Reading Anew

Personal Reflections

2010-04-29T13:50:00.001-07:00

Well, to say the least, things here have not been very good. In fact, I've been running from this Bible study--putting it off and procrastinating reading and blogging. I've been reflecting on why I haven't wanted to read the Bible or blog about it, and, after thinking about it for a while, I think I'm still depressed. I do not like having to write or admit that fact here on my blog. I feel embarrassed and disappointed in myself. I should be over this by now. What's wrong with me? I also know that I'm opening myself up to judgment and that people form perceptions of me when I make such admissions. But if you are going to know why I haven't posted lately, then that is why. I just have been wondering lately about the point of it all. And I recognize that this attitude is that comes from depression.

It's interesting to me that when people are suffering we have the tendency to turn away from God. For me, I haven't wanted to do what would draw me closer to God, even though I'm aware that going to him could help me feel better. It's just so ironic that when we need God the most, we don't seek him out. So that's where I'm at. Hopefully, I'll post again soon.

Matthew's Account of the Beginning of the End

2010-04-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

Day 229: Matthew 26

A lot is going on in Matthew 26. This chapter marks a major shift from an emphasis on Jesus's teachings to the events leading up to the end of his life. By the end of this chapter, Jesus has been betrayed by Judas, arrested, sentenced to death, and denied by Peter. Matthew spends much more time in his book about Jesus's life and teachings; the end of his life only takes up three chapters. Other gospel authors take longer.

This chapter makes me sad. Poor Judas made a bad decision to betray Jesus, and Jesus condemns him for it. Peter betrays Jesus. The Council sentences Jesus to death. Things do not appear to be going the way of the Kingdom. And this is how this chapter ends, so, for today, I'll leave it here today.

Helping "The Least of These"

2010-04-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

Day 228: Matthew 25

Whenever I see a person on the street corner holding a sign asking for money or for a job, I admit, I do not know how to respond. On the one hand, I feel pity for this person and want to help them in some way. Then again, I'm selfish and want to keep my money for myself. Other times I think that there could surely be better ways for this person to spend their time and cast judgment on them. Even when I do give them money, the thought is in the back of my head about how they will spend it.

I guess what it boils down, too, is that I don't want to be taken advantage of. I feel like I am always giving to something, and when I meet a person I don't know asking me for money, I wonder if I should give it to them. I want to do so, but I also don't. It's a weird feeling, but I do think that scripture is clear about what we should do in these situations. We should give. And keep giving--no matter what this person does with this money and no matter how often we have to give it.

In Matthew 25, Jesus reminds us that any time we do something "for the least of these," we are doing it for him. When we take care of sick people, give food or money to people begging on the side of the freeway, meet someone's physical needs, invite someone into our homes, or visit people in prisons, we are following the will of the Father.

But knowing the right thing to do and doing it are two different matters entirely. They do not always work together (as we all know). Regardless, we should consider Jesus' words here. Whenever we are helping the weak, we are doing it for Jesus. The focus is not on ourselves but rather on Jesus. It's a way to say "thank you."

Perhaps we are motivated to help others out of fear of disobedience, for Jesus says that when we refuse to help the weakest members of our society, we are refusing to help him. Or maybe we will actually respond to people because it's the right thing to do, the moral thing to do. Maybe we are compassionate people and do so out of the overflow of our hearts. Regardless of what motivates us to help others, Jesus shows us how and why it's important to take care of people--not just people we associate with on a daily basis but also people we don't. Thinking of people the way that Jesus did will also change our own hearts and minds. May we all be more conscious of ways we can help "the least of these."

Left Behind?

2010-04-26T08:43:00.000-07:00

Day 227: Matthew 24

I'm sure many of you are familiar with The Left Behind series of books, which is based on the notion of the rapture. My church denomination does not preach about the rapture because they don't think it will occur. And I don't really either, but I can see where they might get this notion from. Right here in Matthew 24. In this chapter, Jesus is talking about the end time when he, the "Son of Man," will return to earth.

Matthew 24:36-41:
“However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.

“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.

“Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.

Right there in the last two sentences--one will be taken; the other left behind. I'm not sure what to make of this discovery.

Practicing What We Preach

2010-04-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

Day 226: Matthew 23

Wow. Matthew 23 was very eye-opening for me. I mentioned in a previous post that Jesus really gets on to the religious leaders because of their hypocritical ways, but in this chapter, wow, he is harsh. He tells the people and his disciples that they should follow the teachings of the religious leaders and the Pharisees but that they shouldn't follow their example because they don't practice what they preach. They are hypocritical--appearing to follow the laws but in reality being hateful and despicable. Jesus argues that the Pharisees and the religious leaders are clean and pretty on the outside, but their hearts are filthy and dirty.

And what will their punishment be? According to Jesus, sorrow awaits them. He says this phrase over and over again. He even says that these religious people will be held responsible for the deaths of all godly people OF ALL TIME (v. 35), including Abel who was killed by Cain. Wow. Jesus is serious about one thing: he wants us to practice what we preach.

Of course it's easy to think, "Those Pharisees. Those hypocrites." and not to see ourselves in them at all. But it is the religious people Jesus is addressing here and it would do people who consider themselves religious to consider how we might be like these people Jesus condemns. Are we hypocritical? Do we want others to see our good deeds, even though our hearts are evil and hateful inside? Do we have unpure motives? How are we like the Pharisees? What might Jesus be saying to us?

For me, he's reminding me that purity begins in the heart. Outward deeds that are good do not mean that they come from a pure heart, and a pure, clean heart is really what God wants from us. He doesn't expect perfection by any means, but he does expect us to practice what we preach--not to deceive and be hypocritical. This lesson is one we've heard over and over in our lives, but it's obviously a very important one to implement. The kingdom is at stake when we don't practice what we preach, and for unbelieving people, hypocrites are what they simply find unbelievable.

God's Will

2010-04-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

Day 225: Matthew 22

So often we ask ourselves, "What is God's will for our lives?" "What does he want me to do with my life?" "What is his will?"

It is important to ponder and reflect on the answers to these questions. But it strikes me that somehow these questions have already been answered. We know what God's will is. Jesus says in Matthew 22: “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Jesus has already answered these questions for us. He wants us to love the Lord with everything we have in us--to give our all to love and honor him; he also wants us to love others, those who we consider our neighbors and those who we don't. Love God and love people. That sums up what God's will for our lives is. When we are considering and contemplating what specific career we will have, we should think first about how we can have a profession where we can love God and love people. In order to live a fully integrated life where our faith isn't separate from our work, we should choose careers that allow us to first love God and love people. Our wills and desires should come after God's will and should still align to these two commands.

Protection

2010-04-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

Day 224: Matthew 21

I love Jesus's personality. He is humble, yet stick-it-in-your-face, but not to the people you might think. We tend to want Jesus to get on to "sinners," prostitutes, drunks, adulterers, and others like this. But no, Jesus's world is topsy turvy; it's backwards. He gets on to the religious people--those who think they know what they are doing, but who just don't get it, who are doing it all wrong. Jesus even tells them that it's going to be worse off for them. Wow. And this angers them so much. Jesus protects and defends the sinners, but he doesn't seem to protect and defend the religious leaders and the teachers of the law. He's come to teach us all, and one group is getting it while the other--the ones who should--don't. Which group are you a part of? Are you getting it, or are you judging Jesus and others who defend the sinners?

The Last Shall Be First

2010-04-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

Day 223: Matthew 20

It's interesting that this passage about the parable of the vineyards where the first shall be last and the last shall be first came today. Tonight, we went to a memorial service for a man who went to our church for a little over a year, and Shane read this exact same passage at his funeral. This man was in his early 80s and had spent decades of his life in jail. I don't know what he did to get there, but it had to be something big since he had spent so much of his life there. His family didn't have much to do with him, and they really didn't care if we had a memorial service for him or not. I can understand that. For most of his life, he was a bad man, not just in the moral sense but also in the legal sense.

During his time in jail, he must have become a Christian because the moment he got out, he wound up at our church. And he was a faithful Christian for this past year. He even helped another young man, also an ex-con, who started coming to our church. He was a changed man.

But his family didn't want to forgive him. His daughter didn't come to the funeral. They didn't want to show him grace; he didn't deserve it. But in God's eyes, he has just as much of a place in the kingdom of heaven as anyone else does--those who come early in their life and who don't commit felonies, and those who come later on. God is holding a spot for this man, too. He's holding a spot for all of us. In his eyes, we're all the same--no matter when we respond to the call. Those of us who have been faithful Christians as long as we remember may not see this practice as just. But we know that God is a just God, and this form of justice is one that we should implement as well. Loving people and forgiving their past is God's way of justice. He did it for all of us, and extending this same grace to others--no matter when they might come to believe--indicates that we are living out God's form of justice.

Being Perfect

2010-04-21T15:19:00.000-07:00

Day 222: Matthew 17-19

It's time for another confession: I'm a perfectionist. I like to have everything perfect in my life. I expect to be perfect. I expect Shane to be perfect. I expect my kids to be perfect. I expect my house to be in perfect order. I expect to have the perfect home, the perfect yard, the perfect [fill in the blank]. I expect my life to be perfect. I have very high expectations of myself and also of those close to me. I don't like this trait about myself, and maybe it can change one day. Who knows? But right now, I am a perfectionist.

I don't know when I first started being this way, but I have always tried to be perfect--the best, the favorite, #1. There was no room for second place, and everything but first wasn't good enough. I wanted to be the best child of my parents. I wanted to make the best grades of anyone else in school. I wanted to be the best basketball player on the court. I wanted to be people's "favorite," admired by all. I don't know where I got these ideas. Maybe it was from the strict rules I had as a child. Maybe it was because of the notion of heaven and hell that I was taught, which I thought at the time meant "perfect" or "not perfect." Maybe it was from my own expectations and desires. Who knows? But pretty soon, I came to think of myself and my own self-worth in this manner, too. That when I wasn't "perfect," then I was a failure. A loser. And that nobody would love me. I have a great fear of being unloved because of who I am. Even though I know in my heart that a lot of people love me, I still define myself by how "good" I am.

What's crazy about this association with being perfect and being loved is that I can never measure up to this status. I am daily under a lot of stress (we all are!). It's especially hard learning how to balance so many different commitments I have in my life--husband, children, job, church, God, friends, family, rest, and anything else that fills my time. It's not easy, and too often I feel like I give and give and give to all these areas, and it's never enough. Soon, I view myself as failing in every area, which then leads to a feeling of worthlessness.

These feelings can only be overcome through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus tells his disciples, "Nothing is impossible with God," and even though right now these feelings of failure and worthlessness are ever present in my life, I know that God can do anything. He can make the impossible possible. He can teach me to have a new way to see myself and to measure my success. He wants me to love him and love people. That's really all he asks. He doesn't ask us to be perfect, and I shouldn't try to be either. He doesn't even ask us to "try our best," as is often quoted to children in school. No, Jesus wants us to love God and love people. When we do that, God can take our feelings of insecurity, self-doubt, and self-loathing away and bring us happiness, joy, and contentment. Reading the New Testament right now couldn't have come at a better time.

Jesus's Teaching on What It Means to Follow Him

2010-04-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

Day 221: Matthew 15-16

Today, I bring you these words (16:24-28, NLT):

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

May you find comfort and encouragement from the mouth of our Savior.

Coping with Stressful Days

2010-04-19T11:05:00.001-07:00

Day 220: Matthew 14

Matthew 14 presents a stressful day in the life of Jesus, and I think we can learn a lot about how Jesus reacts in relation to these events. Jesus learns that John the Baptist has been killed by Herod. His disciples come and tell him the news of his horrific death at the head of Herod's daughter. When Jesus learns of John's death, he goes off in a boat, hoping to be alone. But the people follow him, so Jesus has compassion and heals them. Then, they get hungry, and next is the story of Jesus feeding all of them. After they are all satisfied, Jesus goes away by himself to pray. The disciples meanwhile are in a boat and a storm comes. Jesus walks out to them on the water, and Peter gets out of the boat and attempts to walk to Jesus. He has faith to get out of the boat, but he starts sinking because he doubts. Jesus then gets into the boat with them and the storm grows calm. They go to the other side of lake and there news of him spreads.

What can we learn from Jesus in the midst of stress in our own lives?

1. Jesus shows us that even in the midst of terrible trials in our own lives, sometimes we must deal with the immediate concerns of those around us. Although Jesus wanted to be alone and reflect on the day, people were demanding his attention, and he has compassion and heals them. He responds to the need, regardless of what he personally was going through at the time. Daily, we are dealing with our own struggles. Some days we face things that we need time to process and deal with, but our families or friends or parents or children or churches or house--or whatever--demands our immediate attention. And it's OK to give it to them. To put our needs aside for a bit and to do what needs to be done.

2. Yet, when Jesus finds some time to be alone, he immediately goes away by himself to pray. After a sad and stressful day, Jesus goes to God and prays. We don't know what was said, but we do know that the next time we see him he is walking on the water to meet his disciples. Jesus was mourning the death of a friend--and doing much more than that, too, I'm sure--and so he went to the source of his strength. So often, I go to other people to talk about my problems before I go to God. But Jesus doesn't. He finds time to go by himself and pray. It wasn't that it was necessarily there--he could have filled up that time with other "more pressing" matters, but he carves out the time. He views it as that important, and so should we.

