Day 17: Psalms 1-50

This is the first day of three days in the Psalms...the hymn book of the Bible.

Extreme Emotion

There are some who call themselves Christians who seem to believe that being Christian is synonymous with being stoic. No matter what happens in your life, you must not show it. You must always keep an even keel. You must always keep your emotions pent up inside or, at the very lease, vent them where no one else can see it. After all, the argument goes, non-Christians might see you get emotional and be turned away from following Jesus. I know these people are out there because I have met some of them (and been scolded by them, too).

As I read through the first 50 psalms, I realized that these kinds of Christians must hate reading the psalms. It must just drive them crazy when they open to the psalms and see little except for raw emotion. Fury, hurt, worry, doubt, pain, etc. are omnipresent throughout these first 50 psalms.

Christianity is not a stoic religion. Christians are not immune to the events and happenstance of life...and the writer(s) of the Psalms make it clear that followers of God are not expected to hide their emotional reactions to the happenings of life. In fact, Christians do a disservice to non-Christians when we hide our emotions. One of the things about being a Christian is taking advantage of the opportunity to model healthy ways of dealing with emotions.

And the Psalms are a good place to start looking for healthy expressions of even the most raw of emotions.

Return of the Preferential Option for the Poor

In the first chunk of Psalms, one theme comes up over and over again - that God cares deeply and specially for the poor, the oppressed, the orphan. One verse stood out in particular - Psalm 9:18 - "But the needy will not be ignored forever; the hopes of the poor will not always be crushed." Can it get any clearer? Is there any way to interpret those words other than as a factual statement that God will look out for the interests of the lowest in society?

I find two lessons in the constant appearance of this theme. First, there is a lesson of comfort for the person is poor and needy. They can take comfort in the words and in the knowledge that no matter what their current situation, God will one day vindicate them.

The second lesson, though, is more apropos to my own situation. There is a word of caution in these verses for the wealthy and privileged. Our time will not last forever. We will not be permitted to forever crush the spirit of the lower classes. No matter what laws we pass or how hard we try, there will come a reckoning where the poor are raised up. Perhaps we should allow that realization to affect the decisions we make today - and spend time working on lifting up the poor while we still have a chance.

Day 16: Job

Job is one of the more interesting books in the Old Testament. As early as the late 6th/early 7th century, commentaries were being written by great thinkers of the faith (one example would be the Magna Moralia of Gregory the Great).

There have always been questions about Job - such as "What exactly is the 'Leviathan' referred to in the text?" & "Is Job a retelling of real events or some sort of Old Testament 'play' meant to illustrate a spiritual point much the way the parables do in the New Testament?"

Add to that the deeply personal nature of Job and the emotions conveyed in its words and you have a recipe for a good book.

Worst. Friends. Ever.

Much of the book centers around speeches made by Job and three of his so-called "friends." Prior to the speeches, Job undergoes a litany of terrible events: he loses all of his property (and he had been very wealthy), his children are killed and he is afflicted with a bad disease. It is while Job is mourning for all that he has lost that his "friends" show up, ostensibly to bring comfort to their wounded friend.

I put quotes around "friends" because whatever these three men are, they are not real friends to Job. Each of them spends the majority of their speeches trying to convince Job that he has somehow sinned and brought all the calamity on himself. Meanwhile, Job protests his innocence. Over and over the cycle repeats itself - Job proclaims innocence while his "friends" pronounced him damned. It's enough to make you wonder why Job even puts up with these guys.

It also brings to mind an experience I had some years back. I was working at a church when I first recognized that I was having issues with depression. When I went to my boss to seek counsel, though, he simply asked me if I had prayed about it...as if whatever was going on in my head was being caused by a lack of prayer or some other spiritual misdeed. I distinctly remember what I felt when he said that - ignored, diminished and unheard. My boss - from whom I sought comfort - became an agitator instead, condemning me instead of comforting me.

