Things to be thankful for in 2020

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi     

I decided to see if I could come up with twenty things to be thankful for from this very weird year.  Amid all the crazy, all the stuff that went down that grieved my spirit, could I find twenty things to remember going forward?

And then, as I thought, I realized I had a much better, much easier, much less traumatic 2020 than many people and posting twenty things to be thankful for might even seem to be insensitive.  So...maybe just the things that come to mind first to be thankful for...without thinking too hard.

Of course, there are the general blessings that should always spark thanksgiving...things like having a home to live in and hot water on demand and food to eat and friends and family to share life with... whether it's 2020 or any other time, so I'm thinking about things from 2020 specifically.

Our jobs didn't go away...we could work from home and still have income.  And working from home was a blessing...I got to see a lot more of My Sweet Babboo, and we were able to avoid a lot of risky exposure.  That's like, three or four things to be thankful for right there.

We now have a grandson...who was 7 weeks old yesterday and MAYBE I will get to hold him on Friday.  Masked, of course. 

I am thankful for technology that kept us connected (how many zoom meetings did we have???) when we couldn't meet up in the same space.

While we were not able to travel to the ol' stomping grounds and visit extended family this year, we hope to see everyone at some point next year.  It's a blessing that both of us still have our parents to call and chat with even if we can't actually go see them right now.

My Sweet Babboo and I celebrated 40 years of wedded life; can't believe it's been that long since that chilly, rainy day in August when we pledged our lives and our love to each other.  

And it may seem self-serving, but I am grateful for the crazy-long-running desert Bible study...it's been so timely so many times this year.  I feel like it was there to give me what I needed when I needed it.   If you missed the initial introduction to the blog, I found that I always learned more when I was preparing lessons for Bible study classes so this is my way of fooling myself into digging into the scripture.  I'm just putting my thoughts on the blog instead of in my journal. They are rather raw, but that's kind of the point.  So...if you've joined me at any point, I am grateful for YOU. :-)  

My prayer for all of us in 2021 is that we would learn to see God's hand at work even in circumstances we don't understand, that we can trust him to do what is best for the kingdom at all times, and that we can learn to adapt ourselves to his plan instead of expecting him to move heaven to fulfill our plans. If we learn that...I think we will have learned the lessons we were meant to learn from 2020 and we'll be positioned for whatever happens in 2021 and beyond.

A Dream that Won't Die

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I have a dream that just won't die.

It's been shot down enough times; it should be, like Jacob Marley, dead as a doornail.

I've written about it before...long ago....  I did eventually knock on a door loud enough someone came to the door, heard my spiel, and basically said, 'Oh, it's nice, but we're not interested.'  And closed the door.

I put it away, then, again. I  heard the coffin being nailed closed from a chance comment a fellow staff member made to me about a year or so ago...she had no idea the significance of the little off-hand remark  had to me and my dream.

It should be dead.  Mourned and left behind.

But it. Won't. Die.

I never really said what the dream was here.

Years ago, our church did a fairly well-known adaptation of A Christmas Carol a couple of years in a row.  It was well-received; many churches have  performed it.  But, there are things about it that just felt...wrong.  I know some of it was due to time constraints; that's a tough story to tell in the attention span of the average church- goer, even if it's known to be 'A Production' and not a service.  But some of the dialogue felt awkward; some of the references weren't true to the time period...minor things, really, but they bugged me.

So I sat down and re-wrote a number of the scenes so that they would be a little more natural in dialogue...and a little more accurate to the era.  I thought that would get the bee out of my bonnet.

But it didn't.

Finally, about 12 years ago I sat down with a copy of A Christmas Carol and wrote an entirely new adaptation, told as a flashback by someone who turns out to be Timothy Cratchet at about age 55.  I wrote lyrics for six songs...looking for Christmas Carols that would have been sung in the mid 19th century for the required carol medley. I named it...'God Bless Us, Everyone'.

I gave it to a few people to read.  Some, to my knowledge, never did.  Some were polite and returned it with kind, non-judgmental words.  One or two were enthusiastic.  I kept polishing it; the last edit through it, to make sure there was nothing in it that was unique to the original production, was in 2014.

But it went nowhere.  The news I'd been given that nailed the coffin shut was that someone else had been asked to rewrite the original script for a future production at my church.  The person who told me that had no idea that I'd been working  on a whole new adaptation.

But the dream won't die.

I pulled it up last week and took a deep breath and began editing it down to a more workable length.  I put a page break between each scene and looked at each one independently, from the end backwards...what was there that didn't move the story forward or uphold the message?  I took out lines of explanation, characters, subplots...some of my favorite lines.   One whole scene. Half of another. Loved that little interchange.  But...time... it was axed.  And I'm still afraid it's too long, but it's much leaner than it was.  However, it's still a very rough draft; the songs need fleshing out at the very least.  Lyrics alone aren't enough.

But...why am I doing this?  What is the point?  I honestly don't know.  I haven't talked about it much, really, for years.  Here and there, but always to a crack in a door that closed.  Maybe it's just bad.  Honestly, that could be the problem.  But it doesn't feel bad. It doesn't feel manipulative. It actually feels kinda right.

So...maybe there's a place I don't know about yet where it will fit.  I can't believe that this thing isn't meant for something since it just won't leave me alone. But I have no idea how to find the place for it.

I'm just not sure what to do next.  If anything.  Keep whittling, I suppose.

But now you know what I've been not talking about.

Blogging Bible Study: Ezekiel, Part 2

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

After last week's mulitple-verses-in-one-chapter post...we have only five verses left in the entire book of Ezekiel that mention 'desert'.  I will admit that they are rather varied in topic...but there's only five, so I think we can look at them all today.

The first one is basically a geographical reference...a border...but, wow...

"And they will know that I am the LORD, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak -- places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols.  And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the desert to Diblah -- wherever they live.  Then they will know that I am the LORD." (Ez. 6:13-14) 

You can look up in verse 11 to see that the 'they' in this passage is 'the house of Israel'.  This is coming judgment for idolatry.  They would die in the places they worshiped the idols; whole land would be desolate.

The next verse is Ez. 19:13, but it is in the last stanza of a lament (19:1) and needs a fair amount of text for context:

" 'Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of abundant water.  Its branches were strong, fit for a ruler's scepter.  It towered high above the thick foliage, conspicuous for its height and for its many branches.  But it was uprooted in fury and thrown to the ground.  The east wind made it shrivel, it was stripped of its fruit; its strong branches withered and fire consumed them.  Now it is planted in the desert, in a dry and thirsty land.  Fire spread from one of its main branches and consumed its fruit.  No strong branch is left on it fit for a ruler's scepter.'  This is a lament and is to be used as a lament."  (Ez. 19: 10-14).

Allegorical language;  Israel was the mother, the vine in the vineyard, shriveled by the east wind (Babylon?) .  The line of David dwindled.  Not failed utterly...but dwindled into a barely-surviving thread, transplanted to a place where they would not thrive. With the possible exception of a period of about 80 years after the Maccabean revolt (there is some disagreement among scholars on this), there was not an independent, self-determining Israel in existence again until 1948.  The genealogies  were preserved enough to know that Jesus was descended from David...but then the records fail.  Israel has no princes and no kings...they have a prime minister.  No strong branch can hold a scepter.

