Tree of Life

The stump

2012-01-04T22:23:00.000-05:00

Isaiah 6:13 "The holy seed will be the stump in the land".
This phrase has been going through my head for the last few days.
I see people who have a background with Christ but have turned away. I see that the holy seed is the stump in their land.
I see the Christian background of the country as a stump in the land.
A stump is always there- unless you take real effort to remove the stump and the roots, it's going to stay. It will always be there as a reminder.

Jehu

2011-05-15T20:47:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite Bible characters is Jehu.
In 2 Kings 9, he is anointed king by a prophet in a closed room.
When his buddies as him about it, he's just like - you know the guy and the sort of things he says.
His friends don't buy it and he tells them about the anointing.
I like that he's a jokester even when something super serious happened to him.

I also like his determination to do what was right by God. Eliminating Jezebel. Tricking the prophets of Baal by pretending to be one of them but instead to kill them all.

He must have been quite a character!

Seeing with God's eyes

2011-05-14T22:09:00.002-04:00

2 Kings 8: 7 Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When the king was told, “The man of God has come all the way up here,” 8 he said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the LORD through him; ask him, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

9 Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

10 Elisha answered, “Go and say to him, ‘You will certainly recover.’ Nevertheless,the LORD has revealed to me that he will in fact die.” 11 He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael was embarrassed. Then the man of God began to weep.

12 “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael.

“Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,” he answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women.”

13 Hazael said, “How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?”

“The LORD has shown me that you will become king of Aram,” answered Elisha.
Elisha is seeing with God's eyes what will happen with Hazael. And he was right. Was it destined to be that way when he saw it - que sera sera- or was there still option to change. Or was Elisha seeing the character of Hazael and that could not be changed. Knowing that if he told him he would be king would result in him killing the current king? Are some human choices predestined by who we are?

Daily provisions

2011-05-01T22:10:00.002-04:00

1 Kings 4:22 Solomon’s daily provisions were thirty cors of the finest flour and sixty cors of meal, 23 ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl.

That is a lot of meat! He must have been providing for a lot of people. And had a lot of cooks! Interesting that it differentiates between stall-fed and pasture-fed cattle.

Turn on a dime

2011-03-20T15:11:00.002-04:00

With a functional computer again I thought I could get back to regularly posting here again.
I read Joshua 22 today and thought I would write on that. But I did a search on what I wrote before in 2008 and found this post http://bibletree.blogspot.com/2008/07/understanding.html. And I thought that that was better than what I was planning on writing today :)

From the chapter we learn that people you think you know, if you don't keep up open communication with them, maybe you don't know them as well as you think.

Think the best of everyone, not the worst.

census

2011-02-06T07:50:00.003-05:00

Last night I read Numbers 1-2, which is basically a census of the Israelite people. There were 603,550 males above the age of 20. So these people who came out of Egypt- this was a massive undertaking to have so many people travel!
Not only that but to perform a census on so many people with no computer and probably not much in the form of paper- the administration of it all boggles my mind!

update

2011-02-04T12:59:00.002-05:00

My computer has been wonky for 1/2 of January so I have not been able to update as much as I have wanted to.
I have completed all of Genesis and Exodus and reading larger chunks of it (rather than one chapter at a time) gives a good overview of what is going on.
I am working on finding a listing of the Bible in Chronological order that matches what this book is working from because now that the first 2 book are done, there is some disagreement among scholars about the chronology of the rest of it :)

Barren

2011-01-11T22:03:00.002-05:00

In the readings I have now covered the Isaac/Rebekah story.
I thought it was a neat "God-moment" how the servant found Rebekah.
And how Rebekah reacted like Mary (or rather Mary reacted like Rebekah, lol) when told God's purpose for her.
I found in interesting that both Sarah and Rebekah were barren for parts of their lives. Isaac had to pray to get Rebekah to bear children. Jacob's wife Rachel will also be barren for a time. That's 3 generations of barrenness! I wonder what that means. Was it a spiritual curse?

The reading today was about how Esau gave up his birthright for a bowl of stew. How it is important that we think things through before making rash decisions.

Ram

2011-01-09T22:01:00.002-05:00

Today's reading covered Abraham's attempted sacrifice of Isaac. God provided a ram for him to sacrifice instead after he saw that he would not withhold anything from God.

The devotional book that I am reading suggested that now WE are the rams. We are God's hands and feet in the world. We need to be instruments of peace and healing in the world. The world seems to need it!

A song to go with this is Michael Franti's "Hey World (Don't give up)"

Isolation

2011-01-08T20:06:00.002-05:00

In Genesis 19 God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah but saves Lot, his wife and 2 daughters.
Though his wife looks back, though the angels told her not to and she becomes a pillar of salt and is out of the story.
Originally, when the angels tell Lot to flee, they tell him to go to the mountains. But he negotiates to go to the small city of Zoar. The angels agree and only destroy Sodom and Gommorah after Lot arrives in Zoar.
However, after going through this trauma, Lot starts to make decisions based on fear and decided instead he should live in the mountains. Maybe he thought he shouldn't have bargained with God as God knows best. Though it is not clear that God wanted him to spend a lifetime in the mountains, just to go there for safety during the sulphur dispersal.
But he does go live in a cave in the mountains with his daughters. And the next bit goes on to show the dangers of isolation. The daughters get Lot drunk and get themselves impregnated by him.
I think Lot's story shows us that it is not good to move in fear and also that it is good to live in community.

In Genesis 20 Abraham pulls the same half-truth that he used earlier in Genesis that got him in some trouble- that Sarah was his sister and not his wife. It was fear driving this decision as well.
The devotional book that I am reading along with indicated this as a moral failure on Abraham's part. It also suggests that the lie was easier for Abraham to do the second time as he had already convinced himself that it was true.
It does suggest why repeated sins occur. One reason is they are probably our weak point. The other is that we tend to rationalize things and if we've done them once (even with a bad consequence) we may be more prone to doing it again.

May we be driven by love and not fear in our decisions

Pride

2011-01-04T22:50:00.002-05:00

I noticed in the story about Noah that he found favor with God- and then he had an awful lot of work to do! But it was all worth it in the end.

Today I read Genesis 11. The comment in my devotional was that "human pride is at the very heart of all sin- elevating our will above his" (in relation to the Tower of Babel) That is indeed an interesting thought.

And I tried to follow some of the family lines. Terah had 3 boys- Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Nahor married Milcah who was Haran's daughter. That would be his niece then. Familial interbreeding was not such a taboo then.

RErun

2011-01-02T19:59:00.003-05:00

Apparently, the same verses tend to be of interest to me when reading the Bible.
I went back and read my entry from 2008 on Genesis 4 and I thought- that's exactly what I would say this time as well. So I thought I might as well not write it again, just link to it!

