Magi's Journal--entry 13 b

Broken--Continued

When I awoke again Zedekiah was sitting at my side.

“Hello,” my voice was raspy.

“Friend, we thought we had lost you.” His voice sounded genuinely relieved. “You know there is a limit to what we know--but we need not worry about that now.”

Zedekiah poured a strong brew into a cup. “Can you sit up? You need to drink to regain your strength.”

At first it seemed as though my throat no longer remembered how to swallow. Though the warm liquid was refreshing, swallowing seemed to take all my energy. I was too weak to even hold the cup in my hands for long. The thought of food was tempting, but I was just too tired to eat.

“Just take a bite or two. You will gradually get stronger.” I saw a hint of brightness on Zedekiah’s face. “Once you get nourishment, you’ll be able to fight the fever. Soon you will be well enough to travel again.

I nodded, too tired to reply. Feeling rather like a child, I allowed him to feed me a few bites of leathery meat, waving the third bite away with my hand.

“Drink?” I asked hoarsely.

“Good,” Zedekiah said, reaching for the leather water skin. “You know you gave us quite a scare when you first blacked out. We used our combined knowledge to treat your sting, but your body kept resisting treatment. I don’t remember who first suggested it, but we finally decided we should make an appeal to the God on your behalf.”

My eyes met his as I drank from the cup, somewhat confused. In a coarse voice, I asked, “Which one?”

“We are in the service of Belteshazzar’s God. He was the logical one.” Zedekiah’s voice had a matter-of-fact tone. As he took my cup, he added, “And now we can be thankful to him, that he has spared your life.”

I lay on my pallet and stared at the top of the tent. Thankful? I have been uprooted from my home and left behind all that I love. I have endured the dangers of travel and have even lost my health. How can I be thankful?

Zedekiah continued, “Your illness has caused me to have some unusual musings. I bring them up because of your comment ‘which god.’ Belteshazzar worshipped only the God of the Hebrews. Perhaps it is because of our journey, but I have thought much about the Hebrew God. What if Belteshazzar was correct?”

My head still throbbed with such consistency that I could not concentrate on my friend’s words.

I had no doubt that the God of Belteshazzar was great. I would have never begun this travel if I had though otherwise.

Still, this God needed us for his journey. Perhaps that is why I now feel so angry and disappointed. I offered my services to this God. He turned against me and allowed me to be stricken like this.

I continued to avoid Zedekiah’s eyes and soon fell asleep.

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Scripture Meditation
Philippians 4:11-13