The journey

Excerpt from Philip Yancey's The Bible Jesus Read. (really good..if you can plow through the quotes...I love quotes!)

"God reserves the flow of all religion, which, until then, had pictured the gods as supernatural beings whose actions filter down to affect life on earth. A god cries and it rains on earth, a good gets mad and lightning strikes. The Old Testament shows-and nowhere more clearly than in Job-just the reverse.

A desperate woman prays, and God sends a prophet; a dishearten old man refuses to curse God, and the impact reverberated throughout the cosmos.

For this reason, it can truly be said that the Jews invented history. For them, history did not simply replay cycles of eternity; human actions on earth mattered, and those very responses created history. The Sovereign Lord of history allows people to exert an influence on him, just as he exerts influence on them.

Philosopher Glenn Tinder makes the distinction between Destiny and Fate. The Jews gave us all a sense of destiny, that we exist not in a meaningless world, nor to act out some god's whim, but we exist to fulfill a meaningful Destiny ordained for us by a personal God.

Visit a museum that contains artifacts from Israel's neighbors, and you see the shift. In Egypt of Syria you can view the gods Osiris or Lil or Astarte. A Jew can point to no such image, for graven images of God have always been forbidden. All he can do is repeat Jewish history, the story of a relationship: "our God spoke to Abraham, called Moses, summoned us out of Egypt.

"God," says Jack Miles, "is like a novelist who...can only tell his story through his characters."

Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart. Audacious longing, burning songs, daring thoughts, an impulse overwhelming the heart, usurping the mind-these are all a drive (loving the One) who rings our heart like a bell---Abraham Heschel.




I find this particular chapter insightful (wah I get to use a big word..) because...
it's almost as if God is taking a risk to stake His fame on us...not on big pyramids can proclaim His power, nor on beautiful cravings that portray His craftmanship...or lofty towers that shout His fame...not even golden images of statues that show His splendor.

Yet God chose to stake His story, His faithfulness, His reputation..on a shepherd boy called David, a cheat called Jacob, a brat called Joseph, a complainer called Job, murderer of Christians called Paul, the liar Peter...

sinful people (just like me..)

The limitations He willingly placed on Himself in choosing mere men to reflect His glory..

That the Jews in the bible..and us as Christians today..may not have large landmarks to point to our great God, but each a personal journey with God. How much He trusts us to show His greatness through our lives. How much grace He extends for us, knowing fully our inability to be perfect enough to shine for Him, already knowing how we will tarnish His image...and yet still willing to take that risk, that sacrifice...just to be intimate with us.

Given a choice I myself would choose maybe a huge large gigantic glittery building that can be seen from every corner of the earth to proclaim my greatness...won't that convience people that I am God??? The owner of such big and great things?

And yet...He chooses our relationships with Him above all these...

Interesting huh? ;)