I also read my first entry from 2008 and thought that it was pretty neat- better than my first entry this time around anyway :)

The devotional for today also focused on the same passage that I wrote about in 2008:
Genesis 4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.
And it indicates there is a difference between doing what "feels good and what truly is good"- Cain may have felt that his offering was good, but there was something that was lacking to make it truly be good.

I know that when James doesn't really care about something, he can do the actions but it is very obvious that he doesn't care and he's just doing it so he can get on to something he is interested in. The attitude with which we do things can make a big difference.

If we are called to rule over sin, then we must have the ability to do this.

Creative

2011-01-01T21:20:00.002-05:00

Today is the first day of 2011 and so I begin my journey through "The Daily Bible Devotional" by F. LaGard Smith. If all goes well it will take me through the Bible in one year. (as a pose to the almost 3 years that it took me to read through it last time!)

Today I read Genesis 1-3 which looks at God being creative. The devotional suggested that if God is creative and we are created in His image, we too must be creative. This could be through writing, music, media, cooking, etc. God is also love so this creativity when used for good should increase love.

In Gen. 3 there are lots of trees in the garden of Eden but 2 special ones- The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The one they are not allowed to eat from is the latter. I don't know the first tree I might have a go at eating from before say the run of the mill apple or orange trees would be the tree of life. But evidently this was not high on Adam and Eve's to do list as after they ate from the forbidden tree, God sets up a guard so they can't eat from the tree of life. (and it seems to imply that they had not yet eaten from it)

Reaching the end

2010-12-28T20:51:00.002-05:00

Well, it really is an incredible feeling to look back on the journey and realize that I completed it. It shouldn't be such a big deal that I finished a book, but it is a rather important book and I am glad that I documented some of the journey here.

Now I will be moving on to a devotional book where you read through the Bible in one year. I will continue to post here- I expect the reading to be a bit more intense. We'll see if I can keep up!

Revelation II- the sequel

2010-12-25T22:29:00.002-05:00

I read Revelation 21 today and it talked about the new city or world for those whose names are written in the book of life will live.
The same sort of 'measurement' is done as for the temple in Ezekiel (i think it was). This seems to be a thing that God does. He measures out for us in Earthly standards heavenly things. He knows we can't really comprehend heavenly things too well and so he puts things in terms that we can understand. I don't think he really cares how many cubits things are. But maybe it's important, who knows?
Also he talks about the gems in the walls.
He makes the city out of things that are precious to us.
Or are these gems precious to us because they are precious to him?

The book of Revelation seems to have more questions than answers, but that's a lot like life so it's not so bad.

Revelation

2010-12-18T20:32:00.003-05:00

I am now working my way through Revelation and think that this 'project' will be done by the end of the year. It has taken me about 3 years to read through the Bible one chapter at a time. I may be ambitious but I am looking at trying to read through the whole Bible in one year in 2011. I bought a Bible in a year devotional book. We'll see how it goes!

The book of Revelation is a particularly tricky one. I read it and try to see application to my life today, which is difficult. What I see is that God is a great and creative God!

1 Peter

2010-11-24T22:43:00.002-05:00

I found reading 1 Peter that there seemed to be a lot of "Command" verses. I think this is good for instructing us on what to do to put our faith in action, or as Dr. Phil says "To put verbs in your sentences"

1 Peter 1
13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.

1 Peter 2
1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority:
16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

1 Peter 3
3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

In a nutshell to love and respect others.

Mercy triumphs

2010-11-18T23:11:00.003-05:00

James 2 has 2 interesting bits back to back.

First:
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
That's a pretty high standard!

And then:
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

I love that mercy triumphs over judgment.

25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

As Rahab was a prostitute I'm guessing that she wasn't keeping the whole law. But she was considered righteous because of her actions at one small point in time.

Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Angels

2010-11-03T22:45:00.001-04:00

Reading the first 2 chapters of Hebrews, there is a LOT of talk about angels. About Jesus in relation to angels. About humans and in relation to angels. About heaven in relation to God. It seems a strikingly different book than the previous books attributed to Paul. I am not sure what the common consensus on who the writer of Hebrews is now but it does seem so different from the other books that if the author is Paul it must have been Paul writing after some big revelation that made everything look different!

House

2010-10-28T22:44:00.002-04:00

2 Tim 2:20In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

The Message interprets this passage as:

20-21In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.

But when I read it, I interpreted that our life is like a house. We tend to keep a lot of stuff in our house and some of it is good for us and some of it isn't. Some of us hoard piles of 'stuff' in our lives. Sometimes we need to do some cleaning out!

The spirit clearly says

2010-10-24T08:39:00.002-04:00

I Timothy 4 starts with "The spirit clearly says". If found this interesting as it doesn't indicate if the spirit clearly spoke to one person or how the spirit spoke, just that the spirit was clear. A lot of times things do not always look like they are clear- it is more murky as to what might be correct in a given situation. However, I think the Spirit desires to speak clearly to us.

overseer

2010-10-21T22:16:00.001-04:00

In my Bible in 1 Timothy 3, it speaks of an 'overseer'. I think in today's terms that would be a pastor. But I think the term overseer is cool. Instead of calling his 'pastor Al', I may now call him 'overseer Al'. And see if I can keep a straight face :)

Paul also refers to the Church as "God's household" which is a good picture of it, really.

Context

2010-10-20T21:51:00.002-04:00

1 Timothy 2 is a short chapter but full of difficult writings.

8I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.

9I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

So, Paul's hope for men is a spiritual one but for women is a physical one.
Is this because women were more spiritually advanced? lol.
Maybe men have more trouble with the spiritual things, and women with the material ones?

And then we come to:
11A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.
Are women more easy to deceive?
This was our downfall!
Why does God gift some women as orators if they are to be silent?
There is obviously a lot of disputed territory here. I am still trying to grasp why Paul appends this to the front of the chapter that indicates that Jesus wants everyone to be saved. Would Jesus want women to speak if it mean that that goal was met?
I know many people have disagreements over this and so I am certainly not expecting any resolution here, just stuff to think about.

Ignorance is bliss

2010-10-19T22:23:00.000-04:00

1 Timothy 1:13Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.
Paul says that he was shown mercy because the motivation for his actions was not so bad. He thought he was doing the right thing when he did it (killing Christians). Can people who deliberately do bad things still be shown mercy? Does bad motivation overrule God's mercy?