The verse in chapter 23 is in the middle of an allegorical discussion of Israel and Judah as Oholah and her sister Oholibah.  It's...not pretty...

"You sat on an elegant couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed the incense and oil that belonged to me.  The noise of a carefree crowd was around her; Sabeans were brought from the desert along with men from the rabble, and they put bracelets on the arms of the woman and her sister and beautiful crowns on their heads.  Then I said about the one worn out with adultery, 'Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is.' And they slept with her.  As men sleep with a prostitute, so they slept with those lewd women, Oholah and Oholibah." (Ez. 23:41-44)

Sabeans and men from the rabble...no covenant and no honor.  And the items that were to be used in worship of the God of Abraham...were used to adorn 'the woman and her sister', enticing the pagans around them into relationships that pulled them away from the covenant with the LORD.  Chapter 23 goes on to describe the consequences of such behavior, summing up: "You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry.  Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD." (vs. 49).  Notice...there were three things they were under judgment for doing...worshiping other gods (idolatry): being in illegitimate relationships with people who were not following or serving God; and taking what was holy to God and using it for their own pleasure. 

Take a minute and reflect on that.

The next passage is a prophecy against another nation...in this case, Egypt (29:2)

"I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish  of your streams.  You will fall on the open field and not be gathered or picked up.  I will give you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air. Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the LORD." (Ez. 29:5-6a)

The prophecy/ lament for Egypt goes on through chapter 32...4 whole chapters.  Egypt had failed to help Israel (29: 6b-7) and they had, in their pride, claimed the Nile as their property and their own creation (29:3, 9b).  They behaved as if they were their own ultimate authority.

Again...take a minute and reflect on that.

But...we end on a positive note. The final mention of 'desert' in Ezekiel is in chapter 34:

"I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered.  I will judge between one sheep and another.  I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd.  I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them.  I the LORD have spoken.  I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of wild beasts so that they may live in the desert and sleep in the forests in safety. I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill.  I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing.  The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land.  They will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them.  They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them.  They will live in safety and no one will make them afraid."  (Ez. 34:22 - 28).

And there's nothing to add to that except... AMEN. 

With this...we've finished the Major Prophets as 'desert' does not appear in the book of Daniel.  I'm going to take a break from the desert for the holidays...we'll dig into the Minor Prophets in January.

Merry Christmas!!!

 

 

Digging in the Desert: Ezekiel, Part 1 - History Review

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

 

Our traipse through the Bible looking at the word 'desert' has brought us to Ezekiel. Ezekiel was taken to Babylon with the first group of exiles, deported with King Jehoiachin.  His visions first came about halfway through the reign of the last king of Judah, Zedekiah. Ezekiel's visions are clearly of things beyond the capability of human language to convey, his prophecies highly allegorical. But God's purpose in revealing these things to him is clearly stated over and over again: '...so they would know that I am the LORD.' 

Over half the references to 'desert' in the book are in chapter 20, so we'll look at that today and catch the rest next week.

Chapter 20 gives us a fixed date...the 7th year (Of Jehoachin's exile/ Zedekiah's reign...Zedekiah reigned a total of 11 years before the final sack of Jerusalem and deportation), 5th month, 10th day, and 'some of the elders of Israel' came to Ezekiel to see what the LORD would say to them. As best I can tell, the response the LORD gave through Ezekiel is in verses 2 - 44; there's a shift at verse 45 that makes me think that, at that point, he was relating a different word in a different setting, but it's hard to tell.  In any case, all the 'desert' references are clearly contained in the LORD's reply to the elders as the last mention of 'desert' in the chapter is in verse 36.  It is, no suprise, a summation of God's past invovlement with Israel.  The desert references (with immediate context) are: 

"But for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations they lived among and in in whose sight I had revealed myself to the Israelites by bringing them out of Egypt.  Therefore I led them out of Egypt and brought them to the desert."  (Ez. 20:9-10)

"Yet the people of Israel rebelled against me in the desert.  They did not follow my decrees but neglected my laws -- although the  man who obeys them will live by them -- and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths.  So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and destroy them in the desert."  (Ez. 20:13)

"Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the desert that I would not bring them into the land I had given them -- a land flowing with milk and honey, most beautiful of all lands -- because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths.  For their hearts were devoted to their idols. Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destoy them or put an end to them in the desert.  I said to their children in the desert, "Do not follow the ways of your fathers or keep their laws or defile yourselves ith their idols."  (Ex. 20:15-18)

"But the children rebelled against me:  They did not follow my decrees, they were not careful to keep my laws -- although the  man who obeys them will live by them -- and they desecrated my Sabbaths.  So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in the desert.  But I witheld my hand, and for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.  Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the desert that I would disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries, because they had not obeyed my laws but had rejected my decrees and descrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes lusted after their fathers' idols."  (Ez. 20:21-24)

"I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered -- with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath.  I will bring you into the desert of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgment upon you.  As I judged your fathers in the desert of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign LORD."  (Ez. 20:34-36)

As is typical of Ezekiel, this is not a literal list of what happened but a summation of attitudes; those of the people who were brought out of Egypt, then their children and also their many-generations removed descendants. There is a clear pattern of repeated language, showing a clear pattern of repeated behavior and response.  Israel refused to obey God, but instead gave their attention and devotion to idols; God prounced judgment but never wiped them out, saving a remnant always for the sake of his own name.  Notice the change of verb tense for the last passage...from past to future. Judgment was not over; there was more yet to come.  The Israelites had to learn NOT to put their trust in idols.

There were a pair of verses that didn't mention desert but struck me anyway as I looked through this chapter: "You say, 'We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone.'  But what you have in mind will never happen. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD,  I will rule over you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath." (v. 32-33).

God would not allow his people to assimilate into the cultures around them; to live as though they were people without a covenant.  Oh, they tried...over and over again.  And brought judgment and disaster upon themselves, with a remnant surviving with the unction to serve God and God alone.

I will say this...after the return from the Babylonian exile, we do not see that the Israelites ever again fell into worshiping pagan idols.  

But...what of us today?  Who say, 'We want to be like the peoples of the world, who serve their own desires and appetites.' ?  Will God allow the people who were bought at such a dear price to fall into such idoltatry?  Look closely...that covers pretty much anything that would fall under the classifications of physical appetites, phyiscial comfort and possessions, and/ or positions of influence....not that those things, in and of themselves, are evil; but if they become the identity and objective of life in a believer as they are in the life of one who cares nothing for God, then there is a problem.  We are not our own, but bought at a price; we are not to conform to the pattern of the world around us but we are to be made new and different.  

