See:
Thy Will (13 July 2021)
Thy Will (5 March 2025)
Joshua Coffin prays:
"Thy will be done." (7, p. 137)
However, he effectively engages in dialogue with God like a Hebrew prophet. First, he thanks God when lowland fruit proves to be edible because this seems to mean:
"...that He who fed the children of Israel in the wilderness would not let Danny die..." (ibid.)
(Recap: Coffin and Svoboda are searching the Rustumite lowlands for Coffin's lost son.)
Secondly, however, God's help seems to be withdrawn. Not finding his lost son yet, Coffin is compelled to struggle on through vines and thorns. Consequently, he reinterprets the edible fruit not as help but as a command. God has made it possible to continue searching through this hellish environment. Therefore:
"...His servant Joshua must continue to do so." (ibid.)
The name, "Joshua," makes this all the more Biblical.
Thirdly, he wonders whether he is mad to think that God had designed the Rustumite environment with him in mind. But, in any case, he must continue to do his duty.
This is prophetic dialogue. God's will can be reinterpreted but must not be doubted.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
The dialogue between God and the Prophets could be astonishingly candid, as this example from Jeremiah 20.7-9 shows.
You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped;
you were too strong for me, and you triumphed.
All the day I am an object of laughter;
everyone mocks me.
Whenever I speak, I must cry out,
violence and outrage is my message;
The word of the LORD has brought me
derision and reproach all the day.
I say to myself, I will not mention him,
I will speak in his name no more.
But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding it in,
I cannot endure it.
A similar example from the NT is 2 Corinthians 12.7-8: "And lest the greatness of the revelations should puff me up, there was given for me a thorn for the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to inflict me. Concerning this I thrice besought the Lord that it might leave me. And he has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee, for strength is made perfect in weakness.' Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the strength of Christ may dwell in me."
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I forgot to mention how in the fifth paragraph of Chapter I of A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST, as battle was beginning between the Royalists and the rebel Parliamentarians, we see Prince Rupert reflecting on the reading "from the book of warrior Joshua" chosen by his chaplain.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
A very obscure connection, even if it is one, between these two books.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
The stress you seemed to place on "Joshua" was what reminded me of that bit from Chapter One of A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST.
Ad astra! Sean
Testing.
I realize that the tone of my last comment above was wrong. Yes, when Joshua Coffin described himself as God's servant, Joshua, this made me link him to the Biblical Book of Joshua and it could also be a link, however slight, to A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree, only a tenuous connection with MIDSUMMER
Ad astra! Sean
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