Idle

2010-10-18T23:00:00.002-04:00

2 Thessalonians 3:6In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching[a] you received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you,...11We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies.
Me thinks Paul may have had some type A personality. I can relate.
So if we take from this that God wants us to keep busy, what does this mean?
I don't think it's that God doesn't want us to be reflective as passages I've read in the last week talk about how important it is to think of heavenly things not earthly things = God does want us to reflect on Him.
But he also wants us to be productive and do useful things.
As a pose to talking behind others' backs, which likely is not constructive or edifying.
This may be encouragement to keep our focus on the positive.

Encourage your hearts

2010-10-17T23:06:00.001-04:00

2 Thessalonians 2:16May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
We should always look to encourage others' hearts and pray for God to encourage and strengthen us and others.

Quiet life

2010-10-16T20:55:00.003-04:00

1 Thessalonians 4:11Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, 12so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
A quiet life. I am not sure the exams office qualifies as a quiet life! I try to live without too much drama though.

In my Bible, a note it made at the start of the book was that 1 Thessalonians said that 1 Thess was about "eschatology" (the return of Jesus) but I didn't really read it that way, I thought the book was more about how to live now and about encouragement.

prayer from 1 Thess.

2010-10-15T22:29:00.001-04:00

1 Thessalonians 3:12May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

Stand firm

2010-10-11T22:48:00.002-04:00

Colossians 4:12Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.
I like that prayer "that you may stand firm in all the will of God". This implies that the will of God must not be so difficult to determine, if we are to stand firm in it. (Though it sometimes seems not so clear) But that's what I pray for myself that I will stand firm in all the will of God and for others that they will as well.

I liked reading Colossians- it gave me prayer inspirations.

Earthly nature

2010-10-10T20:12:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I read:
Colossians 3:5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
Verse 6 is the kicker-if we put our time and out energy on worldly things instead of heavenly things then we encourage the wrath of God to come. I don't think we want that! I wonder how much our current society encourages the wrath of God and if they know or care that they are doing this.

After pondering this yesterday, this evening I went to a service where the speaker talked about blessings (as it is Thanksgiving). He covered what the world considers blessings- like wealth, a good career, nice house, car, etc. and how that compares with what God considers blessings- righteousness being credited to us for what Jesus did, the blessing of truth clearing our mind, blessing of wisdom, blessings that come from obedience.

fullness

2010-10-09T08:19:00.003-04:00

I'm in Colossians now. I notice a theme in Paul's prayers - that he prays for fullness in Christ for others. He uses different words that that. Each of his prayers a little different, but the main directive for all his prayers seem to be that others would be full of Christ. I like that directive of prayer.

2 Corinthians

2010-09-19T16:19:00.002-04:00

There are some great excerpts that I remember from the book of 2 Corinthians but I've found reading it as a whole a different treat. It shows a lot more about Paul (the author). He seems to be really opening up in the writing. Really raw. The main point of the letter seems to be about being straight. Being straight up with God and with others. Not making thing more complicated than they need to be. I like that he tells them what he is happy with and what he is afraid of.

The verses that interested me the most on this reading were:

2 Corinthians 3: 7Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
It seems to be saying- what God did in the past was great- but what he is doing now is even better.

2 Corinthians 12: 9 He(The Lord) said to me(Paul), "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I delight in weakness too- maybe because I have a lot of them! lol. It shows that God does not look at the world like society does. Weakness is not generally embraced. But God embraces it.

When unbelievers come to Church

2010-09-05T22:05:00.003-04:00

1 Corinthians 14:24 But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, 25and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"

When someone who does not know God comes to Church they should have some revelation about God that makes him or her look at their own life and worship God.

Love builds up

2010-08-30T19:23:00.002-04:00

1 Corinthians 8 talks about the 'issue' of eating food sacrificed to idols.
The issue is not so much of one now as I certainly can't recall anyone offering me food sacrificed to an idol in my whole life.
But how the issue was handled.
I think the key is in Paul saying "Love builds up" (vs. 1)
That the issues aren't so much of the deal but that we move in love to build up others.
That we are considerate of other's feelings and beliefs and to realize that the most important thing is connecting the person to God.
For example, all Churches have their own unique features and don't worship God in the same way. It is not our place to say which is better, but that we encourage people to connect to God in the best way that they can. And as they connect to God more, they will grow more and maybe how they do things will change. But change comes organically. The Holy Spirit never forces you to do things.

Time is short

2010-08-29T22:00:00.001-04:00

1 Corinthians 7:29What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; 30those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
The time is short- it has to be God's work that gets priority in our lives.

Expel

2010-08-28T10:10:00.002-04:00

1 Cor 5 deals with a difficult situation in the Corinthian Church.
1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. 2And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?
So I assume from this that there was an individual sleeping with his step-mother. (If he had been sleeping with his mother I assume the passage would have said that rather than 'his father's wife')
I don't understand the 2And you are proud! bit as I can't think what they would be proud of in this situation.
Maybe they knew of the sin and the guy continued in a position of leadership?
Paul said to put him out of the congregation and 5hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature[a] may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
Hand the dude over to Satan? That's pretty harsh!
I assume because the guy was not repentant. Aren't we supposed to try to bring our brother's to repentance first? But it seems this Church had not done anything. And maybe there were some reasons for that. Maybe the father had married a really young wife. Maybe she was younger than the son? Maybe the Church had rationalized it and Paul objected to that?
I might think that the first step would be pray with him, confront him, work with him. But Paul does not deal with him that way- hand him over to Satan!
Was this a cultural thing or is this something that the Church should have in practice today? Because I think the Church today would probably focus more on the redemption of the sinner. But maybe Paul is telling us not to be so soft. To call sin a sin and draw the line in the sand. To say it's not acceptable and go hand yourself over to Satan!

Paul does indicate that the unsaved should not be treated this way. I guess because they don't have Jesus to guide them.

Just your brothers. Turn them over to Satan.

Corinthians

2010-08-23T19:39:00.002-04:00

Today I start 1 Corinthians!
The intro to it in my Bible says:
In spite of the Corinthians' immaturity and resistance to the Holy Spirit, out of Paul's struggle with them came two of the greatest chapters in the Bible (13 and 15)

Beautiful things can come out of difficult times. This seems particularly relevant these days.

Romans

2010-08-18T21:10:00.002-04:00

Romans 12:6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
I am finding Romans such a beautifully written book that I'm finding it a bit hard to write much about it.
In Romans 12 it encourages you to use your gift. It seems unquestioning that everyone has a gift and should know what it is. You do tend to figure these things out as you grow. I like to organize and have a great job that lets me do that. I don't know if that counts in Paul's list.
The only gift that seems to come with a qualifier is prophesy that can only be used in proportion to the faith of the person with the gift. I assume this refers to their faith in God, though maybe faith in themselves. I find it hard to distinguish what is God and what is me, maybe that is what takes the faith.
It is interesting that it is qualified like that. Grace gives us the gift but it is dependent on us. I think all the gifts really are though. Grace may give the gift of encouraging or serving but as you grow in the gift I would think grace would give you more as you mature to perform your gift even better.

