Joseph, Joshua, Solomon - A Common Thread?

I had a few realizations tonight, and they concern God's plan in Adam, Noah, and Abraham; and a pattern that I seen in common between Joseph, Joshua, and Solomon. The revelation regarding Adam, Noah, and Abraham I will have to write on later, for I have obligations and my time is limited. The one concerning Joseph, Joshua, and Solomon follows.

I believe that the art of meditation, practiced sufficiently, is the way to open ourselves up to listen to God and to hear his still, small voice; to invite the Holy Spirit to dwell in us.

I believe that Abraham communicated with God through the likes of meditation, and that the Bible shows numerous examples of this. I believe that Abraham taught Isaac of God's goodness but was not successful, for whatever reason, in teaching Isaac to use meditation to communicate with God. I believe that because Isaac did not learn, he was unable to teach Jacob; but that Jacob, when he was fleeing for fear of his life from Esau after deceiving Isaac into giving him Esau's blessing, 'let go' and surrendered himself, if briefly, at the Bethel stone, allowing God to give him the dream of Jacob's Ladder. I believe that Jacob ultimately developed this ability to communicate with God to some degree, and then taught at least part of it to one of his favorite sons, Joseph.

I believe that Moses communicated with God, again through the likes of meditation, though perhaps not until after his 'burning bush' encounter. If you read Exodus-Deuteronomy, it is not difficult to see that Moses kept Joshua around him a good deal. I believe that Moses was actively preparing his successor. At one point, it is clear that Joshua's understand of God is lacking (Numbers 11:24-29) as he tells Moses to forbid two men to continue their prophesying, to which Moses reveals to him his error, that prophecy should not be considered constrained to any one person. I believe that Moses taught Joshua in the ways he knew how; the first verse of the book of Joshua shows a communication from God to Joshua.

The Bible gives numerous occasions of God in communication with David, and David makes no secret of his 'meditation' concerning God and his ways. I believe that David taught this to his favorite son, Solomon; after Solomon was raised up king, there are a few examples of communication between God and Solomon.

Why are these three important? What are the connections?

Jacob's influence on the world in his life does not seem particularly notable. Joseph, however, states very briefly and succinctly the impact on the world that his life had, in helping Egypt stockpile before the famine, "But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life." (Genesis 45:5, NKJV) However, it appears Joseph did not have a comparable successor, leading to the degeneration: "Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph." (Exodus 1:8, NKJV)

Moses had no small influence on the world - yet it was Joshua that led Israel to take the bulk of their promised land of Canaan, a sort of crossroads of the ancient world. Unfortunately, Joshua had no similar successor, leading to the period of the Judges, where the leadership of the people was not nearly so well organized or lasting.

Similarly, David had no small influence on the world in resecuring, or perhaps completing the securing of the promised land. However, it was Solomon who built the First Temple, and who showed great wisdom, peace, and prosperity for a good part of his reign. Did Solomon have a comparable successor? The bungling of Rehoboam, Solomon's son who became king after his death, led to the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah!

In all three cases, you have a person who communicated with God, walking in his ability with God; and I believe that the Holy Spirit was on all of these, in some degree (I suspect Moses most of all; in his case, more similar to degree of the successors). You have that person teaching their successor, who does not have a lesser or weaker impact on the world, but a greater; and I believe in all of these cases, it is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit with power. Finally, you have no similar successor afterwards, and the momentum leads to a stop and a reversal if not an outright crash.

What does this show us?

I believe it shows us, first, that it is possible for someone to learn how to communicate with God (the frequency of the command 'hear', 'hearken', or 'listen' in Deuteronomy 28 shows that merely 'listening' to God is critically important, something that I fear has been lost throughout a greater part of history than not).

Second, if I am not mistaken, it is possible, perhaps easier, for someone who already communicates with God to teach someone else how to do this.

Third, that God has, in great actions through these three 'successors', shown that it is important for us to take note of it; that it would be empowering if only we would practice it.

Fourth, that failure to carry it on to the next successor, even and perhaps especially after a case of such increased 'success', leads to failure it not catastrophe.

If one can devise sin, and teach it to their children, then why can't one learn how to communicate with God, and pass that along?

Earth, Water and Stones

Greetings, everyone. I know it's been some time since my last post and for that I wish to apologize, as I have felt lacking in the inspiration on what to write. Tonight, I do feel inspired to write about something that came to me some time ago.