Jesus knows what it's like to be busy. And yet...he still takes the time to do important things like reconnecting to the Father. God can take care of all our problems--even if it's just being too busy--and he can help us. After we go to God, who knows, maybe we can even walk on water.

A Teaching Tip

2010-04-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

Day 219: Matthew 13

A lot of the research I do for my job has to do with the notion of narrative. Narrative theory looks at how we use stories to construct meaning and make sense of our lives. Since the beginning of time, humans have used stories in such a way. And Jesus is no different. This chapter in Matthew details many of the parables Jesus uses in his teaching. In fact, this chapter even says that Jesus solely spoke to the people through parables. At no time did he teach them without using stories.

Today (and then, too), Jesus is considered the master teacher--the model for all to follow. And if we are to follow his lead, then we should understand that good teaching involves the telling of stories. As humans, we process and arrange our lives through stories, and when we listen to or read stories, the point (argument/claim/thesis) of the piece is more clear to us. Plus, we can then apply what we've learned about the example(s) used in the story to our own lives. This method of teaching by telling stories is so different than the way our education system focuses on memorizing "facts" and practicing methods. Stories aren't often used in formal instruction (at least from my perspective) to actually instruct; rather, they are primarily used to learn the facts of them. For instance, when we read _Romeo and Juliet_, we are tested over the details of the story. And when teachers lecture, they don't often use stories--at least mine didn't. When I teach, I know the importance of telling stories, but it's often more difficult to find and use stories than just to tell students something. And yet Jesus shows us the importance of using stories as a teaching tool--and not just something to memorize. Our education system, as well as individual teachers like me, can learn from Jesus how to become a better teacher.

Think on Good Things

2010-04-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

Sickness has once again plagued the Alexander family. We've been dealing with it now for four days, which is why I'm a bit behind in posting. I'll get caught up soon, though. Thanks for your patience!

Day 218: Matthew 12
When I was growing up, my parents instilled in me many values. They taught me about God and the Bible. They taught me about good sportsmanship--to congratulate others when you lost and to have a good attitude about it. They wanted me to see the importance of education and reading and writing and arithmetic (that arithmetic never did amount to many skills for me, though--even though I wish it had). They also taught me the value of having good friends, watching "wholesome" movies, and not being around people who did things that were against my morals.

I knew then that my parents were right, and so, basically, I was a prude. I didn't go far with guys. I didn't go to parties, bars, or clubs. I didn't curse or swear. I didn't do drugs, have sex, or drink. I still had my own flaws, of course, just not these behaviors. And I'm glad I didn't do these things. I had a lot of friends doing them, and I saw how harmful this behavior could be on them. They were too close to guys who wouldn't be there the next week. They were ruining their brain cells, their intelligence. They became depressed and lonely. I felt sorry for them. But I didn't engage in these behaviors.

Don't get me wrong. There were some things that I really wanted to do and experience. But for some reason, I just didn't do them (I guess I thank the Lord for this). I was often seen as a prude (which was a negative concept) or a fuddy duddy or an old fogey. But I also had a great group of friends who weren't engaging in these behaviors either. So I felt all right.

Like I said earlier, I still had my own battles to fight. I sinned daily. I lied and stole and cheated on numerous occasions. And I learned something from my friends who battled these more visible behaviors. Although everyone knew that (s)he was a drug addict or that (s)he slept around with everyone, these people had something that I didn't have: they were honest. They didn't lie about who they were; rather, they were honest about it and let the whole world see who they were--warts and all. And either people liked them or they didn't. These friends of mine taught me many valuable lessons, and this was one of them.

But what we all had in common was that we were far from perfect. Jesus says in Matthew 12 that the mouth speaks what is already in the heart, so it's important to ponder and think about good things. Peace, love, faith, forgiveness, hope, repentance, salvation, redemption, grace. Thinking on the things that matter help identify who we are. I once heard a preacher say, "What comes out of the mouth is produced in the factory." I like that metaphor, and each day, I try to live life meditating and thinking on good things. Yes, evil and sin and depression and loneliness and all these other bad things exist. It's not that we shouldn't think about these things--we should try to help people who are struggling. But for ourselves, when we are trying to regroup and get refreshed and find rest, we should look to Jesus. He is the ultimate good thing, and he will allow our hearts to become more and more pure--no matter what we've done in the past.

Thank you, God, for good things.

More about Jesus

2010-04-16T15:07:00.002-07:00

Day 217: Matthew 11

Jesus is a true teacher: he gives instructions to his "pupils" (apostles) and then he goes out to teach and preach. He instructs and directs and then he goes back to his business of teaching and preaching to the masses. Jesus views both parts as important--teaching his apostles and preaching and teaching to the whole group. Food for thought.
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The following passage is a winner in my book (11:28-20, NLT):

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Jesus wants to give us rest. He wants to take all our burdens away from us and bring peace, rest, and contentment to our lives. His words provide evidence of what an amazing man Jesus was/is. Even though his yoke wasn't going to be easy, he still is unselfishly concerned about others. He is here for us, ready to provide our souls with rest. How comforting is that!

Read the Instructions

2010-04-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

Day 216: Matthew 10

The calling of the twelve apostles is such a fascinating story. In Matthew, we aren't given much detail about how any of the apostles but Matthew are called. However, Matthew writes down the name of each apostle and even includes the instructions that Jesus gave them when he sent them out.

1. They were not to go to the Gentiles or Samaritans--only the Jews.

2. They were to announce that the kingdom of God is near.

3. They were to perform acts on people: heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons, to give as freely as they have received.

4. They were not to take any money with them or a suitcase. They were to accept hospitality from people because "they deserve to be fed."

5. When they enter a place, they were to search for a worthy person and stay there until they left the town. They were to bless the home. If the home turns out to be worthy, then the blessing stands; if, however, it does not, they were to take back the blessing. For those households or towns that doesn't welcome them or listen to their message, they were to shake its dust from their feet as they leave.

Jesus was preparing his apostles for the journey. The mission was not an easy one, and the journey would be long, tiring, and hard. These men were going to be like "sheep among wolves (v. 16), and Jesus wanted to warn them what they were getting themselves into--floggings, whippings, hatred, persecution, loneliness. These are not easy things, but Jesus also offers them hope when he tells them:

"But everyone who endures to the end will be saved."

"But don’t be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ear, shout from the housetops for all to hear!"

“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

“Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.

This journey was not going to be easy, but they believed in Jesus, his teaching, his mission. And they followed him. In spite of all the hardship they would suffer--and they all suffered for their faith--they still obeyed and left their old lives behind. It was all for the sake of Christ. What amazing trust and faith they had in Jesus.

Why don't we act like these apostles did. We don't--at least in America--suffer like these people suffered. We are selfish and individualistic. We may try to be an example and to tell others about Jesus, but our fear of rejection usually reminds us that we're too weak, too insignificant. But through Jesus, we can. When we trust ourselves, we have these feelings of insecurity and inferiority, but God can deliver us from these feelings. He just wants us to trust him. To give our lives to him. It's a lot to ask, and the journey won't be easy, but the reward, oh the reward, will be great.

Matthew: A Writer Who Gets It

2010-04-14T19:39:00.000-07:00

Day 215: Matthew 9

I figured that now would be a good time to to talk about the author of the first gospel of the New Testament: Matthew. Matthew is called by Jesus in this chapter, and the call of Matthew is such an amazing, inspiring story. Jesus was walking along and sees Matthew sitting at a tax collector's booth. He tells Matthew to follow him and be his disciple. Matthew immediately got up and followed him. In the next paragraph, we learn that Matthew invites Jesus, Jesus' disciples, tax collectors and sinners to his home for dinner.

Let's unpack this story a little more.

1. First, Matthew immediately gets up when he's called. He follows Jesus and becomes a disciple.

2. Second, Matthew invites over followers of Jesus to sit down for a meal with his friends--other tax collectors--and so-called "sinners." Matthew gets it. He gets what Jesus is all about, and he plows in headfirst. He doesn't wait around to be told what to do; rather, he starts implementing the teachings of Jesus immediately.

3. And, finally, we can see that God uses Matthew's talents. Before being called, Matthew is a tax collector. Tax collectors were not well-liked at the time and were often thought of as being crooked and unfair. Matthew must sacrifice a lot to follow Jesus, more than some of the other disciples, I would argue. Peter, James, and John--they were fisherman. They didn't give this up when they became disciples. Luke was a doctor, and most likely he didn't have to quit this job either. But Matthew, he was a tax collector, and following Jesus meant that he couldn't collect taxes anymore. But God didn't let the talents and skills Matthew learned and practiced as a tax collector go to waste. No, God calls Matthew to write down and record all that he witnesses in the life of Jesus. Matthew's attention to detail is used for the glory of God.

How amazing is it that we have a disciple such as Matthew be the one to pass on what he has witnessed to all the generations after him.

A Day in the Life

2010-04-13T19:09:00.000-07:00

Day 214: Matthew 8

I'm amazed at what a day in the life of Jesus entails. He heals people. He asks people to follow him and give up their homes and possessions. He rebukes a storm and it stops. He talks about how there is a cost to following him. And this is only one chapter's worth of anecdotes! Jesus is busy. But he's not busy with the typical things that I busy myself with--work, household chores, family time, watching TV, playing on the computer, reading, exercising, and on and on. His day isn't full of time to himself or "me time" (although he does rest and pray on occasion, but even that, one could argue, is still focusing on others). He doesn't do selfish things during his day or spend time worrying and fretting, wondering how he can get it all done (like I do). No, he busies himself with people. He reaches out to people. He meets them where they're out. He shows compassion. He touches lives. He impacts people. He's out of his house--walking around town meeting people and doing things for them. Instead of staying away or spending time with his family, he's healing the sick and loving the sinners. Jesus spends his time on things that matter. His day is so much different than mine, but his example shows me what is truly important. So many of our concerns are really things that this world tells us is important--money, TV, working hard, success, education, etc. I'm not saying that it doesn't matter or that it's good to be ignorant, but I am saying that we should spend our time thinking and pondering how Jesus spent his day so that we can reflect more on how we are spending ours.

May you have some days in your life similar to the ones Jesus had in his.

The Credibility and Purpose of Jesus

2010-04-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

Day 213: Matthew 7

There are no greater words than those of Jesus. His teachings are profound and inspiring, yet straightforward. When he finishes speaking in Matthew 7, the author writes, "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law." The people were amazed because Jesus taught with authority. He knew what he was talking about and spoke with command and authority, with a credibility--an ethos--that the teachers of religious law did not have.

What's Done in Secret...

2010-04-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

Day 212: Matthew 6

Over the past several years, I have become more and more interested in spiritual disciplines and how they form people to be more Christlike. We are all familiar--at least in name--with the disciplines of fasting, praying, and Bible study. But there are others that are less familiar. One spiritual discipline that fascinates me is that of secrecy. Secrecy as a spiritual discipline isn't about keeping someone's secret. Rather, it has to do with doing good deeds in secret--without telling anyone about them. So often, we are motivated to do good by our own selfish desires. We give to the needy--publicly--so that people will see it and know what we've done. We make announcements or we are honored by organizations for our giving. We give--and we are recognized for it.

But this spiritual discipline of secrecy isn't about being recognized; it's about doing things for others without anyone knowing about it--even the person for whom you've done it. This spiritual discipline can be considered one because it takes discipline not to share with others good things you have done. If you mow your neighbor's lawn because it needs to be done, you want your spouse to know. Or if you provide food for families in need, you may do so out of desires that are not so pure. Sure, we try to have good intentions--we are helping people. But when we practice the discipline of secrecy, we can see how so many of our intentions--especially good ones--are actually based on selfish motivations.

In Matthew 6, Jesus addresses this discipline of secrecy when he talks about giving to the poor and when teaching on how we should pray. I challenge all of us to practice doing things for others for their sake rather than ours. This discipline is one way to learn this lesson.

Jesus: The Preacher and Teacher

2010-04-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

Day 211: Matthew 5

Matthew 5 contains the first recorded "sermon" of Jesus, and probably his most famous one--the Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes are recorded here, and so are teachings on anger, adultery, vows, revenge, and love for enemies. This sermon is striking on so many levels, but mostly because Jesus takes the Book of Law that all the people to which he's speaking about knows and understands and abolishes it. But he doesn't just abolish it and say, "Never mind all that stuff." Rather, he takes the laws that these these people know and believe and obey and extends them. He takes them further. He doesn't just talk about the action; he gets to the heart of the matter, literally, by showing us how our actions are really borne out of our heart, and it is our heart that we need to get right and then our actions will follow.

What amazing, inspiring, and radical things to say. Here is Jesus--his first sermon ever--and here he is already making radical claims that would upset and rile up an audience. But he speaks the truth. He teaches. He takes what these people know about the law--abolishes it--and then rebuilds it on a new foundation--a heart foundation. It really is all about our hearts and minds--what we think and feel. Jesus is already an amazing, provocative teacher. I'm glad he continues to teach us all these years later.

