God says:
don't go to egypt. stay where you are. i know it doesn't look safe where you are, and i know self-preservation runs in your veins. i know it goes against all logic to stay where you are. but i can bend those natural laws which promise danger, and i can teach you better how to rely on me if the stakes, like your physical safety, are higher. so obey me. stay in this land for a while and i will be with you and will bless you. if you stay in this land, i will build you up and not tear you down; i will plant you and not uproot you.
[genesis26, jeremiah42]
my question* is this:
what land am i in?
what's today's egypt? (denial, duh---sorry, bad re-pun)
does this mean i have to stay in school?
stay in my church?
stay in the messy little room i share with my sister in my parents' house?
*i'm slowly learning to listen. selective interpretation/obedience is tempting. but that totally defeats the purpose of wanting to learn to listen in the first place. duh.
2 comments:
Hm. Well, I think God tells his people to stay in Israel not so much because they should [stay] (brackets for emphasis) but that they should stay in [Israel]. The Land was where they were supposed to be - Israel was meant to love God and be a blessing to the nations around them so that God's blessing would reach all the corners of the earth - that was their special calling, out of all the people in the world. And we have been blessed by the Israelites' staying in the land, because Jesus Christ was born in Israel. And that's important, because the Messiah was supposed to be born in Israel. God was working out his plan. So now, seeing a bit of God's plan, we have a relationship with the land. We eat from it, we drive on it, we walk on it, our houses and churches and parks are on it. So just as God told the Israelites to be intentional about where they lived so that His promises would end up reaching everyone, I think He tells us to [be] where we can be most effective in promoting His promises and in caring for the land. And as we [be] there, we need to [be] people who point everyone who we meet to the God who blesses the land, and we should care for the land that God uses to bless us so that it can bless more people.
"Nothing matters but the Kingdom - and because of the Kingdom, everything matters." - Including place and land.
Some thoughts. Sorry for the ramble.
Love, Ben
thanks for the ramble. :)
Actually kind of looking forward to landscaping, where I can be actively/literally doing this stuff...heh...
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