Some time ago, when going to a study class at church, I had been given a few analogies which have helped me in understanding some aspects of what God wants for us and what value we have to him. Each has grown since it was given to me, in discussion with others. I hope you'll find them as meaningful as they have been to me and others I've shared them with.

***
The first is the idea that we are living stones - 1 Peter 2:5 says, "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."

Remember that man was made from earth - Genesis 2:7, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul."

In Exodus 20:24-25, God specifies what is acceptable for an altar: "An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me" ... "And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou has polluted it."

What then pollutes us, as living stones? Jeremiah 17:1 gives some insight: 'The sin' ... 'is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart'

If we then are hewn, graven, tooled, and polluted by sin, how can we be acceptable? What can smooth out a stone? Proverbs 16:22 tells us, "Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him taht hath it"; Proverbs 18:4, "the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook"; and Jesus, in John 4:14, "whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

What does flowing water do to stones? It smooths them; the wellspring of life everlasting from God has the power to smooth away the ways we have tooled and graven ourselves, making us whole stones once more. One person I told this to brought up the fact that water does not smooth stones quickly; similarly, we are not remade as whole, unpolluted stones in an instant, but over time in our walk with God. The pastor at the church, after hearing all of that, commented that water smooths stones faster if there's some grit in it; to which I observed that the 'grit' which helps to smooth us are the grains that have been carved from us collectively in sin, as we know that hardship helps us grow in our path with God. Lastly, an observation I took from all of it is that if we continue carving at ourselves until there be nothing left to save, all that would be left is a pile of sand; however, another person replied optimistically to that, saying that, in a sense, even a grain of sand could be considered a stone.

***
The second was a response to the question that someone asked at study class at the church: 'Why would God care to save us if there's nothing good in us?' (In response to discussion of how all good is God's and from God, and not from us.) The answer: God made us out of earth, so while we may not have any good of our own, we have the potential to be very good soil for planting his seeds.

We are very good soil for planting ANY seeds, however, including those of sin; God will help us to tend our garden, to keep it free from the sin-weeds that will spring up, if we will only accept His help and be willing to work with Him.


***
Also, I would like to recommend to my visitors here a blog which has impressed me greatly with its message: The Caregiver's Heart at http://www.heartofthecaregiver.blogspot.com/ .


In closing, I know that I have not yet written on "how we can put God back into our words and choose to use our mouths to call the blessings rather than curses", like I meant to; hopefully, I will get that written up soon. Until I do, I would like to refer you to Ephesians 4:29, read it and see what it means to you, and try to filter what comes out of your mouth based on it. I started doing this some time ago, and I was surprised by how much change was (and admittedly still is) needed.


As always, intelligent and/or non-negative feedback is welcome, in agreement or otherwise.

What God Desires for His Own In Famine

Good evening, everyone. I mean to keep this post brief, but I do wish to make good on what I said I would post on earlier about 'God's providence even in earthly things'.

Some people believe that the faithful should have little. Personally, I believe that our Heavenly Father desires that we should prosper, that we should have abundance. Why would He want this? For multiple reasons. He wants us to be happy (simple reason, that!); however, sometimes we let material goods get in the way of that, and in the way of our faithfulness and grace, in the way of our relationship with Him; in these cases, He will allow us to be humbled (I believe this may have been what happened to Israel in Egypt, in Exodus). More importantly, though, He wants us to minister unto those in need, to be a blessing to them, that we may help bring them to Him. Further, He wants His people to not only be blessed and to be a blessing to others, but He wants us to LOOK blessed, that people can see Him and His ways in us along with the blessings that go with them, and choose His ways for themselves.

As far as the Scripture references for tonight, I have only two: one from the Psalms, and one from Genesis.


First, Psalms 37 tells us about God upholding His people and doing away with evil and wickedness. The verses in particular I want to point out are Psalms 37:18-19:

The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.
They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

Next, let's look at what the word 'satisfied' really means here:
Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament):

• saba' (the word used for satisfied here; a primitive root meaning 'to sate', 'to fill to satisfaction').

This is hardly saying that His people will only be sustained! But do we have an example of what is being described here?


