[Day 4] Daniel 1 and 12

Daniel 1 describes how Daniel came into servitude of the king of Babylon at the time, Nebuchadnezzar. He was of Israeli royalty from the tribe of Judah, and apparently good looking and smart:

1.3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility-
1.4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.

The king also allocates a portion of the food from his own table to Daniel and his 3 buddies, but they refuse to eat it, instead asking for vegetables and water. This freaks the chief official out, because if Daniel and his friends look any less healthier, and the king finds out, he's dead. But Daniel insists that they'll be fine and asks the official to test them out for 10 days on veg and water, and it turns out they appear fairer and fleshier than all the other guys who are still feeding off the king's table.

This is significant, firstly as a sign of independence from the luxuries and produce of this kingdom, choosing instead to live off what is readily available throughout the land. Secondly, as a sign of protest, to say that they are not of this kingdom and are not going to be bound by the rules of that kingdom, despite the fact that they are exiles who have been captured. Daniel shows strength of character and integrity in choosing to remain upright in the face of all this, in resolving not to defile himself with the royal food and wine [1.8].

Scripture goes on to say that Daniel and friends are gifted with incredible knowledge and understanding of literature and scholarly things by God, and Daniel can understand dreams and visions [1.17]. I reckon that's pretty useful. This pretty much reflects what Solomon writes in Proverbs 2.7;

.7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright and is a shield to those who walk in integrity-

In fact the king finds that Daniel and his friends are unrivaled in matters concerning wisdom and understanding in all the land, securing a fair bit of the king's trust I'd imagine.

Daniel 12 describes a vision that Daniel has about a future time. The vision is very cryptic and even Daniel, who in verse 1.17 was said to be able to understand visions and dreams of every kind, doesn't quite follow!

I think its clear that v12.2 talks about the resurrection. What worries me how it talks about 2 distinct groups, one awakening to everlasting life, the other to shame and everlasting contempt... which group will I find myself in? It goes on to say that the wise will shine, the ones who lead many to righteousness like the stars.

Another thing that I should note is that Daniel 12 takes place around a river, the Tigris. When I think of river imagery, I'm reminded of Ezekiel 47, which talks about a massive river that flows to the Dead Sea, that will fill it with life.

Finally in verse 12.9, it talks about how the wicked will not understand. Proverbs describes the wicked, as the foolish, morally deficient people who insist on ignoring wisdom, the ones who do not fear the Lord.

In light of these 2 chapters, I think we could all stand to gain from understanding "understanding" and "wisdom".




Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. [Proverbs 1.7]

[Day 3] Proverbs 3

.28 Do not say to your neighbor, "Come back later, I'll give it tomorrow"- when you now have it with you.

I felt a bit of a pang when I saw this one. This week alone, I think this scenario has been played out quite a few times. I'd either be busy doing something else and reluctant to stop what I'm doing to attend to someone else, or I'm feeling lazy, or I simply can't be bothered to help, when it was really within my capacity to help anyway. I think what is even more perverse when I actually then decide to "help" my "neighbor" on the basis that they're nice to me, or I stand to gain, etc.

Father I come to You with a heart that is not content remaining this way. I'm sick of procrastination, I'm sick of excuses. Show me how to love my neighbors as You have loved me. Teach me to stand firm with strength, and not to lie back and seek and sink into comfort.

[Day 2] Proverbs 2

.7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright and is a shield to those who walk in integrity-

.20 This is how you will walk in the way of good men and will keep to the paths of the righteous.

Solomon insists that fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Chapter 2 starts off with a whole sales pitch for knowledge and understanding, the benefits of embracing wisdom. Wisdom comes from God, and He speaks understanding and knowledge into our hearts. He guards and protects those are upright and walk in integrity (remembering that in chapter 1, Solomon indicates a wise person as one who is morally aware). Solomon then begins describing paths that we shouldn't go down, ending the list with adultery, specifically warning men to avoid slutty women. A man who can steer clear of all these things, the upright and people of integrity will live in the land, but the wicked, the people who act against wisdom, will perish and be removed.

I think wisdom is now so much more to me than just being clever. And I think especially now, wisdom is crucial in my life. To walk upright is incredibly hard, considering the lies that are piled over us every single day. But if we seek the right stuff, the righteous stuff, then there will also be wisdom to reject those lies, we can trust in our Creator's unyielding steadfastness. I believe that money does not equate to success. I believe that self(ish)-gain is self-destruction, especially if that gain involves someone else's loss, as is often the case. I believe that sex was never meant to sell, and neither should selling have anything to do with sex.