Perhaps the moral here is that it is better to be silent than to say something stupid. As difficult as it is for me, I have learned that when I am in the presence of deep grief, sadness or other emotion, I am much more helpful if I simply keep my mouth shut. To be sure, Job's "friends" could have been better friends if they would have foregone their strange need to condemn.

Defending God? (Job 13.2-7)

The following verses stood out to me on the page as if they were in bold font:

"Are you defending God with lies?

Do you make your dishonest arguments for his sake?

Will you slant your testimony in his favor?

Will you argue God's case for him?

What will happen when he finds out what you are doing?

Can you fool him as easily as you fool people?

No, you will be in trouble with him if you secretly slant your testimony in his favor.

Doesn't his majesty terrify you?

Doesn't your fear of him overwhelm you?

Your platitudes are as valuable as ashes.

Your defense is as fragile as a clay pot.

In a time when we are quick to come to God's defense with proofs and arguments in favor of his existence and logical PowerPoint presentations that prove Jesus is the son of God, these words should provide a much needed caution. We have to be careful in our apologetics that we do not get off-track, that we do not cross the line in our zeal. It is not okay to do anything to win souls - we have to work within the boundaries of Scripture and of good morals. Should we fail to stay within those boundaries, we will find ourselves in the place of defending ourselves to God for our out of bounds efforts.

Day 15: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther

Today is a triple book day. Three different books with lots of good stuff. In order to keep it short enough, though, I'm going to go with one observation from each.

Ezra: Mixed Emotions

In the first couple of chapters of Ezra, the goal of the people is stated fairly clearly - they are seeking to rebuild the temple of God that had been originally built by Solomon and then later destroyed when the Jews were hauled off into exile. The task was given to Ezra to oversee.

One of the first things that has to happen in any kind of construction project is the laying of the foundation, and the new temple was no exception. The people located the ruins of the old temple and began the process of laying a foundation for the new one. What is interesting to me is the reaction of the people to the laying of a new foundation. It's found in Ezra 3:12-13:

"But many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had seen the first Temple wept aloud when they saw the new Temple's foundation. The others, however, were shouting for joy. The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the distance."

There were people there for the laying of the new foundation who had seen the old Temple - and they wept at the sight of the new. We don't know if they were tears of sadness for what had been lost or tears of gladness for what was being regained. What we DO know is that in the whole crowd of people there was joy mixed with tears. And that together, the sounds of joy and sadness mingled in a loud racket that could be heard far away.

Sometimes when we break new ground in life - relocating for a job, having a child, watching a child grow up, etc. - we experience the kind of conflicted emotions that were present as the Jews laid the new foundation. My sister once told me about raising kids: "You never want them to get any bigger/older, but you always love the next stage as much as the last." What she said is true not just of raising children but of life in general. What the people in Ezra 3 teach us is that it is okay to feel both joy and sadness...for both are part of life.

Nehemiah: Stubborn as a Donkey

Nehemiah was a stubborn, stubborn man. He gets sent by the king to re-build the city of Jerusalem - starting with the walls - and nothing is going to get in his way or stop him from accomplishing his task. Over and over again throughout the book you find people trying to stop him, to no avail.

They try to threaten military attack, so Nehemiah tells the people to bring their weapons to work. They try to convince Nehemiah to come to a secret meeting, but Nehemiah simply tells them he doesn't have the time for meetings. They try to discredit Nehemiah with the people by getting him to hide in the Temple, but Nehemiah isn't afraid and doesn't fall for it. The even try to discredit Nehemiah with the King, but that, too, fails.

It didn't seem to matter what his enemies tried, nothing was able to sway Nehemiah from the task given to him by God. I don't know about you, but reading stories like Nehemiah's inspires me to be more single-minded in my obedience and dedication to the task, the calling given me by God. Every one of us has a calling from God, something God has asked us to do. And I firmly believe that every one of us, if we approach our task as passionately as did Nehemiah, will be able to rely on the same God who protected Nehemiah from his enemies to protect us from ours.