Jesus' Example: Baptism and Temptation

2010-04-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

Once again my internet was down all weekend. We are hoping to have it fixed soon, but until then, I appreciate your patience as I come to work the next day and post there. Grrr.

Day 210: Matthew 3-4
I love the story of Jesus being baptized. What beautiful imagery! Jesus rises out of the water after he was baptized, heaven opens, and the Spirit of God descends like a dove on him. And at that moment, a voice from heaven says, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." What's interesting to me here is how the baptism of Jesus is recorded in the passive voice. The passage does not say. "Jesus baptized himself," which implies that Jesus is the one doing the action. Rather, the passage says, "As soon as Jesus was baptized..." (3:16), where the one doing the action is not Jesus. This writing style indicates that baptism is not something we as individuals do; instead, baptism is an act completed on us by someone else. The Spirit is the one doing the action. God is the one doing the action. We are merely the receptacle, the tool, on which this action is completed. Metaphorically, then, this indicates that we cannot save ourselves. Someone else is doing the saving, even though we are the one completing the action.

Immediately after Jesus is baptized--at least it's the next story as recorded in the Bible--Jesus is led into the desert. Here, he faces three temptations, none of which he gives in to. Each time the devil tempts him, Jesus answers by referring to words of law, to words that have been written down and that someone knowledgeable about Scripture would know and understand. Jesus shows us that he is well-read, and he also shows us that we can say "no" to temptation. Just because temptation greets us doesn't mean that we have to give in to it. But to say "no" to temptation requires more than relying on our own strength and willpower. Here, we see that Jesus brought up past ancestors and the words of law, the words of God, to help him say no. We don't have to fight temptation on our own; we can look back to history and rely on God alone to help us, just like Jesus did.

After he was baptized and tempted, Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near" (4:17).

Connections between Old and New

2010-04-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

Day 209: Matthew 1-2

I think it's interesting that the New Testament begins with the genealogy of Jesus. The book of Matthew gives us an account of Jesus' ancestry, going all the way back to Abraham. Many of the names are familiar to us because we've just read about them in the OT. Five women are mentioned--Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba (or the "wife of Uriah") and Mary. These women have their own unique stories. Francine Rivers has even written fascinating reads over the lives of each of these women, which I recommend reading.

This genealogy serves an interesting purpose, I think--to connect the Old to the New. This strategy on the part of the compilers of the Bible--and on Matthew whose book it is that does this--reminds us that this story that's about to unfold of Jesus and the church connects to all those other stories before it. It doesn't come from nowhere but is inherently connected to all that's come before it. To the stories of the Israelites. To the lives of the non-Jews. To the stories of all people on earth. Here we have the greatest story ever told about to unfold. And Matthew connects this story to the Israelite history. What this does for us is show us that the story of Jesus has a context. It didn't just appear out of nowhere but rather was prophesied about beforehand. Jesus's ancestors are God's people, and God sends Jesus to save the world. Welcome to the world, Jesus. What an entry you had.

Reflection: From Old to New

2010-04-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

I finished the Old Testament!!! Yea!! What a journey it's been so far. And now I can't wait to be continuing the journey with the New Testament. The NT presents a different writing style, different topics, and different stories, and we finally get to the meet the man prophesied about and hoped for over and over again in in the Old Testament. I can't wait for the next several months of reading through these books of the New Testament. I hope you will continue with me on this journey.

As a celebration of the fact that I've finished the Old Testament and am now moving on to the New, I'm going to spend one day looking back over my journey through the Old Testament and reflecting on some of observations I've made so far. Along the way--every 40th day--I've reflected at specific moments in time, but today, I'm going to ponder some of what I've learned and what I've been thinking about regarding this spiritual discipline.

First, I continue to be amazed at the God I serve. He is just and forgiving. He loves the less fortunate, the oppressed, the poor. He asks us to be faithful to him, and when we are, he protects us. He is, in a word, amazing. As a child--and even in some Bible classes in college--I always heard that the Old Testament presents a different God than the New Testament--the God of the Old Testament is mean and hateful and then he gets baptized in the New Testament and becomes loving. I always heard that God in the OT seeks vengeance, destroys people, hates, and is jealous. In sum, we are to fear him out of our own fear of being destroyed, put to death, condemned to hell. However, my reading has not showed me this God at all. Yes, I recognize that God can punish and can destroy. He can be jealous, and he wants us to obey him. But the thing that is so often overlooked in these portrayals of God is that God, first and foremost, loves us. He isn't jealous for jealousy's sake. He doesn't call us to faithfulness just because he wants to be in control of us. He doesn't rule with an iron fist and make laws arbitrarily because he can. Rather, God loves us. He wants to protect us. He loves us. He loves us.

The best representation of this relationship, I think, is that of a parent to a child. As a parent, I want to discipline my children to teach them right from wrong and good from bad, but I don't like punishing them. In fact, I hate it. I dread it. But I love them. And God doesn't like to punish us either, as some would have us believe. It hurts him to do so. And through my reading and writing about the OT, I see God as a God of love. He doesn't want to hurt us. He wants to show us his love. And in the New Testament, he will do so in a way that will shock and surprise us all.

I've also really enjoyed reading about God's people. From well-known people like Joseph, Jonah, and Job to lesser known people like the prophets and the deaconnesses and the women who aren't often mentioned, I like to hear their stories. I am connected to these people. God chose Israel to be his people, and his relationship with them gives us a concrete representation of how he deals with his people. This nation is one he loves, and he expects things of them. He expects them to obey his laws, to love the weak, and to take care of the poor. He wants powerful people to help those less powerful. And I think this can be related to today as well and what he expects of us as individuals and our churches--and perhaps our government, too.

I've also re-discovered how the Bible basically has three different functions in terms of the structure: you have the narrative stories, the poetry and prayers of people, and then the prophecies in which God speaks to his people. The Bible itself, for the most part, is structured in this way, not chronological like seems logical to me. I think this structure is intentional, though, and we are given three different accounts, basically, of the same stories. These approaches allow us to see the Bible, hear the stories, and learn about the life of the Israelites from three different perspectives, which allows people to relate differently to all of them. What a wonderful study of rhetoric, literacy, and narrative. Maybe one day I'll pursue this approach. :)

Lastly, reading the Bible every day for 208 days has been quite the challenge. But then finding something to say and writing about it has been doubly hard. Life happens. Kids get sick. I get sick. The internet goes down. We travel, and I forget to take a Bible with me, and the place we're at doesn't have the internet. I just can't find the time. Other commitments come up. I work a full-time job, and this process typically takes me one hour from beginning to end. I also commute 2 hours a day, so at the end of the day when I get home from work, I may not have an hour to dedicate to this. Spiritual disciplines are hard. And I find this one to be extremely hard, too. But you know what? That's all right. God understands. He is sympathetic and forgiving and gracious when things don't go as planned (much more than humans are, I think). God just wants us to try--he wants us to get out of the boat like Peter and trust him that when we get out of our comfort zone and do something difficult, he will be there to catch us when we fall, to take our hand and pull us up out of the water. But, we must get out of the boat if we are going to walk on water. If we are going to see things anew.

So, I can't predict where the next part of this journey will go, but I appreciate you listening and interacting with me along the way. I appreciate you, readers, in more ways than you know. Whoever you are and wherever you live, thanks for reading. Some days, you are the only one who motivates me to complete this goal.

Guard Your Heart

2010-04-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

Day 208: Malachi 1-4

I find it interesting that here at the end of the Old Testament, God talks about divorce. This topic is not a common one in the OT, and bringing it up here at the end of the OT is much like bringing up a new topic in the conclusion of an essay--you shouldn't do it. I'm sure the placement of this narrative is probably more interspersed in the life of Israel than it appears to be something at the end of the journey before the New Testament begins, but I do find it interesting.

The book of Malachi is where the Lord says, "I hate divorce," and "To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty" (2:16, 17). These statements indicate that God does not like divorce. What's interesting here is that God wants us to be proactive in our marriages so that divorce never even comes up. God tells us, "Guard your heart; do not be unfaithful." He doesn't say here, "Guard your body," even though it is the body that is inherently involved in sex outside of marriage. Instead, he reminds us to guard our hearts. If we guard our hearts and protect them from getting emotionally attached to someone other than our spouse, God seems to say that we will be protected from divorce. Guarding our heart is a way to protect ourselves within the confines of marriage. If we never put ourselves in situations where we might become emotionally attached to someone else, then we won't be tempted to be in relationships that we shouldn't be.

I think that this concept of guarding our heart can actually be applied to our relationship with the Lord, too. When we let our hearts have other gods, we have not guarded our hearts as God as asked us to do. As we go out today, let's all protect our hearts so that they are reserved for God and for our spouse alone.

The Lord Is Our God!

2010-04-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

Day 207: Zechariah 9-14

Whenever Jesus is prophesied about in the Old Testament, I find myself becoming giddy. I'm excited that I am almost finished with my OT reading and that I will be moving on to the New Testament soon. But I also get excited because of the way that these people who lived in a time before Jesus waited in anticipation of their coming Messiah. Jesus was coming soon, and these prophets were preparing the minds of the Israelites for this to happen. Zechariah describes Jesus as righteous and victorious, yet humble, someone who rides on a donkey. And the Lord God is contrasted somewhat with Jesus. The accounts aren't contradictory, but they merely show that one of the dominant characterizations of Jesus is humility and that of God is power. And our God becomes powerful through humility.

Zechariah 13:9 says:
"I will bring that group through the fire
      and make them pure.
   I will refine them like silver
      and purify them like gold.
   They will call on my name,
      and I will answer them.
   I will say, ‘These are my people,’
      and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

God is good, and He is sending Jesus soon to save these people and to save us. The Lord is our God!

Oppression Revisited

2010-04-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

Day 206: Zechariah 5-8

This is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other. ---Zechariah 7:9

This message keeps popping up again and again and again in the prophetic books. It's not just any message; it's the message that got the Israelites in major trouble with God because they did not follow it. May we not be like Israel and abide by this command. The world would be a much better place if we all applied this in our own lives--to the people around us in our local communities.

A New Hope

2010-04-03T15:09:00.000-07:00

Day 206: Zechariah 1-4

I could go into detail about the various visions the prophet Zechariah has, but I won't. I'm just going to sum up Zechariah's message to the people here: Jesus is coming soon, so get yourselves right with the Lord.

Haggai

2010-04-02T15:02:00.000-07:00

Day 205: Haggai 1-2

I'm not too sure why the book of Haggai is in the Bible, mainly because I don't understand it and think that most of this information was given elsewhere. But then again, this is a prophecy, not a narrative story and not prayers and songs, like the other books that mention the rebuilding of the temple. Haggai's message was to build the temple and give the people a place to worship the Lord. The people get to work immediately building the temple.

The Day of the Lord

2010-04-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

Day 204: Zephaniah 1-3

Zephaniah, the prophet, writes about the Day of the Lord, a day when the Lord will judge and destroy Israel and Judah for all their wrongdoing, their sin. The faithful will be delivered, and the unfaithful will be destroyed.

I'm not sure exactly what the Day of the Lord is, whether it's come or whether it hasn't. Or whether the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus actually means this Day of the Lord will never happen.

But it seems that God is serious about us being faithful to him. He is in control of our lives, and he wants us to be faithful to him. He made us, and we are his. He wants us to seek him, to seek righteousness. Seek humility. We could all use to work on becoming more righteous and more humble. I don't know what's to come, but God wants it from us, and we should thus give it to him.

The LORD your God is with you,
       the Mighty Warrior who saves.
       He will take great delight in you;
       in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
       but will rejoice over you with singing.

Utterly Amazing

2010-03-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

Day 203: Habakkuk 1-3

What an interesting conversation between Habakkuk and the Lord. Habakkuk cries out to the Lord, begging for answers, wondering when he will ever respond. When will he save them? When will will he respond to the injustice, to the wrongdoing. God tells Habakkuk in 1:5,

Look at the nations and watch—
       and be utterly amazed.
       For I am going to do something in your days
       that you would not believe,
       even if you were told.

God is going to do something utterly amazing. And this something is actually a something. The Lord Jesus. He's coming to save these people. God knows it and tells his people to keep hope because this act is going to be so amazing that they wouldn't even believe it if they were told.

So Habakkuk decides what his respond is going to be. In spite of pain and suffering and the lack of justice occurring on earth, Habakkuk will trust in the Lord. He will rejoice in the Lord. The Lord is his strength, and he will be joyful in Him. What a hopeful message to all of us.

--------

Have you ever wondered where this first comes from? It's Habakkuk 2:20.

The LORD is in his holy temple;
       let all the earth be silent before him.

Our God: Jealous, Yet Patient

2010-03-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

Day 203: Nahum 1-3

The book of Nahum is about Nineveh. The same city that Jonah went to preach the message of judgment and redemption against. And here, the prophet Nahum, devotes an entire book to giving a prophecy against this wicked, evil city. He tells them how God is angry at them, "against" them.

What strikes me about this short book is the description Nahum provides of God. Here is what he says:

The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;
       the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
       The LORD takes vengeance on his foes
       and vents his wrath against his enemies.
The LORD is slow to anger but great in power;
       the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.
       His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
       and clouds are the dust of his feet.

