My Lovely Dwelling Place

Ahab Admonitions Part II:  The Widow of Zarephath             In my last post, I started a conversation revolving around Ahab, Israel’s worst king.  Because he was so bad, God sent Elijah to proclaim a drought.  This was a divine slap in the face to Ahab, because Baal was the god of the weather.  Israel was an agrarian society and dependent on rain for their crops – drought meant famine, famine meant death.  The true God meant to show Ahab and all Israel who was really in charge.             As things begin to dry up in the land of Israel and food becomes scarce, God tells Elijah to do a strange thing.              Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying , “ Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for yo...

Ahab Admonitions One of my favorite portions of the Bible is the section from 1 Samuel to 2 Kings.  The stories, history, and drama of the rise and fall of the nation of Israel are, for me, a fabulous read.  It’s not just entertainment either.  There’s quite a bit we can learn in those passages.  One of the things I love about the Word of God is that He presents people’s stories in a realistic way.  There’s no sugar-coating or avoiding of reality in the Lord’s narrative. The Lord doesn’t seem much interested in making people look good. The truth is far more useful to our journey and education.  As Paul informs us, For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through the perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4). Some of the most intriguing characters surround Ahab, a king of Israel. Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year o...

Forgiveness             So I’ve been thinking about forgiveness lately.  There seems to be plenty of opportunity to practice it in a large family.  In a family, there’s always someone hurting our feelings or some other body part, being a jerk, bringing us down, criticizing our efforts, not meeting expectations, or just being insensitive.  Sometimes it’s just real hard to forgive family members, not to mention everybody else!             When I was a little girl and committed some transgression that required an apology, my mother would not forgive me.  She would never forget an offense and would take every opportunity to remind me of my real or imagined wrong-doing.  I wasn’t the only one she wouldn’t forgive.  Her list was long:  my dad, his mother, her mother, old friends, co-workers, neighbors, Nazis…I could understand Nazis.  B...

Downhill Only My husband likes to go on family bike rides.  I guess I like it too.  The only problem is that I like trails that are in the shade, going downhill with the wind at my back, and no busy streets to cross.  For some reason these trails are hard to find.  I just don’t enjoy becoming red in the face and short of breath, but I hear it’s good for me.             When we started our bike riding adventures a few years ago, I hadn’t ridden a bike in about eleven years.  When my youngest heard this, he was appalled.  After seeing me ride, he stated rather emphatically, “Well mom, you’re doing pretty well – I wouldn’t have believed it unless I seen it!”             Another one of my sons is very methodical and orderly.  He likes routine with nary a variation or shifting shadow.  When he rides his bike, he peddles at a steady...

Advice for Sons and Daughters God has blessed me with nine sons, one daughter, one daughter-in-love, a granddaughter, and brand new grandson.  I often think of things I’d like to say to them, things I want them to remember, things I wish I had known at their ages.  Now Lord willing, I should have another thirty years or so with God’s grace and mercy to share these things.  However, my dad died at the age I am now, so one never knows.  Consequently, I feel an urgency to communicate – I’m just not sure how.  I imagine they would laugh if I shook their shoulders and exclaimed, “Listen, you have to remember this!  It’s so important!!”  They would wonder what I was so excited about – why I was getting worked up.  They might say, “Gee mom, you worry too much!” What twenty-something, thirty-something or young-something person likes to listen anyway?  I know for a fact over-forty-something persons don’t listen… Ah well, perhaps humanity ...