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Day 1330 – The Bliss of Suffering – Wisdom Unplugged

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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 1330 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Bliss of Suffering – Wisdom Unplugged

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1330 of our Trek, and it is time for our 3-minute mini trek called Wisdom Unplugged. This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little bit of additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of wisdom for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget:

Today’s quote is from  Leo Tolstoy, and it is:   A person who lives a spiritual life cannot help but see that suffering brings him closer to God. Seen in this light, suffering loses its bitter side and becomes bliss.

The Bliss of Suffering

First, at least as believers, we must realize that all life is spiritual life. There is no sacred and secular life, as if they were diametrically opposed. There is one life that we live which is a spiritual life. We, as humans, are created to be imagers of God in all that we do. We do have free will to choose. We can choose to be thankful for every circumstance of life, even when it entails suffering.  One of the purposes of suffering and hardship in life is to purify us and bring us closer to God who created us. Because of this, our perspective of hardships and suffering will change from one of discouragement, to one of bliss and thankfulness. If suffering and hardships refine us to be a better imager of God, to build His kingdom, and to bring honor and glory to His name, then we should be blissful for being chosen for such a privileged task.One who would understand and be able to empathize with us, was also a leader in the 1st-century church. He happened to be Jesus’s brother and knew Jesus from childhood. James did not believe in Jesus until after His death, burial, and resurrection, but he wrote a letter to the early church about this subject. James 1:2-4 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

So I also encourage you…consider it an opportunity for great joy, which is bliss.

That’s a wrap for today’s Wisdom Unplugged quote. If you would like free access to my database of over 11,000 inspirational quotes, the link is available on the main page of Wisdom-Trek.com. Just as you enjoy these nuggets of wisdom, encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ If you would like to listen to any of our past 1329 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you tomorrow for Worldview Wednesday!

Day 1329 – What Is Biblical Meditation? – Meditation Monday

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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 1329 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

What is Biblical Meditation? – Meditation Monday

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1329 of our Trek, and it is time for Meditation Monday. Taking time to relax, refocus, and reprioritize our lives is crucial in order to create a living legacy. For you, it may just be time alone for quiet reflection. You may utilize structured meditation practices. In my life, meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and in prayer. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and making sure that I am nurturing my soul, mind, and body. As you come along with me on our trek each Meditation Monday, it is my hope and prayer that you, too, will experience a time for reflection and renewing of your mind.

 Although we have invested many months bringing lessons that help us to reflect or meditate on what is important in order to create a living legacy, today, let us consider:

What is Biblical Meditation?

In our western cultures, and probably throughout the world, we tend to associate happiness with money, sex, or power — preferably all three! While each of these is not inherently bad, in fact, they are gifts from God, portions of Scripture, the life of Jesus, and a strange lot of so-called mystics point to another source of happiness — meditation!

As with the other classical spiritual disciplines, meditation cuts against the grain of living in the material world and may seem like a waste of time. But those who are trained in meditation will reap a harvest of happiness — of peace, joy, and love — that will be a blessing to many.

What is meditation? Quite simply, meditation is an intentional act of simplicity. It’s not hard to understand why this is seldom practiced. Most of us live scattered lives, pulled in numerous directions by forces of work, family, church, recreation, friends, and so on. In addition, most people — Christians included — are always thinking … thinking … thinking.

While thinking is a good, God-given trait, too much of it, or over-thinking, which takes the form of replaying tapes from past conversations, planning tomorrow’s activities, or daydreaming about the future — often leads to a complicated and unhappy life. Thus the need for the simple act of meditation!

Meditation is not a panacea to our cultural or personal search for meaning. Meditation is certainly more than a theoretical admonition to simplicity. However, meditation is practical, easy, and, best of all, a means to happiness, a life lived with and for God.

