Today’s Scripture Reading (October
19, 2012): Joshua 15
There is an
old episode of the comedy “Two and a Half Men” where Charlie (played by Charlie
Sheen) and Alan (played by Jon Cryer) talk about what might happen if Charlie
ever died (who said that sitcoms cannot be prophetic). Alan wants to know that
he is in Charlie’s will, and specifically that the house will be left to him so
that he will still have a place to live. (Apparently being a chiropractor does
not allow one to make enough money to live on their own.) I am not sure that
Charlie cared what happened to his property after he was dead, but the promise
of the house came with a warning. Alan could have the house, but with the house
came astronomical taxes and it was weighed down with debt. And now Alan is
dismayed. He may have possession of the house, but he will not be able to
afford to keep. So he asks his brother – hopefully – if there might be a small
inheritance of money to help defray the costs of the property – to which
Charlie responds “Nope, that’s it, the whole thing is nothing but a house of
cards waiting to fall.” For Alan, the inheritance that he had wanted to obtain
was not an inheritance that he would be able to keep. So the inheritance itself
was without substance.
Caleb gives
his daughter away in marriage. And she and her husband come into possession of
a piece of land, but the land has no water. And land without water is a useless
inheritance – the land is not good for anything. So Caleb’s daughter comes to
him and asks for help. Dad, you have blessed us with the land, but could you –
would you give us water as well. And dad looks at his daughter and says “I will
give you more than the one spring that you are asking for. I will give you two
springs of water – an upper and a lower spring, one on both sides of your land
so that your whole property might be watered.”
As I was
reading this passage, I thought of another biblical passage. This one came from
John 4 and it was a conversation between Jesus and a woman at a well. And Jesus
comes to her, breaking every cultural convention and asks her for water. I am
not sure that he really needed her water, but he knew that she needed his
water. And Dad wanted to give her water. And so they have a conversation. Jesus
waits expectantly for this daughter to inquire of her Dad for the water that
she so desperately needs – water that the Father cannot wait to give to her.
God still
wants to give us the water that we sometimes do not even know that we need. And
so leads us through the desert times of our lives, expectantly waiting for us
to ask for his water – his Spirit poured out on us.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua
16
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