Luke

2010-08-08T23:53:00.002-04:00

I finished reading Acts and did some online reading about Luke and I was STARTLED to read that he wasn't one of the 12 apostles. I had read the opening of Luke about how he did research and all and I just thought he meant that he did research on top of his own experiences. I did not know that he was a Gentile. It's not important in the grand scheme of it all I suppose but I was just suprised that I missed this for years and years!

At the end of Acts Paul finally makes it to Rome. This flows nicely into the next book which is Paul's letter to the Romans. This is good really as you can see the journey that Paul made and all he went through to get to Rome. It gives more credibility to the letter he writes to the Romans (though I don't technically know when it was written- maybe it was written before his trip to get there)

Truth doesn't come from a crowd

2010-08-01T22:44:00.002-04:00

In Acts 21 there is another riot with Paul. Apparently Paul brings the riots. And the commander of the Roman army comes in and tries to figure out what was going on- why the crowd was beating up Paul. So he asks the crowd. But the Bible says he can't get "the truth" out of them. Probably you can never get truth out of a crowd!

riot

2010-07-31T21:52:00.002-04:00

Acts 19 shows a bit about mob mentality. A crowd can get worked up and not know what they are worked up about! Spiritual works in a crowd are probably more heightened/obvious whether for good or for evil.

Spirit of Jesus

2010-07-28T22:37:00.002-04:00

Acts 16:7 When they (Paul & co.) came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.

Acts 16 has some interesting stuff going on as well. You have Paul being stopped from entering an area by the Spirit of Jesus. That is pretty powerful direction, don't you think? They were headed in one direction but it was not the direction that Jesus wanted them to go in. So they were obedient to the spirit of Jesus and turned. Which is good. Yes? But then they end up in another location where some really bad stuff goes down.

You see there was a girl with an evil spirit of divination and she went around after the company shouting at them for DAYS. For DAYS. And finally, Paul snapped and cast the spirit out of her. Good. Yes?

Well it got Paul flogged. And that ain't pretty.

So what do we learn from this?
-Jesus can and will direct us if we are heading in the wrong direction
-don't cast spirits out of people who don't want the spirit cast out of them
-sometimes there are really annoying things in life that you must just bear. Be patient.

Disagreement

2010-07-27T21:42:00.002-04:00

In Acts 15 Paul and Barnabas have a disagreement.
We're human, disagreements happen.
Paul and Barnabas both loved Christ but disagreed about a person to take on their trip.
Interestingly, this also happened to a friend of mine who was going on a missions trip. There was a guy who some of the team felt did not have the right spirit to go and some of the team thought that taking him on the trip would be good for the guys' spiritual life. What they had to look at was the benefits for the individual versus the detriment for the group if he continued on the same path.
And everyone is not going to agree on the benfit/ detriment ratio.

"Disagreements are going to occur," says Dr. Phil. "The question is, do you go into it with a spirit of looking for resolution or do you go into it with a spirit of getting even, vengeance, control?

Paul and Barnabas decided to take different trips. As the writer of Acts (given as Luke) seems to go with Paul I guess we don't find out what happens with Barnabas. Would be interesting to know though.

One and not the other

2010-07-25T16:59:00.002-04:00

Acts 12 has an interesting contrast. James and Peter run into trouble with persecution. James gets killed about one sentence in but Peter gets most of a chapter about his miraculous deliverance! Kind of lop-sided!

Looking better

2010-07-15T23:44:00.002-04:00

Acts 5 has the story about a couple who sold some property and brought some of the money to the apostles. The problem seems to have been that they SAID that it was all the money from the sale but it was not. Now, it was their land and I don't think they were obligated to give all the money (Peter seems to indicate this when he speaks with Ananias) if they wanted to give some to the apostles and keep some to buy an RV that would have been ok. But to say they had given it all, that was the problem. Of course it doesn't strike me as the sort of problem that one should be stricken dead over. But the point seems to have been taken- God expects truthfulness.

11Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Peter

2010-07-14T23:03:00.001-04:00

I have now started reading Acts. It is really impressive to look at the transformation of Peter from the gospels to Acts. Whatever was holding him back in the gospels was shattered with the resurrection!

Cut

2010-07-04T22:15:00.002-04:00

John 15:2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
Note here that no matter what you are going to be cut. That's a rather gloomy thought. But we want to be cut to grow up to be who Jesus wants us to be. We don't want to be cut off!

Born blind

2010-06-29T21:36:00.002-04:00

Now I am in the book of John. In John 9 the entire chapter is dedicated to a guy who was born blind whom Jesus heals. What I love about the story is the born-blind guy is so willing to take on the Pharisees:

24A second time they (Pharisees)summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner."

25He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"

26Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"

27He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"

Now THAT'S going to make a Pharisee bent on taking Jesus down real happy!

But seriously, it is a good representation of what happens when Jesus heals us (maybe not from physical blindness). We gain an understanding about Him that we didn't have before. We sometimes have to take on doubters of what is going on. And then Jesus is around to make sure we are ok.
This can also be applied to spiritual blindness.

You may want to be quiet

2010-06-06T21:27:00.002-04:00

So Jesus is ripping a strip off the Pharisees in Luke 11, talking about how they care more about the outward appearance than the inward person.
When He finishes, a person who was not in the Pharisee group, says this:

Luke11:45One of the experts in the law answered him, "Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also."

Apparently, what Jesus is saying is hitting home! Which is a good thing, I think. However, bringing this up at this time might not have been a great idea. As Jesus proceeds to go on just as long about the "experts in the law" and what they are missing. I bet after that the guy might not have been so happy that he spoke up.

However, knowing the truth is the important thing. Even if you have to hear it in not such a nice way, so I guess that was expedient.

Jesus in this passage shows that He answers questions directly- if we ask questions we have to expect that we might not like the answer.

Determined

2010-06-04T22:02:00.002-04:00

Luke 9:38A man in the crowd called out, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. 40I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not."
Before when I read this story, I focused on the lesson that I thought Jesus was trying to teach through it. But today when reading it, I looked at the man and the determination that he showed. He took his child to the disciples but they could not drive out the problem. He could have given up, looked at it as his destiny. Looked at his situation as hopeless. But he did not. He believed there was something to this Jesus. Something healing. Like Leia says is star wars "You are my only hope".

Centurion's faith

2010-06-03T22:14:00.003-04:00

Luke 7:3The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, 5because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." 6So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.

