Contemplative Bible Reading

Ezekiel 33:32 (New Living Translation)

32 You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays fine music on an instrument. They hear what you say, but they don’t act on it!

God is speaking to the prophet Ezekiel. God had spoken to the people through Ezekiel, but the people treated Ezekiel not as a prophet of God, but as some kind of entertainer. Old ‘Zeke was a good song and dance man with poetic phrases and all that good stuff.

Listen to the words of Ezekiel? Nope. Act on the words of Ezekiel? Nope. That would be like believing the Roadrunner and Coyote were real (shows my age). God concludes in the next verse with, “But when all these terrible things happen to them—as they certainly will—then they will know a prophet has been among them.”

Time will tell, and the story won’t be good. Let’s listen to God. Let’s listen to the messengers God sends. Let’s read the Bible. I can do much better. I can enjoy the blessings of God so much more than I do. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

John 14:27 (New Living Translation)

27 I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

Jesus is speaking. Jesus leaves a gift for me: peace of mind and heart.

Goodness, we have lots of folks in America today who don’t have peace of mind. Rich folks, athletes, musicians, actors, business persons, etc. They make the Olympic team, but just can’t get out of bed once they are at the Olympics because their mind isn’t right. Tennis stars lose the ability to play because of mental health issues. Peace of mind? They are out of their minds.

Then there is a troubled heart. I have known people who were troubled in heart for many years. Someone in their life died. A part of their emotional heart died with them. The heart didn’t grow back to its normal size. One of my grandmothers died of heartache within a year of the death of an adult son. Others I have known were “pushed over the edge” and died shortly after another person died.

There are many troubled hearts around us. Jesus gives peace of heart. Let’s accept that. Be with people who remind us of the peace Jesus gives. That’s a simple and sometimes too simple bit of encouragement. If you suffer from a troubled heart, you may find my words without meaning or power. I apologize. I fail. Jesus doesn’t.

Jeremiah 9:24 (New Living Translation)

24 But those who wish to boast
should boast in this alone:
that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord
who demonstrates unfailing love
and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth,
and that I delight in these things.
I, the Lord, have spoken!

I just quoted this verse yesterday. This deserves another comment. God tells the people through the prophet Jeremiah that God delights in three things:

• unfailing love
• justice
• righteousness

Surely there must be something else, huh? This reminds me of Naaman, a commander in the world-conquering Aramean army. How would God rid Naaman of a terrible skin disease? Go wash in the muddy Jordan River. That’s all. Just do that simple thing. Surely, protested Naaman, there were other things, huh? Nope.

Surely there must be more I should do to delight God, huh? Nope. Love others. Be just in dealing with others. Be right before God. But what about…? Well, I can make a long list of other stuff I can do to be right before God. That list would include many good things that would be very good to do with my life. The 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians lists things I could do.

Still, God delights in these three things. Perhaps I should focus on the basics. Perhaps other things will come about because of this focus. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 (New Living Translation)

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

God is speaking to the people through the prophet Jeremiah. Many folks are proud of something or other in their lives. Nothing wrong with that as long as it doesn’t rule a life. God reminds us that some of us boast in things like wisdom (good stuff), power (could be good stuff), and riches (can be used for good stuff).

If, however, we really want to boast, boast that we know God and hold God as the lord of our lives.

Well, yeah, that covers religion and such, but what about the other six days of the week? Nope. That covers all seven days of the week all year long and all life long. I know God. God is the lord of my life. ‘Nuff said. Pretty simple. Pretty difficult, especially today when we have so much stuff and do so much stuff and on and on. Please God. Help me in my unbelief.

Jeremiah 10:5 (New Living Translation)

5 Their gods are like
helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field!
They cannot speak,
and they need to be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of such gods,
for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.”

God is talking to the people through the prophet Jeremiah. This is a familiar talk—stay away from gods that the people around them worship. Those gods are like helpless scarecrows trying to keep birds from eating the cucumbers.

I know a little bit about growing cucumbers as we had plenty of them in our vegetable garden in south Louisiana when I was in high school and college. Cucumbers come from a vine that spreads along the ground. The unpicked cucumbers lie in the open on the ground. It is easy for birds to eat the cucumbers.

The scarecrow? A scarecrow looks like a person, a living thing. The scarecrow, however, is just a stick with come clothing hung on it.

My closets are full of sticks with clothing hung on them. Worship the clothes hanging in my closet? Silly. Worship clothes hung on a stick out in a field? Are you kidding? Still, that is what God’s people were doing. If they weren’t worshiping these scarecrows, they were afraid of the scarecrows.

Boy, those folks back in ancient times were silly. Not wise and smart like folks today. Right? Wrong. We still fear things that are nothing. We still awe things that are nothing. We still flop about in failure. Please God, forgive my foolishness and fear of scarecrows. Please help me in my unbelief. And thank you God for your patience and love.