God's people have always been called out to be different, to serve him first and foremost; to be identified as his.  They won't truly prosper any other way.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Lamentations

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Lamentations is appropriately named; it is collection of songs mourning for Jerusalem after judgment falls. In the middle of chapter three, though, there is a promise of God's faithfulness that throws some hope on the despair, but we are here to look at verses that mention 'desert'...and there are three:

Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my people have become heartless like ostriches in the desert.  (Lam. 4:3)

Our pursuers were swifter than eagles in the sky; they chased us over the mountains and lay in wait for us in the desert.  (Lam. 4:19)

We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert. (Lam. 5:9)

The first verse laments an aspect of the hard-heartedness of the people...one of the things that led to the judgment that fell upon them.  Jackals...savage predators with no mercy or compassion, still nurture their young. But ostriches lay their eggs in community nests and the community, including the males, take turns sitting on the nest (yes, I googled it to see, lol).  The mother takes no more interest in her own young than she takes in the rest of the group of hatchlings; all the family group works to protect the chicks from predators.  I looked but couldn't find whether or not the mama ostrich even really knows which of the chicks are hers....but what I did find seemed to indicate that it is the responsibility of the adults, collectively, to care for the babies, collectively.  There is no particular attachment between parents and offspring.  The babies are protected...but not particularly nurtured.

So why would a community that bands together to protect the young ones be seen as heartless?  Is it because the mama ostrich does not bond with nor particularly instruct her offspring?  Think about the repeated verses in the Bible about instructing one's children to follow God...repeating over and over to the youngsters the truths of the law.  This task was assigned primarily to parents, and it was a somber and heavy responsibility.  An ostrich does not take responsibility herself to educate her offspring.  Her heart is not involved in raising her chicks. Of course, the ostrich is not unique in that but she is an example of it.  Had God's people become lax in teaching their children the precepts of God?  Could it be that 'heartless' here refers to a generation that just didn't care to make sure their children knew the how and why of serving the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?  I'm sure there's probably other explanations for that analogy, but...after looking some stuff up, that's what makes sense to me

God called the people heartless because they did not nurture their own children in the relationship they should have with their God; they did not take personal responsibility for the faith of their offspring. 

I'm gonna refrain from drawing any analogies to stuff I have seen happen in the present day.  I'm sure you can connect those dots yourself.

The other two verses speak of danger in the desert...the enemy who is ready to ambush anyone who ventures out.   Even just getting food to survive was a risk.  But... the enemy was sent as a judgment from the God they refused to heed. That cup has to be drunk to the very end. 

I understand why there were...lamentations.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Jeremiah: Hope for the Future

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

We come to the last verse in our perusal of the word 'desert' in the book of Jeremiah.  So far, we have looked at verses proclaiming coming judgment.  But there is ONE verse that mentions 'desert' and favor.  With a bit included for context:

The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart.  In days to come you will understand this.  "At that time," declares the LORD, "I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people."  This is what the LORD says:  "The people who survive the sword will find favor in the desert; I will come to give rest to Israel."  (Jer. 30:24 - 31:2)

Pretty much all of chapter 31 details hope and restoration that will come to the nation, but the turn around point is in this passage.  God's purposes in chastising his people will be accomplished...it will come to an end.  THEN his people will find favor in the desert. Now, remembering all the verses that have preceded, they could be in the desert because they were hauled away from their home as captives; they could be in the desert because they fled to the desert to escape the invading armies or they could be in the desert because the town they were in was decimated by war and the desert reclaimed it. There were probably folks who were in each of those categories.  Life as they knew it had been disrupted and they were in the desert until God had accomplished his purpose.

The desert had a purpose...and a time limit.

There's more...God says he will come to them.

God himself will come.

How appropriate is it to hit this verse just as we head into the Advent season?

Most Biblical prophecy has at least two distinct applications...a near and a far interpretation.  Of course, the near application was the return of the Israelites from exile back to their homeland.  God met them in their exile, in the destitution of their ruined land, in their hideouts.  He moved the hearts of various kings and leaders to give the remnant favor to return and rebuild.  But...years later...the people were in a desert of a different kind.  No national prophet had spoken since Malachi.  It was a spiritual desert.

And God himself came, proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor (Luke 4:16 - 21).

But, beyond that, there's hope for anyone who finds themselves in a desert today.  It has a purpose and a time limit and, in the end, to the faithful, there is favor and the promise of His presence.

Blogging Bible Study: Desert Digging - Jeremiah: Judgment against Judah's Enemies

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

There is ONE verse in Jeremiah that mentions 'desert' that isn't about judgment; I'm going to save it for next week and stay with the judgment theme while I'm there.

We have looked at judgment against Judah's people, leaders, priests, kings, neighbors who have forsaken God...over and over God has warned them of the consequences of disobedience; he even said he would use pagan nations to punish them.

But what of the nations that attacked God's people and ridiculed their God? Who thought that their triumph over the people of God was due to their own cleverness or strength and did not recognize that they were the willow switch in the hand of discipline?

We'll look at what Jeremiah has to say to them today. There are several nations mentioned in the closing chapters of Jeremiah...Phillistia, Phoenica, Edom, Ammon, and others that do not mention 'desert' in their prophecies.  All of chapter 48 is dedicated to Moab, however,  and there is a desert reference:

"Moab will be broken; her little ones will cry out.  They go up the way to Luhith, weeping bitterly as they go; on the road down to Horonaim anguished cries over the destruction are heard. Flee! Run for your lives!  Become like a bush in the desert.  Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive and Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and officials."  Jer. 48:5-7.  

Chapter 50 and the first half of 51 relate the judgment against Babylon, and there are a few verses here that mention 'desert':

"Because you rejoice and are glad, you who pillage my inheritance, because you frolic like a heifer threshing grain and neigh like stallions, your mother will be greatly ashamed; she who gave you birth will be disgraced.  She will be the least of the nations -- a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.  Because of the LORD's anger she will not be inhabited but will be completely desolate.  All who pass Babylon will be horrified and scoff because of her wounds." -- Jer 50:11-13

"So desert creatures and hyenas will live there, and there the owl will dwell.  It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation." - Jer. 50:39

"The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her.  Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no one lives, through which no man travels."  Jer 51:43 

Moab was a nation that was under judgment from God from the time of the Exodus, because they, who were actually related to Israel through Abraham's nephew Lot, had not given aid to the nation of Israel when they came out of the wilderness, but instead hired Balaam to try to pronounce curses on them.  But this judgment is something else..'you trust in your deeds and riches'.  They believed they didn't need the God of Abraham...so they learned the hard way that what they could do and the wealth they could amass was not enough to maintain their independence and identity. No one knows, today, who is descended from Moab.

Babylon has suffered a similar fate.  Oh, the archaeological ruins have been found, but the remnants of Babylon...anyone who can claim Babylonian heritage...are lost.

The worst fate anyone could suffer under the old covenant was to be 'cut off'...recorded as having no inheritance, no legacy, and no descendants.  The heritage of those ancient civilizations has no sons or daughters who know who they are; only artifacts. The nationalities have mixed and blended and now there is no telling who is Bablyonian and who is Persian, or who is descended from Moab and who is descended from the Philistines.  It's all lost, gone, destroyed, forgotten.   It  happened over a span of generations, but it happened.  Judah was chastised...Bablyon was condemned.

Hodgepoging Today for Fun

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I was looking over the blog posts for the last however many weeks and, y'all, it's been AWFULLY serious over here.  Time to throw in something lighthearted.  And it just so happens to be HodgePodge Wednesday, so, without even looking at the questions, I'm dropping them in.  We'll see how it works out, lol.

If you're interested in reading other folks' answers, or you'd like to play along on your own blog, just click the link to Joyce's page...

