Today's passage is Zechariah 12. God says he will make Jerusalem a rock against which all the nations against her will be broken. He will make the people of Judah like an avenging fire. Then he will give the house of David and the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication and they will mourn Jesus. All the clans and their wives will mourn.
Why are wives mentioned six times?
Why are "wives" specifically mentioned six times?
Why not just the "clan" which would include the wives?
Why are the wives so important that they must be mentioned as included in the mourning?
Why can no assumption be made about their participation?
"Bone of my bone" says Adam when he's presented with Eve.
"Male and female made he them" says Genesis about the creation of humanity in the image of God. "Of one flesh" says Jesus about the couple in a marriage.
There is both a unity of man and woman in marriage and a distinction between them. Women are wives because of marriage. Wives are different from unmarried women. They have a special status.
Their weeping at the death of Jesus and on the day of Judgment is crucial.
My wife is bossy.
Sometimes it's just because she's a bossy person.
At other times it's a kind of weeping for me going wrong or not doing enough.
The THINK one to one training is a case in point.
Every week we are supposed to read one of Reverend Kim's books.
I can't do that because I can't read Korean and the books remain untranslated.
I could pick some other book to read as I did in previous one to one training, but this time it just doesn't seem to fit.
Of course, that may be me being lazy and not wanting to do more work than I have to!
My wife keeps saying, "I wish you could read our reverend's books." I wish I could too.
Last night as we were reading in bed, she suggested that, since I couldn't read our reverend's book on Romans 1-8, I should read those chapters of Paul's letter and meditate on them.
I said that was a good idea and wished I'd thought of it myself earlier in the week so I could do it.
But I'd uploaded all my homework yesterday and I wasn't interested in doing any more.
The Spirit had other ideas, though.
I woke up early this morning and did the meditation with increasing joy and gratitude.
It was like I'd never read those chapters before!
What an awesome start to the day!
I uploaded my meditation under the book section of the page we have to submit our work on.
I don't expect it to be read any more than I expect any of my homework to be read because it's in English and the instructors are Korean and hard pressed to read the hundreds of Korean submissions.
But the important thing is that God worked through my wife so that, for the first time since starting this training, all of my work could be included.
Lord, continue to inspire me through my wife. Let me not be tempted to exclude her. Let me be sensitive to your voice in her and better able to distinguish yours from hers. Let "Edward and his wife" be a phrase that makes me grateful and happy.