I believe that we do, in Genesis 45:16-20. For backstory, read Genesis 41, which describes the events leading up to the famine; or Genesis 37 on, which shows how Joseph was sold into slavery, which ultimately led to his rising to authority in Egypt (in 41).

After Joseph reunites with his brothers, Genesis 45:16-20 writes:

And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan;
And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.
Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.

This sounds very similar to the idea of being 'filled to satisfaction' to me, and it is certainly in the context of a famine.


One could argue that this ultimately led to the bondage of Israel in Egypt described in Exodus; however, I would tend to disagree, and would believe that an insufficiency in teaching their children to be faithful is a more likely culprit, especially when considered in the context of the troubles the people gave Moses and Aaron after their exodus.


As always, intelligent and/or non-negative feedback is welcome, in agreement or otherwise.

Choice... or, Grace and Faith, How Much is 'Enough?'

Good evening, everyone. Tonight, I am hoping to be faithful to my word in that I would write about choice (or to 'choose'), and about grace and its relation to faith and salvation. Before I do, however, I want to touch on a few things that I missed when writing about faith, itself.

• Faith
  

Tonight, when reading the Bible, I noticed an important word that I missed. Going back to the original texts that the Bible is derived from...

Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament):

• 'amen (Deu 27, many times; transliterated into 'Amen', from the root aman ('build up or support', 'to render or be firm or faithful') and meaning 'truly', 'firm', 'faithfulness', 'fidelity', 'so be it').

Next, a few verses of the Scriptures: first, of how to live a life of faith:

In Deuteronomy 23:23 is the instruction: "That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth."; that which you say you will do should be considered a freewill offering to God; and that which has been devoted or Given to God is not to be redeemed (Leviticus 27).

In Leviticus 5:4, "Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these."; if you swear to do something (in this case mentioned in a more binding fashion of swearing an oath than the prior reference), you are guilty if you do not hold to it, good or evil—here, you can be guilty even for NOT doing evil that you swore to do, all the more reason to be careful as to WHAT you give your word to!

In Numbers 30:2, "If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth."; here shows that sworn oaths are bound to the soul; as such, breaking your word does you harm! I would say that it does you harm by devaluing faith by encouraging you to believe that breaking your word is an acceptable practice.

And lastly, the words of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, 6:46-49, on people who are not faithful to their professions (i.e. what they say, who or what they attribute their allegiances to): "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like:
He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great."; if you're going to call yourself Christian, find being faithful important! Consider the similarity between the Hebrew kuwn in Psalms 5:9 'to be firm, be stable, be established' and the description here of a house founded on a rock that cannot be shaken by the flood!

• Grace (and Approval)

Last post, I said I hoped to address grace, and my view of it as the 'minimum faith'. This view comes from the perspective that there shall be no sin after the putting away of the faithless (as depicted in the Revelation).

Why then is grace a minimum? Consider it from a purely mechanical side. People must have grace for each other to avoid sinning against each other in judgment, heresy (disunion), and general disapproval (see 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 for an example of Paul rebuking the church at Corinth for some of this problem).

How then is grace faith? What meaning is there in grace but for grace to be consistent, for it to be faithful! Could we truly desire a heaven where we would go and be divided amongst each other and scrutinized as we have seen here? Does that truly sound heavenly to you? Much better for us to be true to our word here, to accept each other in our weaknesses—not to accept sin! but to accept ourselves and to accept each other!—and to know that we are acceptable to others, such that in heavenly dominion we can be at peace within and without. If you people will not be consistent in grace, how can we ever have peace?

We are to be of a spirit that when we come across someone, whomever they are, that we can honor, respect, and have grace for that person, whomever they are and whatever they may have done; to show that grace, to show that spirit of approval for that person; and yet, attempting to be faithful to the standard of giving rebuke and reproof for sin. Therein lies what an important choice we must make, we must make every effort to deny approval to sin but we MUST be approving of every person. Jesus made no secret of finding grace important. This is why I believe that grace is the 'minimum faith', why I find it necessary for 'believing in Jesus' and for having salvation.

Similarly, when a person leads another down a wrong path knowingly, or even watches another go down a wrong path when they believe they can warn them from it and, instead, stands idly by, is no less guilty than the person going down the wrong path; and possibly moreso, since they admit, at least to themselves, that they know better. The Bible refers to this as 'sinning in ignorance' as well as in other ways; I am unable to find the reference at this time, but I believe it also refers to such an idle witness as having the 'blood' of the sinner 'on their hands'.