1. It's Mickey Mouse's birthday (November 18)...happy birthday Mickey! He reads here, right? Have you ever been to Disney, any of the parks at all? Are you a Disney superfan or something less than that? They're open right now so tell us, would you go if you had the time/money/a free trip?

Well, Happy Birthday to Mickey Mouse!  I've been to visit him three times in my life; once to Disneyland in October of  1979, pre-engagement, on a trip to visit then-boyfriend now-hubby. I was enchanted...one minute you're in Anaheim and then you walk through the gates and you're transported to elsewhere.  It really did seem magical...back in 1979.  Not sure it's still like that now. No pics, but somewhere I have some Minnie ears with my name embroidered on them.  The next time was March 1982; My Sweet Babboo and I drove down to central Florida to visit my grandmother.  Of course, we did a day trip to The Magic Kingdom, which was the only park open at that time (Epcot opened a few months later).  WDW was celebrating its 10th anniversary; we had a thunderstorm dump on us literally moments after walking through the gate and the temperature plummeted.  But we bought sweatshirts in a gift shop and carried on.  We even ate at King Stefan's Banquet hall...made reservations when we walked through the castle that morning. Can't do that now, lol.  It was one of the best meals I've ever had. Then last year...we spent a week with our kids doing all the parks.  Lemme just say...it's changed a LOT.  If I could go back...I'd spend a day at Hollywood Studios.  Actually, I'd spend most of it at Galaxy's Edge; there's an 18 year old geek deep in a corner of me that was all gaga there.  I wouldn't say I am a superfan...but I do have a kid who's a Disney Travel Agent so there is a LOT of Disney in our lives, lol.  #thisistheway

2. Your favorite place to go when you want to be quiet as a church mouse? Would those who know you well describe you as more churchmouse or perhaps more like mighty mouse? 

 

My 'quiet as a churchmouse' time would be ideally spent with my Bible and journal...either at the table on my front porch or sitting at lunch time in the quiet sanctuary at church (I'm on the business office staff) with no one else around.  But life is not cooperating with me sitting either place right now so I've got to make do with other spots that just don't seem as exclusive.   And I'm probably a churchmouse...a clamourous church mouse, lol

3. The day before Mickey's birthday happens to be National Homemade Bread Day. Did/will you celebrate? Do you bake your own bread? Last time you had hot out-of-the-oven homemade bread? What's your favorite kind of bread? 

 

Ack!  I didn't have time to bake bread yesterday but I might've if I had known ...if I had yeast, which seems to be hard to find.  I have my grandmother's  recipe for 'Delicate Rolls', which I remember eating at every big family dinner growing up.  I don't quite have her knack, since I only make them once a year (turn 'em into crescent rolls wrapped around a mixture of butter, brown sugar and pecans and...a marshmallow; another one of her tricks) for New Year's Eve.  But I do love some just plain ol' homemade bread; the 'Rich Egg Bread' recipe in the Betty Crocker Cookbook is a good one.  But yeast is like toilet paper for some reason...very hard to find at times...

4. What's something you might say is 'the greatest thing since sliced bread'? 

Teabags, lol.  I have developed a taste for some artisinal tea but don't like the little bits that seep through a teaball.  You can get little filters and make it work, but I have a new appreciation for pre-bagged tea.  

5. Let's keep the gratitude theme we started last week rolling on through November. Share with us five little things you're grateful for today. Small blessings. One catch-they all must start with the letter T. Gotta keep us thinking, right? 

Time off; I had some use-or-lose vacation time that's giving me a nice break before Thanksgiving

Taste - there have been years (two in a row a while back) that I had a severe sinus infection at Thanksgiving and could not taste anything.  It was truly sad to cook the traditional dinner and not be able to taste any of it.  

Traditions -I am a sap for traditions.  Thanksgiving menu is the same every year; we decorate the house with old and loved ornaments and decor.  I don't do trendy trees.. ours are eclectic and mismatched and kitschy but I love setting them up for the memories they bring.

Tap water - especially hot tap water.  This is one thing that I continually give thanks for; so many folks in the world have to work for drinkable water and we just turn a knob.

Trees - so pretty this time of year.  I've taken lots of pics.  Here's one... love the contrast of the yellow against the blue sky.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I really don't know what Thanksgiving is going to look like this year; we have some many variables and Covid is encroaching on our plans.  But even if it is substantially different from our traditional holiday we still have much to be thankful for.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert -- Jeremiah: General Judgment

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I realized today that I actually missed a verse that I hadn't covered yet, so this post ...technically... should come before last week's.  Thank my scribbled up notes for that.

Both of the verses  we're looking at today use 'desert' as an adjective; a geographic description of a group of people, and there really isn't any particular significance attached to 'desert'; I'm going to look at the specific 'other nations' that are mentioned next week.  But, in the interest of being thorough....

"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh -- Egypt, Judah, Edom , Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places.  For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart." -- Jer. 9:25-26

I don't know anything about the practices of the Arabic nations mentioned here, or the tribes who lived in the desert, such as the Nabateans and the Idumeans,  but circumcision was, to the Jews, a sign of God's covenant with them.  This concept...circumcision of the heart...was repeated in Romans: "Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised....A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if is is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.  Such a man's praise is not from men, but God." (Rom. 4:25, 28-29)

Even in the Old Testament, the idea was established that the motive and intent of the heart mattered.   Taking the mark of the covenant of God in one's body was not terribly significant if one did not also apply one's heart to following God and the laws He gave.  A ritual, however costly, does not substitute for obedience and relationship. We can carry this further and apply it anyone who believes their participation in a ritual...whether it's baptism or sacrament or even walking down the aisle in a church service and repeating a prayer...is the thing that's going to make them righteous.  No, it is a heart thing.  The heart  needs to be circumcised...removed of excess flesh (IE, that inclination to regard, crave and indulge in what God has forbidden). It is with the heart that we believe and are saved (Rom 10:10).

So. I'm just going to leave that there and go on.

The next passage also mentions a multitude of nations and also includes Judah (I've actually mentioned this chapter briefly in an earlier post regarding taking biblical passages out of context). In Jer. 25:15, Jeremiah is instructed to take a 'cup of God's wrath'  around to a specific list of nations.  That list is in verses 18 - 26 and includes Jerusalem, all the towns of Judah, Egypt, Uz, the Philstines of Askhelon, Gaza, Ekron and Ashdod; Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon, the kings of the coastlands, Deadan, Tima, Buz, all who are in distant places, 

all the kings of Arabia  and all the kings of the foreign people who live in the desert; (25:24)

Zimri, Elam and Medisa, all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other -- all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.  In short, EVERYONE ON THE PLANET.  "See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished?" (25:29)

If God does not hold his hand back from pouring judgement upon his own people, the rest of mankind surely will not escape.  We all  know the judgment that fell upon Israel and Judah for adopting the practices and gods of the pagan nations around them...this is a warning to anyone who wants to shake their heads at God's people.  What we have to understand...God's punishment to Israel was always to purify the nation, to ultimately bring them closer to him as his own. God's punishment to those who have abused his people...that's a different thing.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Jeremiah: Judgment against Judah

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So, for those who are joining us lately....I'm doing a word study.  The word is 'desert', and we've been at it since August of last year.   Up to Jeremiah now, and this is post number...4...in which we're clustering the verses by topic as we go through.  Most of the verses containing the word 'desert' have to do with judgment, and today...we're looking at verses that have to do with judgment against the nation of Judah specifically.