The centurion seems to have been an interesting character. Obviously a good community minded man who has made lots of loyal friends and very kind as he even cares about his servant so much. Humble too. Jesus was amazed by the guy.

Lonely places

2010-05-31T23:19:00.001-04:00

Luke 5:16But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
At least praying in lonely places is quiet!

juxtapose

2010-05-28T21:48:00.002-04:00

At the start of Mark 14 there is an interesting juxtapose about money. I noted in Matthew how you have the woman pouring perfume and Judas next to each other as extravagant love and extravagant deceit- but in Mark I notices that they are also threaded together by money. That the perfume in said to have cost a lot. And Jesus had a price as well (for Judas).

taking it personal

2010-05-26T20:25:00.002-04:00

In reading Mark 15, I found I was taking it personal. You can read the facts of the story or you can feel the story. I think I am seeing the difference in how to read it.

Mark

2010-05-23T21:56:00.002-04:00

I am now working through Mark. I'm finding Mark a lot more fast paced than Matthew was. More of a focus on what Jesus did. It can be read quickly as you go from event to event but I find the conscious need to slow it down- to really take in what was happening. This isn't always easy.

Mark 4:36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.
How else do you take Jesus, other than "just as he is"?

Mark 6:4Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

The people's faith affected Jesus' ability to work. If this was true for Jesus, it is likely also true for us today.

Mark 6:20 When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.

Liked to listen, not to commit.

There appear to be different approaches people have with Jesus and healing
-some think Jesus is probably willing to heal, but not sure if He is able
-some think Jesus is able, but unsure if He is willing.
Jesus was the same everywhere He went but how people saw Him had to do with their own personal filter. How we come to Jesus now has roots in who we are now and how we got there. Hopefully, as we grow our filter improves and we come to Jesus in a healthier way each time.

Mark 11:11Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
For all the times I've heard about Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers in the temple and driving out those who were selling merchandise- I had never seen this snippet from the day before.
The day before is palm sunday where he goes through the city on a donkey and the people shout his praise. At the end of the day he goes to the temple and observes what is going on.
Jesus doesn't have a sudden fit when he arrives at the temple the next day. He knew what he was going to do going in there in the morning. His anger was controlled and directed and planned, not a sudden fit.

Mark 11:13Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.
And then we have the poor fig tree. It's not the season for figs but Jesus expects to find some. Jesus has very high standards for us, that sometimes we can't understand and it doesn't seem to be the right time for us. But it might be the right time for Him.

Mark 13:18Pray that this will not take place in winter
In this Jesus is talking about the end of the age and this little line is in a big speech. When I read it before I thought, well of course you don't want the end of the age to happen in winter as it is cold and snowy and I don't like winter at the best of times, so I thought I guess Jesus doesn't want the end of the age to happen in winter either. I don't want anything to happen in winter myself! But now that I think about it, it can't be referring to physical winter as there would always be SOMEWHERE in the world that it is winter. So, it must be referring to something else, but what?

backtrack

2010-05-09T08:22:00.003-04:00

When I read Matthew 26 (before Matthew 27 but I only remembered to write it now) I thought it was interesting how verses 6-13 where the woman shows extravagant love in anointing Jesus with oil backs against verses 14-16 where Judas shows extravagant deceit in agreeing to betray Jesus.
Since I have been looking at decision making processes, I thought these two examples were interesting. The woman took the oil and what did she think - did she think about the cost? did she think about what others thought of her? did she think at all? I'm guessing either no - she was someone who made decisions based on feelings OR she was someone who felt the prompting of God and just did it even though her mind may have been telling her it didn't make sense. I am not someone who makes decisions based on feelings. Sometimes I wish I did. But I hope to override my brain and be obedient to God as much as I can.
I can see better what was going on with Judas. I can see that he may have really thought that he was doing the best thing. He was logically analyzing what was going on and it didn't make sense what Jesus was doing. In fact it still doesn't make sense, but then God is so much bigger than our little human brains. I guess Judas didn't grasp the sacredness of what was going on.
Don't let us miss Your sacred touch.

Decisions in Matthew 27

2010-05-08T20:10:00.002-04:00

1Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death.
18For he (Pilate) knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.
emphasis mine

This indicates that the decision making that went into Jesus being crucified was based on envy. Was Jesus too good? Too popular? Too true? Too threatening?

One part of Matthew 27 that I don't remember reading before:

51At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. 52The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
Verse 51 I was familiar with but 52 and 53, not so much and I'm not sure why- this is kindof a big deal if you have a bunch of holy people raised from the dead. I think that's a VERY big deal!

Matthew

2010-05-07T13:46:00.002-04:00

The last few months have been a bit of a whirlwind. I have enjoyed the consistency of reading a chapter of the Bible every night before I sleep. On April 11, I started new- the New Testament that is.
In Matthew 23:35 Jesus refers to "Zechariah son of Berekiah". I hadn't noticed that before and wondered which Zechariah we were talking about (there are a few in the Bible!). I found this link.

Yesterday I read Matthew 25 where Jesus tells a couple of parables- the parable of the 10 virgins- the parable of the talents. I wasn't looking so much at what the people in the parables did but at their motivation and their hearts. The 'foolish' vigins did not bring enough oil for their journey. This can show lack of foresight and lack of understanding but it also shows how selfish it is to be only focused on the here and now. There are times when we need to be, but we can't loose sight of the big picture, of the important things to focus on.
In the parable of the talents, the servant that gets chastised is the one who made his decision based on fear.
God looks at our hearts

Army of the Lord

2010-02-20T13:11:00.001-05:00

I am now at Joel 2. Even though I have a crazy number of jobs, I still keep up with my Bible reading even though I don't have as much time to write about it here!

Joel 2 talks about an army at the start. At one point he seems to call it the 'army of the Lord' but is seems a bit scary really. In some readings they say that it is about locusts. Are we the army of the Lord referred to here? Are we locusts? Is there something we should learn from locusts? lol.

Zeke

2010-01-23T22:53:00.002-05:00

I finished Ezekiel.
My favorite chapter has always been 37 that has the valley of dry bones and God brings them back to life

13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.' "

Ezekiel ends with a description of a temple and many measurements of all the details of the temple. And then the river that flows out from under it and Ezekiel goes deeper and deeper- it is a river of life. God measures things out then comes to bring LIFE.

Ezekiel ends with

"And the name of the city from that time on will be:
The LORD is There ."

