Days 6-7 – Reflecting on the journey so far leads me to
believe that God has directed my heart toward these specific scriptures with
purpose and precision. I did not plan down time from what I intended for my
down time, but it has proven productive. Jell-O has to jell, pudding has to “pud,” and stew tastes better in the morning. There have
been some surprises in this time of retreat, but I doubt anyone would be
surprised by them but me.
Day 8
Deuteronomy 28 Reflections - From verse 1, I had to stop with the
words, “carefully follow,” and wonder how much care and attention to detail is
required of me. How much have I neglected? How much glossing
over have I done in attempt to “get on with it?”
After all, a C-flat is not a C. 439 vibrations do not make a perfect A 440.
If I am off an inch, I am off a mile except that the correction for the fine
tuning may be a bit more excruciating. Excellence is always achieved in the
fine tuning.
That goes to the issues of INNOVATION and INTERCESSION. Joel
2:28 associates the work of the Spirit with dreaming dreams and seeing visions.
Daniel (9:17-23) was a dreamer and an intercessor. His vision for the future
was rooted in God’s past favors to Israel, but also in a reality that
none around him could see. As he prayed, Gabriel the angel came to give him
understanding. Gabriel told him that as soon as he began to pray, the answer
was given.
Note that the answer was given even before Daniel knew it.
This is the fine tuning we/I need
in this journey. To intercede with innovation in mind is the key. It not
innovation that I invent for the sake of novelty, but God’s ideas coming to us
in prayer that are solutions we have not previously imagined. They may not be
new from an eternal perspective, but they are profoundly new in terms of what
we have been willing to believe God for so far.
Deuteronomy 28:3 says we will be blessed in the country and
blessed in the city. I have been blessed in the country for the last week. It
is now almost time to return home and be blessed in the city.