A WALK THROUGH HISTORY

Time with Jesus - Thursday, 09 August 2012

Hi all,

Today’s meditation is a walk through some of the Bible told from God’s point of view.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Thursday, 09 August 2012			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
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	INTRODUCTION		DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	A WALK THROUGH HISTORY
History. As a schoolboy it was not my favourite subject. I found “1066 And All That” decidedly boring. Here in South Africa our studies started with 1652 and Jan Van Riebeeck. He was not terribly interesting back in the 1950’s, some 300 years later. One or two of my fellows enjoyed it, but it always seemed so dry. Even when the Brits took over the Cape, it didn’t seem to matter. Since I lived for a number of years in Port Elizabeth, the name Sir Rufane Donkin struck a chord because he named the city after his wife Elizabeth. There is a sort of a pyramid in Port Elizabeth commemorating her. When it came to the Scriptures, suddenly history became interesting. I’m sure the brothers at Marist Brothers in Port Elizabeth influenced this. They didn’t try and proselytise for the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed the Head Boy in my year was Jewish! But anyone who was interested in Biblical history was greatly encouraged. So we ploughed through the Old Testament looking at what we then called “Bible Studies”. Adam and Eve, Cain, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and the Patriarchs somehow “came to life”. The names Moses, Joshua, Samson and King David took on a bigger meaning. Wanting to get into the New Testament followed. The life of Jesus and the Book of Acts were fun to get into. We even got to know about Paul’s missionary journeys. In retrospect I think the Lord was preparing me for something in the future. Precisely what that was, is still something of a mystery. Except I’m passionately in love with God’s Word; and try and wrap my poetry within that context. Many years ago I became aware of people who were talking about taking others on a, “Walk through History”. I think it was Dave Wilkerson who initiated this in Christianity. Furthermore, several well known Bible Schools and Theological Colleges stared taking students through the Bible in one year. One such establishment was Rosebank Bible School who offered a one year Bible Survey course. I know Phyllida went to Rosebank in the late 1970’s expressly for this course. After we were married and moved to the power stations of the Eastern Transvaal, now called Mpumalanga, we decided to bring this course to those we met in the churches we attended at that time. It wasn’t official so no certificates were issued. We found that those who attended and stuck to the discipline of doing the reading and an assignment every week, loved it and gained a much broader understanding of Scripture. Today’s meditation is an overview of Scripture. It’s been written as though the Lord is taking His people on a walk through the Bible. In the space provided it’s impossible to touch on everything. So I’ve taken today’s Scriptures and weaved them into a brief survey of the events and some of their associated happenings. Writing in the “first person” allows for greater brevity, something at which I do not excel! I’ve also had to do a certain amount of interpolation of events for greater clarity. I’ve taken a liberty with what Abraham saw. John’s gospel quotes Jesus as saying, 56 Your father Abraham was pleased to see that my day was coming. He saw it and was happy." John 8:56 GW. I’ve picked things up at this point and included elements which Abraham might not have been aware. But that’s poetic licence! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			13 "For My people have done two evil things: They have abandoned Me--the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all! Jeremiah 2:13 NLT 1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD." Genesis 4:1 ESV 4 Then they said, "Let's build a city for ourselves and a tower with its top in the sky. Let's make a name for ourselves so that we won't become scattered all over the face of the earth." Genesis 11:4 GW 8 In that way, the LORD scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. Genesis 11:8 NLT 10 Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan Valley in the direction of Zoar. The whole area was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the LORD or the beautiful land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 Lot chose for himself the whole Jordan Valley to the east of them. He went there with his flocks and servants and parted company with his uncle Abram. 13 But the people of this area were extremely wicked and constantly sinned against the LORD. Genesis 13:10-11 &13 NLT 17 So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind. 18 The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow. Ecclesiastes 1:17-18 NLT 4 I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. 8 I collected great sums of silver and gold 11 But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless--like chasing the wind Eccl 2:4, 8, 11 NLT 37 On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. John 7:37 MSG 9 He gave plenty to drink to those who were thirsty. He filled those who were hungry with good food. Psalms 107:9 GW 22 Think about things that are in heaven. Don't think about things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2 NIrV	My people have done foolish things. I wish they’d tell Me why. The first is they abandoned Me. The fount that’s never dry. And they’ve been digging cisterns that are as dry as dust, They can’t hold any water. Before they’re dug, they bust! If they are dry and thirsty why don’t they come to Me? A fount of Living Water, to them is what I’ll be. The plans of men don’t prosper, if I am not included. They tried to build a giant tower, but they were all deluded. A tower up to heaven where floods could never reach. And so I had to scatter them. Because I had to teach, That everything that man can make will crumble and will fall. The only way to change it is if unto Me they call. They should have been like Adam, who had a wife called Eve. They had to come and pray to Me, so that she could conceive. And she brought forth a man-child. His parents called him Cain; A course, religious, murderer, whose gifts to Me were vain. Instead of doing what he should, he killed his younger brother. I haven’t told you what he said to father and his mother. The nature he inherited, when Adam sinned and fell, Was starting to be manifest, in all their kids as well. The line of Cain was wicked. Then Eve bore Adam, Seth. And wickedness increased so much, that I decided death, Would somehow sort of wash the earth and make it new and clean. And if I hadn’t sent the flood, I know what would have been. But Noah and his family were rescued from the rain. But sadly. the sin nature, raised its head again. Some 400 years later, Abram was born. In terms of faith in Deity; this was man’s early dawn. Of course he wasn’t perfect. That wouldn’t ever be. But I declared him righteous, because he trusted Me! Abram made his choices each time that he obeyed. He willingly gave Isaac, until his hand I staid. He saw the fall of Sodom. He saw the Promised Land. He saw his people’s slavery and all that I had planned. Please know he was excited, in some unstated way; Because he knew that Jesus Christ would come through him one day! You know he was the father of a great multitude. That Kings and Priests and Prophets would be among his brood. The source of Living Water, for all who suffer thirst, Would issue from the Saviour, on those who had been cursed. He knew that hungry people could all eat Heaven’s bread. That life would not be meaningless, but purposeful instead. That as men looked to Heaven, the things of earth would dim; And that salvation full and free would one day come through Him. These were the things which he believed but never really saw. But I would make it happen. All this and so much more! Jim Strickland – Written 9th August 2012