Haikus through Hebrews, chapter 3

This chapter contains repeated warnings against the hardening of our hearts to God because of our disobedience, with unbelief and unrest as its ultimate result.  But, while it is still called today, the promise of entering His eternal rest still stands.  Praise God for the redeeming work of his Son, Jesus Christ, which, by God's grace alone, enables even the possibility of entering God's rest.  For without the work of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit within us, none of us would choose God, and all hearts would deceive us in disobedience.  "They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.  But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them." (Nehemiah 9:17)  To God alone be the glory!

*Important Note: Please read through the whole of Hebrews (I recommend the English Standard Version or New American Standard Bible) for contextual significance (and significant context!).  There is a lot of Scriptural meat found outside these 17 syllables.  Also, due to the paraphrasing these haikus frequently require, I shied away from using quote marks.  Rather, lines referring to words spoken by God (or the Holy Spirit) are found in purple below.

3:1
Holy brothers who
Share a heavenly calling
Consider Jesus

3:2
Faithful to the one
Who appointed him, just as
Moses was faithful

3:3
Counted more worthy
Than Moses, Jesus builds the
House with more honor
 

3:4
Ev'ry house is built
By someone, but God is the
Builder of all things
 

3:5
Testifying to
What would be spoken after,
Moses was faithful
 

3:6a
But Christ as God's Son
Is faithful over his house
And we are that house
 

3:6b
We will hold fast the
Confidence and pride of his
Gospel till the end
 

3:7-8

If you hear his voice
Don't harden your hearts as you
Did in rebellion
 

3:8 

Harden not your hearts
As in the provocation,
In days of trial
 

3:9

In the wilderness
Your fathers tried me even
Though they saw my works
 

3:10

I was angry with that
Generation for their hearts
Always go astray
 

3:10

Deceived in their hearts
And they have not known my ways
Grievous generation
 

3:11

In my wrath I swore 

A solemn oath that they would

Never enter rest
 

3:12
See to it then that

No evil, unbelieving
Heart is found in you
 

3:12
Our hearts betray us
Full of evil, unbelief
Departing from God
 

3:13a
But encourage one
Another daily as long
As it's called today
 

3:13b
So that none of you
By the deceitfulness of sin
Will be hardened
 

3:14
Partakers of Christ
If we hold fast our confidence
Steadfast to the end
 

3:15
Remember, "If you
Hear his voice don't harden your
Hearts in rebellion"
 

3:16
Who were those who heard
And yet rebelled?  Was it not
Those led by Moses?
 

3:17
With whom was he grieved?
Was it not those who sinned and
Fell in the desert?
 

3:18
To whom did God swear
They would never enter rest?
Them that believed not
 

3:19
So we see that they
Were unable to enter
Due to unbelief

Haikus through Hebrews, chapter 2

I pray that this chapter will rekindle your awe in our merciful and faithful High Priest!  I also continue to pray that the Spirit will cover over any errors on my part.  With that in mind, some lines are in red to signify Jesus' words, and some verses just had to have more than one haiku--I continue to be amazed at the living Word of God.  To God be the glory! 

**Important Note: Please read through the whole of Hebrews (I recommend the English Standard Version or New American Standard Bible) for contextual significance (and significant context!).  There is a lot of Scriptural meat found outside these 17 syllables.

2:1

Listen carefully

To the truth which we have heard

Lest we drift away

2:2-3

For if angels prove

Reliable, how can we

Ignore salvation?

2:3

Salvation proclaimed

First by the Lord, confirmed to

Us by those who heard

2:4

God bears witness, too

By signs, wonders, miracles,

And Holy Spirit

2:4

Manifold powers

According to his own will

Gifts of the Spirit

2:5

Not to angels did

He subject the world to come

But all to his Son

2:6 (cross reference Psalm 8:4-6)

What is man that you

Are mindful of him, the Son

That you care for him?

2:7

A little lower

Than angels made, but crowned with 

Glory and honor

2:8

All in subjection

Nothing left out of control

Even what's not seen

2:8 (again)

All authority

We do not yet see all things

Subjected to him

2:9

Glory and honor

Because he suffered death through

God's kindness he died

2:9 (again)

By the grace of God

He has tasted death for all

Now crowned with glory

2:10

Bringing many sons to him,

The founder of salvation

Perfect through suff'ring

2:10 (again)

Suffering perfect

Bringing many to glory

Salvation's author

2:11

He who sanctifies

And those who are sanctified

All from one Father

2:12

Unashamed to call

Them brothers, he says to God,

I proclaim your name

2:12 (again)

I declare your name

In congregation

I will sing your praise

2:13

I will trust in him

Here am I with the children

God has given me

2:14

He shared flesh with us

Joined in our humanity

As a man he died

2:14 (again)

Children, flesh and blood,

He likewise became the same

That death be destroyed

2:14 (and again)

In death he defeats

The one who holds the power

Of death, the devil

2:14-15

Delivering all

Who through fear of death were slaves

Of him the devil

2:15

He delivered all

Who feared dying, subject to

Lifelong slavery

2:16

Not angels he helps

Death was authorized in the 

Seed of Abraham

2:17

Made like his brethren

A merciful and faithful

High Priest to serve God

2:17

Our compassionate

High Priest before God to make

Propitiation

2:18

Because he suffered

When tempted, he helps those who

Are being tempted

Haikus through Hebrews

So the thing that finally convinced me to follow my husband's advice and begin a blog was my recently piqued interest in haikus.  If you know me well, then you know how much I like things to be linear (e.g. grammar, math, sewing in straight lines, etc.).  This is not necessarily a good thing.  Anyhow, I cannot resist a good haiku for its organized and contained form, so instead of bombing my friends' facebook feeds with incessant haikus, they will henceforth be posted here (mostly).  I hope you will enjoy a haiku or two through Hebrews with me, hearing amazing truths in a slightly different format.  I pray that the Spirit will speak truth to your heart through this feeble attempt, and that He will cover over any errors made. (By the way, I am aware that these are not all in following with the strictest definitions of a haiku, but I digress).  To God alone be the glory.

