i feel an itch in my throat.
Must be coming down with an infernal sore throat and/or flu.
i really, really detest sore throats. i don’t mind fevers so much but sore throats! They’re just so irritating the way they foul up one of the most sensitive areas of the human body. i can’t swallow, speak, breathe, exist without being reminded of the presence of an annoying sore throat.
Yugh.
i’ve been reading my namesake book in the Bible and i can’t get over how the Gibeonites managed to trick Joshua and the Israelites (does that sound like a band name?) into making a covenant with them to spare their lives, which was counter to God’s command to devote every person in the promised land, who was not an Israelite except for the Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites, to destruction.
i read the chapter where this incident occurs a few times and each time one phrase stands out so glaringly. “..but did not ask counsel from the LORD.”
A damning indictment of our inclination to rely on our laughable wisdom and not to throw ourselves on our knees and seek first Him to whom all knowledge and wisdom belongs.
It made me reflect on how often i’ve gone ahead in my decisions, whether it be in ministry or work, without first having sought my Lord. How audacious! How foolish!
i will be the first to own up to such a grievous error.
It doesn’t only reflect poorly upon ourselves as self-consumed fools but also says a lot about our rhetoric of trusting Him, of laying our lives and wills down before Him, of calling upon Him to lead us that we may gladly follow.
How much of the Church, indeed, how much of our lives are a construct and a result of ill-informed decisions?
How much of it reflects our self-serving, decrepit natures and how much of it reflects and reveals Yahweh’s glorious, majestic and sovereign nature?
Forgive me, Father. Forgive us, Father, for not seeking Your voice and Your face time and again.
Have mercy on your people and humble us. As we crumple to our knees before You in perfect submission, let this also be the eternal posture of our rebellious hearts.