Any one of us that finds agreeable that any other person be isolated, separated, lost in sin, cut off, or generally disapproved of, still needs to find it in themselves to ask God to help them make more perfect their grace.

God would that all were faithful, and that we would all have sufficient grace—I know that I myself still have come up short in both areas, and would be surprised, hopefully pleasantly, to find someone walking this earth who did not—so, we all need to have grace... in part, because we all need grace, Amen.

• Choice
  

Finally, the issue of choice.

I am one person of the philosophy that the one and only thing that God has given to us completely and entirely is our choice. Further, I believe that our choice is all that we truly are; in essence, the original gift (see earlier post: Salvation and Holiness by the Lake of Fire?).

Everything else is a loan, a stewardship, a responsibility; still His but in our care. All that God has given us (choice) or entrusted us with (everything else), we can reap the benefits of, if, and only if, we will be a good steward, a good caretaker of it.

In my last post, I got down into the meaning of faith; I summarized it as "how much you allow yourself to be trusted, both by others AND by yourself." Faith is how trustworthy you are, how consistent you will be. Faith is how much you honor and respect your choice, to make your choices and stick with them.

As such, faithlessness is being untrustworthy. Faithlessness is to be wishy-washy, to waffle, to hesitate, to be indecisive. Faithlessness is to despise your choice.

If choice is the single gift that we have received, if choice is all that we ARE, then when we despise our choice by denying faith, by being faithless, we are saying we despise our own existence.

If the faithless then testify to despise their own existence—to not care for it, to not even desire to take it or to use it—then when judgment comes, God is completely justified in giving them what they want; to allow the faithless to cease to exist. This I believe to be the unfortunate end awaiting those who go to judgment without using their choice to be faithful in having grace.


In my coming posts, I hope to address issues like God's providence even in earthly things (how I believe God has said time and time again that he is NOT a God of lack, but of abundance), and of how we can put God back into our words and choose to use our mouths to call the blessings rather than curses.

As always, intelligent and/or non-negative feedback is welcome, in agreement or otherwise.

What Is Faith, and Why Is It Important?

This evening, I feel called to write about something relatively basic and foundational to Christianity — faith. I'm going to attempt to talk about aspects of faith that I don't see made clear often; what it is, why it's important; and, also, some Biblical examples of it in action.

• What is faith?

Some appear to see it as some miraculous thing, full of mystery and, in some cases, power. Some appear to pay little mind to it.

I will state simply that faith is how much you allow yourself to be trusted, both by others AND by yourself. If one makes commitments or have obligations and does not meet them, it is difficult for people to trust them. If one lies to others, it is difficult for people to trust them. Perhaps more importantly, if one lies to themselves, it is difficult for them to trust their own self. How does one make commitments they cannot or will not keep, and how does take on the weighty burden of speaking falsely without deceiving themselves first to think it will be 'easier' or somehow 'better'?

• Why is it important?

If you do not show an example that can be trusted, then people will not trust you. Sadly, we have seen this much and for a long time. Many of us have not trusted at least some of: parents or children; husbands or wives; other relatives; co-workers or classmates; customers; employers and employees; those in any positions of authority or office (including but not limited to government and media); even those who we call 'friends'. With this as common as it has been, how can we wonder when we have looked for strife and confusion we have had no trouble finding it? If we truly desire to change things to be better than they have been, we must face in any way when we are part of the problem and deal with it.

Luke 12:26 shows Jesus saying, "If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?" In Luke 16:10, "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much."

We cannot just 'want' faith, we have to realize that it is essential and that we must choose it, both in the large and the small.

I use the word 'choose' for a very specific reason that I elaborate on in a later post, "Choice... or, Grace and Faith, How Much is 'Enough?'".

• Examples of Faith

Hebrews 10:38-11:34 summarizes many examples of faith. In many cases in the gospels when Jesus is reported to have been in the presence of healings, he attributed it to the faith of the one healed (Luke 7:50, 8:48, 17:19, 18:42) or, in a couple of cases, to one not healed but asking for the healing for another (Matt 15:28, Luke 7:9).

