Given perfectly; Faith to Strength

Well, so far I'm doing a good job of keeping myself accountable to this goal. Three days down with three bible studies done.

Today I'm continuing my study in Joshua and Acts.

The verses for Joshua are Chapter 13 verses 15 - 23. Lets see what Joshua has for us today.

These verses appear to follow the last two days theme as a record of the lands being distributed to the tribes of Israel...

Key verses:

15And Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the Reubenites according to their families: ... 23This was the inheritance of the Reubenites according to their families, with their cities and villages.

To paraphrase:
Moses gave land to the tribe of Reuben based on that tribes specific needs, according to its size and the number of families and clans in it.

Most of today's Old Testament passage is record keeping. The names of lots of cities and geographical land marks. An account of which kingdoms and rulers were defeated to take the land, and so on. However the gem I'm taking away is this: God gives us territory to steward, be that physical land, financial gain, a community to care for, or anything else you might think of as 'your gift and responsibility'. But not only does God give us territory, He gives us territory based on our unique and specific needs and strengths. The tribe of Reuben wasn't given more land to settle than they needed, nor were they given more land than they had the strength to control. God gave them exactly the right amount of territory. And so He does with me, you, and every person in history. That's awesome.

The New Testament reading is continuing in the book of Acts today. Lets see what Acts 4:32-37 has for me...

Key verses:

32Now the company of believers was of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything which he possessed was [exclusively] his own, but everything they had was in common and for the use of all.33And with great strength and ability and power the apostles delivered their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace (loving-kindness and favor and goodwill) rested richly upon them all. 34Nor was there a destitute or needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses proceeded to sell them, and one by one they brought (gave back) the amount received from the sales 35And laid it at the feet of the apostles (special messengers). Then distribution was made according as anyone had need.

This is a pretty rich passage, challenging on a number of levels.


Here's my paraphrase:


The community of Christians were united in mind and spirit. No one was selfish with their possessions but shared everything with each other. The apostles had great ability and spiritual power during this time as they spoke to the people of the city about the death and return to life of Jesus, and about the amazing grace(good will amongst their fellow believers, provision for all needs, etc) that they were experiencing as followers of Christ. In fact among the believers there wasn't a single person who was living in need or allowed to be destitute because whenever money was needed someone would sell their home and possessions in order to pay for the needs of the group.

Hmm...what do I think about this passage? It's funny because I recently had a short debate with a friend of mine about this very passage. I had mentioned that the believers of the early church had lived a life of absolute giving, selling everything they had to care for eachother. He disagreed but unfortunately I couldn't pinpoint the passage I was remembering... And here it is 1 week later. Sheesh, if I'd been doing this SOAP thing a week ago I might have found the passage I needed. Oh well!

I like this passage a lot. It speaks to a number of things I think. First, faith... The amount of faith it must have taken these people to sell all of their worldly possessions and put every penny they could find in the hands of a council of leaders, trusting not only that it would be used wisely but that the needs of the *giver* would be met in the future as well...is a challenge to my heart. I *want* to live that faith. Generally faith in God for provision is something that has been easy for me since I was about 18 years old and received a miraculous provision for my college tuition needs... But even so, especially now that I'm responsible for a wife and two children, I have difficulty with just trusting God to take care of us.

What I see in this passage, though, is a community of believers who are liberated by their complete and total trust in God to cover their needs. They are speaking to the lost with 'great strength, ability, and power' and experiencing the loving-kindness, favor, and goodwill of each other and the Lord... At least in part because they are so completely surrendered to Him when it comes to worrying about the next meal, a roof to sleep under, etc. There is power here, I think. I want that power and that freedom... I just don't know if I have that degree of faith yet though... I guess that's what I'll be praying about this week.