God is jealous; he will seek revenge. He is avenging and powerful. Yet in spite of this immense power, he is also "slow to anger." Although the entire book of Nahum details the demise of Nineveh, we know from the book of Jonah that God ultimately saves Nineveh. His compassion and patience win out over destruction. Yes, God is jealous. He wants us all to himself. Yet he's also patient with us. He gives us a lot of chances. What a mighty God we serve!

The Meaning of It All in Three Complex Words

2010-03-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

Day 202: Micah 5-7

That last post was a bold one for me, and I'm still in my initial thinking about these things, but thanks for all your feedback. What great thoughts all of you have.

The reading for today contains a verse that spells out so clearly what God wants of us. You are probably familiar with it, too. Micah 6:8b says, "And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God"

Justice, mercy, and humility. There it is, all spelled out in three words.

And all of those terms coincide so much with my thoughts in the last post. He requires us to act justly, to treat others as we would want to be treated. To help those weaker than us--in whatever way that means. He also wants us to "love mercy." Wow, to do something good for someone who can't do it for themselves. To be compassionate and sympathetic but to also take action by forgiving, forgetting, loving, and doing all those other things God does for us. Finally, God wants us to show humility in our walk with God. He wants us to remember that we don't have it all figured out and that we shouldn't judge people for them not having it figured it either. Seeking humility about all else. Putting others above ourselves. Not judging harshly or condemning people for their beliefs, viewpoints, or actions.

These words, though "simple" in the traditional sense, are complex concepts that we could all do better exploring their meaning and application for ourselves and our communities.

Grrr!

2010-03-29T15:39:00.000-07:00

What a frustrating week in terms of my blog. Our internet has been down all week! And even though I've had access at work, I haven't been able to stay late and upload it. So, I'm once again playing catch-up. It can be quite frustrating to live in a town with ONE choice of internet provider, and it goes in and out all the time. Hopefully, I can gain access some other way. So hang in there, the posts will be coming! Thanks.

What's Mine Is Mine!

2010-03-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

Day 201: Micah 1-4

I have heard the following arguments throughout my life:
     *Individuals, not the government, should give to the poor, the oppressed, the needy.
     *My money is my money, and I don't want the government taking my money and giving it someone else.
     *I already give my money to noble causes, and the government has no right to take my money and give it away to someone who doesn't have any.

At certain points in my life, I, too, believed that the government didn't have a right to take money away from an individual. Individuals who work hard and earn money shouldn't be penalized by those who don't work hard and don't earn money. At the times I believed these things, I was a giver. I gave money to churches and other organizations, and I also gave of my time. Still, I believed that we shouldn't have so many government programs that help people who aren't working hard, like I was.

I hope you can see that I don't believe this creed anymore. While I still believe that hard work and hard effort can pay dividends, I also believe that people "without" are not necessarily "without" because they aren't working hard. Instead, many other factors are at work, including family background, educational opportunities, race, and gender.

Many people I know--good people, Christian people--still believe that the government "should not take my money and give it away." Just last week, for instance, I heard a friend of mine say, "I don't want my money going to pay for someone else's healthcare." This comment came from a Christian. She is a good person, but I think she misses the point.

First, my money isn't really my money to begin with. The Bible tells us that everything we have comes from the Lord, so it's really not ours in the first place. It's God's money. He's given it to us. We haven't earned it. He's given to us. So when we start becoming possessive about our money and everything else we have, we need to remember that it's all God's to begin with. He can give, and he can take away.

Second, and I think more important, is something I have learned in my journey through reading the Old Testament prophets: that this notion of mine and yours is less biblical than the notion of "what I have can be given to you"--not only in the Jesus sense but also based on God's relationship with Israel.

We are an individualistic culture. Everything is about me and my. But God's relationship with Israel was communal. They were all responsible for the mistakes of everyone else. The entire nation was responsible for taking care of the least among them. As a nation, they were even responsible for not oppressing and taking advantage of lesser nations, weaker nations.

These prophets, including Micah, talk about how Israel will be judged and condemned because of their oppression. Those with the money and power will be judged because of their oppression of those who don't have money or power. The nation as a whole is judged, not just individuals who have money and give. It seems that God, through these prophets, condemns how the tax system is unfair, how it privileges the wealthy and exploits the poor. For these reasons, I no longer can believe that God doesn't have a side on taxes--how the rich should have higher taxes so the poor can live a better life. God punishes Israel--he judges and condemns them--for not taking care of the oppressed and the poor, and God might punish America, too, for these same reasons, especially if Christians do not start fighting for the poor.

I know this subject is a sensitive one. All sides think they are doing right and that their values and beliefs coincide with God. What scripture tells us again and again is that God cares for the weakest amongst us. My question here is: "Do we?" And if we do care about these people like we say we do, then what does this mean in terms of how we think about our money?

What's mine is mine?
What's mine is God's?
What's mine is yours?

Reflection 5: Continuing on through the Prophets

2010-03-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

Day 200: Reflection 5

These last 40 days have been some of the most difficult ones on this journey, mainly because I've been reading the prophetic books, and they aren't as easy to process and relate to as the narrative ones. In addition, they are written in such a different style where much of it seems like a fantasy genre. It's not as easy to relate to and understand, and readers really need much more of a context for understanding what is going on here. In the future, it would be interesting to examine these books in the context of the narrative unfolding of the events. But this is not my purpose, nor do I have the time. In spite of these difficulties, though, I'm still journeying on. I've gotten behind a few times due to sickness and other factors, but I'm still continuing on my path. Thanks for reading.

The More the Merrier

2010-03-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Day 200: Jonah 3-4

The Lord called Jonah a second time, telling him to go to Nineveh and preach to them. Jonah didn't run this time; instead, he obeyed. He went to Nineveh and told them to repent. He did this, not believing that Nineveh would change. But what's crazy is that Nineveh did change. God's dream to have them repent and turn to him occurred. They fasted and prayed. They grew in the Lord. And God did not bring the destruction on them that he had threatened.

And what was Jonah's response? He was angry. He told God that he didn't want God to be forgiving, gracious, and compassionate. He wanted to send them calamity and destruction, and so he asks God to take away his life. Does Jonah's response here surprise you? That he wanted people to be punished for their sins. It's easy for us to judge Jonah and not put ourselves in his shoes, but we are often like Jonah, even if we don't recognize it. We get angry when people aren't punished for their sins, when destruction does not come upon them, when good things happen to bad people. In our mind, it's so unjust.

But God responds to Jonah by asking him if he had a right to be angry.

Jonah doesn't respond but instead goes out of the city, builds himself a shelter, and watched the city, waiting for it to be destroyed. But God sends some sort of shade tree to protect Jonah, and Jonah was very happy about this. But then God sent a worm to chew up the gourd. Jonah is parched and weak and faint. He wants to die. He's angry that the gourd has disappeared and that it's no longer there to protect him.

God asks Jonah if he has a right to be angry. And Jonah says that he does. But God corrects Jonah. He reminds Jonah that this shade tree was provided for him, and he didn't tend it or make it grow. And he goes on to point out that Ninevah, like Jonah, is important to him.

God cares about people. He cares about individuals, and he cares about communities. And he wants to save us, just like he saved Jonah and Nineveh. What a mighty God we serve.

Running Away

2010-03-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

Day 199: Jonah 1-2

The notion of calling has received a great deal of attention recently. What does it mean to be called? Well, we are all called to love God and love people--those are, in fact, the two greatest commandments. After these, we are also called to obey God (which is encompassed in loving him) and to follow his will. However, we want to know how this personally relates to us, how our life is going to end up on an individual basis. What should we major in? What job should we have? What should we do with our life? These questions are ones we ask ourselves so that we can better know God's purpose for our lives. Although we are all called to love God and love people, we want more specific answers.

But what happens when we don't like the answer?

Jonah was given explicit instructions by God to go to Ninevah and preach to them about their wickedness, to condemn them for it. But Jonah didn't want to go. So what does he do? He runs. Yes, he runs from God. He jumps on a ship, gets thrown overboard, and ends up in the belly of a big fish. Here, he reflects on what he has done. He also prays to the Lord and confesses his sins to the Lord. He repents, too, and then the fish spits him out.

The story of Jonah is a familiar one, but what stands out to me now is just how applicable this story is to our own life. Like Jonah, we run from God when he calls us to do something that scares us, that we don't think needs to be done, or that we are resentful about doing. We run and trouble follows us, just like it does with Jonah when a storm comes to his boat. Then, we get into so much trouble that we need saving and along comes something to lead us to reflect, hopefully to pray and talk to God rather than run to him. And then, we are restored. The trouble is, however, that this is often a cycle we get ourselves into. Running and getting caught. Running and getting caught.

But God doesn't want us to run. He needs us. He has plans for each of us, and he can use us to help further the His kingdom. We are here for a purpose, to love people and to show them the way to the cross. Let's all stop running and look to how God can use us. We only have one life to live.

Obadiah's Retribution

2010-03-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

Day 198: Obadiah

The book of Obadiah is the shortest one in the Old Testament. In fact, the Bible I'm reading from doesn't even show that it contains chapters, only verses, because it doesn't contain more than one chapter. The book is written by the prophet Obadiah who, like most of the other prophets in the OT, speaks of the judgment of a nation and the hope that one day Judah and Israel will be restored. Obadiah speaks these truths based on a vision he had, and he proclaims to the people that "Day of the Lord" is coming. This promise was a hopeful one for people in captivity, in exile.

In my previous blog post, I mentioned how Amos seems to use the term justice to mean equality rather than judgment (or an eye for an eye). In Obadiah, however, Obadiah speaks to Edom and tells them that their role in destroying Jerusalem--how this country destroyed and betrayed their brother Jacob--will come back to haunt them. That is, what they did to Israel and Judah will be done to them. Retributive justice. God will punish Edom for its sins. They betrayed their relatives and will be punished. Opposite of Edom, however, is Israel who will prosper because God is with these people.

Here's just a bit of explanation of the book.

Righteousness and the Poor: A Christian Response

2010-03-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

Day 197: Amos 5-9

Martin Luther King, Jr.--a preacher, a leader of the civil rights movement--drew from the book of Amos in one of his speeches. On April 3, 1968, King delivered a speech in Memphis, Tennessee, in support of the striking sanitation workers. In the speech, King addresses ministers and preachers, calling them to be like Amos, like Jesus. He uses a verse from Amos 5:24 that says, "But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"

Here are the words from King's speech:

It's a marvelous picture. Who is it that is supposed to articulate the longings and aspirations of the people more than the preacher? Somehow the preacher must be an Amos, and say, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Somehow, the preacher must say with Jesus, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor."

King delivered this speech the day before he was assassinated.

Like King, the prophet Amos also had a passion for the poor. Amos prophesies about justice, not the type of justice we typically think of when we think of justice--an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth--but justice in the sense equality. Equality for the poor. No oppression. No lesser-than status. Just equality. Here are some examples from these chapters in Amos:

You levy a straw tax on the poor
       and impose a tax on their grain.
       Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,
       you will not live in them;
       though you have planted lush vineyards,
       you will not drink their wine.

There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes
       and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

Hate evil, love good;
       maintain justice in the courts.

This is the Amos that Martin Luther King, Jr. draws on to argue that the poor deserve justice, that they don't deserve to be oppressed or persecuted. They don't deserve injustice. Instead, they deserve justice. Equality. They deserve to have rights, in spite of them being poor. They deserve what everyone else has. And we need to help them do it.

Where do we stand on this issue of poverty? Of helping the poor? Of taking from our abundance and giving to those who have less? We look at the poor (and so many other issues) through political eyes rather than through the eyes of Jesus. How did Jesus look at the poor? He's come, and he's done so much. We shouldn't think, "What would Jesus do?" Rather, we should ask, "What did Jesus do?" How did he treat the poor? He already did it. I think MLK had it right when he observed that Jesus cared for the poor. And as Jesus did, so should we. No matter what our political leanings are, if we claim to be Christians, then we should care for the poor. We should do things that help the poor. It's the righteous thing to do. It should be the Christian response.

"Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"

Amos: Another Prophet Predicting Judgment and Redemption

2010-03-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

Day 196: Amos 1-4

Amos, oh Amos. Another book of prophecy about the judgment and redemption of Israel. I would say by now that this has been a consistent theme throughout, but if you've been reading my blog consistently, you would already know that.

One thing that does strike me, though, is how forgiving--and patient--God is. He tells the people--through Amos--that for three sins, even four, He will not turn his back on them. This shows a compassionate God, a forgiving God. A God that loves people.

God also tells the Israelites:

"You only have I chosen
       of all the families of the earth;
       therefore I will punish you
       for all your sins."

Because God chose them, He had expectations of how they would act. He even thought that they should remain faithful to Him. When they didn't fulfill his expectations, He vowed to punish them for their sins.

Another poignant passage about God comes from Amos 4:13.

He who forms the mountains,
       who creates the wind,
       and who reveals his thoughts to mortals,
       who turns dawn to darkness,
       and treads on the heights of the earth—
       the LORD God Almighty is his name.

