the vacuum in my Bible...

I was surprised to learn, only just recently, that there is a ‘vacuum’ in my bible: between the time that Malachi (the last book in the Old Testament) finishes and Matthew (first book in the New Testament) starts, there seems to be a void of undocumented history. 300 years of it to be precise.

That fact alone is not all that amazing but when I started to look at a few patterns that led to this ‘vacancy of information’, I learnt some interesting lessons on the character of God. I was helped along this journey very much by Philip Yancey in his book ‘Disappointment with God’.

Let’s look at the trend: God makes Adam and Eve. He is directly involved in their lives and personally kicks them out of the garden when they sin. Next up comes Cain. Even though humans are now away from direct contact with God, when Cain kills Abel, he deals with Cain personally and punishes him then and there. To me, God seems like an angry parent who sends their child to be in his room due to direct and severe misbehaviour. Anyway, with the Israelites he was involved. He dealt personally with Abraham and then later with Moses as he led his people to freedom.

Then what?

Then he stepped back and let man be his voice... No, I’m not talking about Jesus. Not yet anyway. Then came the prophets. God’s voice without God speaking it. It seems to me that during the time of the prophets, God’s heart was slowly breaking. There are many times that God sounds like a hurt and wounded lover who can’t decide whether or not to take back his dirty, slutty wife or to punish her forever by casting her away from him.

This carries on but it seems like God being close to humans is too much for him to bear, and so he backs away and backs away....

And then comes the vacuum. The dead space. God goes quiet. Maybe hurt once too many and unable to face the people he still so dearly loves. I dunno. But I do know that it was as if God disappeared. Centuries of silence.

Weird hey?

Sure, then came Jesus and he was to change things. A new testament. A new covenant. A new unspoiled blood that was to forever promise proximity to God.

Yet, I don’t know if that is the case totally. It seems that even since then God has moved in spurts. Or rather, He has retreated periodically throughout history even after the birth of Christ. I think the medieval times were one of these periods.

I just feel like I have stumbled upon an aspect of God that shows me that sometimes man can make Him unwillingly turn his back on man. Like a hurt lover.

I just want to learn how to be the man that shows God that this generation is not without hope. That there is no need to turn his back because he will take pleasure out of watching earth, or at least pieces of it.

Can my generation be outside the vacuum? Can I help to make it a period in history when God faces us front-on rather than a time when he turns his back to shed yet another tear for his fallen beloved?

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PLEASE NOTE: I have used poetic licence deluxe here. I have taken what many might see as a condecending approach to God that might offend. The truth is that the created will never understand the creator, and I was merely taking an angle that gave me a fresh (and I believe biblical) understanding of the nature of God.

momentum

momentum can’t start tomorrow. it already started yesterday...

talent

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

- Arthur Schopenhauer

and i guess i can’t really add much to a good point. in fact, sometimes writers run the risk of making a point less by trying to unpack it. for me, the crux of it all lies in the fact that talent means little. talent creates potential. talent does not convert it.

i guess that’s where we come in. either through genius (as this arthur fellow seems to think), or simply through persistence or hard work.

sleep

entertainment asks for more of me.
there is more to watch.
more to click.
my eyes can stay open therefore they do.
lashes meet but diverge again.


creativity is paused.

stillness now deafens me.
peaceful noise.
and i’m left hoping for more
of a good thing
while kissing the bad.

birds and words

why write about the birds?
my words steal from the birds beauty more than they could ever add to it
the birds don’t need words
politicians need words
i need words

dubai

the flight was normal i guess. on board entertainment is so good these days the flight always seems to short. (then again this is only my 3rd long flight ever...)

I can't help noting people... my eyes scan them and wonder what language they speak. I hear two girls speaking Afrikaans to each other on the plane (we did leave from Joburg afterall) and as i turn to look at them, with their teased hair and eye-make-up, they needn't speak for me to know where they come from.

I am somewhat disappointed by the commonness of the people around me. Nothing new yet. As we arrive and touch down in Dubai i quickly realise that the sun is rising and i have not slept at all. I blame raymond even though everyone else seems to love him.

As i walk into the dubai international airport, it is all the same. It's the western east. It's the same glitz, the same sheen, the same as what im used to.

I need the toilet soon after i'm off the plain. While inside the restroom I hear a new sound. A strange sound. The call to prayer sounds loudly through the bathroom, and I'm still. I absorb. I become aware that this place has it's own history. It may feel very similar to what i'm used to, but by no means am i part of it. It's outside me and therefore I respect it.

Dubai... Well, im only here for one more hour, let me absorb as much as i can.

total

the moments when i truly live are the moments when i act with my whole will- oswald chambers