God is turning the tin man into a real man, and the part that doesn’t like it is the part that is still tin.
-Dallas Willard, the Divine Conspiracy
Monthly Archive for April, 2007
ok, let’s try it this way…?
Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to sorcery as at other times, but turned his face toward the desert.
When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came upon him
Numbers 24:1-2
Twice Balaam went and made sacrifices and then went to a different spot to meet with the Lord. Both times the Lord met with him.
The third time it says the above. ‘he did not resort to sorcery’ he didn’t do any of his magic voodoo whatever. He did what he knew God loved and desired, and look what happened. Instead of meeting with God, God came upon him!
How often do I not get this same thing?! I am going to go do this spiritual thing, I’m going to have a time of prayer, or solitude, or whatever, and sure, I meet with God.
But when, in the normal course of my day, all of a sudden I do something that I know pleases Him, like I start praying life into a poor old woman or I give some bread to a starving street kid, all of a sudden God is UPON ME and more is revealed to me than could ever be revealed by meeting with Him.
Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do so again.
However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the Tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp.
A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”
But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”
Numbers 11:25-29
Eldad and Medad! What’s up?!! It doesn’t say why they didn’t go. Why did they stay in the camp? What grace of God was shown to them! Get all the elders and I’ll put My Spirit on them, oh, two elders didn’t come, well I’ll put My Spirit on them wherever they are, they are still elders.
that’s crazy!
a while back, two guys (Nadab and Abihu) burned unclean fire before the Lord and got cooked, now there are two guys that are not going before God like He asked and they get the Holy Spirit with free delivery!
Eldad and Medad!
buckle your seatbelts
Meydad, may-dawd´; from 3032 in the sense of loving; affectionate; Medad, an Israelite:—Medad.
3032. יָדַד yadad, yaw-dad´; a primitive root; properly, to handle (compare 3034), i.e. to throw, e.g. lots:—cast.
Eldad, el-dad´; from 410 and 1730; God has loved; Eldad, an Israelite:—Eldad.
so you are telling me, that there are two guys named “God has loved” and “loving and affectionate handling” and God poured His Spirit on them!
doesn’t this just totally show God’s character?! I desire MERCY and not SACRIFICE, says God. He’s not concerned about where YOU are! He can come and meet you even when you’re amongst the common folk in the camp. I’m sure there is a whole lot more to unpack here, but I’m out of time!
I was just reading the Gospel of Luke about the resurrection and came across these guys walking to Emmaus. I think they are the people I feel the most like right now.
I have heard news that is happening, I have heard what is going on right now, but I’m still really dazed and confused by it all.
Luke 24:17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? KJV
What manner of communications ARE these? I read that in the greek it uses an idiom like “they were having words” - as in they were arguing. That makes sense because when Jesus asks them what they’re talking about they talk to Him kind of sharp.
“Don’t know know what has happened? Are you not from around here?”
I’m in that same mode. I’m short tempered. Some chick just rang our doorbell at 7:05 on a Sunday morning to sell us berries. That just pushed my bad mood button and now I’m stuck!
The guy’s name that talked like that was Cleopas. His name means ‘called to glory’!
So then Jesus whoops up on them back!
Luke 24:25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
You poor, slow to believe fools!
That’s me. I got bad news, and it shook my whole world. I reeled for about 2 days, then began to prepare for my new life in leu of the bad news. Then as I slowly got halfway settled into the new life with the bad news, and all of a sudden people are telling me good news, news TOO GOOD to be true!
Another word for amazed, as in “some of our women amazed us” is to make insane. Yep. When Jesus’ family says He’s “out of His mind” it’s the same word.
So now I’m crazy. I’m on my way to Emmaus, which is totally off the map in terms of Jerusalem or Gallilee. I need to see Jesus here and get some help.
I need Him to say and explain the teaching of the prophets to me:
Luke 24:26
Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”
help me along the road, Jesus. I want to celebrate the good news I’ve heard, but I feel like a dog that was running fast for a steak that was one meter further away than my leash. The steak has now been put one meter closer, but my neck hurts so bad I don’t want the steak anyway.
“But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.”
(1Cor 16:8-9 NIV)
“Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.”
(2Cor 2:12-14 NIV)
Here are two places where I am totally baffled. Sometimes you look at the things that Paul says and you just wonder if he was a Christian or not!
In 1 Cor 16, he says that a door has opened for him, and there are many who oppose him. Those don’t go together! But wow, for him they did. Or I even wonder if they are one and the same! One would think that an open door for effective work would mean that you didn’t have ‘many adversaries’ (KJV).
The other one is just as puzzling. You would always think that if God gave you an open door, you should go through it. Paul talks in the words just before this about how to keep from being tricked by Satan, so we can know that Paul knew what he was doing. After this he says that God is always leading us in triumph, so we can be confident that Paul wasn’t rebuked or corrected or condemned for leaving open-doored Troas and heading for Macedonia.
I’m at a point also where a door has been opened, but I’m not sure if I’m supposed to go through it. I feel like I’ve been so deepened in the last few years. I’ve been deepened to a point of seeing that a lot of the things of God are not as cut & dry as I used to think. Maybe another way to put it is that God isn’t so binary to me any more. As far as a lifestyle and the choices we make, His will is becoming less of a this or that to me and more of a wider list of options.
Of course, at the same time I have the confidence that all of my ways are in His hands, and that He’s in the midst of every one of these paths I see, and to Him my whole life is an entirely visible path in Him.
So we aren’t robotic mice in a maze, pushing along and whenever there is an opening we go through it until we hit a dead end and then backtrack. We are walking The Path with our Creator, Lover, and Savior, and He knows the best choices to make.
Guide me, Lord Jesus!