The Book of Joel

2010-03-22T22:10:00.000-07:00

Day 195: Joel 1-3

The book of Joel isn't very long. Three chapters in fact. Fewer chapters than my daily reading. But Joel is another prophet. He witnesses a plague of locusts (I'm not sure if it's the one recorded in Exodus or a different plague) and a lengthy drought and calls on everyone--all Israelites--to repent. He tells the Israelites that they will be judged for their unfaithfulness and, unlike other prophets who focus on the redemption of Israel and Judah, Joel focuses on their punishment. The book is a bit dismal and gloomy, but that's because his purpose seems to be to condemn the Israelites for their naughty, sinful behavior. However, Joel does end with a description of the bountiful blessings God will give his people if they return to Him.

A well-known verse is recorded in Joel. Here's Joel 2:13:

Rend your heart and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.

This description of God is beautiful. Slow to anger and abounding in love. Gracious and compassionate. Forgiving. Our God is and has always been a loving, forgiving God. How wonderful to know that who He was then is who He is now.

Amazing Love

2010-03-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

Day 194: Hosea 9-14

What's interesting to me about the story of Hosea and Gomer is that Hosea married Gomer knowing that she would be unfaithful. God told her that she would become an adulterer, that she would have affairs, that she would have relationships with many different men. And yet Hosea still married her. Did you process that? Hosea still married her, knowing she would cheat on him and have other lovers. He still did it. He still married her. Wow. How stupid is that? Would you marry someone that you knew would cheat on you? Would be unfaithful to you? I wouldn't.

But Hosea did.

And God did, too. God loved us, he chose us, he "married" us to him, all the while knowing that we would sin, that we would have other gods, that we would have other lovers besides Him. He still loved us and chose us. In spite of our unfaithfulness to him. Wow.

I'm not going to say that God is stupid. No way is he stupid! On the contrary, he's AMAZING. That he did that for us. That He sacrificed his own self-interests and loved us instead. He is truly AMAZING. And Hosea was pretty amazing, too. He married and loved Gomer in spite of her flaws and eventually she finds redemption. She commits to Hosea and remains faithful to us.

This story is a wonderful parallel to our relationship with God. We have been redeemed by the love of God. The blood of Jesus bought our salvation. And how amazing is that!

As surely as the sun rises, he will come

2010-03-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

Day 193: Hosea 5-8

Hear the Word of the Lord from Hosea 6:1-3

"Come, let us return to the LORD.
       He has torn us to pieces
       but he will heal us;
       he has injured us
       but he will bind up our wounds.
After two days he will revive us;
       on the third day he will restore us,
       that we may live in his presence.
Let us acknowledge the LORD;
       let us press on to acknowledge him.
       As surely as the sun rises,
       he will appear;
       he will come to us like the winter rains,
       like the spring rains that water the earth."

That last part is beautiful. Yes, let us acknowledge the Lord for he will come. And he will come in a big way.

An Unfaithful Wife

2010-03-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

Day 192: Hosea 1-4

God tells Hosea to marry an "adulterous wife." So what does Hosea do? He marries Gomer. I'm not sure if she is a prostitute or not, but basically she provides a metaphor for the relationship between God and Israel. Israel is unfaithful, yet God is continuously faithful. The metaphor of the unfaithful wife can also be applied to us today and how often we turn from God. I'm just now into the beginning of the book, but the key thing to understand here is that God is always faithful--no matter how we respond. God loves us unconditionally. He always will. But he wants us to turn to him and live the life that he has envisioned for us. The New Testament discusses how we are the brides of Christ. May we all become more faithful to the Lord God and Jesus.

Daniel: A Man of Faith and Commitment

2010-03-18T06:54:00.000-07:00

Day 191: Daniel 9-12

The book of Daniel ends with many different prophecies Daniel delivers and shows us what a great prophet and man Daniel truly was. He lived a life of faithfulness and commitment. He was a faithful and obedient servant to God for all of his life, and his name lives on as one of the greatest prophets that has ever lived. I haven't really ever thought of Daniel as a prophet, and maybe he's not thought of that way by theologians and historians. However, he does deliver prophetic visions to the nation, telling the people that they can be assured that although they are in captivity, God is still working among them. What a wonderful message. What a wonderful way to live a life--telling and proclaiming the news about God. What an amazing life Daniel lived.

How Will You Respond to Tests?

2010-03-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

Day 190: Daniel 5-8

Just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego resisted temptation and stayed faithful to God, in this passage Daniel does the same thing. He does not follow King Darius' edict and bow down to him. Instead, three times a day he goes to his room, gets down on his knees, and gives thanks to God, just as he had been doing before the edict was passed. And even though King Darius wanted to rescue Daniel, he instead had him thrown into a den of lions. But God protected Daniel. He shut the mouths of the lions and not harm came to Daniel. And what happened next? Darius threw the men who had falsely accused Daniel and their families, including women and children, into the lion's den. They were immediately eaten up and killed. The king then issued an order saying that everyone should fear and reverence the God of Daniel. What an amazing story of faith and trust in God.

Every day we are faced with the decision to trust God or to not. We may not realize it, but this decision is a common one for us. Bad things happen to us. People can be mean and hurtful to us. Temptation can knock on our doors. We can get into fights with our spouse or our children. We sin. We experience pain and suffering, even death. Each day we must ask ourselves the question of how will we respond. Will we trust God, or will we look out for ourselves and our own self-interests? The men in Daniel chose to trust God. They put their faith in Him and were not shaken. And interestingly enough, they were rewarded for it. They did not get eaten up by lions or burned up in a fire. Instead, they lived. And they were even promoted in the earthly kingdoms in which they lived. They also were witnesses to others, both times leading a king to come to know and believe in the one true God.

Today, we experience God in different ways than they did. We are not often--at least in America--sentenced to death for believing in God. However, we are like the people in the OT in that we are daily confronted with whether we will live a selfish life--one that looks only to our self-interests--or an unselfish one that trusts God and puts our lives in his hand. As we go about our days, look for those moments when you are called to make a decision about something. How will you respond? What will you do? Will you respond like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Or will you choose to trust yourself and others instead? How will you experience God and show Him that you trust Him with all that is in you, even if it means death at the hands of others?

Even If He Does Not

2010-03-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

Day 189: Daniel 1-4

Daniel is one of my favorite books of the Bible. It has so many great stories in it and is full of many wonderful lessons and examples for us today. Daniel trains and serves in King Nebuchadnezzar's court. He is a wise person and makes a great impact on the king. He even interprets the king's dream and saves all the wise men in the court from death. Daniel is promoted to a place of honor within the kingdom, much like Joseph was in Pharaoh's court.

King Nebuchadnezzar seems like he is moved by Daniel's belief in the Lord God, but this is not so. Eventually, King Nebuchadnezzar sets up a a golden image and requires all people to bow down to it. There are some Jews, however, who refuse. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not bow down to the idol and refused to acknowledge the king's threat, the king grew furious and turned the furnace up seven times hotter than usual.

Listen to what the three men say to King Nebuchadnezzar,
"King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If the God we serve is able to deliver us, then he will deliver us from the blazing furnace and from Your Majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Then, the three men were tied up and thrown into the furnace. But a fourth image was also walking around in the fire and Nebuchadnezzar was distraught and scared and ordered the men to come out. When they came out, Nebuchadnezzar praised God and promoted the three men in Babylon.

There is much to comment on here, but I'll focus here on two main areas: Nebuchadnezzar and the attitude of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

First is King Nebuchadnezzar. I typically think of the king as a bad, power-hungry man. He required men to bow down and worship an idol and he killed people if they did not do so. However, it's interesting to note that Nebuchadnezzar is constantly being pulled through his circumstances to worship the one true God. He worships the Lord when Daniel interprets two of his dreams. He believes again when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are not burned in the fiery furnace. And he does so again when his power and glory is taken from him. Nebuchadnezzar believes. He witnesses miracles, extraordinary events, and he is impacted by them--even though it goes against his other beliefs. He witnesses the miraculous God and believes. Yes, he makes mistakes, but ultimately, he believes.

The other thing to discuss are the attitudes of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, three extraordinary men who stay true to their belief and faith in the Lord God. They were not going to bow down to an idol even though they knew it would mean being thrown into a fire and killed. We don't really know if they were scared or not; I would imagine that they were. And yet, they looked Nebuchadnezzar in the eye and told him that they do not need to justify their behavior to him. They even go so far as to say that they trust God that he will deliver them and let them live. They have complete and utter faith that he will save them.

And yet. "Even if he does not." They will still not serve his gods or worship the idols he has constructed. Wow. What faith! They trust God and believe he will do what they ask, but even if he does not, they will still trust God and believe in Him. What a testament to faith these men are. I hope to have the type of faith these men have, a faith that asks God for things and trusts that, even if he does not answer my prayers the way I want him to, I will still trust God and stay faithful to him.

The Church Leaves the Building

2010-03-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

Day 188: Ezekiel 45-48

Ezekiel 45:9: "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have gone far enough, O princes of Israel! Give up your violence and oppression and do what is just and right."

That last sentence strikes me as powerful. How often do we oppress people? Historically, we have oppressed blacks, Jews, women, poor people, and numerous others. At our best moments, churches lead the fight to stop this oppression. Many of the first and most well-known abolitionists were Christians. Churches respond to calls for help when earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis come. We take in orphans. We run homes for children without any parents.

But we also oppress people. In our hearts. In our actions. We do it. And woe to us. God wants us to do what is "just and right." He wants justice. He wants righteousness. He wants morality. May this verse percolate on your mind today as you seek to do what is just and right.

---

Ezekiel 47 is a meaningful passage to me. When Shane and I were church planting, one of our friends led a "lectio divino" over it. This ancient spiritual practice involves reading a passage of scripture aloud with other people and then reflecting on it three different times. The first read through you listen for one thing, the next read something else, and the third time something else.

Out of all the passages that I have done this practice with, this one is my favorite. This chapter talks about a river leading out of the temple. As the river flows from the temple, it gets wider and deeper, produces more fruit, and has more beautiful trees. The water becomes fresh the further it goes, and swarms of living creatures abide there.

What a beautiful metaphor for how we as Christians are called to live our lives. We are to go to the temple, for that is where we go to get fed, purified, refreshed--the throne of the Lord. Then, we leave the temple, or church, and we go out into the world and share with others what we know. The trees outside the temple bear much fruit, and we, through our relationships with others, do the same.

When I was a church planter, this passage indicated to me the importance of being out in the world for it is in the world that the fruit trees live. I was excited about this, and I did it with zest and passion. Now that I am back in the world of organizational churches, this passage still means the same, except that I also understand the difficulty that comes with leaving the temple. It's comfortable to be around people we know, in a familiar place. It's a lot harder to leave.

But we must. We must go out; we must follow the river out from the temple to the places that God leads us so that we can bear the kind of fruit he has already prepared to grow. Last week, our church participated in a "Prayer Walk" as part of our month-long Season of Prayer. We walked the neighborhoods of our small town. We prayed in front of houses. We learned more about the history of our city and the people living in it. But we left the building. That is the first step in a journey of becoming more and more the people God has called us to be. May you leave the building this week and venture out into unknown and unfamiliar places along this river.

Renewing Holiness

2010-03-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

Day 187: Ezekiel 40-44

Ezekiel has a vision of a specific temple, and these chapters detail what the temple will look like. The temple Ezekiel envisions includes a wall, many different gates, outer and inner courts, rooms for the priests and for preparing sacrifices, a sanctuary, an altar, and the most holy place. It doesn't appear that this temple was ever built, and I'm not quite sure of the significance of this temple. Perhaps Ezekiel's detailed explanation about the temple is to serve as a message to Israel about the holy people they are supposed to be. The temple gives Israel a place of worship and might encourage them to return to holiness, to renew their commitment to the Lord.

It's interesting to me--and I know I've said this before--how much of the Bible reflects the same theme, the same story, just told in different ways. Israel is God's people. Israel leaves the Lord. The Lord pleads for them to repent. Israel repents. Israel strays again. And over and over and over again you have this motif.

But what I also find interesting is that we do the same thing as Israel does. Israel didn't get it, and neither do we. God wants us to pursue him. He wants us to be holy. He has called us. He has named us. But we stray. We sin. We turn our back on the Lord. We look out for our own self-interests. And through scripture, God is calling us to renew our hearts and minds by worshiping him in the temple. He's built this great place for us, and he wants us to come. To sit by His side and listen to Him. To worship Him. To love Him. If we renew our faith, He will make us holy.

Prophecies, Prophecies, and More Prophecies Cont.

2010-03-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

Day 185: Ezekiel 33-36

More of the same here. Prophecies about the Israelites and the Edomites. The entire book of Obadiah is about the Edomites, so it's interesting that they are prophesied about here. Things don't look good for the Edomites (the descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother).

Prophecies, Prophecies, and More Prophecies

2010-03-11T11:55:00.000-08:00

Day 184: Ezekiel 29-32

More prophecies against the nations are handed out. A continuation of the last several posts. I'm sure I could delve into the nuances of some of these prophecies, but frankly I don't have the historical background to understand them all. So this is all for today.

God's Judgments

2010-03-10T06:43:00.000-08:00

Day 183: Ezekiel 25-28

Prophecy after prophecy after prophecy about destroying nations. Judgment, judgment, and more judgment.

