As I was reading through all my old journals, I made notes of the lessons I'd learned through the years, the distinct statements God had spoken to me, repeated truths I felt challenged to live by, and reoccurring themes. Once I finished, I looked through those notes and made a list. Then, following Ann Voskamp's Manifesto for Sanity, I put the list into short, tenable statements, and made that into a one page document. Here's what I came up with:
Gilgal seems to be the theme of my life. Should I ever write a book of my journeys, it would definitely be the title. I've blogged about it in Marseille, and in North Africa, and upon leaving North Africa. God spoke the word to me again just before my return to France this year, and so I began to search His heart as to why. I looked at the journeys of the wandering Children and their times at Gilgal, and this time I saw: they didn't conquer the Promise Land with ease after Jericho. It was won with many hard battles over many, many years. If North Africa was my Jericho, the next three years were definitely hard battles against the Enemy to conquer the promise land of my life. God sweetly taught me during Lent that HE is the milk and honey, and living and walking with Him is living in promise land living. I didn't arrive to this place with ease, and I know there will be battles ahead to maintain this Land as my own.
I wrote a poem years ago, and while I tend to shy away from putting my poems on the blog, it just seemed appropriate this time.
Gilgal
(Gilgal=literally-circle, rolling.
Symbollically-a place of spiritual return, coming back to the place of
covenant.)
Ours is a God of completion.
He does not start what He will not finish.
Even in the change of season
The Alpha to the Omega is accomplished.
He offered a promise
He spoke a word
To be our God
Our very great reward
Conditioned on obedience
In which faith is evidenced
In following Him to the places unknown
Our character is strengthened and grown
Desert wanderings
Mistakes made
Instead of the Jordan banks
In the Arabian sands we wade
Lessons are offered, lessons are taught
Back around to the beginning we are brought
To renew and be and do
What in the first stance we ought
to have received and been and done.
The God of Gilgal
The God of second chance
Life rolls in full circle
An opportunity in faith's circumstance
To return
to the place of promise
to the covenant cutting
to the reward of relationship
Will we be and do
In the second time through
What we ought have
When the first chance was new?
Ours is a God of completion.
He does not start what He will not finish.
Even in the change of season
The Alpha to the Omega is accomplished.
He offered a promise
He spoke a word
To be our God
Our very great reward
Conditioned on obedience
In which faith is evidenced
In following Him to the places unknown
Our character is strengthened and grown
Desert wanderings
Mistakes made
Instead of the Jordan banks
In the Arabian sands we wade
Lessons are offered, lessons are taught
Back around to the beginning we are brought
To renew and be and do
What in the first stance we ought
to have received and been and done.
The God of Gilgal
The God of second chance
Life rolls in full circle
An opportunity in faith's circumstance
To return
to the place of promise
to the covenant cutting
to the reward of relationship
Will we be and do
In the second time through
What we ought have
When the first chance was new?
Abraham, the man of faith
The friend of God
Twice presented Sarah his wife
Not trusting his Friend to protect his life
Twice it was the desert wanderers crossed raging water
Not knowing the waves would gather
Stepping in faith into the mud and tide
Not once, but twice showed they could believe and abide
Twelve men spied the land of milk, honey, and grapes
Ten chose to believe that being grasshoppers was their fate
The two who believed, a second chance received
To spy out and believe at Jericho's gate
Back at Gilgal the covenant was renewed
The Passover observed and flesh torn away
Stones of remembrance gathered and up stood
In the realms of the promise they were ready to stay
The God of Gilgal
The God of second chance
Life rolls in full circle
An opportunity in faith's circumstance
When to Gilgal we are brought back around
We find that in this journey grace abounds
He never abandons and never quits
Until His purpose for us is accomplished
Whether it takes two visits to Gilgal or ten
He brings life's lesson full circle to completion.
Every dead of winter blooms into new life of spring.
Every Omega spirals towards an Alpha to bring.
The friend of God
Twice presented Sarah his wife
Not trusting his Friend to protect his life
Twice it was the desert wanderers crossed raging water
Not knowing the waves would gather
Stepping in faith into the mud and tide
Not once, but twice showed they could believe and abide
Twelve men spied the land of milk, honey, and grapes
Ten chose to believe that being grasshoppers was their fate
The two who believed, a second chance received
To spy out and believe at Jericho's gate
Back at Gilgal the covenant was renewed
The Passover observed and flesh torn away
Stones of remembrance gathered and up stood
In the realms of the promise they were ready to stay
The God of Gilgal
The God of second chance
Life rolls in full circle
An opportunity in faith's circumstance
When to Gilgal we are brought back around
We find that in this journey grace abounds
He never abandons and never quits
Until His purpose for us is accomplished
Whether it takes two visits to Gilgal or ten
He brings life's lesson full circle to completion.
Every dead of winter blooms into new life of spring.
Every Omega spirals towards an Alpha to bring.
And if the losses in our unfaithful wake
Seem more than our shamed spirits can take,
God at Gilgal bends down to whisper once more,
"The years the locusts have stolen shall I
restore."
(last
stanza added by Dr. Rick Durst)
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2 comments:
beautiful....I knew what Gilgal meant, but had never observed that it was a returning place and a re-teaching place in Israel's history. Wow. such a good thing to remember.
I loved this post.
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