Creator, You are holy. Help me understand what You have purposed for this Earth, and allow me to align myself to Your agenda. Father, pour out Your wisdom on me, fill me with understanding of the times. Show me where Your Kingdom has begun, where it will be advanced. Open up my eyes that I may see, and unblock my eyes that I may hear, so that I do not treat Your sons and daughters as any less than the children of the most high King.

[Day 1] Proverbs 1

.23 If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured my hear out to you and made known my thoughts to you.

.29 Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord,

.31 they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.

I think, often wisdom calls us, nags at us even. But there are many times when our hearts have already determined what they want to hear and ignores it. Solomon gives wisdom a personality in the passage of scripture, and Wisdom seems to be quite eager to speak into us, but she also indicates that many reject her. In this chapter, Solomon actually refers to fools, the Hebraic word for which indicates one who is morally deficient. Does it mean then, that wisdom is tied to goodness? Wisdom also makes it clear that there are consequences for those who do not listen.

I've been in many situations where I had already known that things would turn out badly if I did a certain thing, but sometimes, be it out of curiosity, arrogance, or pride (not stupidity mind you), I'm just "need" to see what it feels or looks like. And of course, things turn out badly. I'm sure we've all been in some situation like that. Call it instinct, insight, a feeling, I think I could do a bit better (i.e. my thumb wouldn't be wrapped in bandages right now) if I took heed more often. Of course experiences can serve to teach as well. And oftentimes Wisdom is drawn from experience. But if Wisdom calls out... I believe it's best to listen.

Father, for all I've done, all the times I've screwed up, all the people I've hurt, all the horrible things I've said, forgive me. Forgive me the depravities that plague me on so many levels. Creator, giver of all life, thank You for Your grace, thank You for your healing. Increase my wisdom and understanding, and then increase my willingness to listen. Fill my heart with awe and wonder, and desire to learn more and more. Amen.

Expeditioners are go!

I believe that our community has actually come to a point where it is crucial for us to see. In the midst of all the shaking and exposing of our weaknesses, I believe that it is important for us to discover what is truly good and stable, to re-discover the foundations that were laid before us that still remain, and will remain. And I saw this for myself last night. As many members of community gathered to pray, I saw the desperation for revelation of a desperate people, ready to lay down and crucify their comforts and cravings, ready to deny flesh leadership over our lives. Ready to be set aside for a holy purpose. We are a people who are deeply dissatisfied with the state of the world, the city, and even our community, and we are a people who have begun preparations. Preparations for change, for reform, for a revolution.

And so for the next 40 days, as we stand together, bound by our deep desire, for fresh insight and for glimpses of what our Creator has begun in heaven, we also join in fasting. Some of us from food, some from facebook (myself included, you'll notice that my profile has disappeared), some from chocolates or snacks. I myself am fasting from my snooze button and I intend to wake up at 7 every morning in order to create space to seek.

Fueledbymaggi will now be a space that will (hopefully) be updated for the next 40 days with my SOAP entries, beginning tonight. As we embark on the journey, I pray that wisdom will not leave us, that understanding will fill our minds. I pray for clarity to be poured into our minds, I pray that our hearts remain pure, I pray for strength each day, I pray that Christ gives us rest, and I pray that we will become a people who find favour in the eyes of our Creator. Father, drop Your thoughts into us, show us Your heart, and lead us on.

And now folks, on with the journey!

In Expedition, ideas think of you.

I had a really good chat with Nick on thursday night, we played around with a some ideas and here are a few we discussed.

Sonship.

Here's an idea Nick put forward. Suppose circumstance puts you in a position where on one hand, the law dictates that punishment is required, and yet on the other hand you're holding on to grace. Like the example Nick uses is the worship team. Practice time begins at 7.30 AM, not any later. And then one of the guys show up at 8 with a hangover. On one hand, do you show grace and forgive and say "hey, it's ok, just get set up and let's go."? On the other hand, the law in this case is very clear, so do you punish the guy and not let him play? And either way it's difficult, it's got pros and cons. After all, it was by grace that the law was given. Well maybe not in this case, but for arguments sake anyway.

But what if its not even about deciding between grace or law at all? Nick describes this concept he's been thinking of, sonship. What does it mean to be an heir of the Kingdom? What does it mean to be a son, and where then is our place in our Father's house?

It's not too simple, we still have no idea what it looks like, how it's lived out. As Nick puts it, it's just words that haven't been made flesh.