In the first passage, you've got to back up several verses to see that the 'you' mentioned is the nation of Judah.... Jer. 13:19 states. 'The cities in the Negev will be shut up, and there will be no one to open them.  All Judah will be carried into exile, carried completely away.'  What follows is a more detailed discussion, but the bit we're specifically looking at today is down a bit further.

"I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind. This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you, " declares the LORD,  "because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods."  -- Jer. 13:24-25

"For this is what the LORD says about the palace of the king of Judah:  "Though you are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebannon, I will surely make you like a desert, like towns not inhabited."  -- Jer 22:6

For context, Judah had been threatened by Babylon, but literally all the prophets of the day were declaring that God would deliver Judah and Jerusalem out of the hands of the Babylonians...as he had done so many times previously.  Only Jeremiah had a message of doom...this was not like the other times, this was not an external threat against the people of God.  This was judgment coming from God himself, because the people had left off doing what he had required of them.  Not that they weren't following the specifics of the law, they were keeping up the sacrifices...somewhat...and the holy days and such.  They were going through the outward motions of obedience.  But he required that they serve only him, and they had added worship of pagan gods to their rituals.  Ultimately, they even turned to these idols to try and protect them against the judgment God was sending, trying to placate as many gods as possible.  At that point, their faith had fallen from trust in God to mere superstitions actions, considering the God who had called them out of Egypt and made them a nation no more powerful than the other deities they were honoring. As for Jeremiah, rather than believe he was bringing them a message from God with an opportunity to repent...they accused him of treason, of working with the Babylonians to discourage them.   But Jeremiah never wavered in his message...although he did complain to God about having to deliver it. And don't be fooled; staying consistent with his message cost him.

A wind from the desert...hot, scorching, unrelenting.  And despite how he loved the nation, God was not going to hold back his hand from their punishment.  He had told them under Moses...if they left off following his commandments and followed other gods, disasters would come, with the final one being deportation from the land they had traveled 40 years and fought many battles to win. He had warned them in the beginning, continued to warned them through the years and now was making the final appeal through Jeremiah before their cities were unpeopled and the desert reclaimed them.

We think them foolish for not heeding the message, but do we not have prophets among us today, warning us of judgment?  And do we not shrug them off as crackpot religious freaks?  What if...the disasters of 2020 are not a crazy random string of events, but are actually warnings from God that we have left off from following him?  Sure, there are some crackpot religious-sounding freaks making a noise for their own promotion...but what if there are some truth tellers in the mix?  It would be a good strategy of the enemy to drown out the true voices with so many near-misses that no one heard the real message of warning and a call to repentance.  We are not so unlike the last days of Judah.  

And I'm not really referring to a society that has turned its collective back on God.  I'm talking about those that call themselves followers of God, who are listening to the unbelievers around them and claiming their objectives and adding their ideas of holiness to the worship of the one true God.  Mixing in the surrounding culture didn't work for the people of Jeremiah's day...and it won't work for God's people now.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Jeremiah: Judgment Against Specific People

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

This is kind of a weird category...but it is worth looking at as it covers religious leaders, government leaders, and the people who follow them.

Back to the beginning, we cruise along to the next verse mentioning 'desert' in Jeremiah that we haven't already talked about elsewhere...with context, and the actual verses mentioning desert in bold, as usual:

So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.  But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn the bonds.  Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many.   -- Jer 5:5-6

This is what the LORD says, "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will not see prosperity when it comes.  He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives." - Jer 17:5-6

Concerning the prophets:  My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble.  I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words.  The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the desert are withered.  The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly.  "Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness, " declares the LORD.    - Jer. 23:9-11 

The leaders, who have rebelled against God's law; the people who follow them, trusting in the leaders to be their protection and guides; the prophet and priests who abuse their office, teaching what benefits themselves instead of the truth.  My friends, if this is not a description of current events I don't know what is.

Jeremiah was flat out accused of treason because he didn't fall in line with them. The people got so far away from what God had instructed that they could no longer tell when a real prophet was among them, giving them real instructions that would be for their own good.  And, to be honest, it wasn't one hundred percent the fault of the citizens of the land that they had gone so far into error because their government and their religious leaders were all corrupted.  They didn't have access to the scriptures as individuals; they could only go on what they were told.    If the leaders led them astray, they had very little chance to see their error.

But we have free access to the scriptures.  We have the Holy Spirit to guide us.  What's our excuse?

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Jeremiah: Judgment Falls on the Nation

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

As I said in the last post, Jeremiah's 'desert' verses deal primarily w/ judgment.  So, I kinda went through and divvied up the judgment verses according to the object of the judgement, if that makes sense.

The first group kinda falls under the category of 'the nation/people'...it's pretty vague, and it may overlap with other categories, but I didn't want to try to cover all of them in one post, so work with me here. ;-)

At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, "A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse;  a wind too strong for that comes from me.  Now I pronounce my judgements against them."  Jer. 4: 11 - 12

I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its town lay in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.   - Jer 4:26

I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the desert pastures.  They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not heard.  The birds of the air have fled and the animals are gone.  - Jer 9:10

What man is wise enough to understand this?  Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it?  Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? The LORD said, "It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.  Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them."  - Jer 9:12-14

"It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares. Over all the barren heights in the desert destroyers will swarm, for the sword of the LORD will devour from one end of the land to the other; no one will be safe.  They will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.  So bear the shame of your harvest because of the LORD's fierce anger.   - Jer 12:11-13

Amazing.  I didn't pick those verses because they made a narrative; I picked verses that sort of applied to the land/ nation/ people and wrote them in order.

Go back and read them again.  There is a narrative there.

Judgement is proclaimed against the people.

Jeremiah laments the waste that has been laid to the land and asks for explanation.

God replies that it is because the people abandoned his law and began following the stubbornness of their own hearts and false gods; the withering drought that destroyed the harvest, the events that ruined the towns were all part of his devouring sword.  Not just nature responding to unknown conditions, not just turns in history, but events and conditions actually brought about by the judgment of God.

'Desert' is judgment against the collective group of people who rejected God's laws.  Desolation, if you will.

Would such a narrative fly today?  Or do today's high-minded thinkers see such passages in the Bible and say, "Oh, look, how cute...the primitive people are ascribing these events to a deity.  How quaint." 

If God isn't God and the Bible isn't anything remarkable, sure.  But...if God is God, and the Bible is His word, then primitive ol' Jeremiah wasn't just being an ignoramus.  He actually heard the words of God, the judgments and their reasons.  If there is a correlation between various disasters and a moral decline/ rejection of God's law, then maybe we should consider that as a cause for destruction and desolation we see around us?

Just sayin'.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Jeremiah: Defilement

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi     

I counted 22 verses containing the word 'desert' in the book of Jeremiah...and almost ALL of them are pronouncements of judgment against nations.  Mostly against Judah/Israel, with a smattering of pronouncements against Babylon and one or two against other nations.

