Word & the Wild

[00:00:00] This is a word and the wild. It's a one year Bible adventure with friends. My name is Owen. I'm your host and your guide. Together, we are on a 12 month journey as a podcast plus community where we read the Bible for ourselves, but not by ourselves. And this is week 27. Friend. A strange calm happens on the trail this week After weeks of bad kings, feisty prophets and stormy politics, we see a good king push back on the chaos and bring his people back to a Love for God.

[00:00:46] So, hello and welcome in. I wanna say a special welcome to our word and the Wild Plus community members. It's their support of this nonprofit endeavor that makes space for all of us here on this Bible Reading Adventure as part of the word in the Wild Plus Tribe. They enjoy access to our private, safe online space where no honest question is a dumb question along with a weekly livestream q and a.

[00:01:13] And bonus content like articles, interactions, and live stream teaching gatherings with yours truly. If any of that sounds like just the thing you are looking for, then check out the show notes for how to become a member yourself or get all the details over at Word and the wild.com. Now is a great time to join the Word and the Wild Plus Community.

[00:01:36] Once again, look in the show notes. Or check us out at Word and the wild.com.

[00:01:47] Now let's get you set up for a calm, restful week on the trail and the return to God by his people. That gets us there.

[00:02:12] Well, this week in the story we're seeing some things we haven't seen in quite a while, and the kind of things that used to honestly kind of bored us. We got tired of it. We would see and hear them so often.

[00:02:29] Remember the weeks we spent with Moses and the Israelites in the aftermath of the Exodus? You know, Mount Sinai, the law, the commandments, the sacrifices and festivals, Passover, all the detail, all the repetition.

[00:02:46] We were happy to move forward in the story, past the Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, all of that, and get to the action, right. That awaited us in the promised land. Well, now on the other hand, now we're happy to take a break from all that action, quote unquote, action. Honestly, it's been a lot. A lot of heavy things, a lot of heavy thoughts, a lot of cautionary tales.

[00:03:13] A lot of battles and blood and schemes. And so, when we open up this week and we see, a, a King Hezekiah lead, what's left of his kingdom, the kingdom of Judah, into this return to God. Man, there is just a real sense of relief. It's familiar things, essential things that return. We see the law, we see the sacrifices, the festivals, Passover, a community of Israelites worshiping together in a centralized place at a restored temple building.

[00:03:57] The things that once felt routine. Well, now they bring comfort and calm. And the renaissance of these rhythms, these, these healthy patterns established long ago and long ago, forgotten. Oh, the, the renaissance of these rhythms, signal health and stability. God's people are back to community worship, worship of the creator, God, in the way he asked them to worship.

[00:04:29] And best of all, their king leads them from the front. And after watching the stormy relationship between God and his people just rip lives and nations apart, now it feels good to be back to the way things should be. It's a relief. It's a calm in the storm.

[00:04:56] And if you zoom up to the 30,000 foot level, you'll be even more impressed.

[00:05:01] If, if you take a look at a, at a map, a map of Judah and their surrounding neighbors there in the ancient Near East at this time, you see there's just a, the tiny island of Judah completely surrounded by an angry sea of Assyrian territory. The powerful Assyrians and their high tech war machine have ripped through all of Judas neighbors, including the Kingdom of Israel, to their north. Ripped through 'em all like an F five hurricane. And that Assyrian storm has been beating against the tiny kingdom of Judah.

[00:05:43] Like a, like a rising sea, pounding the surf, but somehow Judah holds out and holds on, and that makes this moment of calm all the more impressive. It's a time of this intense pressure and adversity for Hezekiah and his people, but yet they stand firm.

[00:06:07] Their ability to resist the powerful outside forces that push against them and, and at the same time, return to God that's happening on the inside of their nation. This resisting outside forces and returning to God. They're happening at the same time and it's no. Coincidence, it's their very move back to God that enables them to push back against the storm. They're an island of calm in an angry sea because they have a leader who is leading from the front guiding them into a wholehearted, good relationship with God.

[00:06:51] It's the secret to their success.

[00:06:54] Now, this week is, is all about in many ways, going back to when things were good with God and his people. Not only do we see Hezekiah lead his people back to a functioning relationship with God, we also see a return of some familiar voices from Israel's glory days.

[00:07:16] Hezekiah repairs and reforms the temple, and as he does it, it also seems to unearth some more wise sayings from King Solomon, along with some other proverbs. And so we, this week we get to enjoy some of those newly discovered bits of wisdom.

[00:07:33] So look for those up on the trail this week, and they are among, in my opinion, some of the most memorable of all the proverbs.

[00:07:39] You're gonna find yourself chuckling, nodding your head, suppressing, suppressing a full scale laugh at points. So enjoy it.

[00:07:49] And then in another blast from the past. We're also gonna enjoy a selection of Psalms. We're not done with the Psalms yet. We have a few more to go. These psalms don't have a specific date when they were written, and so our chrono Bible puts them here and it's the perfect spot for them, honestly.

[00:08:05] 'cause here we are in this calm moment created by this return to God, by Hezekiah and his people. And so we have some. Peaceful space to allow the beauty of these ancient songs to soothe us, to refresh us.

[00:08:19] And as you remember from our conversation about Psalms a few weeks ago, what Psalms do so well, they, they help carry us into a catharsis of our own emotions that draws us closer into a relationship with God.

[00:08:34] So now is a great time, in this week as it unfolds to just drink it all in. After all, we're discovering this week just how powerful a heart aligned with God's heart can be.

[00:08:49] Look what it did for Hezekiah. Look what it did for Judah. Imagine what it could do for you.

[00:09:11] Enjoy the journey this week, my friend. If you're looking for a refresher, getting something out of Psalms and Proverbs, we've got you covered. Look back in the Word and the Wild Podcast archives for a couple episodes. One's called. How to read a Psalm and get something. That's in week 19. The other one is called How to Crack a Proverb it's in week 22. Both of those can be found right here on the platform where you are enjoying this podcast now.

[00:09:40] Word and the Wild is a one year Bible adventure with friends. I'm loving this. I hope you are too. Why not invite a friend in to join us all your word in the wild. Plus community members, thanks again, especially to you for making this journey a reality.

[00:09:55] I'll be seeing you out there in the wild this week. That's our private online community space. Everybody else, Hey, looking for you on social. And, while you're at it, subscribe to this podcast. Follow word in the wild on Facebook. We'll get into some interaction there as well. Word and the Wild is a Lighthouse community.

[00:10:14] It's part of the LineHouse Community Network, a nonprofit organization with a mission to bring neighbors together to promote awareness, appreciation, and understanding of the Bible. Because friendship and God's word, change lives and change cities. Word and the Wild is presented by the LumaVoz Podcast Network.

[00:10:36] As always, thankful to our friends at LumaVoz for giving us the space. And with that, my friend, we are out. Once again, I'm Owen, your host and your guide. Until next time, I'll be seeing you out there on the trail, in the word and the wild. Have yourself a great week.