Meditation
On September 23, 2024 I gave a talk on abortion at South Mountain Community College. That morning in my devotional time I read in Luke chapters 1-2. I wrote the following words in my journal:
"Thoughts of being made in the image of God and given a task--take dominion. This requires learning and thought. There is trial and error. The Lord doesn't do it for us. I read in Luke 1 yesterday of the angel Gabriel coming to Zacharias. [My] thought: Gabriel could show up at SMCC in radiant power and proclaim the truth regarding life. That's what he did in Luke 1! But the Lord has me doing this today! He is growing me up--I'm an infant (Luke 10.21). I have to study and take in information and arguments. I have to assess and analyze. I have to creatively figure out the best way to present the material. This is good. This is the way the Lord has set up the world. There are not short-cuts. There is the Lord's presence--the Holy Spirit--enlivening, shaping, guiding, and revealing. But he is not given to short-circuit creational realities but, rather, to fulfill them. There are miracles--feeding 5000--which bypass the created reality of baking bread. There is prophecy and direct words from the Lord but the normal and good way is the normalcy of the created order with its in-built wisdom. It is good to study, learn, and grow. Jesus did this! Luke 2.40, 52. The realism of the incarnation needs to be grasped and deeply meditated upon! Jesus had teachers. He learned math and how to read. He learned his father, Joseph's trade of carpentry. He saw, observed, and reasoned. He read (or, at least, heard) Scripture.
Luke 2.46 "Then after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions."
"Jesus listened and asked questions! He is a learner! He is not teaching here. That will come later."
