 years for what I'm not very sure about, but am wondering if it was patience. Cmon, the guy was a soldier, and I don't think being a soldier and being a leader (government job) go together. Patience to deal with people I suppose, and these people were of such a level even Moses lost his temper with them twice, ultimately leading to His not setting foot on the promised land.
But that is not what I'm trying to say here. Joshua would never have expected what God had planned for him all along. Maybe, you dont know what God has planned for you either. Maybe, you are the kind of person who wouldn't want such a job. You'd rather settle down doing nothing? waste time, watch grandchildren playing... sounds almost amusing, but thats what Caleb got. Don't forget the other spy who was right, yet lost to an overwhelming majority that was wrong. Forty years he waited, and one day, God gave him his dream inheritance. No doubt he'd seen the place when he went spying, and dreamt about it the moment he set his eyes upon it. Ofcourse the wait was long, but the Lord didn't forget him. His eyesight was unchanged - as good at 85 as it was at 45, and so was his strength.
There's something so very nice about Caleb's possession. Read about it in Joshua 14. The Lord'd promised him Hebron, and the Lord brought it to pass. He trusted the Lord, and the Lord came through for him. What a story!
Written: Jan 19, 2006
I really haven't a clue as far as why such things happen, but I can agree with you that I have gone through similar situations. And in some cases, have been that someone thanks to whom a whole bunch of people get affected. Neither is an envious position to be in, and both leave emotional scars that somehow etch themselves deep where it matters - across the heart.
Was thinking about Joseph's life and how he had to go to prison through no fault of his, when the Lord reminded me of two other people who probably had to suffer the longest - forty years! Let me take you some five hundred years after the Joseph incident, and you meet two guys, no more than soldiers, who endured in silence.
Meet Joshua and Caleb. One was Moses' assistant. Read Exodus and Numbers and you get to know a person who seldom ventured beyond Moses' tent, except of course, when it came to war. Interesting pasttime, wouldn't you agree? And nothing more is said of the other person except that he was another warrior. They probably fought together many times, or didn't even know each other - Israel had one HUGE army, easily numbering five hundred thousand soldiers and odds are, they hadnt even met before the spy operation.
Spy operation? Sounds interesting, and these men were part of an elite espionage team sent to check out the promised land, Canaan. They went, and found the most beautiful land they'd ever seen, and brought back fruits of sizes that we can only imagine or see in cartoons these days. Two men, who saw the promise of God coming through, not only in their lives, but also in the lives of their countrymen. And then came the pinch.
'...they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 Then they told him, and said: "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan."
30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it."
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants[ d] (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." ' [Num 13:27-33]
Again, I must confess I've read this passage so many times earlier, but then, God's got His ways of reminding His children of things that have been there for all eternity as far as we're concerned, quite simply so we could know we're not the only ones having to go through such situations, and possibly, even why. I re-read the passage, and I coudln't help feeling sorry for Joshua and Caleb, not to mention everyone else. They had to wait 40 long years before their dream of possessing the promised land finally came true - for no fault of theirs! Can you imagine the frustration? The eternal dream, foiled by their own counterparts, who in all probability had no idea of what they'd got themselves, and others into...
Sadly, it is the situation we end up having to live with more often than less. Life across history has been the same - sometimes we're in Joshua's shoes, and sometimes, we're the ones who have wrecked that eternal dream. And what do we do about it?
Looking back at Joshua's tryst with destiny scares me. Read Numbers 14 for everything that happened. Those who'd done the damage wanted to reverse and it, and they tried, with disastrous results. Maybe, just maybe, could it be possible that we are expected to go through certain areas of life which seem to be there for no reason at all? Kinda reminds you of those thorns that come along with the rose.
But, God had something in store which young Joshua never had thought about. Moses' assistant was foreordained by God to become Moses' replacement. And if Moses had to go through 40 years of trudging in the wilderness(after his murdering one Egyptian soldier) for the kind of training he needed to lead Israel through trudging in the wilderness, Joshua needed 40 years for what I'm not very sure about, but am wondering if it was patience. Cmon, the guy was a soldier, and I don't think being a soldier and being a leader (government job) go together. Patience to deal with people I suppose, and these people were of such a level even Moses lost his temper with them twice, ultimately leading to His not setting foot on the promised land.
But that is not what I'm trying to say here. Joshua would never have expected what God had planned for him all along. Maybe, you dont know what God has planned for you either. Maybe, you are the kind of person who wouldn't want such a job. You'd rather settle down doing nothing? waste time, watch grandchildren playing... sounds almost amusing, but thats what Caleb got. Don't forget the other spy who was right, yet lost to an overwhelming majority that was wrong. Forty years he waited, and one day, God gave him his dream inheritance. No doubt he'd seen the place when he went spying, and dreamt about it the moment he set his eyes upon it. Ofcourse the wait was long, but the Lord didn't forget him. His eyesight was unchanged - as good at 85 as it was at 45, and so was his strength.
There's something so very nice about Caleb's possession. Read about it in Joshua 14. The Lord'd promised him Hebron, and the Lord brought it to pass. He trusted the Lord, and the Lord came through for him. What a story!
Written: Jan 19, 2006
posted by Finney @ 1:23 PM
0 comments