Esther: The Great Unmentioned

Esther is the one book of the Bible in which God is not mentioned by name. Not even once. Throughout Esther's screenplay like plot twists and turns, you never hear a character pray or thank God or anything like that. In fact, on the surface, this seeming "absence" of God can make one wonder why exactly Esther's story is included in our Bibles.

Well, God's name might not appear in Esther's story, but God's fingerprints are all over it. The events themselves take turns that can only be attributed to favor from God. Though the reader cannot "see" God in the text, it is nonetheless obvious that God is indeed present. To me, this is the great moral of Esther's story - that God does not have to be mentioned or be seen in order to play a part in our stories. God's role is not always obvious, but God is always there. I may not be able to name or describe in detail how God played a part in a specific turn of events, but I know - it is obvious to me - that God is there.

In some respects, Esther reminds me of that old poem Footprints, about someone who looks back on life, sees only one set of footprints in the sand and assumes that God had abandoned them during those moments when instead, it was during those moments that God carried them. God certainly carried Esther and Mordecai through their lives...even if He's not mentioned in their story.

Days 13 & 14: 1 & 2 Chronicles

I confess that I am kind of at a loss when it comes to 1 & 2 Chronicles. Much of what is in these two books is a repeat of the same events that were narrated in 1 & 2 Kings...but here goes anyway:

Why "The Prayer of Jabez" is Flawed...

At the beginning of 1 Chronicles, in the midst of an exceedingly tedious listing of name after name, lies the now-famous "prayer of Jabez" - about which Bruce Wilkinson wrote a little book that became a phenomenon. It became the poster-child for the "name it, claim it" way of thinking.

The logic went like this - Jabez prayed that God would bless him and expand his territory, and God did. Ergo, if we pray for those things, God will do them for us. Makes sense, right?

There is, however, one major problem with this way of thinking that occurred to me as I slogged through those genealogies last night - Wilkinson and other Jabez prayer aficionados have made a big jump from "occasional" to "universal." In other words, they look at the story of Jabez, which merely says that God answered Jabez' prayer, and they assume that what God did on that particular occasion is universally applicable.

What, then, are we to do with those times when people pray for God to bless them and expand their territory and it did not happen?

I think it is important for anyone who reads the Bible to take care not to jump too quickly from an occasion of God's power to a universal "law" of God's power.

Interlude...

For those of you who are following this, I want to let you know that I have not forgotten to read today. It's been a crazy busy day, so I am a little behind...I will read 1 Chronicles today and include any observations tomorrow...

My bad.

Day 12: 2 Kings

I don't have anything witty or wise to say as a prelude, so I'll go right to the observations:

Patience is a Virtue

God is extraordinarily patient. That much is obvious from even a surface reading of 1 & 2 Kings. God puts up with king after king after king - in both Israel and Judah - who do the wrong things, who worship idols. He puts up with it for generation after generation without dramatically punishing the people.

According to the terms of the covenant - the relationship between God and the Jewish people - God would have been well within His "rights," so to speak, to completely destroy the people after just one instance of idolatry. Yet He doesn't. He gives them chance after chance. Occasionally in the process of the story, there is a king who recognizes God's great power and patience (Hezekiah & Josiah being the two most influential, but there were others, too), and the presence of these "good" kings seems to justify God's patience. Yet within a few years, the people and their kings are back to idolatry.

Even in the end, God does not completely destroy the people - He shows mercy even in this judgment, sending them to exile instead of to death. Many people read the Old Testament and see a God who is harsh and judgmental of His people. Yet as I read it, I see a God who is patient with His people, wanting to give them every opportunity to do what is right. And to be honest, I find great comfort in knowing that God is a patient God.

Because He certainly has needed that patience with me...

Revival in the Land

One of the most prominent characters in 2 Kings is King Josiah. Josiah was one of the "good" kings who did what God desired and who did not worship idols. Josiah, though, led a revival of worship of the True God that was unparalleled. During his reign, the priests discovered a copy of the Torah - the early books of Jewish law - hidden in the temple.