Psalm 24:3-6 (New Living Translation)

3 Who may climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 Only those whose hands and hearts are pure,
who do not worship idols
and never tell lies.
5 They will receive the Lord’s blessing
and have a right relationship with God their savior.
6 Such people may seek you
and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob.

Who may stand in the presence of Jehovah? Only those with pure hearts and hands. What type of purity is that? They don’t worship idols and don’t lie. This is pretty straightforward. Faith in and faithfulness to God and being faithful to my own words. Pretty straightforward, but not always easy, huh?

And what good is it to stand in the presence of Jehovah? Those who do receive a blessing from God. They have a good relationship with God the savior. What a blessing it is to have a good relationship with God. A good relationship means, I believe, I can talk to God when I wish. God sends me messages through the written word and all sorts of people God sends across my path.

At what cost? Faith and truth. This is a bargain. Why don’t more of us accept the deal? What is wrong with us? Enough questions. Let’s just do this. Let’s just believe.

Isaiah 19:13-14 (New Living Translation)

13 The officials of Zoan are fools,
and the officials of Memphis are deluded.
The leaders of the people
have led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has sent a spirit of foolishness on them,
so all their suggestions are wrong.
They cause Egypt to stagger
like a drunk in his vomit.

Human governors were suggesting things to people that were just plain wrong. These wrong suggestions caused the people to “stagger like a drunk in his vomit.”

Why the wrong suggestions? God had sent a spirit of foolishness on them. Gasp. To me, this has to be one of the worst punishments God ever sent on anyone. These suggest-ers were full of foolishness and that came from God. They couldn’t think straight. They couldn’t ask anyone, “Hey, is this a bad idea?” They were overcome and acted like fools.

Why do some people do some things on some occasions? Perhaps it is simply foolishness sent as a punishment. Please God, remove that spirit of foolishness. We as people struggle enough as it is. We cannot overcome extra foolishness. Help me in my unbelief.

Job 2:8-9 (New Living Translation)

8 Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. 9 His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”

Job’s wife, who was quite loyal to him, encourages him to curse God and die. “Why,” she asks, “are you still trying to maintain your integrity?” She was disgusted with her husband in that he once pledged worship of Jehovah God and would not, in the face of all these bad events, reverse course. He had integrity; he stayed faithful to God.

I value integrity—sometimes to a fault or to occasions when it hurts me. Perhaps I am simply stubborn. Whatever the case may be, I admire Job for sitting on the ground among the ashes and scraping his skin with broken pottery. Extreme? Yes. Admirable? At least for me, yes.

Psalm 67:2-4 (New Living Translation)

2 May your ways be known throughout the earth,
your saving power among people everywhere.
3 May the nations praise you, O God.
Yes, may all the nations praise you.
4 Let the whole world sing for joy,
because you govern the nations with justice
and guide the people of the whole world.

This is a prayer that is to be sung. There are many such prayer songs in the collection of Psalms.

The last stanza of this song encourages the whole world to sing for joy. Why? Because God guides the people of the whole world. Note, the whole world, not just my neighborhood. And not just me.

That last phrase is the most difficult for me to accept. Sure, God guides me. That is why I do so good (well, sometimes, you know?). If everyone else would just understand how I am guided by God and accept my best intentions and understand and cut me some slack. Right?

Wrong. God guides the people of the whole world. All of ’em; not just me. You mean when someone cuts in front of me in traffic… well, maybe not that, but God is guiding that inconsiderate driver. I don’t know all of what is happening there with that person, but God is guiding that person. I have to accept that and trust the guidance of God.

Of course people rebel against God’s guidance. I have to accept that I rebel against God’s guidance sometimes. Maybe not as much as other folks and not as badly as other folks, but that is just me quibbling and making excuses. Still, God guides me and God guides that other fella’.

Thank you God for your guidance. Please help me to follow.

Job 1:4-5 (New Living Translation)

4 Job’s sons would take turns preparing feasts in their homes, and they would also invite their three sisters to celebrate with them. 5 When these celebrations ended—sometimes after several days—Job would purify his children. He would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of them. For Job said to himself, “Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

Here at the beginning of the (hi)story of Job, we have this practice of Job. He offered sacrifices to God each morning on behalf of his children. I don’t advocate animal sacrifices each morning. That was a different practice in a different place at a different time. I do, however, advocate daily prayers for all.

Note that at this time, the emphasis was on the heart. Job didn’t fear that his children had cursed God or violated God’s will in their actions. Job was concerned about how his children felt in their hearts. The emphasis was on the heart. In the middle of all these physical sacrifices, the emphasis was on the heart.

I am repeating myself here with all these words about the heart. I find that I cannot overemphasize the role of what folks felt in their hearts. The Old Testament goes on and on about physical sacrifices. And the Old Testament goes on and on about how the heart was more important than all these physical sacrifices. The New Testament continues this pattern. It is the heart.

Okay, I do lots of good things. Really, I do. Still, is my heart in the right place? That is important. The outward acts are seen by others. The heart? Only God sees that. Please God, help me in my unbelief.