Caught In A Thought: Highlights

At each bookstudy lesson, I seem to come away with some new gem of information. Usually it's something simple (I am often enthralled by simple things) but it's interesting enough to add that little bit of wonder into your mind. It makes you think, "Huh! I wonder why I didn't think of that before! It makes total sense!" or "Huh! That's a good point to use and pretend you thought of it first!" Of course I won't claim these points as mine. I'll just say they were brought up at the last two bookstudy lessons.

1. Discussing the God-given power of shepherding the congregation, the question was asked, "Why did Jehovah choose to illustrate how overseers are to treat the congregation with a shepherd? There were other types of herders back then. For instance, for cattle, there were 'cowboys'. Why didn't Jehovah use a cowboy to illustrate the overseers role?"

Answer:

Well cattle need to be DRIVEN, and often times cowboys don't have any special affection for the herd. They are a means to an end, so they rope 'em, they brand them, they prod them, yell at them to get them going. Whereas a shepherd LEADS the flock. He is tender with the flock because they are delicate creatures. The flock and the shepherd actually do have a bond. Recall Nathan's story to King David about the man who had one little female lamb, how it would eat the man's food and drink from his cup, the man would even allow the lamb to sleep in his bosom. It's a good story to illustrate the relationship between sheep and shepherd.

2. The other point, is from the first Question for Meditation; Proverbs 3:9,10 What "valuable things" do we possess, and how can we use these to honor Jehovah?

Answer:

Among the many things-time, energy, monetary means, etc-there is also our obedience to Jehovah. 1 Samuel 15:22 says "to obey is better than a sacrifice". The Israelites were instructed on acceptable sacrifices. The one absolute qualifier for their sacrifices was that they were to be their best. Their sacrifices were valuable things to them. . So how much more valuable a thing is our obedience since Jehovah went on to say that he desires our obedience.

In the bookstudy this point was applied to the convention. Are we honoring Jehovah with the valuable thing that is our obedience, in obeying the guidelines for eating at the convention, the suggestions for seating, the counsel on dress and grooming, and even our conduct. By obeying all these things, we are honoring Jehovah with a most precious thing, our obedience.

So just a few points I thought were worth sharing with friends and family.

This one goes out to Katie Haase,

just back from Hawaii.