And where the LORD is, there is life.

and by this you will know that I am the Lord

2009-12-29T21:22:00.002-05:00

Ezekiel seems to talk about ways that the Israelites would know the Lord.
One that recurs is that they will know that He is God when they are punished for their sins. I take that to mean they will see that God is righteous and just and see that they are not and know that God is Lord.
In Ezekiel 24 it says that Ezekiel himself would be a sign to the people and they would know that He is Lord.
Now in what way would he be a sign? By being a prophet and them seeing that what he foretold was correct? I think even being himself with the crazy goings on might be a sign!

Ezekiel 18 and the life of Darth Vader

2009-12-25T16:33:00.002-05:00

Yesterday night I read Ezekiel 18 and today I read to James the book "The life of Darth Vader" and I couldn't help but see the similarities. Vader starts out as good but becomes evil but then turns back to good again and it was what he was at the last that counted for where he went to Jedi heaven.
This is the same as what Ezekiel 18 says- if you live righteously and do right you will live.
If you change and do evil, you will be punished for your sin.
But if you change again and do good your sin will be washed away.
You are only punished for your own sin, not your parents sin, not your kids sins.
And this was all before Jesus came!

your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite

2009-12-24T21:09:00.002-05:00

Ezekiel 16 is not too pretty. God doesn't seem bothered by the reality of humanity as He(through Ezekiel) speaks of a newborn baby covered in blood and left in a field to die. It's reality. We are that way before God restores us. Rustle started out that way too. God redeems us from the state we were in.
The chapter goes on to be a warning. When God has taken you away from being a bloody baby in a field. When you are starting to grow up. When you are becoming the man or woman that God wants you to be, don't get so full of yourself that you think you can make it without Him. Because you can't. There may be things in the world that cause you to take your focus off God, if you are doing ok, but He always is ready and waiting for you to come back.

Don't ask

2009-11-23T23:05:00.002-05:00

In Jeremiah 42 Johanan and all the people approached Jeremiah to ask a question
"What should we do?"
And they must have known that asking God questions sometimes means you have to do difficult things and so they say:

6 Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the LORD our God.

It wasn't that they didn't know what they were getting themselves into- they KNEW!
And then 10 days later the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.
My guess is that Jeremiah probably spent those 10 days praying.
This was direction for a whole COUNTRY. A whole people. I'd guess he dedicated some time to this. That he wasn't out cavorting and having a good time, when suddenly the Word came to him. I'd guess he was seeking it.
And then he tells them the answer:
"Stay"
Well they didn't LIKE the answer and they said that Jeremiah was lying. The answer didn't make sense- the king of Babylon was taking over their country so of course they should go. But God's answers don't always have to make sense. In fact they may more often than not make sense to our human minds. But God doesn't see things the way we see them. So He said "Stay" and they said "No"
Help me, Lord, to be obedient to you even when it looks like your answer is the wrong one.

The truth

2009-11-21T22:15:00.002-05:00

In Jeremiah 40, 41 Johanan tells Gedaliah the truth about a guy named Ishmael.

40:16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, "Don't do such a thing! What you are saying about Ishmael is not true."

But it was true.
Sometimes we want things to be a certain way. We want the world to be a certain way, that we disrgard the truth because it doesn't fit with how we want the world to be. But how we want it to be is not always how it is.
It is important to be able to recognize truth.

Jeremiah 21

2009-10-31T21:15:00.002-04:00

Jeremiah had the task quite frequently of telling people things that weren't so good. Things they probably didn't want to hear.
In this case a contingent comes to him with hope, wanting to ask God if He could do for them what He had done in the past. Could He rescue them from Babylon?
God's answer in this case is not positive- if you want to live: get out of the city!
I would have left the city right then! If God's answer is no to what you want, He still offers a path of life out of the difficult situation.
In the case in this chapter, the people of that city had created a problem and apparently the only way to fix the problem was to destroy the city. Sometimes fixing a problem requires destruction. But there is always a path out.

stocks

2009-10-30T23:22:00.002-04:00

In Jeremiah 20 Jeremiah gets put in stocks. When the guy who put him in the stocks lets him out Jeremiah comes out with a not very nice prophesy against him. It's a wonder Jeremiah didn't end up back in the stocks. Some people may have thought to keep things on the quiet side after being put in stocks. Play nice for a while. But not Jeremiah!

Isaiah 60

2009-10-11T22:42:00.002-04:00

I thought that Isaiah 60 read a lot like a description of what heaven might be like. Especially the last bit:

19 The sun will no more be your light by day,
nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
for the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.

20 Your sun will never set again,
and your moon will wane no more;
the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your days of sorrow will end.

21 Then will all your people be righteous
and they will possess the land forever.
They are the shoot I have planted,
the work of my hands,
for the display of my splendor.

22 The least of you will become a thousand,
the smallest a mighty nation.
I am the LORD;
in its time I will do this swiftly."

I finished Isaiah yesterday and start Jeremiah today. I hope I will have more time to write about Jeremiah. I hope my crazy season at work will be over now.

Highs and lows

2009-08-26T21:39:00.002-04:00

Isaiah seems to be a book of extremes. There is a lot of stuff being bad and so needing to be destroyed and also a lot of great praise. Maybe out of great darkness comes great praise.

Isaiah

2009-08-03T21:59:00.002-04:00

A couple of days ago I started Isaiah.

As I read chapter 1 verses 4-8, I realized that earlier on the same day that I read it, I had met a guy who wandered into Rustle who WAS those verses. It made me cry.

Song

2009-07-31T22:37:00.002-04:00

I have to say, of all the books of the bible, I have the most trouble with the Song of Solomon. I get that it is supposed to be a picture of God's love for us, but at times it is a bit odd. I found it very hard work to read this book! This part I liked:

2:11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.

12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.

This part I had a bit of trouble with:

5: 2 I slept but my heart was awake.
Listen! My lover is knocking:
"Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my flawless one.
My head is drenched with dew,
my hair with the dampness of the night."

3 I have taken off my robe—
must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet—
must I soil them again?

4 My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
my heart began to pound for him.

5 I arose to open for my lover,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the lock.

6 I opened for my lover,
but my lover had left; he was gone.
My heart sank at his departure. [a]
I looked for him but did not find him.
I called him but he did not answer.

7 The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
They beat me, they bruised me;
they took away my cloak,
those watchmen of the walls!

It puzzled me that the Jesus/God character would knock and then leave, as there is a scripture in the NT about knocking and it being opened, etc.
In http://www.ldolphin.org/ssong.shtml they suggest that the passage talks about Jesus at Gethsemane- how he wants the disciples there, but they waver and then He is gone. Then they have to defend their faith.
When God is hard to find, I generally find that the problem is me, not Him. That He wants to be found. But that watchmen beat you up all the time, yeah, I understand that!

