Achsah rode out to her father on her donkey, alighted, and confronted him.
“ You've given me desert land, unproductive if it have not water. Give me
water.” And so Caleb gave her springs of water, both in the upper region of the
land and in the lower.
We have a saying in our day, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Achsah
was much smarter than that. The completion of a gift is in the acceptance of
it. The girl knew enough to know that the “gift” from her father was worthless
in the incomplete state. So rather than a simple “thank you” followed by
abandonment of the worthless property, Achsah chose to confront the giver of the
gift with an analysis of its value. This yielded the desired result, for now
the additional gift of water made the land valuable and the woman secured it as a valuable inheritance for her progeny.
How often do we offer a tepid “thanks” for a present, shrug and go on our
way never utilizing the offering? Why do we do this? Well, because we “don’t
look a gift horse in the mouth.” And we are “polite” to a fault.
Are there lessons in Achsah’s actions in this story?
I think a deep spiritual lesson in the actions of this good woman in
claiming her heritage is this. God offers us the gift of salvation, a good and
perfect gift through the blood of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. We must
appropriate the gift by accepting it. Then it behooves us to ask for the
in-filling of the Holy Spirit so that we can be productive citizens in the
Kingdom of God. Without water, Achsah’s land is not productive; with water it is
valuable and useful land. Filled with the Spirit we may be useful in the
building of the Kingdom! On our own, we are nothing.
(Verse 18 says Achsah “lighted off her ass.” (KJV) We might more likely
prosper if we, too, get off our asses. Just sayin'.)
5 comments:
One of your best here. Makes me think about gifts.
John
Well said my friend. And amen.
John, thank you. Thought provoking account.
Chuck, thanks. The scriptures still speak to us!
Very interesting lesson from that story. I tend to not "push it," when perhaps I should. I bet King Jimmy never considered the 21st century take on that wording.
Sharkey, I waffled a bit about making that last comment which twisted the meaning of the word, but I couldn't resist; and I think it is part of the lesson.
Post a Comment