Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Kings 18:33 (New Living Translation)

33 He piled wood on the altar, cut the bull into pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood. Then he said, “Fill four large jars with water, and pour the water over the offering and the wood.”

This is a story about Elijah. The land is in the third year of a drought. Little or no rain for three years. Surely, priests or holy men of one kind or another can appeal to some god of rain to bring water back to the land.

Okay, let’s have a contest. Elijah the prophet, God spoke to the people through Elijah, would appeal to Jehovah God. Also on the scene are 450 prophets of Baal or some other collection of gods that locals worshiped. That seems like a lot of people, 450 prophets of Baal. Nevertheless, let’s have a contest to see who is real and who can actually do something.

Pile wood. Call on your god. Ask for fire to come out of the sky and set the wood ablaze. My guess is this meant to ask for lightning to come down, strike the pile of dry wood, and of course it would burn. There was no lightning during a drought.

The 450 prophets of Baal go first. Always let the other go first, like in overtime in football or something. I digress. The prophets of Baal tried every trick in the book, and nothing happened.

Elijah’s turn begins in the verse above. Elijah wasn’t going to use a pile of dry would that would spark and burn with some trick or sleight of hand. No, Douse the wood with four large jars of water. When Jehovah God strikes this wood and sets it on fire, it will be obvious.

Pause. They are in the third year of a killing drought. Water is scarce, precious, life giving, and all that, Pour four large jars of water on the wood? Waste water? Those four large jars of water would keep a family alive for a week or two.

Elijah, from God, was saying, “Drought? What drought? Water is plentiful. God has so much water that we can pour it on wood. The drought ends now.”

Poof. It happened. God lit the wet wood and it burned. The drought ended. Crazy stuff. Miracle stuff.

Nice old Sunday school story for kids. And more. There are many ways to go with this. Try this one: there is stuff that is precious to me. I just can’t part with it. It’s like water during a drought.

God tells me to toss it on a pile of sticks. Let go. Stop doubting God. Trust. Believe in something I cannot see. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Joshua 5:9 (New Living Translation)

9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day.

shame: a negative evaluation of the entire self—believing that you are fundamentally flawed, unlovable, or inadequate as a person.

Shame is a debilitating feeling. The person carrying shame can barely move. They can’t “get out of bed” or do the simplest, smallest thing.

The people of God carried shame of being slaves in Egypt. A rational examination of their condition in Egypt showed they could have done something else. They could have walked away. They could have left Egypt. They didn’t. Their circumstances all piled up on their shoulders and they were stuck. They were stuck in shame.

God rolled away the shame. God removed the shame.

Of course God does the same today. People are loaded with troubles and mistakes and circumstances and they can’t move away and get out of bed and do anything worthwhile. Shame is a load. What to do? Where to turn? Surely, there must be an answer.

God remains the answer. We know this. Somehow we can’t accept God. What is wrong with us? What is wrong with me? Please God, help me in my unbelief.

2 Kings 11:12 (New Living Translation)

12 Then Jehoiada brought out Joash, the king’s son, placed the crown on his head, and presented him with a copy of God’s laws. They anointed him and proclaimed him king, and everyone clapped their hands and shouted, “Long live the king!”

This is part of the history of the earthly kings who ruled God’s people. Here is the coronation of young Joash. This is pretty basic and end’s with the “Long live the king!”

Number One: put a crown on his head.

Number Two: give him a copy of God’s laws.

Number Three: hey wait a minute. What was Number Two? A copy of God’s laws? How about a ring or a sword or robe or something befitting a king. A copy of God’s laws? Surely there are advisors around who know that information and can advise the new king. And we read later that Joash was only seven years old. That is pretty tough reading for some that age.

Nope, here are the words of God spoken to the people through Moses long ago. Read this. Abide by this. No exceptions.

God has a way of using fundamentals with mankind. While there is much beyond my comprehension, it is still pretty simple. God is God. I am not. God is faultless. I have plenty of faults. God saved me. I didn’t save me. Simple and fundamental. Read the book. Learn. Live. Pray.

1 Samuel 23:14 (New Living Translation)

14 David now stayed in the strongholds of the wilderness and in the hill country of Ziph. Saul hunted him day after day, but God didn’t let Saul find him.

David is fleeing Saul. Saul has resources. Saul is searching. It is inevitable that Saul will find David. Saul, however, didn’t find David.

God didn’t let Saul find him.

That’s pretty simple. Everything in the physical realm says Saul will find David and kill him. Saul failed because God didn’t let him succeed. God intervened in the physical affairs of people. World events changed because God changed them.

We sit here in the 21st century and smile a little when reading such a story from 3,000 years ago and all that. It’s the stuff of fairy tales and dragons and knights in shining armor or something like that. Okay, God did something in ancient times that baffled the people. We are too sophisticated and smart and knowledgeable of history and all that. We understand how things work.

We deny the power and influence of God.

Pity us. How could we become so smart as to be foolish? Please God, help me in my unbelief.

2 Kings 12:13-15 (New Living Translation)

13 The money brought to the Temple was not used for making silver bowls, lamp snuffers, basins, trumpets, or other articles of gold or silver for the Temple of the Lord. 14 It was paid to the workmen, who used it for the Temple repairs. 15 No accounting of this money was required from the construction supervisors, because they were honest and trustworthy men.

Buildings fall down as gravity always wins. Weather is also a victor.

King Josiah of Judah sought to repair the Temple. Money was given. Money changed hands. With money comes the temptation to keep a little to the side and put it in a pocket and … all that.

Not here. Not in this situation. The construction supervisors were honest and trustworthy men. Time and expense were not needed to enter everything into spreadsheets and have three people check the cell formulas. The money was used for its intended purposes. The Temple was repaired. Trust in the leadership was restored.