Ecclesiastes

2009-07-25T21:48:00.002-04:00

I finished reading Ecclesiastes last night. It's a very different sort of book in the old testament because through it all it seems to be asking- 'what is the point?' and then only at the very end does it conclude by saying that the point is to "fear God and keep His commandments" (Ecc. 12:13) It's ok to ask questions. It's ok to think about things. In fact, by including this book, maybe it is encouraging questions and thinking about eternal things.

where you are going

2009-07-01T13:55:00.002-04:00

Proverbs 20:24 A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?

In thinking we can know and understand it all, even with God's help, we are wrong. We are so small compared to a God so big. We can't even understand how we get to where we are in our own life. Sometimes we think we are directing our own paths, and sometimes we do. Looking back we just need to be thankful that God knows what He is doing, even if we can't always understand it at the time.

I found reading this verse amusingly painful, considering the swollen state of my ears:

12 Ears that hear and eyes that see—
the LORD has made them both.

our fault

2009-06-30T21:45:00.002-04:00

Proverbs 19:3 A man's own folly ruins his life,
yet his heart rages against the LORD. (NIV)
or
Proverbs 19:3 People ruin their lives by their own stupidity,
so why does God always get blamed? (Message)

Sometimes I feel bad when God gets the blame, when people are not able to take responsibility for their own actions. It's always easier to blame someone else. Luckily, God is big enough to handle whatever people throw at Him. The person who suffers the most in this is the person who is blaming God and therefore blocking their own growth potential.

I pray that You keep my ears and eyes open to see my stupidity and help me to correct it

Proverbs

2009-06-28T20:15:00.002-04:00

I am now in Proverbs. There is a lot in it. A lot to digest.
A good summary of what is being said comes from the Book of Common Prayer

"Give us such an awareness of your mercies, that our hearts may be sincerely thankful, and that we may show forth your praise not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days"

Ascents

2009-05-26T19:48:00.002-04:00

In my Bible it notes that Psalms 120-134 are psalms of ascents that the Israelites would sing on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate festivals.

My Bible also lists a word of meaning for each psalm and I have tried to focus on seeing this word in these Psalms:
120-Repentance
121-Providence
122-Worship
123-Service
124-Help
125-Security
126-Joy
127-Work
128-Happiness
129-Perseverance
130-Hope
131-Humility
132-Obedience
133-Community
134-Blessing

Psalm 119

2009-05-21T21:31:00.002-04:00

Ps. 119 talks a lot about the value of the Word and the Law. There are many benefits listed to reading them and following God.
It made me think of a friend who is struggling in her faith. She has many needs that ps. 119 indicates could be met by reading the Word (Bible) but she doesn't feel up to it. She knows the truth of the Word. The Word has been planted deep in her heart. So her not reading the Bible could be for a number of reasons
-it is powerful
-it will confront her on things she knows she should be doing (or not doing as the case may be)
-it could change her(!)

Psalm 117

2009-05-21T20:40:00.000-04:00

This looks like the shortest psalm but it packs quite a punch! Short and sweet. I am tackling psalm 119 tonight. Some things are short and some are long. As long as they need to be.

Psalm 115

2009-05-19T20:28:00.000-04:00

Psalm 115 seems to give a good description of an idol. Though the idols today probably don't look like the idols of psalm 115's time, they are still around. They are manmade not God-made. Trying to think of modern day idols- money probably tops the list. Maybe cars? Houses? TVs? Idols are also trusted in, so maybe that would make money the top one over other possessions. More people trust in money than other things.
I am happy to trust in the Lord

Psalm 107

2009-05-11T21:44:00.000-04:00

Psalm 107 is a series of stories that all make the same points:
1. We make bad choices or get in bad situations
2. If we realize the situation and call on the Lord, He will deliver us.

Now, the deliverance may not look like what we would expect or want, but He seems to be pretty good at bringing us out if we want to be brought out.
Why do we (as humans) only tend to look to God when the things are bad? Though other psalms are about praising God for good things, there seems to be a theme about calling on God when things get bad. I am glad He is there for us when things are both good and bad.

Psalm 101

2009-05-06T12:24:00.000-04:00

Well, upon reading psalm 101 I had some difficulty with it. It came off a bit proud to me. What with the seemingly required perfection and the destruction of evildoers. As I found this psalm puzzling I looked up a spurgeon internet reference and what I got from that was to think about it as David singing not how he is, but how he would LIKE to be. Which made it a bit easier to understand. There can always be a utopia in how we would like to be compared to how we are.
I read that it was a psalm of longing and expectation, which is not how I interpreted it at all on the first read.
When I read it, I think I was reading it in the light of Jesus, which may have been missing the point altogether.

7 No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.

But Jesus hung out with the sinners

8 Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.

Oh dear, I couldn't see Jesus in this at all.
So, obviously, interpreting this psalm in the light of Jesus was the wrong way to read it.

Psalm 87

2009-04-23T12:43:00.000-04:00

Psalm 87:7 As they make music they will sing,
"All my fountains are in you."

Apparently, I am not thinking up too many interesting things to talk about in the Psalms! I am at 87 now. I think they are very good for me. Maybe they have contributed to me getting the songs in my head back. I think the Psalms really wash your soul. They seem to be a mix of praise, prayer and emotion. I am enjoying them. Hopefully, I will be able to write more as my work should be letting up a bit at this time.

slug

2009-04-02T21:55:00.000-04:00

Psalm 58:8 Like a slug melting away as it moves along...

I love the imagery in that and I feel this way too sometimes!

Psalm 29

2009-03-08T22:02:00.000-04:00

Reading Psalm 29 brought great comfort and good focus. God is in control and knows what He is doing. Even though the current physical world we live in looks out of control and chaotic, we need to look to God's world- to see things His way.

Psalms

2009-02-27T18:30:00.000-05:00

I have now started into the Psalms. I remember as a 5th grader getting the gideon bible in my class. It was my first Bible that I remember. I think I read it- I remember singing the Psalms- and I'm not a singer. I'm not sure why I knew to do that. I guess they said they were songs at the top and I thought that it only did them justice to sing them. I also remember using the 'resource' list at the back- there were scriptures that you could read if you were feeling lonely or hurt or so and I tried the read the scripture corresponding to my mood!

25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

26 to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

This scripture seems to indicate that the aspects that you see of God are the ones that are most like you!

Suffering

2009-02-20T19:46:00.000-05:00

Well, I finished Job but I'm not sure that I understand it any better. Job doesn't curse God after all he goes through, so I guess he passes. But God does bring him up short at the end, which Job agrees with and then everything is fine and dandy. I wasn't sure what to make of Job repeating multiple times that he was sinless, when it says in the New Testament that all have sinned. (well, minus Jesus) And I don't think that God particularly cared if he was sinless or not, just that his heart was right towards Him.

