Living and Hyperactive
I don’t know how I got here exactly.
Well, I do. I heard a guy on the radio right before I turned off the car, and he made reference to 2 Chronicles 20. The tiny bit I heard intrigued me. I thought I should go and check it out.
I’m supposed to be in 1 Samuel. But I’m distracted there with how a guy who loves his wife from his toes would see her, grieved to the point where she cannot eat, and give her double portions of food to console her. So I can’t get past the first chapter.
Already I digress.
So, 2 Chronicles. I went to read the story. And then I started reading backwards, because when I airlift into a passage I always have to trek back through the trees and see what happened before that.
And I got lost in the forest.
I wondered if I could just skip the Samuels and the Kings and jump straight ahead to the Chronicles.
I wondered if I could quit climbing roofs and trees and wading through swampy basements and just stay home all day and read this.
I wondered if Jesus doesn’t come with the new heaven and new earth for another 53 years or so (a totally made up number), will I still be on this same read-through of the Word, bumbling around in Amos by then?
Amos. I really want to read Amos soon. There’s an amazing story there of emptiness as a gift that would ultimately lead to fullness. And of course full wouldn’t come until emptiness did its work.
But I can’t get there just yet. There’s Samuel first, and some Chronicles. A few other prophets . . .
And it seems seven-day-stays are becoming more the routine than the departure.
::
This suddenly is not the post I’m supposed to be writing today. Or that I was supposed to write yesterday or the day before. I’m not sure it even qualifies as a legitimate post.
My apologies. Or not.
Do you see what’s happening here?
The Word, it’s just crazy. Oh, I know. I shouldn’t say things like that.
Sure, the Word, it’s useful. Useful for teaching and training and correcting and such.
And of course, it’s razor sharp, able to slice into that imperceptible space between soul and spirit.
But the Word, it’s also wild. It’s alive and maybe even hyperactive. It’s ridiculous.
It’s sweet; it leaves my fingers all gooey.
And it’s light; it opens up the whole world in front of me.
It distracts me from what’s buzzing around me with its very own self.
And when it gets like this, I can’t. get. enough.
It’s all I want. I’m hungry.
Hungry.
I’ve been hungry plenty in the past. But I’ve never made myself hungry before. I can think about food. I can meditate on ice cream all day long. But I can’t work up hunger.
That’s just something the body does all by itself when circumstances are right.
So don’t hear me taking credit for this. I can’t work up hunger.
But I can sure feed it.
Hoping to be back here soon with coherent thoughts, something about 2 Chronicles.
But meanwhile, I think I smell dinner on the grill.
::
Lyla, why would you think you should try to read in one year, what it took God several centuries to write?
2010/07/30 at 3:10 PM
David, I’ve never made it in a year. It’s way too much fun to take my time. But sometimes lately I start to wonder if I’ll ever make it all the way back through again.
2010/07/30 at 3:50 PM
I’m sure that I have not read every word. I skip the parts that talk about my sins! I reread often the parts that pertain to others. I even preach about them. Once in a while I pass by a verse or two that might offend one of my parishioners. I’m like the folks in John who liked the free fish and bread, but didn’t like the “sayings that are too hard” Oh well
2010/07/30 at 4:42 PM
David, that might be even funnier than you think. When I started backwards from 2 Chron 20, I ran into old King Ahab. When he went to cajole Jehoshaphat into going to battle with him, Jehoshaphat asked him first seek counsel of the Lord. So Ahab rounded up his 400 prophets and they all said go for it. Jehoshaphat wasn’t set. He said, “Is there not a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?”
Ignoring that Jehoshaphat used a preposition to end a sentence with
, Ahab said “Yeah, well, we have this one guy. He’s the real deal, he can connect with God. But I can’t stand Him. He never has anything good to prophesy about me.”
2010/07/30 at 6:21 PM
Grandma Edna used to talk a lot about him when she got a little excited. She called him Jumpin Jehosaphat. One must be careful about that preposition proposition. A guy once asked me if I could tell him where the Courthouse was at? I told him that around here, we don’t end a sentence with a preposition. He responded, “Excuse me, could you tell me where the courthouse is at, stupid?” Prophets had a bad habit of talking a lot about judgment. Or often how to avoid judgment. Maybe it wasn’t so much that he didn’t have anything good to prophesy about him, rather he didn’t have anything about which to prophesy that he wanted to hear! Like today, they seemed more interested in getting the Lord on their side whenever they decided to go to war.
2010/07/30 at 7:32 PM
Funny thing happened right before I stopped over here tonight. I happened to be reading Chapter 6 in the book titled “The Pursuit of God” by A.W .Tozer. In this chapter he is talking about the Bible is God speaking to us now. It is not a book of what God did say years ago and now all of a sudden he is silent. (Funny how somehow my “man mind” sees it that way at times). Tozer says : “Come at once to the open Bible expecting it to speak to you. Do not come with the notions that is a thing you may push around at your convenience. It is more than a thing; it is a Voice, a Word~ the very Word of the living God”
Clearly the Word is alive for you and your excitement is contagious! Keep reading, even if it is the same verses for 7 (or more) days straight. He is speaking to you and I can’t wait to hear you tell us what he has said to you during this time!
Much love,
Julie
2010/07/30 at 8:09 PM
Julie, Tozer . . . Can you hear me sigh? Very wise, Tozer.
2010/07/31 at 10:12 AM
He gives you a hunger–yes. But I wonder what specific morsel it is that He’s trying to get you to taste in that large buffet?
2010/07/31 at 10:01 PM
There are several, Jennifer. Several.
Those few chapters are a feast for the heart.
2010/07/31 at 10:18 PM
I love your wanderings.
You’re crazy. Just like the Word. (And I mean that in a good way.)
2010/07/31 at 11:32 PM
When God gives you hunger you are growing…just like your boys before a growth spurt.
2010/08/02 at 7:56 AM
I love that this post so aptly captures your tromp through the word. I do this same thing often, and you’re right. It’s fun! I, too, am kind of clinging on to your 7-days in one place ritual. I’m gleaning so much more than when I hurry.
2010/08/04 at 9:44 PM