When Jesus is walking on water (Matt 14:25-32) he calls Peter to come to him (Peter had asked him to do so), after which Peter does. Peter then 'saw the wind boisterous', became afraid and began to sink. Jesus rebukes him for being 'of little faith' (Greek: oligopistos, see below) and doubting (Greek: distazo, to 'waver (in opinion)'; hence, not being stable, established, and faithful in his choice of opinion.

Matthew 17:20 shows Jesus saying of faith after casting out a demon, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."; and in Matthew 21:21 after cursing a fig tree to wither, "If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done." However, Matthew 17:15-20 have Jesus revealing that faithlessness (apistia, see below) is disempowering!

The Bible shows numerous other occasions of seeming miraculous happenstance which I would find easily attributed to faith.

• Moses believed and was faithful to God, and God used him to liberate Israel from Egypt and to lead them for years.
• There are numerous occurrences of how God similarly used Elijah: a severe drought that he called (1 Kings 17); being sustained first by food brought by ravens, then by a 'barrel of meal' and 'cruse of oil' that would not waste or fail (1 Kings 17); the raising of a dead son (1 Kings 17); the consuming by fire from above of an altar of stones and a sacrifice saturated with water surrounded by a trench of water after which no water remained of it (1 Kings 18:30-38); and Elijah being protected from prideful men sent to seize him by fire from heaven (2 K ings 1:7-15).
• In the garden when Jesus was to be betrayed and taken (John 18:3-9), Jesus is initially protected from them such that he can assure that those with him are allowed to go safely.
  

• What is faith? - A Foundation in Scripture
  

If we look at the original texts that the Bible is derived from, words translated into faith, faithfulness, etc., include:

Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament):

• aman (Num 12:7, Deu 7:9, etc.; translated into 'faithful', and meaning 'to build up or support', 'to render or be firm or faithful', 'to trust or believe');
• emuwn (Deu 32:20; translated into 'faith' and meaning 'faithfulness', 'trustworthiness');
• emuwnah (1 Sam 26:23; translated into 'faithfulness' or 'faithfully' and meaning 'firmness' or 'fidelity');
• emeth (Neh 7:2; translated into 'faithful' and meaning 'stability', 'trustworthiness', 'firmness');
• kuwn (Psa 5:9; translated into ''faithfulness' and meaning 'to be firm, be stable, be established');
  

Greek (New Testament):

• pistis (Matt 8:10; translated into 'faith' and meaning 'conviction of the truth of anything', 'belief', or 'fidelity', 'faithfulness', 'the character of one who can be relied on');
• pistos (Matt 24:45; translated into 'faithful' and meaning 'trusty', 'faithful', 'worthy of trust', 'that can be relied on');
• oligopistos (Matt 6:30; translated into 'of little faith' from oligos 'little' and pistis or perhaps pistos);
• apistos (Matt 17:17; translated into 'faithless' from a (the negative particle; e.g. atheism is the negative/absence of theism, belief in one or more divinities or deities) and pistos, hence the negative/absence of being 'faithful' or 'worthy of trust');
• apistia (Matt 17:20; translated into 'unbelief' and meaning 'unfaithfulness', 'weakness of faith', from apistos);
  
• elpis (Heb 10:23; translated into 'faith' and meaning 'anticipation' 'usually with pleasure' (as in 'hope') but can also mean 'fear').

Note that in almost every case (except the case of elpis, 'hope'), the meaning is 'fidelity', 'trustworthiness', 'stability', or some variant thereof.

Also, on the contrast, 'adultery' can be seen to be symbolic of general faithlessness; the Hebrew na'aph used can mean idolatry (as a betrayal of God) as well as carnal adultery (a betrayal of spouse); both of which are faithlessness where the adulterer has a commitment to someone and is being faithless by dishonoring that commitment (also see prior post, "Salvation and Holiness by the Lake of Fire?").

• Closing
  

In summary, I will reiterate what I stated earlier: We cannot just 'want' faith, we have to realize what it is and that it is essential and that we must choose it, both in the large and the small. I believe, in Deuteronomy 8:3 and Matthew 4:4, that 'every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God' IS faith, and as such it IS essential for us to live.


In my coming posts, I hope to address choice, and how the existence of choice and what we do with it justifies God and as well as how he intends to deal with us in judgment; as well as grace, how and why I see it as the 'minimum faith' that must be attained for 'believing in Jesus' and for having salvation.


As always, intelligent and/or non-negative feedback is welcome, in agreement or otherwise.