So...be prepared for some heavy weather comin'.

But the first verse in Jeremiah that mentions desert is 2:2...

"Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:  'I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you followed me through the desert, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,' " declares the LORD.  -- Jer. 2: 2 - 3

What was.  The way things used to be.  The rest of chapter 2 describes what has happened since that time; the falling away.

What is.

"How can you say, 'I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals'?  See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done.  You are a swift she-camel running here and there, a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving -- in her heat who can restrain her?  Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her."   - Jer. 2:23-24

"You of this generation, consider the word of the LORD:  'Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness?  Why do my people say, 'We are free to roam; we will come to you no more'? " - Jer 2:31

"If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again?  Would not the land be completely defiled?  But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers -- would you now return to me?" declares the LORD.  "Look up to the barren heights and see.  Is there any place where you have not been ravished?  By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad in the desert.  You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness."  - Jer. 3:1 - 2

It is kinda...creepy...that the rebellion of Israel is described in sexual terms. A she-donkey in heat... a prostitute looking for business.  And it is also interesting that such rebellion is described as defiling the very land on which the nation exists..

Jeremiah's reaction is to want to run away, get away, be done with them

Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people. - Jer. 9:2 

If you read through the first few chapters of Jeremiah, there's  a lot more detail given in all the verses that DON'T mention the desert.  But...how interesting is it that the verses that mention the desert kind of provide a synopsis of the situation?  Israel once followed God and were protected by Him; they deserted him and went after what satisfied their appetites, defiling even the land and filling God's prophet with grief and abhorrence.

Consequences will follow.

And that'll preach today, y'all.  That'll preach today. And the people today would listen about as well as the people of Jeremiah's day listened to him.

Will we face the same sort of consequences? 

The one thing that doesn't turn up in the verses about 'desert' is the call to repentance; the people were implored to return to God and repent and prevent the judgement. But they would not, and the judgment came.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Isaiah:Restoration

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The last group of  'Desert' verses in Isaiah is also the largest...six verses/passages that encourage the people that, even though there is exile, restoration is coming.

The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted;  citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.  Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.  My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.  -- Is. 32: 14 - 18

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.  Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.  The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution  he will come to save you."  Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.  Then will the lame leap like a deer; and the mute tongue shout for joy.  Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.   Is. 35:1 - 6

"The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst.  But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.  I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys.  I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.  I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.  I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it."  -- Is. 41:17 - 20

Let the desert and its towns raise their voices;let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.  Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops.  Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise in the islands.  The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. -- Is. 42:11 - 13

"See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.  The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland,  to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise."  -  Is. 43: 18 - 21

This is what the LORD says: "In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inherintances, to say to the captives, 'Come out,' and to those in darkness, 'Be free!'  They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.  They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them.  He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water."  -- Is. 49:8 - 10

Oh, there is so much more about restoration in those chapters that I really had a hard time limiting the selections to the context around the 'desert' verses.  You can go read them yourself, if you choose.  

And, of course, it's possible to assign these verses to different timelines...anything from the return of the captives from Babylon, to the coming of Messiah, to the return of the Jews and recreation of the nation after the diaspora to the final triumph of God over all evil. And they can also be applied to the literal desert or a spiritual desert. But the immediate audience was the Jews in exile in Babylon, so whatever other applications these verses have, that one is the first and foremost for them: God had not forgotten his people and he would bring them back.  Indeed, he was still with them even when they went through the judgment and the exile.  

It is no different now; his ultimate design is always restoration, and the ultimate destiny of the desert is to blossom into fertile green fruitfulness.

 

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Isaiah: The King is Coming

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Of course, the OT prophetic books specifically mention the One Who Is To Come ... and a couple of the messianic passages in Isaiah also mention the desert.

Let's have a look.

See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice.  Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. -- Is. 32:1-2

 This isn't a verse that's commonly cited in messianic discussions, but according to my Scofield notes this is a reference to the reign of the Messiah.  Because, we all know, he is the only king who will truly reign in righteousness.  But it is interesting that the passage doesn't just refer to the righteousness of the reigning Messiah...but of those delegated as rulers under him, who will rule with justice.  The actual verse referencing 'desert' could be read two different ways...one, that the men who were rulers would be of such quality that they would be a shelter and a refreshing to those in their care OR...that every man (or,possibly, human) in the kingdom would be a protector and refresher to those around them.  Either way, it's an interesting thought that the reign of the Messiah isn't just about the reign of the king  but of the quality of the people in the kingdom. The whole nature of the place will be different than it is now...where folks who truly care about and protect others are the exception rather than the rule.

A voice of one calling in the desert: "Prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.  And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."  -- Is. 40:3-5 

This passage is well-known in the discussion of messianic prophecy and is, in fact, stated in the New Testament to have been fulfilled by John the Baptist (Matt 3:3, Mark 1:3-4, Luke 3: 2 -6; in John 1:23, John the Baptist specifically claims that he is fulfilling the prophecy).

40:3, above, is actually the marginal reading as listed in my NIV 84; the main text is punctuated differently...

'A voice of one calling:  "In the desert, prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God." '

That changes the emphasis slightly; in the first example, the one calling is in the desert; in the second, he is calling for the way to be prepared in the desert.  John, of course, said that he was the one calling in the desert, which gives more weight to the marginal reading. Either way, though, it's clear that this verse indicates that it is God Himself who is coming...not a king coming in his name, or a prophet or a teacher.

And John, on the banks of the Jordan at the edge of the desert, clearly identified Jesus as the one he was sent to proclaim.

The prophecy says, Prepare the way for God; John said, I am the one preparing the way...and then he pointed to Jesus and said, 'There he is...the one I was sent to proclaim".

That doesn't leave much doubt that Jesus was God walking among the people.

Heart of David report...

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

 

 

 

 I will post a new Desert musing tomorrow; meant to explain why I missed last week well before tonight, lol.

Back in OCTOBER, we got a notification that Morning Star Ministries was going to have a 25th anniversary conference...commemorating the 1995 Heart of David Worship and Warfare conference that literally changed the way worship was done in so many ways.  We immediately felt we were to go and signed up.

It was supposed to be in April... the weekend after Easter.  It got rescheduled for last weekend (17th - 19th).

We had a long debate about whether we were actually going to go.  We have tried to be super careful; Hubby is still 100% working from home and we haven't even been back to church yet; still watching from home.  And there were going to be a BUNCH of folks there, although they did split the attendees between two different areas of the conference center that is the Morning Star headquarters. 

But, ultimately we decided we needed to stand on the first call we felt...after all, God knew then that COVID would be an issue and we went.

Drove up in the outskirts of  Sally; we did give ourselves two days so we didn't have to leave early and  that also meant we had time to take a longer southern route to avoid the rain soaked interstate AND the worst of the storm.

If you go to their You-Tube channel, you can see the sessions...at least, the ones that were in the Atrium, so I'm not going to go into detail about those.  I will say the Thursday night session with Jason Upton was really good...he actually talked about The Desert  a little bit, which was cool.  The other session that really spoke to me was the Saturday morning session w/ Stephen Roach, who has an online creative collective with podcasts and such... The Breath and the Clay   It may be that his was the session that I needed to hear...part of me, as always, has been questioning lately if I should really be trying to focus on creative stuff, since what I do create just doesn't seem to go much of anywhere.   What is the point of writing a book if I can only get 12 people to read a blog?  So...I was getting discouraged.

