KttB: Now with more socks!
KttB Today: 2 Kings 1-8. Elijah and Elisha are just so Jedi-like sometimes. Actually, in all seriousness, what interested me in these passages today was not just how frequently they worked miracles or how, well, casually - I mean, they seem to take it as a matter of course that God will do what they ask, which is probably why he does, at least on certain levels - but that it's not always a case of the man of God praying for a miracle and one occurring. Only a couple of the miracles are described that way (this being a very informal count based on the fact that I was listening to a whole bunch of them in a couple of sittings, so maybe it's more than the impression I was getting, though). For most of them, there's some actual, tangible, physical action connected with the answer to prayer. A borrowed axehead sinks: Elisha throws a stick in after it and it floats. People accidentally throw some poisonous plants in with the stew they're making: Elisha throws in some meal after it and the stew is safe as can be.
Of course, Jesus made mud from spit and dirt and put it on a blind man's eyes to make him see. So it's not just these Old Testament prophets. There's also the apostles praying over cloths to be taken and laid on those who were sick but that the apostles couldn't come to them to lay hands on them directly. What is this thing with physical objects or actions used in the working of miracles? I never really noticed it before, but Elijah and Elisha work that way so often it's starting to look like, well, magic. As if the stick thrown in the water or the mud on the eyes are meant for the onlookers to think that those items cause the miracle, or channel it or something. Like if you just knew the right kind of stick or the right spell to say with the meal, you could work that miracle too. But that would be a false impression, because whatever the ceremony attending the miracle, it was God who made it happen. Why the sticks and meal and mud, then? Why not just pray or lay hands on the sick? Sometimes God does work that way, though, merely through prayer. And I guess these stories are in the Bible just to let us know that sometimes he sees fit to use things in the process. Mysterious ways, indeed.
Anyway, I finished the Diagonal Rib Socks today! [This project on Ravelry - for anyone who's already got an account there]
more pics
A good thing, because now I can pack them for Italy. Will I get the blue Snicket Socks done too? I've got tonight and tomorrow yet to work on them...I might manage it!
Of course, Jesus made mud from spit and dirt and put it on a blind man's eyes to make him see. So it's not just these Old Testament prophets. There's also the apostles praying over cloths to be taken and laid on those who were sick but that the apostles couldn't come to them to lay hands on them directly. What is this thing with physical objects or actions used in the working of miracles? I never really noticed it before, but Elijah and Elisha work that way so often it's starting to look like, well, magic. As if the stick thrown in the water or the mud on the eyes are meant for the onlookers to think that those items cause the miracle, or channel it or something. Like if you just knew the right kind of stick or the right spell to say with the meal, you could work that miracle too. But that would be a false impression, because whatever the ceremony attending the miracle, it was God who made it happen. Why the sticks and meal and mud, then? Why not just pray or lay hands on the sick? Sometimes God does work that way, though, merely through prayer. And I guess these stories are in the Bible just to let us know that sometimes he sees fit to use things in the process. Mysterious ways, indeed.
Anyway, I finished the Diagonal Rib Socks today! [This project on Ravelry - for anyone who's already got an account there]
more pics
A good thing, because now I can pack them for Italy. Will I get the blue Snicket Socks done too? I've got tonight and tomorrow yet to work on them...I might manage it!