Matriarch's on a Monday - Achsah

Achsah?

"Who....is....Achsah????"  I may hear you tentatively ask?

Not one that you hear of many girls names after! *smiles*

Her Dad, however, is a name you will recognise.

Caleb.  Caleb - that faithful and mighty man, who saw God, and not the dangers.

Well, it appears that he raised a daughter with as much confidence as he had.

I love this story! I love the closeness that she had with her Dad, that she felt able to come to him with the request that she did.

The story starts in somewhat of a "fairytale" manner.

"And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife."

 Joshua 15:16

The story begins with her being the "trophy" for the man bold enough to battle and conquer the city of "Kirjathsepher" (boy, am I glad that isn't a name I have to spell out on the phone, when telling someone my address......).  The man, bold and able enough, to fulfill this task, is none other than Caleb's nephew - Othniel. Othniel, you may remember, was one of the Judges, in the early years after the Israelites had conquered the land.  And TRUST me....you don't even want to start thinking about spelling the name of the KING he conquered, in the book of Judges....Chushanrishathaim...

Moving on...

Othniel won Achsah's hand in marriage, the city soundly conquered.  Of course, in those days, it was alright to marry your first cousin.  Just sayin'. It's not, now....

As a dowry, the father would give something, along with the daughter.  Animals, possessions, and in the case of Achsah, LAND.  A portion of the PROMISED land!   Their own place to call home, and build a life.  Quite a generous dowry, there is no doubting of that.

But Achsah was confident that if they just asked, they could get more.  Her original thought, was for Othniel to go and ask for it, but whether he "bottled out", or whatever the reason, she confidently and boldly stepped in.  It may just have been, that Othniel knew that she was close to her Dad, and that she was the best choice to talk with him.

 "Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water."

Joshua 15:19 

The land that Caleb had given was a blessing, for sure.  It was generous and kind to give such a dowry.    But, it was a South Land.  It wasn't the most luscious and productive patch in the Promised Land.  Achsah and Othniel had presumably discussed their lot, and decided that something more would be valuable, in order to make the land into something productive.  Water.  You cannot have a productive land, without water.    In their joint wisdom, they thought it best to plead with her father for springs of water, as well as what they had been given.

And, what kind of Dad was Caleb?  The harsh and unloving sort, who didn't want to give away any more than he had to, and certainly not to someone who was bold enough to ASK, and not just be offered it? 

No, no, no.  He was a kind, and generous father, who could see the need that they had.

His response?

"And he gave her the upper springs, AND the nether springs."  (emphasis mine)

Joshua 15:19 

With the love, generosity and kindness, that any father should have, he didn't just fulfil her request, but he gave her MORE than she asked for!  What a lovely scene! 

What a lovely picture!

What can we learn, today, and EVERY day, from Achsah?

Have we not a Heavenly Father?  A Heavenly Father who has given us so much more than we could ever ask or think?  Who has given us our salvation - our knowledge of an eternity, safe and secure, in His presence.  The certainty of eternal damnation, gone.

But we have many needs in our life.  There are things which we can clearly see, which are needful and necessary, in order for our life to be "liveable" or productive.  Should we fear to come before our Heavenly Father to ask for such things? Or, should we be so close to Him, that we can boldly come before Him, with our desires, and plead with Him for them?

Of course we should!!! Our gracious Heavenly Father WAITS for us, to come with such requests to Him.   He longs to meet our needs, and to bless us.  We need to come and ASK Him to bless us, for we know that true blessing can come only from Him.

Achsah and Othniel could have simply not bothered, and tried to acquire what they needed themselves.  They could have thought that Caleb had been generous enough, and that it was down to them to find water for themselves.

Oh, that we would never feel like that about coming to our Father in Heaven!  That we should ever think that God's storehouse of blessing has run dry, or that He wouldn't want to give to us...over, and over and over.  And,  certainly, that we should NEVER think that we can meet our own needs, without relying on the Lord! 

"Ask, and it shall be given you; .....For every one that asketh receiveth;" 

Matthew 7:7-8 

 "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"

Matthew 7:11  

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." 

Hebrews 4:16  

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God....But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6 & 19

SO many promises from His Word, that He WILL give us, if we but come and ask!  Come boldly to your Heavenly Father, as Achsah came to her earthly father, and plead with Him for those things that you need this, and every, day.  Knowing this, that God can and WILL supply all your needs!

Moving....

No, not my blog.

Our family!  From one house, to another house.  I mentioned it in this post.  YES....over 3 months ago.  The joys of selling and buying a home.

We have never been involved in a house sale before, so it was new to me.