There are numerous things to say about meditation, and Psalm 1:1-3 provides some practical and pertinent counsel for joy, happiness, delight, and prosperity:

Oh, the joys of those who do not

follow the advice of the wicked,

or stand around with sinners,

or join in with mockers.

 But they delight in the law of the Lord,

meditating on it day and night.

They are like trees planted along the riverbank,

bearing fruit each season.

Their leaves never wither,

and they prosper in all they do.

Based on this passage, we would do well if we meditate on the Teachings of God. When it comes to meditation, it is important to remember, “less is more.” In other words, you might consider easing into meditation by reading a short narrative from the gospel. When meditating, it is best to read slowly, perhaps pausing after each sentence. Don’t be afraid to sit in silence for a few minutes, asking the Lord to help you to absorb it all. Using your imagination to fill out the picture can also be helpful. As an example, in the passage above, we are to be like trees planted along the riverbank. Steady, calm, fulfilling God’s purpose for our life on a daily basis.

As a practical exercise of meditating on a Bible passage, I would encourage you to read the story found in  Luke 5:1-11 , which is the calling of Jesus’s first diciples at the Sea of Galilee. You might ask, “What might Jesus have been teaching the crowds? What might it smelled like, felt like, to be in the water or in the boat with Jesus?” After allowing yourself to enter the story as if you were actually there, by using as many of your senses as possible, many have found it helpful to quietly repeat one of Jesus’ sayings — such as his admonition to Peter: “Do not be afraid.” As you repeat this phrase and allow each word to seep in, not only can we enter the story but we likely will find ourselves being challenged as well.

The point is, the teachings from Scripture are a treasure-house of material on which to meditate. As we “eat the scroll” as the angel admonished John (Revelation 10:9), the Spirit calms and simplifies our spirit, leading to a real sense of God’s presence, a source of joy, the source of true happiness. Not only should we meditate alone, but we also need to meditate in community. In our narcissistic culture that encourages us to look out after number 1, we can easily overlook the benefit of community. The reality is, meditating with others — whether with a group at church, with a spouse or a couple of friends — can be one of the richest, unifying experiences we can do. Meditation in community can keep us awake, accountable, and encouraged as we share our “aha moments,” questions, and doubts. That’s not to say meditating on Scripture can’t be done alone; rather, as we meditate and pray with others, the truth of Jesus’ promise rings true as we read in Matthew 18:20: “For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”

The Psalmist knew how fleeting happiness could be. Therefore, not only does he tell us to meditate on Scripture and tells us with whom to meditate, but he also points to the reality that meditation is to be a way of life. “meditating on it day and night.” In other words, meditation is much more than getting alone and being quiet each morning and evening in order to read our Bibles — important as that is. Rather, the point seems to be that meditation, like all the spiritual exercises, is about cultivating a lifestyle of awareness to the reality of God in our midst.

That is a wrap for today’s meditation, next week, we will continue our trek on Meditation Monday as we take time to reflect on what is most important in creating our living legacy. On tomorrow’s trek, we will explore another wisdom quote. This 3-minute wisdom supplement will assist you in becoming healthy, wealthy, and wise each day. Thank you for joining me on this trek called life. Encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’  If you would like to listen to any of the past 1328 daily treks or read the daily journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player, so each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you tomorrow!

Day 1328 – Accomplish Great Things – Ask Gramps

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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 1328 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Accomplish Great Things – Ask Gramps

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before.

Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase wisdom and create a living legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1328 of our trek, and it is time for our Philosophy Friday series. Each Friday, we ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.

As we continue on this trek called life, sometimes we have questions about life, so our Friday trek is a time where we can “Ask Gramps.” Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason, you are unable to. No matter how old we are, I know that all of us would like the opportunity to ask dad or gramps questions about life in many areas.

We may mix it up a bit on our Friday episodes, but we will strive to keep them down to earth and enjoyable. If you have any questions that you would like to ask Gramps, please email them to guthrie@wisdom-trek.com.

