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Next Monday I officially head back to school. There are moments I wake up in the middle night thinking what am I doing? Do I even remember how to write a paper? I will be doing this entire program online and I am a guy that still does not know how to properly use excel let alone online schooling. In those moments of reminding myself that I am 36 years old, I have six kids, a full-time job, and going to throw seminary on top of it all I have to remember how the Lord brought me to this place. It was never my own choice, but rather His leading through a variety of divine circumstances.
Grace Church-Eden Prairie brought me on as family ministry director with the core of my job being to oversee children and students 0-18. I was not required to go to seminary and no one ever knocked on my door encouraging me to go. Instead they let the Holy Spirit do the leading and oh how He did!
About six weeks after Grace Church hired me they brought on a new individual into Men’s Ministry named Jake Reiter. Both of us new guys found ourselves during one afternoon lunch hour in the Grace Church Café together. Somehow we got started talking about reading through the entirety of the bible. I was explaining to him that I always start off with good intentions and then my A.D.D. reading plan happens and it stops any progress I had in accomplishing my goal. Jake then went on to explain a bible that he uses that leads someone each day to read through the bible in one year and he suggested it might be helpful for me.
After that conversation a couple of weeks had gone by and I really never thought much more about it. Then one morning Jake and I again crossed paths and he handed me the bible he was talking about; as he purchased me a copy. I was grateful and immediately the next day I started in on the plan. Only a few days into my yearly bible reading plan I read through 1 Kings 16. This seems to be a fairly insignificant chapter of the bible compared to 1 Kings 17 where Elijah pronounces a drought on the land, God feeds him with the ravens, a brook dries up, and Elijah is moved on by the Lord to the widow. However, right before I got to 1 Kings 17; 1 Kings 16 ends with the following verse.
In Ahab’s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken by Joshua son of Nun. 1 Kings 16:34
All in all this looks like a fairly insignificant verse. I finished my reading for the morning and then headed to my son’s basketball tournament for the rest of the day. All throughout the day as I sat in the gym 1 Kings 16:34 danced in my head. I had no idea why and I had no idea what it was actually talking about. With nothing else to do but sit in the bleachers I began to study various commentaries on 1 Kings 16:34.
The first question I asked is what did the LORD speak to Joshua son of Nun? Well, the scripture that 1 Kings 16:34 is referring to is Joshua 6:26 after Joshua had finished leading the Israelites around the walls of Jericho.
At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: “At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.” Joshua 6:26
The time period between Joshua making this solemn oath and the Hiel of Bethel rebuilding the walls of Jericho was between 450-500 years. With that being said, most commentaries give one of two reasons for the Hiel of Bethel to continue to rebuild the walls even as he was losing his own children. Hiel of Bethel was either in defiance of God’s Word or he was ignorant of God’s Word.
As I read those words I concluded that assuming I continue to sit under the authority God has placed in my life I don’t believe I will become in defiance of God’s Word. However, am I ignorant to much of God’s Word and could my full lack of knowledge cause me to lead the next generation astray? It was a deep conviction in my heart for the next week as I took all of this to the Lord in prayer. After seeking the Lord I did not see any other alternative other than to head to seminary. It was time to push myself out of my comfort zones and begin something new.
