Hello Ladies - since the first 3 entries were created elsewhere, then copied and pasted into my blogspot, this is the first piece I've actually composed on "ba-gracehouse" - Yea!! - I owe a special thanks to my big sister for helping me thus far.

If you don't have time to read all this, you'll find the W & T "Q"s at the end.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be
filled..." (Matt.5:6)

The words "righteousness" and "justice" are interchangable in many Torah (or Old Testiment of the Bible) passages. The Hebrew "sedeq" and it's counterpart in the Greek, "dikaiosyne" both hold the meaning: "What is right, justice, the act of doing what is in agreement with God's standards"...hmmmm, God's standard? In Leviticus 11:44, God instructs His people, whom He brought out of Egypt to "Be Holy because I (God) am Holy." This is a pretty steep standard.

I guess that's what Abram/Abraham must have been thinking, shaking with dread, as God introduced to him His covenant. Genesis 15: 8-21 describes how Abram and God "cut covenant" together, but a person would have to possess a "hebrew mindset" to understand the meaning of what takes place in this passage. In my case, not being hebrew myself, I learned the sacred meaning of "cutting covenant" from a Bible teacher named Ray VanderLaan; It sticks with me!

Abram cuts in half, a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove and a pigeon, and lays the halves opposite one another, with a shallow trench between them, where the blood of the animals then drains down in a stream of solemn significance. Gross, huh? This type of contract was deeply serious and understood by any hebrew living in this time period. Each party, (in this case God and Abram), would then walk through the middle of the "blood-path," and in so doing, promise that they would uphold their part of the bargain - each one declaring "If I should break "covenant" w/ you, you can do this (the halved fate of the bleeding creatures) to me."

God was declaring that He would give Abram the land to possess - no problem, right? He's a rich and powerful dude. Abram's part of the compact, the "be holy..." thing, would be.....ah, a bit of a problem. It's at this revelation that the "thick and dreadful darkness" comes over Abram and God puts him down for a nap. THEN--- God ALONE walks between the peices for both himself and for Abram. God is declaring to Abram, and to us, If you or I break the covenant, MY BLOOD will flow to cover the unfaithfulness. (Nice forshadowing of the cross, on the part of my favorite author!)

Last night a dinner guest was talking about a volume she wants Kevin to look at, which compares texts from the Bible and the Koran. She wonders at how similar they both read. This may be true, but - as lover of a good story, one thing I remember from my Islamic studies in college is that the Koran does not emulate the Bible in its flow of plot from beginning to end. The Bible is truly a story, of a jilted lover, (God), who devises, orchestrates and accomplishes an intricate and strategic plan throughout the history of time, to win back His undeserving, beloved creation - and launch her into eternity with HIM.

"Blessed is she whose sins are covered. (by God's covenant blood)

...whose sin the LORD does not count against her..."

Back to hungering and thirsting for righteousness... Why do you suppose God set the bar so high from the beginning, "holiness" - Yikes! I think, to prove, beyond any doubt, how unatainable is His standard by our own means. We are needy - "dust" So, it's back to humility and recognition of our spiritual poverty. These "blessed are..."s paint a clearer and clearer picture of a person submitted to God with all her heart, the more of them you meditate on.

One of my favorite traits of an enduring character, Miss Anne Shurley of the illustrious Green Gables, is her optimism at dawn. "Every day is a clean slate with no mistakes," her hopeful mantra. She and I share a sorrow that might keep us down, were it not for the truth of this philosophy of "mercies being new every morning." At the end of every day I have to live with the reality that I am dust - and I've screwed up yet again. "Sinless Perfectionism" remaining only a distant unreachable something to sigh and shake your head over, or even laugh at, as you take in a heavy couple of paragraphs of Wayne Grutum's Systematic Theology. But after I come to terms with my failure - I can rejoice, for Righteous is mine through JESUS - there is nothing I can do to deserve it, yet... through faith, it's mine. I DO HUNGER and THIRST for RIGHTEOUSNESS..yes, I do. And I am filled.

Walk and Talk "Q"s for Monday, July 5

Meet us at CCV at 6:59 p.m.

Bring Bug spray and water!

1. Have you ever thought of the Bible as one cohesive "love story" - which follows God's redemptive plot, from beginning to end?

2. Do you more often feel self sufficient, or needy? How about dust, does this describe your sediment (ha ha ha, punny) ? Explain?

3. How, do you believe, we are to "hunger and thirst" for righteousness? What does this look like?

4. How have you experienced God's "righteousness" - ? Do you sense that "clean slate" feeling regularly, or not? Why or why not?

Thanks for reading - hope to see you Monday evening!