I've given it a bit more thought, and it makes a little bit more sense now (to me at least). Suppose you have a friend over at your house. Legally your father is the owner of the house, but he is your father after all, and you call it your own house as well. Now, say your friend has this urge to draw on your wall or set your rug on fire for whatever reason. He can't, it's against the rules of the house, it's against the law, and there will be undesirable consequences should he try. But for you, you wouldn't want to draw on the wall or set the rug on fire at all, its your house after all.

And so, may be that's what sonship looks like. You take ownership of the law, and it just becomes your lifestyle, and you don't even want to do anything that isn't good for your house, your Father's kingdom.

Then again, your house is also a house of grace. If your friend spills coffee on the rug by accident, then really, so what? Your father doesn't mind, the rug can be cleaned. And you can even make your friend a new cup of coffee. And after all, its not as though you've never spilled coffee on the rug before, and when you did, its not as though your father didn't forgive you.

So you still hold grace in one hand and the law in the other, but they belong to your Father. If you take up your role as a son of God, you also take up ownership of these family heirlooms.

I still can't imagine living this out, but it sounds like its going somewhere.



Right it's really late, we talked about some other stuff but I'll save that for another time, I'm really tired right now. Lack of sleep has finally caught up with me. Class again.. first thing in the morning, booooo.

Right, bye.

record low/high in chris' wanttopunchsomethinginthefaceness

its pretty simple. chris (i will refer to myself in the third person for the duration of this post, no particular reason other than i'll fuhuhuhuhucking do what i like) spent the whole night/morning working on a japanese assignment and finally retired at 6.30 AM. well no, he laid his weary head to rest at half past six, but only fell asleep much later, most probably due to his immense disappointment in not being able to accomplish what he sacrificed so many hours of sleep to do.

and then he woke up at 8 to go for class. and now he's just arrived back home to print out some lecture notes (and rant at you of course) and he'll be off to class again in another 15 minutes.

low. yes, chris feels so low right now.

but at the same time, he's feeling pretty invincible. no way in hell would chris ever go for a full day of class on an hour of sleep. never. look at him go. woohoo. physics lab was a breeze for him, look at him go! wooohooo...







ahem.

excuse me while i go bury my face in a pillow and allow my brain the luxury of collapsing.

right.

shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit is all i can honestly say right now. cause everything else going through my mind right now conflicts with everything else going through my mind right now conflicts with everything else going through my mind right now conflicts with everything else going through my mind right now conflicts with everything else going through my mind right now conflicts with ev- wait.

shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.


here's a thought experiment. every 10 seconds i'm going to jot down what i'm thinking.

how are you feeling yes i'm feeling how are you feeling yes i'm feeling how are you feeling are you feeling ok...

... maybe i should turn off the music.

nghhh. incoherence i'm so today tired.

pressure cracking weight burden roar.

think i want you to think i want you to think i want you oh no...

oh nooooooooooo oh no oh oh oh.

why? so hard... think i'll wreck i think i'll wreck you i think i'll wreck you oh no.

this sucks. its not going anywhere.

dammit i really should turn that music off.

too catchy. oh noooooooooo oh no oh oh. i love kaisercartel.

what a mess. guitar. wooo guitar.

noooooooo guitar... so much stuff.

women's conference. busking. spring concert. need to practice.

dammit need to study. stop procrastinating.

definitely need to stop procrastinating. soon.

guitar. need a new phone. phone's gone haywire.

how are you feeling yes i'm feeling how are you feeling yes i'm feeling how are you feeling are you feeling ok?

kaisercartel on repeat?

need to sleep. now. seriously.

melting down, i'm burning out.

i'mtooproudtoaskforhelp.helpme.helpme.help.

here comes excuses... why i let you down.

standby for another breakdown.




standby. i think.

i think i'm shutting down.

OH. Before I forget.

Guess who got a busking permit?




Hehe. I'll see you on Swanston Street.

What if it was you? (ooOOooohOOoooH)

Forgot about the pictures again, sorry. Still out using wireless outside cause my internet's still not good.

[It Had to be You - Motion City Soundtrack] is playing on repeat on my iTunes. My heart's in a really weird state right now. I have no idea. I can't get [Sometime Around Midnight - Airborne Toxic Event] out of my head either. Why? Hmm.
__________________________________________


I had a great time frightening possums, learning the 8-step, and mucking around on swings and slides last night. Gelatti at Freddo's first, and a good time at the Carlton gardens. Singing about... Kookaburras on gum trees.

Kris was telling me about this time when she saw a Sudanese family at the playground. A Sudanese woman, covered from head to toe, was sitting on the swing and laughing and having a great time with her kids as they laughed and pushed her. It's a beautiful picture that Kris described as what humanity could look like.

I'm going to hold hope for that. For humanity. For love.