But, no, he reminded me that the creativity is an expression of who God created me to be...and if no one else is inspired by stuff I create, so be it.  Create anyway, he said.

His ministry is sponsoring an online workshop next month and...without any idea of what it might entail, I signed up.  So whatever seeds were sown are going to get some more...watering, lol.

But now we're self-quarantining, more or less,  because  you, know, those were faith-not-fear people and we were two of about twelve, maybe, that we saw actually wearing masks.  The rows were spread out but the seats in the rows were side by side.  We sat in the back row...in the Atrium, which was 4 stories high and presumably well ventilated.  But there were people there from all over, so I'm working from home for two weeks.  

So...back to the desert tomorrow!

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Isaiah: Judgement for Judah

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I struggled with this set of verses, to be honest.  Finally I figured out that if I used them in logical, rather than chronological, order, then it could make some sense.

Isaiah, of course, was a prophet in the later years of the divided kingdom, and talks about the coming judgment and the distant restoration, as well as some references to the coming Messiah.  A few of these discussions include references to 'desert', so those are the ones we will look at; today's topic is judgment.  I'll just list them in the order that makes the most sense, then I'll talk about it.

"Because of your sins you were sold;  because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.  When I came, why was there no one?  When I called, why was there no one to answer?  Was my arm too short to ransom you?  Do I lack the strength to rescue you?  By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert; their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst."  - Is. 50: 1b - 2

By this, then, will Jacob's guilt be atoned for; and this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin:  When he makes all the altar stones to be like chalk stones crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing.  The fortified city stands desolate, and abandoned settlement, forsaken like the desert; there the calves graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.  When its twigs are dry, they are broken off and women come and make fires with them.  For this is a people without understanding; so their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.  - Is. 27:9 - 11

"Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD; do not remember our sins forever.  Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people.  Your sacred cities have become a desert; even Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a desolation.  Our holy and glorious temple, where our fathers praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins."  -- Is. 64:9-11

"You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuse for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.  For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert.  You silence the uproar of foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled."  --Is. 25: 4-5

I do realize that one can take verses from the Bible and string them together in a script that is totally out of context and completely changes the meaning, but  if you go back and read the verses in their context I think you will agree with me that this sequence works.

The first two verses in this group are, basically, the pronouncement of judgment upon Judah.  I think it's interesting that God points out to them that he, of course, is able to deliver his people...but he didn't do it.  In fact, he invites them in 50:2 to consider why they were in the predicament they were in, because the reason was NOT that he couldn't save them.  The reason was...the people had walked away from following him.  Repeatedly.  And after many warnings from his servants.  A people without understanding.

But, as the other two verses indicate...there were a few who heard, who honored God, who threaded their way through the judgment and exile and prayed for the nation.  Those, God protected in their captivity, as a refuge and a shade.  The nation was not utterly obliterated.  Even in the midst of judgment, there was hope, because God is a refuge for those who will turn to him.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - The First Fall

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So, there really is only one verse in Isaiah in the the next topic w/ a 'desert' verse, but it's a doozy  and needs a good bit of context....

How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!  You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the throne of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.  I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."

But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.  Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: "Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble,  the man who made the world a desert, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?"   -- Is. 14: 12 - 17, NIV 84

Now, in a broader sense, this passage is plopped into a longer passage regarding the fate of the king of Babylon (14:4).  But the phrase 'you have fallen from heaven' and the description 'morning star, son of the dawn'  is generally accepted by Bible scholars as a reference to Lucifer, aka Satan, and his fall from his place.

Not that the King of Babylon is exempt from these verses; no, these verses are also addressing the force or power behind the atrocities committed by the King of Bablyon. Two with one, so to speak.  

This is the attitude of Lucifer, and it also is the temptation that he feeds men...be above God!  Be like the Most High!  Break out of submission to Him!  (see Genesis : 4-5 for the first time he waved that mirage in front of humans).  So Lucifer...and the ones he deceives...all have that in common.  'I will ascend... I will raise my throne (authority)...I will make myself like the Most High.'

Only...it's a false dream, a fake aspiration, a house of cards.  It doesn't work.  No-one can be 'like the Most High', because the Most High is completely other-than anyone or anything else. Lucifer discovered this; his attempt failed and he was cast down to earth.  But he uses that same deception to fool humans...who also suffer a similar fate in the end.   

But I also see a reminder in this passage that there is a bigger narrative running than we see in the immediate now.  The ambitions of humans to aspire to be in control, be exalted, be supreme...is just an echo of that same ambition in the Enemy. His power is limited, so he tries again and again to achieve dominance through human agents.  Sometimes, he appears to succeed for a season, making the world a desert, overthrowing cities and taking captives, but in the end, it all crumbles.

We're in this for the long haul.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert -- Isaiah: Fate of Babylon et al

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So our look at the word 'desert' through the Bible has brought us to the first book of the Prophets...Isaiah.  I debated a bit what the best approach to this might be; I think I'm going to take the same approach I took in Psalms...group verses by topic rather than just strictly chronological.  I also found, in my overview skim through, that I'm going to need to include a bunch of other verses around the 'desert' verses so we have the context to know what the 'desert verse' is even talking about it. So I'll put the actual desert verse in bold font  in the quoted passage.

But I will take the topics in the order encountered; and first up is a group of verses I've tagged 'Fate of  Bablylon'. 

Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonian's pride, will be overthown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.  She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there. But the desert creatures will lie there, the jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell,  and there the wild goats will leap about.  Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces.  Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.  -- Is. 13: 19-21

An oracle concerning the Desert by the Sea:  Like whirlwinds sweeping through the south land, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.  A dire vision has been shown to me:  the traitor betrays, the looter takes loot.  Elam, attack!  Media, lay siege! I will bring an end to all the groaning she caused....Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses.  And he gives back the answer:  "Babylon has fallen, has fallen!  All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!"  -- Is. 21:1-2 ,9

Look at the  land of the Babylonians,  this people that is now of no account!  The Assyrians have made it a place for desert creatures; they raised up their siege towers,  they stripped its fortresses bare and turned it into a ruin.  - Is. 23:13

And, because it's a similar expression, I'll add references to other nations as well...

