Theoddity

How would you like to walk into a room where a demon possessed man thought very little of you? Check this little ditty from the new testament (Acts 19:13-16):

13 A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this. 15 But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.

This sounds like one of those horror movies that are packed with demons, exorcisms and the obligatory catholic priest who gets his ass handed to him. 

Really, how is it that these Seven Sons of Sceva ever thought it would be cool to try and cast a demon out of a possessed man. Were they sitting around one day thinking of something to do when a friend came in and was like, “Whoa, you guys remember Tiberius? Well he’s so totally possessed over at Martha’s place. You gotta check it out!” 

You would think someone who represented God would do a little better than this wouldn’t you? These guys were Jewish Priests—holy men of God, supposedly.

It seems that demons know when someone comes at them backed by the power of God or not. Now I’ve never walked into a room with a demon possessed man, knock on wood, I hope I never do. But I have walked into other situations that I thought I was in complete control when, in actuality, I wasn’t. And I’ve paid dearly.

How many situations have you walked into thinking you had everything sorted out only to find out, too late, that you were horribly wrong? How can you be sure that you’re operating with the power of God behind you?

So Elijah has just been caught up in his chariots-of-fire like a whirlwind into heaven leaving Elisha, his servant and apprentice, as the new prophet for the nation of Israel. Within a few short days Elisha finds himself being taunted by a smattering of kids teasing him because he’s bald. Teasing the man of God, not wise. Check the passage (2 Kings 2:23-24):

23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. “Go on up, you baldhead!” they said. “Go on up, you baldhead!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.(NIV)

Are you kidding me!? Since when did a bit of teasing rank the penalty of mauling-by-(not one but two) bears! Couldn’t Elisha have asked God for some Holy Rogaine instead of cursing the kids?

Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to know that in hot spot God’s got my back (I mean, I’m no man-of-God like a prophet but I’m still His peoples)—even if that hot spot is some lip service from the peanut gallery. But a bear curse seems to be just a tad on the over compensation side of things to me. 

I can’t help but contrast Elisha with Jesus—who once admonished his disciples for preventing children to reach him (Matthew 19:12-14). It really hits home that even though Elisha had so much power from God, proven by his many miracles (even his dead bones brought someone back to life! [2 Kings 13:20-21]), he still lacked Jesus’ love and compassion. Through Jesus we see the true heart of God seeks to redeem. 

So I guess the question is, are you using the power God gave you? Are you sending mauling bears into people’s lives or are you loving them?

When God appeared to Moses to send him to the Israelites to free them, Moses had some reservations. One thing was, he didn’t even have a name for God. So God tells him the following:

” …say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:14.

Isn’t that just the strangest way to refer to oneself? I am. What’s your first response? Mine is, “I am what?” I am, that’s all. Doesn’t seem like much does it. 

The dictionary definition is rather short too, ‘action verb, present tense of be’. Then check out the dictionary definition of ‘be’—to exist. Maybe God was saying to Moses, I am existence; there is nothing that exists without me; I am the source of all that exists; I am to be, anything else is not to be. 

Just a thought.

How hungry do you have to get that you would contemplate eating your own child? How hungry do you have to get to go through with it? 2 Kings 6 records a story of a woman who ate her son: 

25 As a result, there was a great famine in the city. The siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a cup of dove’s dung sold for five pieces of silver.

 26 One day as the king of Israel was walking along the wall of the city, a woman called to him, “Please help me, my lord the king!”

 27 He answered, “If the Lord doesn’t help you, what can I do? I have neither food from the threshing floor nor wine from the press to give you.” 28 But then the king asked, “What is the matter?”

   She replied, “This woman said to me: ‘Come on, let’s eat your son today, then we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we cooked my son and ate him. Then the next day I said to her, ‘Kill your son so we can eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.”

The famine in the land had become so horrible that people were paying good money to eat bird crap and this woman was convinced to eat her own child. Horrible circumstances often breeds a compromising nature within us. Sometimes we find ourselves contemplating or doing things we’d never entertain on a regular basis. 

Unfortunately, two days later God delivered the people of Israel from the famine and their enemies and food flowed back into this city (2 Kings 7:15-16):

15 They went all the way to the Jordan River, following a trail of clothing and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their mad rush to escape. The scouts returned and told the king about it.16 Then the people of Samaria rushed out and plundered the Aramean camp. So it was true that five quarts of choice flour were sold that day for one piece of silver, and ten quarts of barley grain were sold for one piece of silver, just as the Lord had promised.

Is there a crisis in your life worth compromising your morals for? Is there a crisis you can’t afford to wait on God for two days? Can you afford not to?

I’ve finally gotten this thing up. But it’s too late to put much thought into a post. My children have been wrapped in their blankets for hours and my wife thumped off to bed sometime ago as well. It’s quiet sitting in the bones of my house. My mind begins to wander, as the encroaching cloud of dreams begin to set on me, to thoughts of quiet and God.

How quiet was the void when God sat in it waiting, without time, for the proper muse to start creation. I wonder, did time start at creation or was time started a moment before or after creation? Is God there now, looking down into time, into my window, into my house, over my shoulder at the tap-tap-tapping of the keyboard reading the keystrokes— smiling. 

Or is He having a cup of tea in Japan. It’s almost 5pm there. I suppose he could catch the sun setting over the pacific. Seems more exciting then eavesdropping on my muddled start.