So the question for this week is…

“Hey Gramps, I don’t desire to be mediocre in life, but to accomplish great things that will impact the lives of those around me. What nuggets of wisdom do you have that will help me to accomplish great things?”

Accomplish Great Things

We are an instant-results, quick-fix society. Quality gets sacrificed along the way. People are seen only as clients and consumers. Relationships that are going to require effort to create or repair are just abandoned. Corners are cut, rules are broken, and disastrous consequences follow. In the aftermath, we either wonder why we feel so empty or blame God for letting us down — or both. This is not how we accomplish great things and make a great impact.

First, our mindset and priorities must be correct. You must ask yourself, why do you desire to accomplish great things? You mention to make an impact on the lives of others, but why…For your own honor, or to really help others? When our mindset is correct, we won’t care if we personally receive honor, but instead we will desire to make an impact to build God’s kingdom here on earth, as it is in heaven, and to bring honor and glory to God.

Second, instead of bringing attention to ourselves, we must be reflective so our lives exude tidbits of practical wisdom as we interact with others on a daily basis. To gain that wisdom, we must read and study God’s Word daily. It is then our lives will reflect those tidbits of wisdom that come from the master teacher.

Third, don’t be foolish enough to think you can set everything right in a single day. Be wise enough to know you can do a little bit each day to reach your stated desire. Here are some examples of what I am sharing…You can’t build a championship-caliber team in a day. No single play in the game plan turns losers into champions. No one sales meeting transforms a company’s bottom line. No weekend marriage or parenting seminar can set right the impaired relationships of a struggling family. No one sermon or inspirational worship time defines a church to set right its troubles or lift it from the doldrums.

Today is the only day that matters. Yesterday will never change. Learn from it, but remember you’ll never change it. Tomorrow is yet to be. What can only be affected is today. Your desire is to make a small impact towards greatness each day.

So, deepen your faith, strengthen your family, focus your career path, encourage a friend, repair a damaged relationship — today. Just a tiny bit. Without expecting a lot. Then trust God to work over the long haul to bring you an outcome that is right and holy. The mosaic of life is created from the tiny fragments we call today.

This should be your prayer each day from Psalm 118:24-25.

This is the day the Lord has made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Please, Lord, please save us.

Please, Lord, please give us success.

Accomplishing great things and making a great impact on others is a very slow trail that we must hike each day. It is a gradual dawning like the first glimmer of sunlight each morning until it reaches the full light of day. Within a matter of years, the veil will be removed, and you can look back over the rocky path that you have climbed to realize that you have made an impact on others because you can see the results from the summit. The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”

That is a wrap for today’s question. Join us again next Friday for another question on our Ask Gramps episode. Our next trek is Mediation Monday, where we will help you reflect on what is most important in life. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along on Monday for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

If you would like to listen to any of the past 1327 daily treks or read the associated journals, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player, so each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and, most of all, your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Everyday! See you on Monday!

Day 1327– A Cowboy Tale – Humor Unplugged

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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 1327 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

A Cowboy Tale – Humor Unplugged

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1327 of our Trek, and time for a 3-minute mini-trek called Humor Unplugged. Our Thursday podcast will provide a short and clean funny story to help you lighten up and live a rich and satisfying life. Something to cheer you and provide a bit a levity in your life. We are told in Proverbs 15:30 A cheerful look brings joy to the heart; good news makes for good health. We are also encouraged in Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength. Consider this your vitamin supplement of cheer for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s funny which is titled:

A Cowboy Tale

Years ago, Tim McCoy, a cowboy from Texas, rode proudly into Albuquerque, New Mexico for the first time riding high on his sleek and beautiful black stallion. He was noticed by everyone that saw him. After a long and dusty ride, Tim was tired and thirsty, and he stopped by the saloon for a beer. Unfortunately, the locals always had the habit of picking on strangers, which he was. When he finished his drink, He strutted back outside and found his horse had been stolen.

