Joshua 15
Bible Passage: Joshua 15
What should one be expected to do in pursuit of a life partner? With regard to the art of wooing, movies often portray scenes with gratuitous displays of emotion and wild romance.
“What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That’s a pretty good idea. I’ll give you the moon, Mary.”
George Bailey, It’s A Wonderful Life, 1946
However, Caleb was more careful when it came to finding a good husband for his daughter. As a valiant individual, he probably wanted his son-in-law to be a man of substance, and not merely a smooth-talker. Consequently, Aksah’s hand was offered to the man who conquered the land of Kirjath Sepher.
According to various Internet resources, Kiriath Sepher was known as the ‘city of scribes’ whose inhabitants were the giant Anakites. The city’s other name was Kiriath Sannah, which means “City of Instruction” (Joshua 15:49). Bible scholars believe that Kiriath Sepher was a major center of learning and culture for all of Canaan. Therefore, these people were also known as ‘giant librarians’.
Regardless of whether these Anakites were indeed scholarly, the fact still remained that these people were giants. In the end, Othniel was brave enough to take up the challenge and succeed in capturing Kirjath Sepher. This man eventually became the first of the ruling judges of the Israelites.
Othniel means ‘lion of God’. He certainly lived up to the expectations of his name, courageously defeating the giants in battle. In order to marry Aksah, he put his life at great risk.
Today, we might not have to slay Anakites in order to win a spouse. However, the giants we might face take different forms. These impediments could be our character flaws, fear, aversion to commitment, and so on. Let us rely on the strength and the good will of God to defeat these enemies. Let us also be willing to put in due effort on our part as we aspire to eventually settle down, happily married in the Lord.
Are we lion-hearted enough to trust that God will aid us in our conquest for Kirjath Sepher?
https://remnantofgiants.wordpress.com/tag/kiriath-sepher/
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/crossexamined/2013/01/gods-kryptonite/
2 Comments
Camelinaneedle
A lot of times, the giants we face make their presence known to us within us.
The biggest battles or struggles we face are that of whatever comes from within us.
We always get in the way of ourselves.
And the people around us haven’t actually been bothering us very much.
So there is a lot of weight and meaning behind the term “inner strength”.
God can give you the strength to do many things.
But it is solely up to you to ask God for that strength.
God knows we always need strength; He always has.
But sometimes, He just wants us to yearn for it even more than we need it.
Your physical and mental strength can only take you as far as you allow them to.
But strength from God (even though I’ve barely experienced it before), can overcome everything else in between.
Love God simply, just because.
Do not love Him or have faith in Him, blindly.
I know He has a multitude of reasons for choosing you to be His child.
Hold on to the one infallible reason you love Him, and most times, even in that reason, you will find rufuge and strength.
Camelinaneedle
Adding on to loving God simply,
Do not complicate love.
There is so much knowledge and truth in His Words (the Bible), but do not let the greed of or search for knowledge and truth get in the way of loving God.
Humans complicate things, whether we like it or not.
But I choose to believe that any form of emotion or thought in its truest form is as simple as we can never imagine it to be.
So Simplify. It is not always necessary to justify as a result of demystifying.