Donut, Coffee, Bible, and a Napkin to Scribble On.
Here is me talking about some cool things in John 18. My wife said this video made her carsick, and she had to listen and not watch. Sorry if you find it that way too.
Jesus’ disciples were from all different walks of life. Here is some neat stuff I found out about one of them…
A Friend on the Inside? from Daniel Sullivan on Vimeo.
v.22 “But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” This statement by Martha is curious to me. What did she have in mind? The following statements show she wasn’t expecting him to come back to life right then.
I think Jesus shows so much mercy by not deliberately telling Martha what is about to happen. If He would have said to the disciples or Martha “I’m going to raise Lazarus from the dead right now.” they would have laughed or scoffed or somehow fully shown their unbelief.
Rather than force them to indite themselves, Jesus carries them along slowly. He hints that Lazarus is asleep, then that HE IS the resurrection, and then that everyone who believes in Him will live… God slowly builds us towards revealing Himself, because He knows if we got it all in one shot it would be too much for us to bare. (proof that this ISN‚ÄôT true is time when Jesus blew people away w/ His presence. i.e. Peter in the boat falling on his face, etc.)
One time Mary Poplin asked Mother Theresa to pray that God would show her what He was going to do with her life. Momma T said “No Way! If God would have shown me all of the stuff that I was going to do with my life, I would have gotten scared and quit at the very beginning!”
God is merciful with us, carrying us along, not giving us more than we can bear, but also not holding back if we seriously need to get a move-on in our faith/life.
So yesterday a friend and I were talking and he told me about in Ps. 23 it says that God “MAKES” me lie down in green pastures. He said that the only way to make a sheep lie down was if the shepherd would take his hook, grab a back leg, and BREAK the sheep’s leg! Then with a broken leg the sheep would lie down and not run off so much.
hmmm, I think, that’s crazy.
So then I do some research. Turns out it’s a true practice of shepherds all over the world!
If a sheep wanders off too much, to protect it from getting lost or eaten or whatever, the shepherd will actually snap one of its legs! Then, since the thing can’t walk without great pain, he has to carry it around everywhere he goes. He puts it down in the green pasture, he sits it by some water, he picks it up when there is danger and puts it in a safe place. Then after a time of being held by the shepherd for so much, and being weakened and limping from the permanent injury, the sheep stays close to the shepherd the rest of it’s life.
This plays out in a hundred ways: The closeness Jacob felt to God that was consummated in him being cripled and needing a staff to lean on for the rest of his life. The fact that once our leg is broken, we are no longer fit for the sacrifice, but that doesn’t matter, because the One who is worthy of being our sacrifice was already sacrificed for us. The whole fact that God does a lot of things that look bad in the eyes of the world but are really life-saving in the spiritual realm.
I guess the balance here is to not go the wrong way and think of God as a school principle or whatever, watching us, hoping to get us when we sin or wander off. He wants us close to Him.
Psalm 30.5 For His anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
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