Tim went back into the bar, handily flipped his gun into the air, caught it above his head without even looking and fired a shot into the ceiling.

“Which one of you sidewinders stole my horse?!?!?!” he yelled with surprising forcefulness.

Tim gazed around the bar, trying to catch someone’s eyes that may look guilty, but everyone looked down, and no one answered.

After a lengthy pause, Tim turned his back to them, faced the bartender, and shouted once again, “Alright, I’m gonna have another beer, and if my horse ain’t back outside by the time I finish, I’m gonna do what I dun in Texas! And I don’t like to have to do what I dun in Texas!”

Some of the locals shifted restlessly, and he could hear the scuffling of feet behind him. Tim McCoy, true to his word, had another beer, walked outside, and his horse had been returned to the post.

He climbed into his saddled and started to ride out of town. The bartender wandered out of the bar ran after Tim and asked, “Say pardner, before you go…what happened in Texas?”

Tim McCoy turned back and said with a straight face, “Well, I had to walk home.”I hope that brought a smile to your face today. If it did pass your smile onto some else, we all could use a good smile. Our Thursday thought is: “If lawyers are disbarred, and clergymen are defrocked, shouldn’t it follow that cowboys would be deranged?”

Psalm 15:2

Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts.

 Just as you enjoy these nuggets of humor, please encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’ If you would like to listen to any of our past 1326 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com.  I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player, so each day will be downloaded to you automatically.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this Trek of life together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you tomorrow for Philosophy Friday!

Day 1326 – Mastering The Bible – Judges and Kings – Worldview Wednesday

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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 1326 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Mastering the Bible – Judges and Kings – Worldview Wednesday

Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1326 of our Trek, and it is Worldview Wednesday. Creating a Biblical Worldview is important to have a proper perspective on today’s current events. To establish a Biblical Worldview, it is required that you also have a proper understanding of God and His Word. Our focus for the next several months on Worldview Wednesday is Mastering the Bible, through a series of brief insights. These insights are extracted from a book of the same title from one of today’s most prominent Hebrew Scholars, Dr. Micheal S. Heiser. This book is a collection of insights designed to help you understand the Bible better. When we let the Bible be what it is, we can understand it as the original readers did, and as its writers intended. Each week we will explore two insights.

Mastering The Bible – Judges and Kings

Insight Thirty-Nine: Judges Were Not Kings

The book of Judges is largely an intentional contrast between the faithlessness of God’s people and his own faithfulness. Repeatedly in Judges, we read that Israel turned against God’s laws and commands, suffered under foreign oppressors as a result, and then had to be bailed out of their misery by God. Judges 2:11-12 sums it up: “The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord. Then in Judges 2:15-16 was the resulting consequence.  Every time Israel went out to battle, the Lord fought against them, causing them to be defeated, just as he had warned. And the people were in great distress. Then the Lord raised up judges to rescue the Israelites from their attackers.

When we see the word “judges,” we think of people who decide legal cases and pass out sentences to criminals. That isn’t who’s in view here. Reading through the book of Judges makes it clear that, with the exception of Deborah (who actually did listen to complaints and make decisions for people; see Judges 4:4-5, judges were military leaders that God raised up to defeat Israel’s enemies.

The period of the judges was one of lawlessness. It was chaotic and unpredictable. Twice the book tells readers in Judges 17:6; 21:25 that “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” On nearly ten occasions, the author offers the blunt assessment that “The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight.”

Several analogies to the judges suggest themselves. The time of the judges could be looked upon like the Wild West, when gangs of outlaws controlled towns and territories by fear, ignoring the law. That would make judges the equivalent of sheriffs or hired guns. Perhaps more familiar, we could think of Canaan at this time like the fictional Gotham. None of the judges had a cape and lived in the Batcave, but you get the idea. Judges were deliverers, the superheroes of their day.

