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Tour #3: Men of the Old Testament

12/29/2013

4 Comments

 
Who will we meet, or be re-introduced to, in the next two weeks?
Elijah: devoted, but fearful, prophet. Threatened because of your beliefs, would you stand or run?
Solomon: gets to ask God for his heart's desire! What would your answer be?
Samuel: (note: the schedule does not specify a chapter to read - suggest Chaps 1, 3 and/or 7) given to the Lord by his mother in thanks for his birth. To what length would/could you go to thank God for his blessings?
Josiah: purged the land of remnants of idol worship and caused the people of Israel to repent, and God spared him from witnessing the fall of Jerusalem. What would you have your legacy be, as a disciple of Christ?
Hezekiah: a faithful, but flawed follower. What do you consider your strongest character asset? Your weakest?
Elisha: cures a powerful military leader, but not according to his expectations. Have you ever surprised someone with the manner in which you worship God?
Daniel: stayed true to his faith while serving diligently as a captive (and often threatened) in a strange land
. Have you resisted the temptation to compromise your faith in order to "fit in" or avoid bullying/danger?
Isaiah: called by God in a most spectacular way. Has God spoken to you in dazzling spectacle or a still. small voice . . . or both?
Jeremiah: used dramatic means to try and draw Judah and Jerusalem back to God, often at great personal expense. How do you witness? Dramatically? Quietly?
Gideon: ever tentative and unsure of God's presence with him, despite repeated assurances. Can you relate to Gideon's doubt?
Nehemiah: combined great leadership skills with great love for God and his religious heritage to leave a remarkable legacy. Have you been called to build something for the Church?
4 Comments
Gerry
12/31/2013 01:44:15 am

I was struck by Eli's response (at the4 end of Chapter 3) when Samuel tells him the Lord "is about to punish [Eli's] house forever.' (We have been told that this means both of his wicked sons will die on the same day and with them the family's long tradition as priests will end.) Eli simply says, "It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him." Such utter surrender to the will of God!
Interesting, too, the use of the word "forever" in these first three chapters, which doesn't seem to mean quite what I think it usually means.

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Gerry
1/1/2014 02:47:23 am

In some ways, this reading seems particularly appropriate for the New Year. Its focus on Josiah re-dedication to do what was right in the sight of the Lord and the enthusiastic re-reading of the Law might be a model New Year resolution. I am troubled, however, by the Chronicler's celebration of religious intolerance. In the nae of that re-dedication, places of worship are demolished, religious leaders killed, and sacred images destroyed. Today's headlines put a somber perspective on the human suffering caused by that kind of activity. I am also uncomfortable with Huldah's depiction of the Lord, so "provoked to anger," that his "wrath will be poured out on this place and will be be quenched." It makes God seem petty.

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Gerry
1/7/2014 02:43:06 am

In this story, purification (of Isaiah) comes from God, not because of anything that Isaiah does. In fact, Isaiah does not even ask to be purified. He only laments that he is unclean. Sometimes I think that we need to do as Isaiah did, and simply accept that God has blotted out our sin, and then listen for instructions. Guilt and shame seem more a burden than a path to atonement and reconciliation to God's will? Other times, it seems we need to incorporate spiritual disciplines in our lives in order to keep focused. To be successful, those disciplines seem to require guilt and shame to motivate us to recognize when we have fallen off the path and get back on the program.

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PAA
1/16/2014 06:22:28 am

On to "prayer": I'm being struck by the different kinds illustrated: starting with how to respond when God says "no" to David. Then bargaining with God (yet acceptable!) - and so conversational.
The Lord's prayer reminds us that it's always communal concern. Then there's sheer praise. And Solomon's prayer that God will stay faithful no matter what the people do in the future :)

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