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
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Thursday, 09 August 2012
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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A
WALK THROUGH HISTORY
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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
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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
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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
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