Hebrews 9
NOT TELLING

One of the most annoying parts of the Bible for me, is the following verse. The writer to the Hebrews has briefly described the furniture in the tabernacle and appears to be leading up to an exciting exposition of it all, when he says, “But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.” (Hebrews 9 v 5). I, for one, would not have complained if his letter to the Hebrews had been a few chapters longer. Then we could have had the benefit of his wisdom as he discussed the tabernacle with us. But he didn’t.

Today I looked at these words in a different light. It was a shame that he could not discuss those things in detail with us then, but his words leave us with questions, mysteries to solve, and answers to find.

We have the completed Bible at our fingertips, so maybe one of the reasons the Hebrew man would not discuss the parts of the tabernacle was so that we would search them out ourselves. We have the same resources, and even more than the author of Hebrews had, from which to glean our information. We have Bibles, concordances, maps, the internet, study Bibles, cross references and commentaries, to name a few of our resources. God wanted us to study the tabernacle for ourselves.

Let’s not get frustrated that we are not spoon-fed all the details, but open our Bibles and learn for ourselves what the writer to the Hebrews wouldn’t tell us.

May God grant us understanding as we open his word this week.

With love in our Lord,
Robert
http://www.thinkythings.com/read

Easy Inheritance

“The people of Joseph replied, ‘The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the plain have chariots fitted with iron, both those in Beth Shan and it’s settlements and those in the Valley of Jezreel.’” Joshua 17 v 16.

It seems the descendants of Joseph wanted their inheritance territory to be larger, and taken over easily.

But it was going to require work. If they wanted bigger territory, they would need to clear the forest from the hills, and they were going to need to persevere in driving out the Canaanites who had iron chariots.

Joshua believed they could do it. “You are numerous and powerful,” he told the tribes of Joseph, “Go and clear the forested hill country, and clear out the Canaanites too. They might be strong, but you can do it.”

I understand the mentality of the people of Joseph. Frequently I start a project or begin a task – especially if it’s something I think God wants me to do; and I expect that it should go easily. A walk in the park, as it were, handed to me on a plate. So when a task more difficult than I anticipate, or if it causes pain or discomfort, I may feel like quitting.

For the tribes of Joseph to establish their inheritance, they were going to need to apply effort, grit, determination and stick-ability – alongside prayer and trust in God, of course.

The encouragement I gain from this story today, is to keep persevering. Don’t let challenges get the better of us. If there is something worthwhile that needs to be done, let us not be disheartened by the ‘iron chariots’ or the need to apply effort in ‘removing a forest’. Let us believe, as Joshua did, that these things can be done with God on our side, and a willingness to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

God bless your week ahead – don’t let the ‘forests’ or ‘iron chariots’ get you down.

Love,
Sharon.
http://www.thinkythings.com/sharon