Perhaps that is one of the lessons: being trustworthy brings trust. The person is worthy of being trusted by how they live. Others notice.

God blessed these men with families and history so that they desired to be trusted. Not everyone desires that. They acted accordingly. Not everyone does that. God worked with men of competence and trust. That was a miracle. That was God.

God still works among us today.

1 Samuel 3:19-21 (New Living Translation)

19 As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him, and everything Samuel said proved to be reliable. 20 And all Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh and gave messages to Samuel there at the Tabernacle.

Samuel grew up at the Tabernacle serving with the elder Eli. Through the faith of Samuel and his family, God chose to speak to the people through Samuel. He was the living definition of a prophet.

The people were living all across the land. They didn’t have central communication, post offices, newspapers, or cable TV. Yet, all the people knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet. Word spread. Everything Samuel said proved to be reliable.

There is much that can be written about Samuel, his life, and the things he did. The word “reliable” strikes me as key. Samuel would say something; that would happen. There was no doubt. Integrity. One word. One thing. There were never a difference and never a doubt.

It isn’t easy to emulate Samuel. There are always circumstances and little things that get in the way to twist what people say. No, it isn’t easy. Still, Samuel provides the example to seek. Try to be like Samuel. What is said is done. That comes from God. That is a mark of a follower of God.

2 Kings 19:35-36 (New Living Translation)

35 That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. 36 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.

In the old times, a man named Hezekiah was king of God’s people. King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded the land and swept everyone from his path. He is at the gates of Jerusalem. The outcome is predictable; it won’t end well for the people making their last stand in Jerusalem.

The unimaginable happens. 185,000 Assyrian solders die in one night. King Sennacherib of Assyria pulled up stakes and went home.

What happened? An angel killed 185,000 soldiers in one night. These were soldiers. They were big, strong, tough men. Dead. One night. Just like that.

How do you picture an angel? Soft, white, fluffy clothes, wings of glorious white feathers that glow because they are clean and soft and all that lovely stuff? How about a stone cold killer? How about blood and gore everywhere? Imagine the carnage, the filth, the odor of 185,000 dead bodies. This is a sea of corpses caused by one angel in a few hours.

Soft, cuddly, cute angel? I don’t see that here. Fear the angel of the Lord. When the angel of the Lord told the sheep herders about the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the sheep herders were “sore afraid,” i.e., terrorized. Fear the angel of the Lord.

Judges 7:21-22a (New Living Translation)

21 Each man stood at his position around the camp and watched as all the Midianites rushed around in a panic, shouting as they ran to escape. 22 When the 300 Israelites blew their rams’ horns, the Lord caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords.

This is part of the (hi)story of Gideon and a small army of 300 men defeating a huge army of Midianites. This is the account of holding torches in jars to keep them dark. Then, in a great startling moment, the 300 broke the jars, exposed the torches, and blew horns. Each horn represented a group of 50-or-so men coming at you in the middle of the night.

It was a great ruse. The Midianites were deceived. In a panic, they killed each other.

That was the story taught in Sunday School to eager boys who wanted to read that John Wayne was active in the Bible and all that action and adventure. Pow. Bam. Zoom. Crunch. And all that. Tactics were key to the victory.

Nope. As it says, “the Lord caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords.” The Lord did this. The surprise, the horn blasts, the immediate torches, surrounding the camp on all sides, all that stuff explains this event to the tactician and student of military history. That, however, is not what caused the Midianites to kill one another. The Lord caused it. The Lord did it.

This was a miracle that saved the Lord’s people from yet another invading army, from yet another earthly foe. God did it. End of explanation. And the people at the time, including what was left of the fleeing Midianite army, knew what happened.

Let’s give God the credit. Same today: let’s give God the credit.

1 Chronicles 16:21-22 (New Living Translation)

21 Yet he did not let anyone oppress them. He warned kings on their behalf:
22 “Do not touch my chosen people, and do not hurt my prophets.”

These statements are part of a song that King David wrote on the occasion of bringing the Ark of the Covenant into a special tent. David sings of the things God (mentioned as “he” in these statements) has done.

God issued a warning to the kings of other peoples in the region: do not touch my chosen people.

God, the Creator of all, chose a group of people to do something on earth to help all mankind for all time. The first person in the people was Abraham who was chosen because of the faith he displayed. The rest of the chosen people were descendants of Abraham through one particular line of descent.

The chosen people were not more capable than other people. The chosen people often fell flat on their face. They remained, however, the chosen people.

And God adds one more item: do not hurt my prophets. God sent messages to the people through these prophets. The test of, “is this guy really a prophet or just a used car salesman?” was quite simple. If the events a person always foretold came to be, that was a prophet. We aren’t talking about getting bets on football games right 55% of the time. We are talking about specific world events and being right ALL THE TIME. Don’t hurt those special people.

The result? Naw. Folks didn’t follow the command. The kings who were warned went on and did whatever they did. Suffering followed.

When God warns and commands, act accordingly. History teaches. We should learn.

Judges 3:1 (New Living Translation)

1 These are the nations that the Lord left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan.

This is part of the (hi)story of the people entering the land God had given them. This verses state that God had left some other nations in the land as a test to the people. This was sort of an ongoing exercise program or something so the people would stay sharp or ready or something good.

Let’s note that: God tests people.

Sounds like a good idea. We all need a little testing now and then to see if we are ready or diligent or something we should be. Perhaps I’ll help God here and do some testing myself and … N O P E

God is God. I am not. Let’s leave the testing to God. Perhaps I have missed it, but I do not recall anywhere in the Bible where I am given the authority to test other people. Aargh. I am well equipped by God to do such testing.

I think … N O P E. Leave the testing to God.