I got wordy on FB, so I copy it here. Hope nobody minds. Saturday in the life of a single retiree.
What is on my mind? That is the Face book question for posting: Here is my answer: Reading & caring about my friends' journeys today. Listening to Fly lady talk about staying on routine to a group of women whose husbands have been recently deployed. (She is such an encourager.) Making coffee upstairs to take into the bath with me. Hazelnut, with Coffee mate today. Pure Ambrosia. Warm suds, wash hair, listen to Marla, sipping creamed hazelnut coffee.
Already have bed made, and did light vacuuming. And listened to the whole book of Joshua on Bible Gateway. Feel good. Our online Devotional journal has us in Judges. I did that earlier, listening as I read and written in the journal. But I was behind, and had missed much of the preceding book, so I set Bible Gateway to read it from chapter 1 to 24, and curled up in bed to listen.
It was still dark out and it was cold. The cat cuddled with me. I noticed that Judges from today repeated some of what Joshua had already said. Sometimes I think a lot of this ancient stuff about the law and conquering the land is like what I would find at the county building where the register of deeds office is, or in a lawyers library full of law books. Yet it is included in the canon of Scripture. So it must be important, and actually there are little nuggets of truth to be gleaned.
Like today when I realized that Israel was not claiming the land of Canaan. They were reclaiming it. Abraham had the original deed, after all, and the famine that caused Jacob and his sons to go to Egypt caused them to abandon it. So actually they were reclaiming it after 400 years absence.
During that time all of the people called the Canaanites had moved in and built cities, and now Israel was reclaiming it. For some reason God did not like the Canaanites and commanded Israel to obliterate them. Sometimes they did. Sometimes they didn't.
I am not so sure I buy that tactic for today, and apparently the Israelites did not either, but that is when the power left them. Not because they were merciful... they made the Canaanites their slaves. But the power left them because after Joshua was gone, they forgot God, and did not obey Him, so God cut short His power.
What lesson for us in international matters? Has not our country turned away from what our forefathers taught us? Have we been turning away from the God of the Bible? Are there alien people trying to take over our land? Only we are not in Egypt, we are right here and it is happening. That is scary. From what I read today, it sounds like we need to individually return to what we have been taught, embrace it, throw out what is not true and move on. At least in our own spirits we shall have peace with God and that is after all the most important thing anyway. If we like Caleb and Joshua live to lead out people again in the ways of righteousness, so be it. If not, We must follow the Lord. Joshua said to the people Choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me and mine, we shall serve the Lord.
Well I just heard the coffee finish. So I shall leave the computer, pour myself a cup put the speakers on in the hall and proceed with my day. Hope you have a great one too.
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