When he read the words, Josiah immediately realized that the people were in trouble, that they were in violation of the covenant and subject to God's judgment. So he took action. He demolished all the idols and shrines to foreign gods - not just some of them, every last one of them. He reinstated the celebration of Passover, which had not happened since the days of the judges - a period of many, many years. What Josiah did, though, that caught my eye and stood out to me the most, was to organize a public reading of the law and a public covenant renewal ceremony.

Sometimes it happens that, as years pass in our relationship with Christ, we begin to forget the "terms" of the covenant. It's not intentional necessarily, but the longer we serve Christ, the easier it is to assume that we know what's important to God and that we know exactly what it means to be in a covenant relationship with Jesus. I wonder, though, how we would react if we "rediscovered" the original terms - if we went back and examined again God's word and Jesus' life and all the promises made and judgments promised.

I can't say for sure how everyone would react, but I can confess that this Lenten Bible project is becoming, for me, a Josiah-moment. I am remembering and recapturing things that I had lost over the years. And I am hopeful that this rediscovery will lead to a renewal of commitment to the ultimate covenant of love I have with God.

Day 11: 1 Kings

Quick story from yesterday. Before church, I sat in the sanctuary and prayed that God would open the doors for our church to become more ingrained in our community, that God would give us opportunities to grow.

Fast forward to church. I get up to do the announcements and I look out over the sanctuary and see a young couple from the neighborhood sitting in the back; and by the time I finished the announcements we had a gal from the neighborhood who was, to put it nicely, a little tipsy, come in as well. Apparently God heard my prayer for opportunities...

On to 1 Kings:

Apparently, Stupid is Contagious (or Genetic)

As I read through 1 Kings, I kept running across one particular phrase: "he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord." Over and over again, that phrase came up as a descriptor of the kings of Israel and of Judah. In fact, if I recall right, there was only one king - Asa - that escaped that phrase (don't hold me to that, as I didn't go back and actually count - but I'm pretty sure).

What makes it all the more amazing is the way that God continually made himself clear to the kings about what they should do. Take just one example - Jeroboam. Jeroboam became king after Solomon began to worship some foreign idols. Before he became king, though, God tells Jeroboam exactly why He was making Jeroboam king - because Solomon worshipped idols. Then God promises Jeroboam that, if he - Jeroboam - is faithful to God, God will make his family royalty for generations.

It doesn't get much clearer than that - follow God, don't worship idols and you will prosper. Simple, right? Apparently not, because a few verses later, Jeroboam is getting deposed as king...for worshipping idols.

It just goes to show how tempting (and dangerous) it is to worship idols.

A Quick Response

One of the things I have enjoyed the most about this Lenten reading project is the chance to re-read stories that have become familiar to me and find within those stories insights that may have eluded me before.

This happened to me as I read the account of Elijah versus the prophets of Ba-al in 1 Kings 18. The Cliff's Notes for the story are as follows: the people, led by King Ahab, are worshipping idols (see above). Elijah is a prophet of God and God tells him to challenge the prophets of Ba-al, one of the idols, to a duel of sorts. Both the prophets of Ba-al and Elijah will set up altars and place a sacrifice on them. Then each will pray to their God and the God who sends fire wins.

I have read this story and heard it preached many times. It is one of my favorite Old Testament stories...especially the part when Elijah starts mocking and making fun of the prophets of Ba-al. But what I have never noticed before is that difference between the prayers of the two "contestants." The prophets of Ba-al prayed for hours and hours - they wailed, they cried, they moaned, they cut themselves. From morning through evening they cried out to Ba-al, to no avail.

When it was Elijah's turn, he prays a short prayer (reading the words of the prayer as its recorded takes less than a minute) and immediately God sends fire to consume the sacrifice. God didn't make Elijah go into histrionics or play emotional games to get an answer to his prayer. Elijah prayed a straightforward prayer and God answered it. Perhaps there is a lesson for us somewhere in there.

Food for Thought

1 Kings 20:11:

"The king of Israel sent back this answer: 'A warrior putting on his sword for battle should not boast like a warrior who has already won.'"