Tears ran down their
faces, large boxes over their shoulders, grateful prayers they cried out. “Our hearts are no longer heavy, they are
light.”
The elders handed off the
boxes to young backs. God’s word, delivered by the wings of a small jungle
plane reached the Kimyal Tribe of Papua, Indonesia for the first lime last year. One village man
quoted from Psalm 126. “Those
who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with
them.”
I watched this unfold on
video a few weeks past. What would my life be like without Your Word, Lord?
Would I starve? Would the feast of Your word be like porridge in my mouth—one
verse to live by—one food to eat every single day?
2 Timothy 3:15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy
Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus.
Starvation is a slow
process. I read of children, they eat dirt because they are starving. And the
dirt is what kills them. There
is an invitation to feast before me everyday. Am I feeding my heart?
And if I fail to feed my
children with the richness of scripture, will they grow hungry as they grow
old? Will they come to eat spiritual dirt?
Lord, I want to do more
then read Your Word, memorizing, so that while I have breath in me, it can’t be
taken away. I’ve come to expect to have this book beside my bed each day I wake,
I forget the urgency. I
forget the gratitude-- that I should
be praising each day that I come to the garden and hear Your voice in this
Word. I forget
because I’ve never had to starve.
My walk in the garden
took me to pictures of the end times written in Timothy. The emboldened header
reads: Perilous Times and Perilous Men. And those who didn’t fall away were
those who “have
known the Holy Scriptures” from childhood, who are wise for salvation.
Will it take Perilous Men
and Perilous times for me to hide Your word in my heart? Will I have to starve before I
realize how blessed I am to be filled?
It was Christmas, and my
daddy was dying. We sat near his bed, taking turns holding his hand, my young
hand inside his larger one. His cancer had taken away most of him, but at the
end, that Christmas Eve, familiar words from Luke 2, which he had hidden in his
heart, were told from his lips-- from a place his brain tumor couldn’t touch.
When we hide God’s word
in our hearts, it is precious. And no one can take them away.
May I hide Your Words,
Lord. And help my children to learn them too, so we will treasure them. So
we will not sin against You.
I saw the Lord’s love in
the faces of these villagers, which reminded me how loved and blessed we are as
Your people, as I am-- as Your daughter.
See the video here:
http://youtu.be/w9dpmp_-TY0
Job 23:12
I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my necessary food.
I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my necessary food.
"they eat dirt because they are starving. And the dirt is what kills them." Truth wrapped in a metaphor about truth. It's a post in and of itself. So beautiful and insightful, as always.
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