inkhorn

For a brief explanation of what this is about, look here . Implicit Obedience Doesn’t Involve Reconnoitring! The first three chapters of Deuteronomy are an excellent example of oral tradition. Just before the next generation was to enter the Promised Land, Moses sat down and recited their history over the past forty odd years. The purpose was two-fold – to ensure that the youngsters knew their past, as well as being a reminder of the pit-falls they should avoid. And one of the pit-falls is in the passage below – “And I (Moses) said to you... 'Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.’ “And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up...’ “The plan pleased me well; so I took twelve of your men, one man ...

Some pieces of verse that have stirred my soul lately – Sometimes, hard-trying, it seems I cannot pray – For doubt, and pain, and anger, and all strife. Yet some poor half-fledged prayer-bird from the nest May fall, flit, fly and perch – crouch in the bowery breast Of the large…tree of life – Moveless there sit through all the burning day, And on my heart at night a fresh leaf cooling lay. ~x~ Doubt swells and surges, with swelling doubt behind! My soul in storm is but a tattered sail, Streaming its ribbons on the torrent gale; In calm, ‘tis but a limp and flapping thing: Oh! Swell it with thy breath; make it a wing – To sweep through thee the ocean, with thee the wind Nor rest until in thee its haven it shall find. ~x~ I to myself have neither power nor worth, Patience nor love, nor anything right good; My soul is a poor land, plenteous in dearth – Here blades of grass, there a small herb for food – A nothing that would be something if it could; But if obedience, Lord, in me do ...