SECOND CHANCES REPEATED (41 OF 52)
Scripture: 1 Samuel 12:6-18
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Second Chances Repeated (41 of 52)
Series: Discipleship Part Two
Christopher B. Harbin
1 Samuel 12:6-18
Back in First Grade, we would go over and over the very same mathematical facts. We had worksheets and workbooks that found different ways to ask the very same questions. How much is 3 + 5? How much is 4 + 7? We went over the same facts once, twice, thrice, again, again, and again. I have no idea how many times we went over the same math problems. The answers never varied, even when the forms of the equations were presented a little differently. Is that how we need to treat the basic elements of theology, doctrine, and religious practice? How often must we repeat the same lessons until we get it right? How long until we figure out the answers to the basic questions?
For the Hebrews, it seems every generation had to struggle through the same lessons just like we did back in First Grade. 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 1+3=4. It was never so much a question of getting the answers wrong or right. It was an issue of internalizing the equations until we could not get them wrong. Eventually, the answers to those questions came easily. The Hebrews had more trouble with God's questions. Actually, it wasn't so much the answers to the questions, it was what they would choose to do with those answers. Their problem had to do with putting the lessons into practice.
As a people, they failed spiritual First Grade every generation or so. Thy questioned Moses as Yahweh planned an end to Egyptian bondage. They complained at the Sea of Reeds that Yahweh had taken them from Egypt only to kill them. They complained for lack of water, dying of hunger, and confronting people versed in the arts of war. They complained, griped, questioned, fashioned a golden calf, and swore allegiance to Yahweh as their only God, only to worship the gods of their neighboring peoples over and over again.
They could not seem to get the hang of honoring Yahweh faithfully. Yahweh wanted a society based on eq ...
Series: Discipleship Part Two
Christopher B. Harbin
1 Samuel 12:6-18
Back in First Grade, we would go over and over the very same mathematical facts. We had worksheets and workbooks that found different ways to ask the very same questions. How much is 3 + 5? How much is 4 + 7? We went over the same facts once, twice, thrice, again, again, and again. I have no idea how many times we went over the same math problems. The answers never varied, even when the forms of the equations were presented a little differently. Is that how we need to treat the basic elements of theology, doctrine, and religious practice? How often must we repeat the same lessons until we get it right? How long until we figure out the answers to the basic questions?
For the Hebrews, it seems every generation had to struggle through the same lessons just like we did back in First Grade. 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 1+3=4. It was never so much a question of getting the answers wrong or right. It was an issue of internalizing the equations until we could not get them wrong. Eventually, the answers to those questions came easily. The Hebrews had more trouble with God's questions. Actually, it wasn't so much the answers to the questions, it was what they would choose to do with those answers. Their problem had to do with putting the lessons into practice.
As a people, they failed spiritual First Grade every generation or so. Thy questioned Moses as Yahweh planned an end to Egyptian bondage. They complained at the Sea of Reeds that Yahweh had taken them from Egypt only to kill them. They complained for lack of water, dying of hunger, and confronting people versed in the arts of war. They complained, griped, questioned, fashioned a golden calf, and swore allegiance to Yahweh as their only God, only to worship the gods of their neighboring peoples over and over again.
They could not seem to get the hang of honoring Yahweh faithfully. Yahweh wanted a society based on eq ...
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