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.