*Important Note: Please read through the whole of Hebrews (I recommend the English Standard Version or New American Standard Bible) for contextual significance (even significant context!).  There is a lot of Scriptural meat found outside these 17 syllables. 

1:1
God spoke long ago
To the fathers by prophets
In various ways

1:2
But in these last days
God has spoken to us in
His Son, appointed

1:2 (continued)

By God heir of all
Things, through whom He made the world
And the universe

1:3
The Son radiates
God's glory, the image of
His exact nature

1:3 (continued)
And he upholds and

Sustains the universe by
His powerful word

1:3 (continued)
Purification
For sins complete, he sat at
Majesty's right hand

1:4

Greater than angels
His inheritance obtained
Is more excellent

1:5

For to which angel
Did God ever say, "You are
My Son, today I

1:5 (continued)
"Have begotten you"?
Or, "I will be a father to
Him and he my son"?

1:6
Bringing the firstborn
Into the world, He says, "Let
Angels worship him."

1:7
Of the angels said,
"He makes them winds.  He makes his
Servants flames of fire."

1:8
To the Son He says,
"Your throne endures forever
Justice your scepter"

1:9
"Righteousness you loved
Iniquity you hated
Anointed gladness"

1:10
"In the beginning
Foundations you laid, crafting
Heavens with your hands"

1:11
"The earth will perish
But you remain forever
All wears out like clothes"

1:12 (continued)
"Roll them up like robes
Like a garment discarded
Heaven and earth changed."

1:12
"Always you're the same
And your years will have no end
You live forever."

1:13
"Sit at my right hand
I make your enemies a
Footstool for your feet."

1:14
Minister spirits
Sent to serve those who shall be
Heirs of salvation

31 Coverings

So in case you were wondering, the name of this blog, 31 Coverings, comes from the 22nd verse of Proverbs 31, which states, "She makes bed coverings for herself."  Perfectly clear now, right?  No?  Allow me to elucidate...

So the first time I really read Proverbs 31, my first honest thought was: well now, isn't that an awful lot to live up to?  And that's the truth--the description of a Godly woman in this venerable chapter is full of very specific attributes of some fabulous woman whom I have never had the privilege to meet.  Don't get me wrong, I am privileged to know many women who love the Lord, and depend on Jesus Christ as their Savior, but this Proverbs 31 description just seemed unattainable.  Then I began to realize that yes, some of it is contextualized to the culture of the day, but also, I am not called to be that specific woman; I am called to be a Godly woman, one that fears the Lord (still fleshing out that definition too), and this is where I should set my sights.

This last chapter of Proverbs is no afterthought.  It is no mistake (sola scriptura anyone?)  God spoke this chapter of His Word for my benefit, not for my demise or downtroddenness. This woman seeks to glorify God in the tasks of every day, in caring for her home, in speaking the truth in love and wisdom, in raising her children to love the Lord, and in loving and respecting her husband.  My life will most likely flesh out a little differently from this passage, but my ambition is to live in accordance with its intention: to be a woman who fears the Lord, and who makes that love evident in her life and in her words.  I already have, and will continue to, fall short of this purpose (see all of Romans), but I hope to encourage any fellow God-fearing women to live with this description in mind.

Secondarily, I literally began to make bed coverings last year.  Keeping in mind the inner struggle detailed directly above, learning to sew has been a great blessing and gift in my life.  I initially wanted to learn how to make rag quilts simply because my husband hadn't been fond of a single comforter, coverlet, or bedspread we had had in over seven years of marriage. So, my second sewing project after learning to thread my machine was a king size rag quilt for my husband's birthday (not my most carefully considered plan in hindsight).  Nevertheless, after several months, and way past the anticipated deadline of my husband's birthday, I completed that project.  Then I moved on to nap quilts for our children and a few others, which led to toddler-size pillowcases, which in turn led to zippered pillow covers (our then 5-, 3-,& 1-year-old children had drooled on, spilled on, sat on, walked on, or otherwise mauled all the current pillows in my living room, so off I went to find blogs on installing invisible zippers).  Then, my daughter began to compliment me on my sewing and precipitously proceeded to ask for a dress.  (She really knows how to work her audience.)  That led to reading many pillowcase dress tutorials, with a few attempts, and finally I moved to maxi T-shirt dresses, which is where I have landed for the time being (see below if you like).

              

So, 31 Coverings initially refers to my newfound love of sewing, but "Coverings" swiftly moves on as a reminder that all my shortcomings are covered in Christ Jesus.  When I repeatedly fail to live up to my calling to be a Proverbs 31 woman, I remember that there is no righteousness to be found in me, and it is by being covered in Christ alone that I can live a life pleasing to God.  "But no realistic human beings find it easy to love or forgive themselves, and hence their self-acceptance must be grounded in their awareness that God accepts them in Christ." --Richard Lovelace, The Dynamics of Spiritual Life

So, I would be so happy if you would join me as I endeavor "To live 'by faith', [which] is not a general 'positive attitude,' but a deliberate attempt to fire the heart with a knowledge of who we are in Christ and to live consistently with that knowledge." --Tim Keller, Paul's Letter to the Galatians, Participants Guide.  And I might just post a few pictures of my latest sewing projects along the way, too. Blessings to you, woman who fears the Lord!