Judges were not kings. They did not rule over all the tribes, or even any single tribe. They did not have dynasties, although Gideon and his son Abimelech tried to pull that off (Judges 6-9). Judges were a temporary solution to the problems of the time. They defeated foreign enemies and restored law and order, ushering in a time of peace until the next judge was needed. Their authority was regional. For example, sometimes, Israel’s oppressors only controlled specific cities (Judges 3:12-14).

The book of Judges serves an important purpose. It offered a vivid argument for kingship as a permanent solution to foreign conquest. As we’ll see, God had planned all along for Israel to have kings. Having a king wasn’t a sin. But trusting a man instead of God was.

Insight Forty: God Intended All Along for Isreal to Have a King

After the wars of Joshua and the conquering of the promised land, Israel fell into turmoil, as is mentioned in Judges 1. The conquest remained incomplete. Their failure was the result of apostasy, that is tolerating and even embracing other gods. As punishment, God allowed Israel to be overrun by foreign oppressors. The book of Judges chronicles that period, which was basically a repetitious cycle of apostasy, oppression, temporary repentance, and divinely appointed deliverance by a military leader referred to as a judge.

Samuel was a judge and served the people well. Unfortunately, his sons were corrupt and unreliable judges (l Samuel 8:1-3). The Israelites saw an opportunity to demand something more permanent. They demanded Samuel appoint a king so they could be like the rest of the nations (1 Samuel 8:4-5). Samuel didn’t like the idea and said so to both the Israelites and God (1 Samuel 8:6). God told him not to take it personally, since the request was really a rejection of God, not the prophet (1 Samuel 8:7-9).

The negative assessment has been taken by many Bible students as proof that kingship for Israel was evil. This is hard to reconcile with the fact that Deuteronomy 17:14-20 lays down rules for good kingship for Israel once it entered the land. Kingship is viewed positively even earlier than that. Genesis 49:10 which was written many centuries earlier, says very plainly that the tribe of Judah would produce kings.

The scepter will not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants,

until the coming of the one to whom it belongs,

the one whom all nations will honor.

How do we reconcile the apparent conflict of interest? Clarity comes later in 1 Samuel 8:5 the people demanded, ““Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.” The language changes a bit in 1 Samuel 8:19-20: But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”

The desire for a king to go out and fight the nation’s battles is the key to understanding why the request was offensive. In Israel’s earlier history, it was God who had fought for Israel. God had defeated Egypt and her gods (Exodus 14-15), and he had brought Israel to the promised land in the form of an angel (Exodus 23:20-23). When Israel failed spiritually after Joshua died, the angel of the Lord forsook them, initiating the chaos of the period of the judges (Judges 2:1-5).

Having a king wasn’t the issue. Replacing God as military leader showed that Israel had not learned her lesson. There was no will to trust God with their security as Moses and Joshua had done. They wanted a tough guy. Their choice, Saul, looked the part (1 Samuel 9:1-2). God planned for Israel to have a king but one who had a heart that would trust in him. Eventually, they’d get one: David.

That will conclude this week’s lesson on another two insights from Dr. Heiser’s book “Mastering The Bible.” Next Worldview Wednesday, we will continue with two additional insights. I believe you will find each Worldview Wednesday an interesting topic to consider as we build our Biblical worldview.

Tomorrow we will continue with our 3-minute Humor nugget that will provide you with a bit of cheer, which will help you to lighten up and live a rich and satisfying life. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’

If you would like to listen to any of our past 1325 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and, most of all, your friend as I serve you in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this Trek together, let us always:

  1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
  2. Love Unconditionally
  3. Listen Intentionally
  4. Learn Continuously
  5. Lend to others Generously
  6. Lead with Integrity
  7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

I am Guthrie Chamberlain….reminding you to ’Keep Moving Forward,’ ‘Enjoy your Journey,’ and ‘Create a Great Day…Everyday’! See you Tomorrow!