Rambling Idiots

2010-03-09T14:49:00.000-08:00

Day 182: Ezekiel 20-24

With all that is going on in our country today--a bad economy, a massive debate about healthcare for all, poverty, injustice, and on and on and on--I read Ezekiel with a mind towards God and all that he can do to save our country. God can solve all our problems. He will do so when he comes. All the stupidity, idiocy, and hatred will be gone and replaced with love. Come, Lord Jesus, please come soon and save us from all this. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of America thinking that they alone are your people. I'm tired of people not looking out for the poor, the orphans, and the widows. I'm tired of people equating Christianity with America and seeing the values of both as one and the same. Please, Lord, come soon. But if you don't, please show Christians how to live in this culture but to be different from it. Please, Lord. Please.

Another WHAT??

2010-03-08T18:01:00.000-08:00

Day 181: Ezekiel 16-19

I was quite surprised to read this tonight from Ezekiel 16: 23-26:

"'Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign LORD. In addition to all your other wickedness, you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square. At every street corner you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty, spreading your legs with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by. You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your neighbors with large genitals, and aroused my anger with your increasing promiscuity."

And what did the Lord do in response? He stretched out his hand against them and shrunk their territory.

This passage reminds me of another strange verse in the Bible, Deuteronomy 25:11 (see here for a commentary and the scripture itself). I'm not quite sure what to think of this, so I'm just going to leave it and go on.

The Time Is Now

2010-03-07T18:01:00.000-08:00

Day 180: Ezekiel 13-15

One day, we will all know that the Lord is God. May it not be because God has to turn his wrath against us and hurt our land. Let it be now. There is no greater time than now.

Difficult Days

2010-03-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

Day 179: Ezekiel 9-12

We still are feeling sick here. It's been a long couple of days. But a discipline is a discipline, and I will continue to go on (even if I'm still a little behind). Fighting through the temptation not to do it is not easy, but I have to fight through it. Still, I don't have much to write about. Ezekiel continues to prophecy to the Israelite people, and he talks a lot about the glory of the Lord. I think I need a commentary to understand all of it. I really don't know what much of this means. But I don't have a commentary, so I'm just going to let the ideas percolate and simmer while I continue reading.

Today is the Day

2010-03-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

Day 178: Ezekiel 5-8

Sickness is plaguing our family right now, and I don't have much energy or brain power to even try to process all that is being said in the book of Ezekiel. There is a lot of talk of God destroying Israel because of their unfaithfulness. This theme has been repeated over and over again throughout the OT. The end has come for Israel (7:6). Israel is doomed (7:7). The Lord will pour out his wrath and anger against them (7:8). God has decided to destroy Israel. He will judge them by the standards they have used against others (7:27).

And then, only then, will they know that God is Lord.

Let us not be like Israel. Let us seek the Lord now. Today. There's no better time than now. Let us know, today, that the Lord is God.

Ezekiel Sees a Wheel and Becomes a Prophet

2010-03-04T19:29:00.000-08:00

Day 177: Ezekiel 1-4

When I was young, we learned this song about Ezekiel seeing a wheel in the air. I never really knew what that specific reference meant, and after reading these four chapters, I still don't really get it. What I do know, though, is that the glory of the Lord appeared to Ezekiel and called him to be a prophet. The Spirit had a presence in his life, and he responded to it. In fact, the word "Spirit" is used several times here. Ezekiel was to speak to Israel and to deliver to them messages from the Lord.

How will you respond to the Lord's call? Will you say "yes"? Will you hear his voice calling? Will you allow the Spirit to work in your life?

Dancing and Mourning

2010-03-03T19:28:00.001-08:00

Day 176: Lamentations 4-5

Lamentations is a book for mourners. It is a book for people who have lost hope, who have experienced pain and loss, and who have become separated from God. Lamentations 5:15 says, "Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning." This book is about people who have lost hope and who are now crying out to God for help.

In recent years, much more than ever before, I have felt that much of the joy and hope I had as a young person has turned to mourning for one reason or another. It is no secret that I have been depressed over the last year of my life. I also suffered from postpartum depression after my son Peyton was born almost twenty years ago. Whereas I had experienced so much joy and happiness before, now I felt sad, lonely, and alone. I mourned. I felt the loss. I suffered. Lost hopes and dreams. Unnecessary conflict. Tired resignation. Worry. Anxiety. Sadness. Loneliness.

And although my dancing turned to mourning, God still came in. And he turned my mourning, my loneliness, my depression back into dancing, joy, happiness. God came in, and he restored my hope.

I am officially off depression medicine, and it feels good. I know, though, that dancing between mourning and joy is a part of life, but God is in control and he continues to rule my life.

Steadfast Love of the Lord

2010-03-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

Day 175: Lamentations 1-3

The book of Lamentations is pretty grim, but hope still remains. I leave you today with this thought from Lamentations 3:18-26.

So I say, "My splendor is gone
       and all that I had hoped from the LORD."
    I remember my affliction and my wandering,
       the bitterness and the gall.
    I well remember them,
       and my soul is downcast within me.
    Yet this I call to mind
       and therefore I have hope:
    Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
       for his compassions never fail.
    They are new every morning;
       great is your faithfulness.
    I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
       therefore I will wait for him."
    The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
       to the one who seeks him;
    it is good to wait quietly
       for the salvation of the LORD.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; it is new every morning.

Future Calling

2010-03-01T17:02:00.000-08:00

Day 174: Jeremiah 50-52

"In those days, at that time,"
       declares the LORD,
       "the people of Israel and the people of Judah together
       will go in tears to seek the LORD their God.
They will ask the way to Zion
       and turn their faces toward it.
       They will come and bind themselves to the LORD
       in an everlasting covenant
       that will not be forgotten.

The people of the Lord will go in tears together and seek the Lord. They will ask how they can get to Zion, and then they will turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant.

This reference to Israel and Judah--the people of the Lord--can be applied to us, too. We are the people of the Lord today, and one day we will seek the Lord. We will turn our faces toward Him, and we will make a covenant with God.

All knees will bow down. All mouths will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. We will all worship the Lord. One day.

Reading

2010-02-28T17:01:00.001-08:00

Day 173: Jeremiah 47-49

There's not much to say today, probably because I don't really understand it all. I'll keep reading until I do.

Random Thoughts

2010-02-27T17:01:00.000-08:00

Day 172: Jeremiah 41-46

Just like God spares Jeremiah's life, he also spares Baruch's life. He protects him from harm. God cares for his people.

Listen to this verse. Jeremiah 46:20: "Egypt is a beautiful heifer." Huh? What does that mean? Is that supposed to be a good thing? I don't think that was a compliment back in middle school, but maybe in Bible times, it was.

A Powerful Prophet

2010-02-26T17:00:00.000-08:00

Day 171: Jeremiah 37-40

The story of King Zedekiah and Jeremiah reminds me of Joseph and his relationship with Pharaoh. It's amazing to me how these people who have so much earthly power seem to bow and humble themselves in front of the Lord's appointed people.

Jerusalem falls to Babylon, but King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gives orders to his men to take Jeremiah but not to hurt him. It's interesting that he spares him.

Written Words

2010-02-25T17:00:00.000-08:00

Day 170: Jeremiah 33-36

As a teacher of writing, chapter 36 really interests me. Here, you find the instructions given to Jeremiah to write down all the words of the Lord. Jeremiah dictated the words of the Lord to Baruch, and Baruch wrote them down on a scroll. After they were all written down, Baruch then read the scroll aloud to all the people outside the Temple.

We take for granted having access to the words of the Lord. Bibles are prevalent. We probably have several located around our homes. We can even read it for free on the Internet. Our access is abundant, and we take it for granted.

But those people in the Old Testament didn't have such access, and so when things were written down they were highly valued. People came from all over to hear the words read. Oh, how much they valued scribes and people who could read. So, as we read our Bible, let's remember just how valuable it is and treasure the words of the Lord within.

Hope and a Future

2010-02-24T16:59:00.000-08:00

Day 169: Jeremiah 29-32

Jeremiah 29:10-14: This is what the Lord says: "You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you," says the Lord. "I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land."

I include this passage in its entirety so that you can better understand the context out of which it is written. Jeremiah tells the people that they will be exiled to Babylon for 70 years. After that time, God will come and fulfill all the promises he has made to them. He knows the plans he has for Israel, and they are good plans, hopeful plans.

That passage is very meaningful to me. It shows me more about God's character and how he deals with his people. It shows he's a good God, a loving God, a God who wants to bring hope instead of pain and suffering. This is a God I want to know. This is a God I want to be one with. This is a God that makes me enthusiastic about my life in Christ. Like Israel, God knows the plans he has for us, and these plans are for GOOD. Good plans. A hopeful future.

This makes me smile.

A Prophet without Honor

2010-02-23T16:59:00.000-08:00

Day 168: Jeremiah 25-28

Poor Jeremiah. He must give the Israelite people such bad news, news filled with destruction and annihilation. His news makes them want to kill him. They threaten him and try to kill him. But the Lord protects Jeremiah from harm.

What must it have been like to be a prophet? To be so connected to God that he uses you to speak to his people? This prophet, like many others, was without honor or prestige. But he was available and God used him to deliver messages to his people.

Are you available to God? Are you open to being used by him? Are you willing to become a person without honor in this world so that you can be used by God?

Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves

2010-02-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

Day 167: Jeremiah 21-24

Jeremiah contrasts the corrupt leaders of Israel to Jesus, the coming Messiah. He will be righteous, come from the line of David, will rule with wisdom, and will do what is just and right throughout the land. How hopeful that seems! That someone, who is called "The Lord Is Our Righteousness" will do what is right and just. He will save. Jeremiah 23:6b says, "In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety." Wow. Israel will be saved. We will be saved. Jesus will save.

Sustainable Trees and Lifeblood

2010-02-21T16:58:00.000-08:00

Day 166: Jeremiah 17-20

Jeremiah 17:7-8.
"But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit."

The Bible often uses evocative language to communicate ideas. In this passage, a simile is used to compare trust in the Lord to trees planted along a riverbank. I love the imagery of those verses. Just imagine trees along a riverbank, roots extended deep into the ground, into the water. These trees survive all sorts of conditions, and what's more, is that they never stop producing fruit. These trees not only survive; they flourish. They sustain us and give us food. So, too, does God sustain us. When we place our hope and faith in Him, we are nourished; we are fed.

God uses concrete examples, such as the trees, to demonstrate abstract and complex principles, such as what it means to trust and hope in the Lord. Thank you, God, for understanding our needs and providing us words with how we can think about you.

In Jeremiah 18-20, Jeremiah delivers a message from the Lord to Judah and Jerusalem. He tells them that the Lord will destroy them if they turn to evil and refuse to obey God. God will even withhold blessings from them. The people respond back to Jeremiah that they will continue to live as they want. They don't care. It doesn't matter that God tells them he is the potter, and they are the clay, and He can do with them what they want. They will continue to follow evil and reject the Lord. So, as a result, the Lord will destroy them, if He so chooses.

God deals with us the same way. He can destroy us if he want; he sure does have the power. He can bless us if he wants; he has the power to do this, too. He can upset our plans, just like he did with Judah and Jerusalem. He could allow us to be slaughtered, leaving our bodies as food for vultures and wild animals, just like he promises to do to Israel. He can destroy our cities, us. He can shatter us.

And He probably would shatter us....except for one thing. Jesus. God sent Jesus to earth, and now Jesus is the one who intervenes on our behalf. Jesus is our Savior. Whereas God wants to destroy us because of our wickedness and refusal to be blessed by him, Jesus pleads on our behalf. Jesus is the only reason we have hope in coming into the presence of God. What a mighty story we are a part of!

The lifeblood of Jesus allows us to produce fruit. It allows us to be like sustainable trees. May we continue to put our trust and hope in the Lord.

Planning Our Own Course

2010-02-20T16:57:00.000-08:00

Day 165: Jeremiah 10-16

Jeremiah 10:23-25. Hear the words of Jeremiah, the prophet:

"I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course. So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle. Do not correct me in anger, for I would die."

This passage is interesting to me for a variety of reasons. The first sentence ("I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own.") speaks true to me. This life I have is a gift; the lives we all have are gifts--gifts from the Lord. He decides when we live and when we die, and he is in control, literally, of our lives.

The second sentence, however, doesn't ring quite so true to me. We are able to plan our own course. We decide where we live, what we do with our lives, how we raise our children. We decide whether we go to church and, if so, where we go. We decide how we treat people, what sins we commit, and how we love. We are in control of many aspects of our lives.

So, what else might Jeremiah be saying in this sentence? He could be talking about predestination. Many church faiths believe that God has called people--a select few--before the creation of the world, and that those few are already predestined to follow God. My religious faith does not believe this principle. We believe that anybody can become a child of God. Perhaps God already knows who will make the decision to follow Him, but he allows us to make this choice rather than pre-selecting it for us. I tend to agree with my church heritage because I believe in free will.