 Moab: 

Send lambs as a tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of the Daughter of Zion.  Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon....We have heard of Moab's pride -- her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and  her insolence -- but her boasts are empty.  Therefore the Moabites wail, they wail together for Moab.  Lament and grieve for the men of Kir Hareseth. The fields of Heshbon wither, the vines of Sibmah also.  The rulers of the nations have trampled down the choicest vines, which once reached Jazer and spread toward the desert.  Their shoots spread out and went as far as the sea.  So I weep, as Jazer weeps, for the vines of Sibmah.  O Heshbon, O Elealeh, I drench you with tears!  The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit and over your harvests have been stilled...When Moab appears at her high place, she only wears herself out; when she goes to her shrine to pray, it is to no avail. -- Is. 16: 1-2, 6-9, 12

Edom:

For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion's cause.  Edom's streams will be turned to pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch!  It will not be quenched night and day; its smoke will rise forever.  From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again.  The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there.  God will stretch over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation....Desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and wild goats will bleat to each other; there the night creatures will also repose and find for themselves places of rest. -- Is. 34:8-11,14

The three nations listed here (and there are judgments against other nations in Isaiah as well; these were the ones that referenced the desert) all have offenses registered against Israel.  Babylon, of course, was the place of 70 years of captivity, and Moab and Edom, despite the fact that they were descended from common ancestors with Israel, refused to give them aid when they returned from their sojourn in Egypt.  It's interesting that a common image of utter defeat is the return of the land to the desert creatures.  Not that the land would be inhabited by conquerors, but that the land would be laid desolate and unproductive; Edom's doom is even more extreme...the land is fouled and burning. Which kind of makes me wonder if that vision is yet to come; something in the apocalyptic future.

[tries to write more and fails several times]

I can't get away from that image.  With his own people, God used droughts, invaders, even exile and desolation as judgment but he always had a promise of restoration and blessing.  But for nations that never followed him...his judgment was absolute. Owls. Wild goats. Jackals. 

Desert.

Back to what the land was before the people came and dug and built and cultivated.  I would almost say...back to square one, with only traces of the productivity that was once there.  The desert creatures are content to live where the people were without care.

God removed the nation and let the wild creatures have the land.

Something to ponder.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert -- Proverbs and Song of Songs

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

We have exactly one verse in Proverbs that references the desert, none in Ecclesiastes and two in Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon or Canticles, depending on your translation).  So I'll just look at all three verses today and finish the poetic writings.

However uncomfortable those verses might be, lol.  Proverbs 21:19 reads

Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.

 Um, I could also say that it would be better to live in the desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered husband, but Proverbs was generally written as advice to a young man, so we'll give the benefit of the doubt here that the advice was to a HIM so it would, of course, reference a wife.  But...in that day and time,  the lady rarely had any say in whom she married; it was usually determined by a deal between her dad and her groom.  Or sometimes, the groom's father.  So advice on whom to marry wouldn't be helpful to a bride back then.  BUT...now, it could be equally applied.  We, in America, choose our own spouse.  Choose wisely.  

Song of Songs is a poetic celebration of the physical delight of marriage, even though I must confess I have often wondered which of Solomon's 700 wives (1 Kings 11:3) Shulamith was.  Kinda takes a little of the shine off of the narrative in that light, but, given that marrying one's daughter to a powerful king was often the binding part of a treaty or alliance, I suppose it's not surprising that 700 warlords, tribal leaders,  local princes, or kings of neighboring countries wanted to be 'family' to Solomon in some way.  But, be that as it may, Solomon and Shulamith were married, and they quite clearly enjoyed that relationship.

Who is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant? Look!  It is Solomon's carriage... (SoS 3:6-7a)

From the context, it's possible that this is describing Solomon coming to claim Shulamith as his bride, although it isn't specific enough to say that for sure.  In the very least, he is coming  to her, whether as a groom or a returning husband may not matter that much.

Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover? (SoS 8:5)

This is a repeated theme;  that the desert is a place of solitude and intimacy, solidifying relationship.  God forged the nation of Israel in the desert and brought them out to claim the promise;  Solomon and Shulamith went to the desert for some quality time together, and the bond between them was observable when they returned. 

So...I can, kind of, pull some marriage advice from these three verses.  Choose carefully,  continue to show your spouse you care enough to prepare for time together, and get away to a place of solitude where you can focus on each other from time to time.  Invest in the relationship.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Psalms, Part 4

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I didn't make a note of it, but last week ended the first year ('first' year...ha ha ha!) of the current Friday series (Facepalm; I just realized today is Saturday.  I worked from home all day yesterday and it didn't even register that it was Friday...).  We are looking at the word 'desert' through the entire Bible.  Starting year two with the biggest topical grouping of 'desert' verses in the Psalms...those that reflect on Israel's history.

The largest concentration of these is in Ps. 78:

He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas; (v. 15)

But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. (v. 17)

They spoke against God, saying, "Can God spread a table in the desert? When he struck the rock, water gushed out, and streams flowed abundantly.  But can he also give us food?  Can he supply meat for his people?"  (v. 19-20)

How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland! (v. 40)

But he brought his people out like a flock;  he led them like sheep through the desert. (v. 52)

I highly recommend going back and reading through the whole psalm;  it is a full discussion of all the ways Israel rebelled...and what happened.    I am skipping 95:8 for now...it fits better at the end of the discussion...and the next cluster of verses is in Ps. 105 - 106:

He opened the rock and water gushed out; like a river it flowed in the desert. (105:41)

He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; he led them through the depths as through a desert. (106:9)

In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test. (106:14)

So he swore to them with uplifted hand that he would make them fall in the desert, make their descendants fall among the nations and scatter them through out the lands.  (106:26-27)

Again, to get the full scope of the confession of Israel's rebellion and God's faithfulness, both Psalms need to be read in full.  The distilled version of the Exodus...and what happened, with the repeated rebellion and complaining of the people and God's repeated visitation of consequences upon the people while still maintaining his promise to bring the nation out of the desert...is sobering. There are three roots of rebellion that are laid to view in those Psalms...1) they craved stuff from their former life  2) they were jealous of their leaders and 3) they didn't trust God to do what he said he would do.

Appetite, jealousy and lack of faith....any one of those three can wreak havoc in one's spiritual walk; taken as a combo, well, there's not much spiritual walk happening at that point.  And here's what hit me afresh as I read through it...God's plan and God's purpose are not thwarted by man's disobedience.  God will do what he said he would do...but the ones who choose rebellion risk being culled from those who see the promise. God did not disqualify them...they disqualified themselves.  

Ps. 136 starts off with a declaration:  'Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.  His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods.  His love endures forever.  Give thanks to the Lord of lords; His love endures forever' (vs 1 - 3).  The rest of the psalm is a litany of different descriptions of the God to whom they are giving thanks, and verse 16 is the one that mentions the desert:

to him who led his people through the desert; His love endures forever.

The Psalm ends with verse 24: 'Give thanks to the God of heaven.  His love endures forever'.

We tend to forget sometimes that the Psalms really are poems and songs.  136 is clearly poetic, with the repeated phrase.  A good reminder.

But the verse I saved for last in the Psalms seems to reflect so much from this set, especially.  Ps. 95:8 (with context):

 "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,  as you did that day at Massah in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did."  (Ps. 95: 7b - 9). 

God woos the hearts of mankind, calling us to himself.  Such a wooing provokes a response...and the response is either to turn to him and draw ever closer, or to reject the invitation.  Oh, we tell ourselves we're not rejecting him...we're just...putting it off to a more convenient season.  Or maybe we convince ourselves that what we felt wasn't really God.  Maybe like the rich young ruler, we perceive the cost as too high...whatever.  Resisting the heart-pull to come to God is the very definition of hardening one's heart.  And every time that hardening happens...it gets harder to hear and respond differently to that call.  

God calls each of us to Him.  Each of us responds...in one way or another.  Choose wisely.