Job

2009-02-07T19:27:00.000-05:00

When I first became a Christian, my friends encouraged me to read the Bible. But they qualified it. They said read the Bible, but skip Job. They implied that Job was really complicated. It probably is good advice to a new Christian to start in the New Testament.
I have read Job a number of times since being a Christian but have never got a lot out of it. I think this is the first time I have read it and really tried to understand the characters. Do I know people like this? From hearing other people discussing Job, I went into it thinking that Job is right and the 'friends' are wrong. But in reading it, I am not sure who is right and who is wrong and if it really matters. I think they both have interesting points on suffering. I am only about halfway through- we'll see how things go in the next half!

Esther

2009-01-25T18:37:00.000-05:00

Reading Esther is always like a breathe of fresh air. I got through it quickly. My favorite quote is:

4:14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

It is quite possible that God had Esther in this position so that He could bring deliverance through her. But if she didn't go along with it, God would bring deliverance another way.

A quote from Helen Keller seems to fit here:

It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks,

Nehemiah

2009-01-10T22:27:00.000-05:00

I am halfway through Nehemiah at this point. I always love the part in Chapter 4 where he talks about half of the men doing the work of rebuilding the wall and half were the warriors. Each worker had a warrior assigned to them. I see that as a picture of prayer.

The verse that has stood out to me during this reading was in Nehemiah 6

13 He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.

He is talking about how Shemaiah told him he should hide in the temple because men were coming to kill him. Would it be a sin to go in the temple? Was the man talking about going in a part of the temple that was sacred and he was not allowed to go in. Or was Nehemiah saying that it would be a sin not to stand up to his enemies?

Revelation of sin

2009-01-04T21:39:00.000-05:00

When Ezra is told of the people's sin of marrying the neighbouring countries women, he takes it quite hard.

And I sat there appalled until the evening sacrifice. Ezra 9:4

Then he begins prayer and petitioning and Israel works out a way to make it right.
What I thought was interesting about this whole episode is that Ezra is truly blindsided by the facts that are told to him, but this marrying was not a sudden happening. There were lots of men who had done this, with children being born from the unions. That takes time, that isn't instantaneous. So either he was off doing other things and he wasn't really in tune with the people or he knew about it, but didn't understand the impact of it.
Sometimes we have sin in our lives that we allow to continue on because either we ignore it, or we don't understand the impact of it.
Lord, open our eyes to our sin, so we can repent, and move on with our life in you.

Cyrus

2008-12-28T21:15:00.000-05:00

The start of Ezra is the same as the end of 2 Chronicles. I like that segway. Also, Cyrus seems to be very kind to Israel, letting them return to their land. I hope he is blessed for that.

Dude, step down

2008-12-27T17:05:00.000-05:00

Josiah seems to be a good King. He seems to want to please God and obey him. He did a lot of good things in Israel. But what he doesn't seem to know is he has to pick his battles.

20 After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to meet him in battle. 21 But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, "What quarrel is there between you and me, O king of Judah? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you."

22 Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle. He would not listen to what Neco had said at God's command but went to fight him on the plain of Megiddo.

23 Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers, "Take me away; I am badly wounded."

This unfortunately, leads to the death of Josiah and a very bad downward spiral for Judah, who all seem to shortly thereafter be taken captive by opposing communities.

Book of the Law

2008-12-25T18:28:00.000-05:00

In 2 Chronicles 34 when they are renovating the Temple, they find the book of the law. And they read it and realize all the things that have been done wrong in the past. So King Josiah asks someone to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord tells the prophetess that disaster is coming because the Law has not been obeyed, but He will delay it because Josiah was humbled by the reading, so that it will not occur in his lifetime.

Stories of the Kings

2008-12-24T23:44:00.000-05:00

As I continued reading in Chronicles about more Kings and what were the defining moments in their lives, I thought about why it is recorded so. That it is important that we hear other people's stories, to learn from their defining moments.

Under attack

2008-12-23T22:12:00.000-05:00

In 2 Chronicles 32 Hezekiah feels a threat from Sennacherib. His course of action:
1) Make his area look less appealing (they go and stop up the water supplies)
2) Fortify his defences
3) Tells his military guys to remember that the Lord helps us and fights our battles.
Then Sennacherib lays seige to the area, an outright threat. He delivers a campaign of intimidation and mocking of God. It is interesting that he begins with a mental terrorist campaign instead of a physical one.
Hezekiah's new course of action:
1) Pray
Hezekiah did everything he could do to prepare. Then he prays and God delivered his country/area.

Restoration

2008-12-22T20:33:00.000-05:00

The chapters about Hezekiah show restoration. He restores the Temple, the passover celebration, the practice of tithing. Idol worship is cut down. Resoration is a healing thing.

Hezekiah

2008-12-21T21:57:00.000-05:00

Hezekiah seems like a good dude. He restored the Temple. He sends an invitation out to the people to come and celebrate the passover. Some people scorned this idea, some people humbles themselves.

12 Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the LORD.

Praying for unity

Uzziah

2008-12-20T21:08:00.000-05:00

2 Chronicles 26 talks about King Uzziah's reign. This is the same Uzziah that Isaiah refers to in Isaiah 6, I believe.

5 He (Uzziah) sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.
...
16 But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.

He decided he wanted to burn incense in the temple, which apparently he was not permitted to do, even though he was the King. Which he probably thought, because he was the King, he could do what he liked. But it was pride. The priests who went to tell him it was wrong, he 'raged' at. He likely KNEW it was wrong, and knew they were right, thus the eruption in rage. He was struck with leprosy. The priests hurried away. 20...Indeed, he himself was eager to leave... Indeed.

money

2008-12-19T19:20:00.000-05:00

2 Chronicles 25:6 He (Amaziah) also hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents of silver.

7 But a man of God came to him and said, "O king, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the LORD is not with Israel—not with any of the people of Ephraim. 8 Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow."

9 Amaziah asked the man of God, "But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?"
The man of God replied, "The LORD can give you much more than that."

10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and left for home in a great rage.

In times of economic crises, it is good to remember that though money may be lost, God can restore.

The child shall be King

2008-12-18T08:16:00.000-05:00

In 2 Chronicles 23 the head priest (who has been hiding away the only royal heir who was not killed by Athaliah) organizes a coup and a seven year old is installed as King. James is almost 7 and while I'm sure he would love to be king, I am not sure he would have the actual capacity to do the kingly things. So this boy was more of a figurehead. I think the priest did most of the thinking for him. And that priest stayed with him and kept him on track for the whole of the priests life. But when the priest died, the king ran it off in a ditch. Apparently he was influenced as deeply for good as I'm sure his mentor would have liked.