So what else could he be saying? If you look at it within the context of Israel--the people who was selected by God to be his people--then it seems that we could also read this passage from that of a people who are already committed to the Lord. For these people--people who want to live a life committed to the Lord--then many of the decisions are determined by God's words to us, his instructions on how we should live, how we should treat people, and how we can become more like Christ in our daily lives. When we look at that sentence through this lens, then we can read it differently. Our decision to become a Christian and our decision to commit to God should, theoretically, lead us to give our lives away. Less of self and more of thee. We no longer make our own decisions; instead, the decisions we make are shaped and formed by our decision to live a life for the Lord. Wow. How amazing is that!

And the last part, verse 24, is so human. Jeremiah says, "So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle. Do not correct me in anger, for I would die." Have you ever prayed a prayer like that? For God to be gentle and kind, rather than harsh and angry? Have you prayed for God to "correct you"? Perhaps we can see more about how kingdom life by reading these words. More about humanity. More about our Lord. More about ourselves and the plans we have for our lives.

Boasting in the Lord

2010-02-19T16:56:00.000-08:00

Day 164: Jeremiah 9

Jeremiah 9:23-24
This is what the Lord says: "Don't let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord have spoken!"

When I was growing up, I was taught not to boast. We were instructed not to boast about our gifts, our talents, our accomplishments, and our strengths. We were to be humble about what the Lord had given us.

Over the years, though, we were also introduced to the idea of spiritual gifts--attributes or talents we had that were given to us by God. A few weeks ago, we had an event for women at our church. We get together monthly to spend time together, and the woman who planned it for this month planned hers around this idea of gifts. What were our talents? What were our gifts? We even went around the table and shared what we thought our gifts were. Some women, perhaps surprisingly, responded that they had no gifts. Many others claimed that they didn't know what their gifts were. A small few were able to tell their gifts, but even they looked bashful and embarrased about saying it out loud--out of fear of boasting or seeming prideful.

This response about spiritual gifts is probably very common in church circles. We don't want to boast. We don't want people to view us as bragging or having too much confidence in ourselves. However, it is a worthwhile endeavor to figure out what gifts we have so that we can use them for the Lord, and when we do figure out what our gifts are, we can boast about knowing God. We can brag to our friends and loved ones about God's goodness, glory, sacrifice, and love. Then, we can delight in God and the gifts he has given us. God is holy, and he made us. And because he made us and loves us, we can boast about who we are because we know him and are loved by him.

Praise the Lord.

God's Desire

2010-02-18T16:08:00.000-08:00

I am a bit behind in posting, but I have still been reading along and writing down everything on paper. We have been traveling and we've also been having intermittent internet problems, so I haven't been able to post when I'd like. So, look for me to add these posts over the next several days, until I catch up. Thanks for staying with me.

Day 163: Jeremiah 5-8
Israel continues to reject the Lord, and so the Lord sends enemies to invade and destroy them. He wants them to come to him and to know him, and he will take drastic measures to ensure that they come to know him. Jeremiah is the prophet who delivers them this news and prophesies about what's to come if they don't repent and return to God.

So often, we run away. We get busy. We put obstacles in our lives that separate us from God. And just like he desire with Israel and Judah, God wants us to repent, too. He wants us to return to Him and live the life that He has meant for us to live. He may convict our heart. He may allow us to get into a situation that will teach us about Him, about ourselves. He may discipline us in other ways. He does all this because He loves us. God wants all of us, and he has the power get it from us. But he doesn't coerce. He doesn't beg. Instead, he grieves. His heart is broken. He hurts with he hurt of his people, and he mourns with them, too (Jeremiah 8:18-22).

When we are separate from God--either because of sin or because of situation or because of resentment towards God--he hurts with us. What a mighty God we have. A true friend.

Be not afraid

2010-02-17T19:20:00.000-08:00

Day 162: Jeremiah 1-4

I write today with a heavy heart. The girl that we have been praying for lost her legs today. I'm sad for her and her family, and I'm grieved over how life is going to be so different for her and her family. As I'm reading through the Bible right now, I'm reading through this lens of grief, pain, and suffering. I'm looking for comfort, for explanation, for understanding.

In addition to Jenny, another person is on my mind. This past week at Baylor, we found out who got tenure and who was denied tenure. Tenure is a huge thing for academics: if you get tenure, then you have job security and academic freedom; if you are denied tenure, then you lose your job. And I'm sad because a colleague of mine was denied tenure. This news is just crushing. If I put myself in her shoes, I see how I'm forced to give up a job I love, move away from family and friends, try to find another job, and make a new life for myself. This news is also scary and devastating, especially to those of us who are on the tenure-track and looking to get tenure ourselves.

I ran into this colleague today, and her demeanor surprised me. She was joyful, literally joyful. When I expressed my disappointment over the decision and offered her my empathy, her response surprised me. She said, "You know, it's just a job. This denial of tenure doesn't define me. It's just a job. I can find another job. What's important is your family, how you treat people, and the Lord." What a testimony of faith. She's right.

In the book of Jeremiah, the Lord calls Jeremiah by name and instructs him not to be afraid. The Lord also knows us. He knows Jenny Bizaillion. He knows my colleague. He knows me. And he knows you. He has called us all by name, and he instructs us not to be afraid. Fear not, for the Lord is with us.

God Is Mighty to Save You

2010-02-16T13:12:00.000-08:00

Day 161: Isaiah 62-66

Isaiah 63:1a: "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save."

The Lord is "mighty to save." Wow. That's amazing to consider for a moment. God is mighty to save! Many of you know that this mantra has become the prayer of the Bizaillion/Ross families as they pray over Jenny. This song has touched me in so many ways, and I'm delighted to have found it in scripture today. Yes, the Lord is mighty to save.

These words "to save" are important for Christians because of salvation. Jesus has saved us, and he continues to save us every day. He sanctifies us and makes us new. He saves us from anything and everything that we need saving from--whether we know it or not.

And the word "mighty" shows God's great strength, and it also shows his character. He will do this with all his might. He will save all people because he is mighty to do so!

This verse is so encouraging, and I pray it brings you encouragement today. In your life, you can be confident that God is mighty to save!

Restoration and Renewal

2010-02-15T19:23:00.000-08:00

Day 160: Isaiah 56-61

God is at a distance from the Israelites because of their behavior and disobedience to Him, but God also promises them that they will be redeemed. When Jesus comes, they will be restored. The Israelites will be close to him again because of God's great love.

This past month has been crazy. My children have been dealing with broken arms and allergic reactions. Parenting has been challenging for various reasons. My job has been extremely stressful. We have friends suffering with major illness. Yet, through all this craziness of life, God is there. He is our strength and deliverer. He is our protector. And in the end, he will win. He will restore us, and we will all be made whole.

Come, Lord Jesus. Come.

Restore our souls.

Renew our spirits.

Make us whole again.

Prophecy about our Lord Jesus

2010-02-14T17:20:00.000-08:00

Day 159: Isaiah 50-55

I love Isaiah 53.To learn about our Lord Jesus. Just to comprehend all that is described about him. Wow.

"He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
       and like a root out of dry ground.
       He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
       nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others,
       a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
       Like one from whom people hide their faces
       he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain
       and bore our suffering,
       yet we considered him punished by God,
       stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
       he was crushed for our iniquities;
       the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
       and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
       each of us has turned to our own way;
       and the LORD has laid on him
       the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
       yet he did not open his mouth;
       he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
       and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
       so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
       Yet who of his generation protested?
       For he was cut off from the land of the living;
       for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
       and with the rich in his death,
       though he had done no violence,
       nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
       and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
       he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
       and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
       he will see the light of life and be satisfied,
      by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
       and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
       and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
       because he poured out his life unto death,
       and was numbered with the transgressors.
       For he bore the sin of many,
       and made intercession for the transgressors.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being our savior.

God's Presence

2010-02-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

Day 158: Isaiah 46-49

It's amazing how God works in the lives of people. I am so thankful to be a part of his kingdom. God worked then, and God works now. He is not absent. He is here. He is involved and present and interested in us. Thank you, God, for being present. Your presence is comforting, and in you, we have our hope.

Isaiah 49:1 says, "Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name."

God knows us. He loves us. He formed us. He calls us by name, and this is comforting, so comforting. Especially in times of trial.

Lord is God

2010-02-12T18:42:00.000-08:00

Day 157: Isaiah 42-45

The Lord is God, and there is no other. This idea comes up again and again and again in Isaiah. God is God. I believe it, and I'm comforted to read these words in scripture.

I'm still reading along. Busy times right now and not much to say.

Prayer and Eagles

2010-02-11T18:16:00.000-08:00

Day 156: Isaiah 38-41

In Isaiah 38, Isaiah tells Hezekiah that he is going to die. Isaiah's message is from the Lord. Understandably so, Hezekiah becomes distraught and fervently prays to the Lord. The Lord hears Hezekiah, and grants him 15 more years of life. Prayer changes God's mind.

This story is interesting to me. I have been thinking about the meaning of prayer a lot lately. I even taught a Bible class on it Wednesday night at church. I've also witnessed miraculous happenings through prayer. Prayer is powerful. It can change God's mind, and it can form us. And here in the OT, we have such an example of prayer changing history.

One of my favorite passages in all of Scripture:

Isaiah 40:28-31
Do you not know?
       Have you not heard?
       The LORD is the everlasting God,
       the Creator of the ends of the earth.
       He will not grow tired or weary,
       and his understanding no one can fathom.
    He gives strength to the weary
       and increases the power of the weak.
    Even youths grow tired and weary,
       and young men stumble and fall;
    ³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
       will renew their strength.
       They will soar on wings like eagles;
       they will run and not grow weary,
       they will walk and not be faint.

Let's pray so that we can soar on wings like eagles.

God's Verbs: Judge and Redeem

2010-02-10T07:14:00.000-08:00

Day 155: Isaiah 34-37

This passage concerns how God will deal with his people, in two primary ways: First, in chapter 34, God will judge the immoral people, those who are faithless and corrupt. Then, in chapter 35, God will redeem the faithful. God judges and redeems. This story will come up again with Jesus. God will judge, and Jesus will be the sacrifice so that we can be redeemed. I love how the biblical story repeats itself.

Isaiah's Admonitions to Trust!

2010-02-09T00:13:00.000-08:00

Day 154: Isaiah 30-33

Our friend Jenny is doing even better this morning. Last night I went to sleep praying for her and her family. Things did not look good when I was going to bed, and many were fearful that this would be her last night. But no! God had other plans. He is working miracles up there, and thousands of people all over the world are praying for her. Thank you, God, for your miracles.

Isaiah reminds us of all the nations who turn away from God, of all the people who don't trust him at his word. These nations will be punished and destroyed and when God destroys all the earth, they will perish. Let's not be one of those people. Let's remain faithful and trusting, fervent in prayer and hopeful that God will restore the earth.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

2010-02-08T07:13:00.000-08:00

Day 153: Isaiah 26-29

I am praying hard today. A college friend named Jenny Bizaillion, is not doing so well, and we are praying for her and her family. God, please work your miracle on her health so that she can come out of this. A lot of people are praying. Facebook is just amazing for stuff like this. Who knew that this is one of the results of this social networking tool. I bet the founders never envisioned stuff like this. But, wow. It's amazing. We're praying for you, Jenny and Dave and family.

The reading in Isaiah was so encouraging to me. Isaiah tells us to TRUST in the Lord, and that is just what we're doing with Jenny, and just what we do every day of our lives. God is in control, and He wants us to trust him. We will "keep in perfect peace" (26:3) and we will "worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem" (27:13).

Praise the Lord for he is good. I will trust in you for all the days of my life. You will protect me. Although I will experience pain, I know that you are there for me. You are my comforter, my counselor.

Prophetic Accounts II

2010-02-07T07:04:00.000-08:00

Day 152: Isaiah 22-25

More prophecy against cities. Today, Isaiah prophecies against Jerusalem. But he also prophecies about God's devastation of the whole earth. The earth will be completely laid to waste, destroyed. Because of our sin, God has cursed this land. At this time, the Lord Almighty will reign--on earth, in Jerusalem, and in heaven. Isaiah is pleading for these people to turn from wickedness and return to the Lord.

In chapter 25, Isaiah praises the Lord for all the prophecies have come true. And now all the people have turned to God to worship him. We trusted the Lord, and he saved us. He redeemed us. He kept his word.

Prophetic Accounts I

2010-02-06T07:03:00.000-08:00

Day 151: Isaiah 17-21

Isaiah prophesies about the destruction of Damascus, about how the city of Cush will listen and respond to the word of the Lord, about how Egypt and Cush will be destroyed, and about how Babylon, Edom, and Arabia will suffer because of their faithlessness.

Not much to comment on today, except to say that I think these prophecies were meant to show the people during that time that there was a God. These prophets could predict what was going to come, and they were connected to the Lord. When these events came to pass, perhaps people of these lands came to believe in the Lord.

Still going

2010-02-05T06:54:00.000-08:00

Day 150: Isaiah 13-16

Still reading along...learning and struggling with Isaiah.

Also praying for a college friend of ours who is in the hospital with pneumonia. Scary time.