I mentioned patience before...yep, that has been well and truly tried! *grins*

I also mentioned about the home we hoped to purchase.  Well, we are nearly there!  We have signed everything, the sellers have signed everything, and we should exchange contracts at the start of next week.  We then hope to move on the 12th of December.  That date has already been changed several times - we started off with the 22nd November, then the 2nd of December and now, hopefully, the 12th of December.  Someone said it's Christmas soon - REALLY?  Because I have virtually NOTHING done for it!

However, it is undeniable that God;s hand has been in it all.  The house we are buying is an amazing provision.

We are going from 3 smallish bedrooms, to FIVE bedrooms!

We are going from a smallish kitchen, to a MUCH bigger one WITH A UTILITY ROOM!  *whoops and jumps up and down*

We will have a bigger lounge.  A study.  A separate dining room.  A double, attached garage.  A bigger garden.   At the end of a quiet cul-de-sac.

TRULY - an amazing provision!

The man we are buying from met one of our former Church members, at their mutual place of work.  Got chatting, over a year ago, about where this man lived.  Our member realised it was the same village as us, and, indeed, that he was movning into a house that we had liked...but as our house was notyet on the market, we couldn't pursue.  Fast forward nearly a year.  The man had put his house on the market, due to personal circumstances, despite not being there for long.  He came and found our friend at work, again - but he had moved to a different department, nowhere near the previous one.  He found him, however, and enquired as to whether we were still interested, as he was selling the house!  He was told "yes" and that now we, too, were selling. However, he had it on for more than our budget was stretching to, and as they were using the same Esatate Agents, we knew what offers they had already refused.  (although they took it back off the market, before he approached us)  So, it was a private sale in the end, with no estate agents fees for them, resulting in them willing to take a lower offer, which we (the Church) could afford!!  The whole time we have been going through the buying process, there have been NO other houses on the market that would be suitable to buy!

The Lord has truly answered our prayers beyond our expectations! We are thrilled, and excited, especially as everything is nearly tied up, and it gets a bit more "real"!

It's been crazy - trying to pack, do school and feel energised, whilst pregnant!  Thankfully, I am well past that grotty, nauseous stage, and feel more able to move house now!  Had it been very quick, I would still have been feeling rough!  Had it been much later, then I would have no energy at the end of the preganancy.  The Lord truly supplies ALL our needs, on so many levels.

Just to add, before I go to bed (it's late!!)....people ask if we are moving far.  I have created a "Google map", to show you how close it is!


View Moving house in a larger map


If you can't see the blue and pink marker, zoom out a bit! If you zoom out even more, you will see where our Church building is.   So, as you can see - not far!  Shorter as the crow flies, but you have to go around the edge of the village as the road does not connect in the middle! If you zoom right in, you can find the street view - our new house has a "for sale" sign outside.  It is from a couple of years ago, as it was before the current occupants bought is.  It now has a green front door (which I am thinking would sport a nice, red berry wreath on it! :-) ).

So, there you have it.  Just over a week until "M" day!  Please pray that it all exchanges, as hoped, and we still move on the 12th.  Pray it all goes smoothly on the day, and I will update with some pictures once we are in!

Learning through a house sale

This week we have been rejoicing.  With an element of caution, as selling a house can be a tricky business, and it's never done for sure until you are actually IN the new house!

For those of you who don't know our circumstances, I will fill you in first.  Robert, my husband, is the Pastor of a Baptist Church.  We are provided with a house, as part of his employment.  It is a 3 bed-roomed chalet bungalow.  Most of the other people living in the same houses around us are retired couples, with a few occupied by SMALL families (read, 2 children....they weren't really designed as a family house!).  The Church realised it wasn't really a suitable house for a manse (even if we had 2 teenage children, one boy, one girl, there would be no spare room), and last year made the decision to sell it, and to buy a larger, more suitable property.  We were very happy and content here, but somewhere larger would definitely be a good thing! So, last October it went on the market.

Selling a house, with 6 children, and homeschooling, is no small thing.  It is simply NOT possible to permanently keep a house "viewing ready".  Every time we had a viewing, it was necessary to do a major blitz of the house.  That has really taught me to get rid of junk, and get rid of clutter.  My lovely husband may suggest that I have not quite "arrived" in that department, but improvement has certainly been made!

I have had to learn patience.  In the current economical climate, houses do not sell very quickly. I learnt to rest in the knowledge that God's timing is perfect and that you cannot rush the ways of God.  We cannot make things happen before God has planned them to.  Whether it be the arrival of an overdue baby, the changing of heart of a person with whom we are at odds with, the finding of a new job, the passing of an illness - all these things will happen when GOD has planned for them.  And, whilst we wait, we learn patience, peace, joy, contentment, endurance, long-suffering, faith.  We learn to trust in God's perfect will for our lives, and know that the moulding of our will, is part of us being moulded more into His image.


"Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. "

James 1:3 

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: "

1Peter 1:7

All that we experience in life, MUST be to the praise and glory of God.  How we act or react should honour the Lord, and not the flesh. I found myself saying that it was frustrating, thinking about the hard work involved in selling the house.  But, I was convicted about that.  Frustration is NOT being CONTENTED! Being frustrated is the same as not bowing to God's will.  It's an expression of discontent.  So, I humbly repented, and carried on with a more joyful spirit! 

We HAVE now sold the house (pending surveyors visiting, and various other legal aspects).  The Lord's will was very much evidenced in the way it has been bought.  The couple SHOULD have been shown around the house by the estate agent, but they were held up on their journey, and the agent asked Robert to show them around.  It was a real providence, as they got on well together, and Robert felt that it would be them who would buy, even though it was almost 6 more weeks until they had sold their house and able to make an offer on ours!  

Then, the Lord is being evidenced in the house we may end up purchasing.  I think I will reserve that story for  when it happens!  I really believe the Lord is in it.  

We were also told today, that the funds that are being added to the value of our house (which came from the selling of an old building belonging to the Church), are MORE than we first thought, as their value has increased!  It will bring our total to the PERFECT amount being asked by the owner of the potential house to be purchased, and also enough to cover fees!  God is SO good!  

We are so often amazed by God's perfect timing, and perfect provision.  In a way, I feel I shouldn't be surprised at all.  But I NEVER want to take God's wonderful goodness for granted.  I want to always stand amazed at His grace to me, an undeserving sinner.

So, keep your eye out for a post about a new house being found and bought!  We are viewing it tomorrow morning, so please pray for us at 11am!

Today I am linking up with A Holy Experience, where they are sharing about the practice of faith.

what an inheritance!

Do you ever think about your inheritance? Do you ever wonder about what the future holds for you, and what you may have left to you in the future? Will I have enough money to live? Will I have a home, an income, provision of things that you need?

I am sure we all think about it. We may see people who are left a large inheritance. Who maybe have wealthy family or are an only child who will inherit everything. We may see injustices where some family members get a lot and others nothing at all. Or, we may just leave it in the hands of the Lord, and not give it much thought!

However, in my daily readings today, I came across a verse that really puts things into perspective. It's found in Joshua 13:33

"But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance: the LORD God of Israel was their inheritance, as he said unto them."

All of the children of Israel had conquered the land of Canaan, after many battles, with the Lord giving them the victory. The land was being divided between all of the tribes, all of them being given their allotted portion of inheritance. However, the Levites were those chosen to be the priests - those in the Lord's service. They were not given any land - no inheritance for them. No place to inhabit and occupy as "Levitical" land. nothing to pass down through the generations, family to family.

However, look at what THEIR portion was! The other tribes got allotted portions all over the country. Who wants large portions of land? Who wants productive soil, where crops can be grown and money made? Who wants a house by the seaside, where trading can be done? Who wants any of these things, when the Lord God of Israel is your inheritance?!

How that puts things into perspective for me! I have the Lord as my inheritance. I have a Heavenly Father who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He clothes the lillies and feeds the sparrows. How much more will He care for ME?

"Therefore I say unto you, 

Take no thought for your life, 

what ye shall eat, 

or what ye shall drink;

 nor yet for your body, 

what ye shall put on. 

Is not the life more than meat, 

and the body than raiment? 

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns;......

 yet....

your heavenly Father feedeth them.     Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment?

Consider the lilies of the field,   

how they grow; 

they toil not, neither do they spin:

And yet I say unto you, 

That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, 

which to day is,

 and to morrow is cast into the oven, 

shall he not much more clothe you, 

O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? "  Matthew 5:25-31

The Levites were given a place of service.  That was their priority.  Not working the land - not building up money or status.  Simply serving.  What a privilege!

And the verse that follows on from that portion in Matthew sums it up, I think.

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 

We are to simply serve.

Seeking the things of God.

 Not the best paid  job.
  

Not the biggest house.  

Not the nicest clothes.  

Not the best pension package.  

Simply, the kingdom of God.

God's righteousness.

Things spiritual.

Not temporal.....

and then what?  What about all my temporal needs...surely they are of SOME importance?

"....and ALL these things SHALL be added unto you...."

If we seek His kingdom first.

The Lord...our inheritance....and WHAT an inheritance.

Praise God!