Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.
Here are some that caught my attention this week:
The following is from Jeanne Damoff:
I had never thought of fear in those terms, but that’s so true.
From Warren Wiersbe’s With the Word commenting on the memorial Israel was to set up in Joshua 4 and the need to memorialize or remember how God has led in the past not only to praise Him but as a testimony to future generations (Psalm 78:1-6):
When you have living faith in a living God, the past is not “dead history.” It throbs with a living reality.
I get aggravated when some people discount all of history since it is about “dead guys.” That’s pretty short-sighted!
And from the same book concerning Calebs’ claim to his inheritance in Joshua 14:
What particularly struck me about this was his not being embittered by the past. If you remember, Caleb and Joshua were the only ones willing to trust God and go forth when the Israelites came to Canaan the first time, but the others were afraid and refused. Israel was then assigned to the wilderness for forty years while the old generation died off, and Caleb had to wait and wander even though he had been faithful. Yet he didn’t complain and was never bitter — he patiently waited until it was God’s timing for him to receive portion. A lesson to me: I probably would have been inwardly chafing much of those forty years. (I Peter 2:19-25 has more to say on suffering when you’ve done right. What greater example is there of that than the Lord Jesus?)
If you’ve read anything that particularly spoke to you that you’d like to share, please either list it in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below. I do ask that only family-friendly quotes be included. I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder.
“Fear is a liar and a thief.” Ooh, that is so true. It lies to me and steals from me almost daily, unfortunately. I’m praying for more faith to replace it.
Not being embittered by the past – definitely something for us to emulate. Many of us probably have at least a little something that nags at us from our past that we indulge in bitterness…. Good reminder here to let it go.
Thanks for the good quotes again, Barbara. Always a good read!
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I appreciate your thoughts about not being embittered by the past as well. Even this week, I’ve been reminded that God does as He pleases in HIS timing, not mine–and that I must be patient in the interim.
It is easy to be brave from a safe distance. Aesop
Enjoyed, as always. I”ll have to do some more research on Caleb… I usually focus on Joshua!
Thanks for hosting today, Barbara.
Wiersbe’s With The Word lives on my nightstand! He is wonderful! But if people who discount all those dead guys drive you crazy, you REALLY would have lost your mind with my son-in-law last weekend! I spent 2 HOURS defending Christianity to him only to find out in the end that he doesn’t even believe in HISTORY! Thinks it’s all a bunch of bunk! Thinks the government only put in what they wanted to and left out what they didn’t want in. Thinks they probably modified it to fit their own politics at the time. And he’s not an IGNORANT man… he’s a VERY intelligent man… just a tad “twisted”…
History is to be embraced, studied and learned – so that our lives may be enriched for the next generation (when we too become history).
Thanks for compiling these quotes week after week.
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
I prefer to learn my lessons from the examples of others. It is often much less painful.