Jesus, the Counselor

2010-02-04T06:49:00.000-08:00

Day 149: Isaiah 9-12

I love this passage from Isaiah 9:6

"For to us a child is born,
       to us a son is given,
       and the government will be on his shoulders.
       And he will be called
       Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
       Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

I especially appreciate how the author has used the word "Wonderful Counselor" to describe the future Savior. Think about what this description means. Jesus is the one who counsels us. He offers us hope and gives us a way out of all the pain that we experience in this life. Depression. Addiction. Loss. Death. Sin. Jesus is our counselor.

I went to a counselor for a while last year. It was my first time to do so, and it didn't exactly work out like I hoped it would. I think counseling is great, and it's a healthy way to work through issues in our lives. And it's comforting to know that Jesus, too, is described as our counselor. Our WONDERFUL counselor. How comforting is that! We can talk to him about anything, and he will lead us through it. He has saved us. Amazing.

Hope for a Future Christ

2010-02-03T19:02:00.000-08:00

Day 148: Isaiah 5-8

Isaiah, the prophet, communicates here how God's anger burns against his people, the Israelites, for all the sins they have committed. They leave and deny God again and again, and his hand remains upraised.

Yet still, Isaiah prophesies about what he sees. Isaiah 6:1-7 contains beautiful imagery and prophesies about the redemption that Jesus Christ will bring:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

What beautiful hope is found here.

Resistance

2010-02-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

Day 147: Isaiah 1-4

I have to admit that the book of Isaiah scares me. I'm not exactly sure why, except if my memory serves me correctly, it's abstract and difficult to understand, and it's very, very long. In spite of this, though, I'm going to plunge through in hopes of gaining greater insight into this book. Today's reading, though, puzzled me somewhat, and I still don't understand it. However, what I do notice is that Isaiah is prophesying about things to come and retelling things that happened before, ways in which the Lord was alive and working. I may have to start using a commentary if I want to understand this. I hope it's going to become more clear to me.

The Love Dare: Write It Down!

2010-02-01T11:14:00.000-08:00

Day 146: Song of Solomon 5-8

Typically when I'm in my care, I listen to Christian radio. It's encouraging, uplifting, and I can have it on when the kids are in the car with me. Ever since I have been commuting to Waco in the morning, I have had on K-LOVE (a radio station broadcasted in numerous markets nationwide). The morning DJs, Lisa and Eric, are currently participating in and advocating a 40-Day "Love Dare." This dare is based on the popular book, The Love Dare, from which the popular movie Fireproof was based. Now I have not seen the movie, nor have I read the book or completed the 40-Day Love Dare. However, what I have gathered by listening to them talk about this dare on their radio station is about the importance of loving, honoring, respecting, and encouraging your spouse.

After finishing Song of Solomon today, a book filled with words of love between people and about one's loved one, I noticed how descriptive these people are of their loved ones. They list numerous positive characteristics about their "beloved," and they focus on all the wonderful characteristics held by their loved one. I don't know how often we write down the things that we love about our spouse, but I do know there was an exercise like this in The Love Dare. I think that writing down the things we love about our spouse can do several important things, and at the top of the list is that this activity can remind us of the positive things. So often the one or two things that bug us about our loved one seem to come up again and again and again, but when we write down the positive attributes, our focus changes. We become more in tuned with our spouse. We are happier. We forgive more. We give our spouse the benefit of the doubt. Our perspective is altered. We see our spouse differently. Perhaps the book and the activity of The Love Dare is so popular because we come to see our spouse in ways that God sees him or her.

I have always been an advocate of writing-to-learn, the theory that says writing is generative. You learn what you think by writing it down. And I think it's important to write down all the wonderful things about our loved ones--spouse, children, boyfriend/girlfriend, sister, brother, mother, father, friend. By reflecting on what we love about them, we come to see them as God sees them, as we should see them, and we love them more. During this month of love, I hope you will consider writing down in secret the things you love about those most precious to you.

Sexual Poetry

2010-01-31T14:22:00.000-08:00

Day 145: Song of Solomon 1-4

I like poetry. Words sewn together to form images of something is a beautiful art. And Song of Solomon, it seems to me, is a book of poetry, specifically poetry dedicated to a loved one. Sensual poetry. Sexual poetry. It almost makes me blush reading this book, but then I think about my own marriage and the beauty that comes through the sexual relationship I have with my spouse, and these verses make me smile. For I know the beauty that comes through sex in the marriage relationship, and I'm glad that the Bible acknowledges this, too.

Hope in Christ, Value in God

2010-01-30T16:59:00.000-08:00

Day 144: Ecclesiastes 9-12

After finishing Ecclesiastes today, I'm not quite sure whether or not Solomon reconciles the meaning of life--how he answers the question. At one point, he does say that we cannot understand the work of God who made everything (11:5), from which I infer that we don't understand God's ways and so there really is no answer to Solomon's question to why life is meaningless.

But maybe the reality is that even though our lives may seem meaningless at times, in Christ, we can have hope. We can have a new understanding of the meaningless of our lives. Christ gives us a context of interpreting hard times; he transforms the meaningless, the vanity, into hope. So even though there may not be an answer in Ecclesiastes, we have the advantage of looking at the book through the lens of Christ. Christ brought redemption; he brought hope. He still brings hope today.

It does seem that Solomon reconciled the meaningless of life in that he understands the importance of seeking God. At the end of the book, he claims in Ecclesiastes 12:13: "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."

Verses that Strike Me in Ecclesiastes

2010-01-29T17:08:00.000-08:00

Day 143: Ecclesiastes 5-8

Ecclesiastes 7:1: "A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth."

Ecclesiastes 7:27-28:
"Look," says the Teacher, "this is what I have discovered:
"Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—
while I was still searching
but not finding—
I found one [upright] man among a thousand,
but not one [upright] woman among them all.

Ecclesiastes 8:17b: "No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. People toil to search it out, but no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it."

These are a few verses that stood out to me in the reading for today.

Meaningless, meaningless: Solomon's Thoughts on Life

2010-01-28T17:17:00.000-08:00

Day 142: Ecclesiastes 1-4

In the first book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon declares that "Everything is meaningless." Then he proceeds to explain why this is so. I have felt this way before--that nothing matters--and it's not a fun place to be. Where you feel like nothing matters. Like you're living a groundhog day that just repeats itself over and over and over again. Nothing changing. Nothing happening. Meaningless. Everything is meaningless.

Even when Solomon sought greater wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, he still found them meaningless. Reaching for these goals were vanity; they meant nothing. Even pleasure was meaningless to him, and there was no point to even seeking it. To Solomon, "Nothing was gained under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 2:11).

Right after these first two chapters on the meaningless of life, of everything under the sun, comes the chapter on there being a time for everything. This placement is an interesting juxtaposition because even in the midst of life lacking meaning, he recognized that there was a time for everything. Maybe Solomon only felt this way at this certain time. Who knows? It does sound like someone who is depressed. Even though Solomon still views everything as meaningless, he still says that God will make everything beautiful in His time. Even those hard days when we wonder why we're doing what we're doing. Even those days matter to God. They aren't meaningless to him, and this actually brings me a great deal of comfort. But after four chapters of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is still pointing out all the stuff in this life that is meaningless. I really hope that we get to see how he reconciles these feelings. I can't remember. But since I've felt this way before, I'd like to find some hope in how he reconciled it

Poverty Proverbs

2010-01-27T15:46:00.000-08:00

Day 141: Proverbs 29-31

One thing that has surprised me about reading the proverbs is how many proverbs concern the poor and needy, specifically how we need to defend the poor and come to their aid when they need it. This emphasis on having a heart for the poor indicates to me that God views this issue as extremely important. Poverty is a real concern in our nation. We have people working jobs that don't allow them to match their meager income to their expenses: even though they work hard, they still can't survive. This situation is just immoral, and God recognizes this. Wow. He's amazing. Another reason why God deserves our praise. He cares about the poor and the underprivileged and the marginalized. Who wouldn't want to have a God like that?

Advice from Women

2010-01-26T16:59:00.000-08:00

Day 140: Proverbs 25-28

If women had contributed to the book of Proverbs, I wonder what they would have written. The main reason I ask this question is because there is a lot about living with a quarrelsome wife or being married to a nag. I recognize that there is wisdom in these references, but it has got me thinking that I'm sure women have wisdom to add about being married to men, too. Advice they could pass on to future generations. I wonder why God didn't include any of these proverbs in the Bible. I'm sure part of it was a cultural thing and the specific role delegated to women, but there are women prophets in the Bible, and stories about women as well. There are even prayers by women, such as Hannah's and Mary's prayers. So why not have a woman contribute a proverb or two?

If you are a woman reading this, what advice would you contribute? What wisdom would you impart to future generations? I think it's interesting to consider.

Thoughts on various proverbs

2010-01-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

Day 139: Proverbs 21-24

Proverbs 21:30: "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD."
The Lord has plans, and we have plans, and no plans will succeed against the Lord. I'm still processing the meaning of this proverb, but I think it's significant.

Proverbs 22:1: "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold."
My dad always stressed the importance of a good reputation. While we often are told to not care what other people think about you, I think it's important to have a good name for yourself. It's not necessarily that we should be so concerned about what others think that we succumb to negative peer pressure; rather, we should consider the source of all wisdom (God) and care about what He thinks. The reputation we have affects those around us and influences our families, but for Christians, it also reflects on God.

Proverbs 22:6: "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."
This passage is encouraging to me, especially when parenting can be so hard. I've told this to myself many times. Now I know that this isn't always true; I know people who have been raised in godly, Christian homes, and this hasn't yet been the case. However, I do think that God isn't finished with them yet.

Proverbs 22:16: "Those who oppress the poor to increase their wealth and those who give gifts to the rich—both come to poverty."

Proverbs 22:22: "Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the LORD will take up their case and will exact life for life."

These two passages spoke to me specifically because in my Argumentative and Persuasive Writing course, we have been reading Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. This book investigates the lives of low-wage workers--those who work in all those hourly jobs who can barely make their income match their expenses. It's a really interesting look, and when you read passages like these Bible verses, it opens the reading up to a whole new perspective.

Food for Thought: Wisdom from Proverbs

2010-01-24T18:17:00.000-08:00

Day 138: Proverbs 17-20

Here's some wisdom from Proverbs 17:8:

"A bribe is like a lucky charm; whoever gives one will prosper!"

Huh?

Proverbs 17:16: "It is senseless to pay tuition to educate a fool, since he has no heart for learning."

That's not how it works in this country. Are there even such things as fools?

Proverbs 17:28: "Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent." Now, I like this one.

Here's one I need to hear sometimes: Proverbs 18:13: "Spouting off before listening to the facts
is both shameful and foolish."

Proverbs 20:19 :" A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much."

I'll end with this one: Proverbs 19:20: "Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life."

Being Affirmed through Scripture

2010-01-23T17:06:00.000-08:00

Day 137: Proverbs 13-16

I have said before, and I'll say it again: Parenting is hard work. And as parents, I'm sure we've all wondered whether we are doing the right thing by our children. Especially when it comes to discipline. Well, I read this verse tonight, and it reminded me that disciplining a child isn't mean or evil but instead it is because you care about them. Proverbs 13:24 says, "Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them." Look at that last part: "Those who love their children care enough to discipline them."

Typically, when I read scripture I try to look at everything within its proper context so that I understand it correctly and don't interpret something wrong. But today, I'm just glad to read that verse. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel happy. It affirms me as a parent. And sometimes when I read the Bible, that's what I want--to be affirmed. There's so much out there that makes you feel bad about yourself, and so it's nice to feel like you're doing the right thing sometimes.

Being affirmed is important to humans. I'm not sure if it's a human thing, or if it's the way that God made us to be, but when you read scripture and feel good about yourself, well, that's a good thing. The main thing we have to consider, though, is not to get sucked into the prideful part of self-confidence or affirmation. It's easy to become prideful when we feel we are doing right, but God doesn't want us to be that way. It's an interesting balance.

Thank you, God, for showing me that there is a point to parenting--that discipline shows love. This discovery shows me how much you love me, too. It's a nice parallel.

Pray for Wisdom

2010-01-22T18:30:00.000-08:00

Day 136: Proverbs 9-12

I like how wisdom is personified in Proverbs, how she is given human characteristics. So far in my reading of Proverbs, I notice how much emphasis is placed on getting wisdom. Wisdom is looking for you, and you should look for it. Wisdom will also give you a long life, so seek wisdom. This week, I continue praying for wisdom. I feel some peace after praying this prayer this week, and I am confident that once I pray for wisdom, I will be better able to discern what the right decisions are for me. Many of these proverbs seem like rules for living, maxims to make a better life for yourself. But when you read these together, the focus is on wisdom and on making wise and righteous decisions.

Thoughts on Commitment

2010-01-21T18:32:00.000-08:00

Day 135: Proverbs 5-8

Almost all of the reading for today includes instructions for men to avoid immoral women and instead to enjoy their wife and be committed to her. While much of this passage doesn't relate to me in that it is specifically speaking to men, there is still much to offer me as a woman. Adultery is so rampant in our society, for both men and women, and these instructions on staying faithful to one person are extremely relevant today. Adultery hurts so many people, and this reading points out that it also hurts the person who does it, in a way that other sins, like stealing, don't. Staying faithful to one person is not an unreachable goal, not when we are first committed to the Lord. I pray that God will continue to bless all of our marriages and take the sins of the flesh away.