Contemplative Bible Reading

by Dwayne Phillips

This post is different from all others. Today is Christmas. So?

The best explanation I can find comes from the heart and soul of Charles Shultz. This childlike man best explains it through a little boy named Linus.

Odd, but no television network would dare make a show like this today. That is a great shame.

God bless everyone on this and everyday.

Genesis 15:13-16 (New Living Translation)

13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. 15 (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) 16 After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”

God promises a land to the descendants of Abram (Abraham). Not, however, for a while. How about over 400 years for a while?

Why the wait? I read a very odd reason in verse 16. Perhaps so odd that I am reading this incorrectly. The wait is so the sins of the Amorites will warrant their destruction. I don’t get it. Sorry, I have no explanation for this one. I just don’t know why you would let the sins of a people become big enough to warrant their destruction.

John 14:27 (New Living Translation)

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 gives us peace of mind and peace of heart. No one else can give that.

World leaders can give what most of us thing of as peace, i.e., no physical war. They cannot, however, give the peace that relieves the troubled heart or the anxious mind. That comes only from Jesus.

Thank you for this peace. Please help me to enjoy it, to treasure it, and to never forget its giver.

Mark 10:46-48 (New Living Translation)

46 Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. 47 When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

48 “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

How did the blind man know that Jesus was descended from David? How did the blind man know that the magical healer was named Jesus?

We aren’t told everything in the scriptures. They are not a video recording of everything that happened. No one strapped a GoPro camera to an apostle.

Still, how did the blind man know these things about Jesus? “Someone told him,” is a simple explanation. If someone could explain this to a beggar, how is it that the religious leaders of the day didn’t know these things? Now everything unravels and makes no sense.

Nonsense. I guess that is one way to describe the Gospel story. There are parts of the (hi)story that make no sense to rational thinkers.

Faith. Believe in something we can’t explain.

Zephaniah 3:11-12 (New Living Translation)

11 On that day you will no longer need to be ashamed,
for you will no longer be rebels against me.
I will remove all proud and arrogant people from among you.
There will be no more haughtiness on my holy mountain.
12 Those who are left will be the lowly and humble,
for it is they who trust in the name of the Lord.

Once again, God is cleansing His people. There are those who will be cast out and those who remain in.

Out: proud and arrogant

In: lowly and humble

Notice that this is not a separation of rich and poor, educated and not, strong and weak, healthy and sick, etc. This is a separation of persons by their attitude and their heart.

Those whose hearts are lowly and humble trust in the name of the Lord. Social standing and all else do not matter. It is merely a choice of heart. “Merely?” Perhaps the heart is everything.

Zephaniah 3:19 (New Living Translation)

And I will deal severely with all who have oppressed you.
I will save the weak and helpless ones;
I will bring together
those who were chased away.
I will give glory and fame to my former exiles,
wherever they have been mocked and shamed.

Per tradition, it is Christmas time and Apple makes a heartwarming commercial that isn’t really a commercial but is a short story set in the Christmas season. This year’s best-ever-yet ad features Frankenstein. The frightened villagers, led by an innocent little girl, accept the once outcast Frankenstein into their community. All is well.

This brings us to the verse from Zephaniah, in particular the phrase:

I will bring together
those who were chased away.

Of course this is a bit sentimental; it may be too sentimental. Still, this is God and this is the Gospel. The Gospel is for all. Sometimes the Gospel highlights our shameful practice of casting some out of our community. That is ungodly and very much un-Gospel-like.

Thank you Apple for reminding me. Thank you Zephaniah for reminding me. Thank you God for your good news and your grace. Please God, help me with my unbelief.

Micah 6:14 (New Living Translation)

You will eat but never have enough.
Your hunger pangs and emptiness will remain.
And though you try to save your money,
it will come to nothing in the end.
You will save a little,
but I will give it to those who conquer you.

In this verse, the prophet Micah is relaying a punishment—a curse from God. The insufferable curse is simple: discontent.

Those being punished will never have enough. They will always crave something they can never possess. Discontent is a terrible thing. The soul is always striving in vain. The mind never rests as it always schemes to reach something it can imagine but cannot achieve.

God created us and knows us well. Such permits God to punish us. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of a vengeful God.

This post isn’t positive. I guess the positive aspect of this is the grace of God allows us to avoid such curse and punishment. Thank you God for giving me contentment and not cursing me with eternal discontent.

Micah 4:2 (New Living Translation)

People from many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of Jacob’s God.
There he will teach us his ways,
and we will walk in his paths.”
For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion;
his word will go out from Jerusalem.

Buried deep here in the writings of the prophet Micah is one of the great promises that the God of the Hebrews promises the world:

Jehovah will teach the nations

God’s people were blessed with a revelation from God. The surrounding nations recognized the treasure of God’s revelation. Still, they didn’t come to Jerusalem to learn from God. In some time, and I believe that time is yet to come in part, the nations will go to Jerusalem to learn from Jehovah God.

God chose Abraham and his family as a conduit to bless all the people of the earth. These verses from Micah tell of one of those blessings. We will all learn from God. We will all enjoy the blessings of walking in his paths. Jesus was and is the greatest blessing on all of us. Through Jesus and messengers, we are learning how to walk in God’s path.

“All we have to do” is listen and learn. God help me in the pursuit of your teaching.

Amos 2:4 (New Living Translation)

This is what the Lord says:

“The people of Judah have sinned again and again,
and I will not let them go unpunished!
They have rejected the instruction of the Lord,
refusing to obey his decrees.
They have been led astray by the same lies
that deceived their ancestors.

In his book of prophecy, Amos declares the wrongs of nearby nations and now discusses Judah. What is the primary sin of Judah?

They have rejected the instruction of the Lord

Several English translations use the phrase “law of the Lord.” I like the one shown above and the word “instruction” instead of “law.” God was teaching His people how to live well, not just giving them a written set of laws with prescribed fines for violations.

How do I live today? Do I allow the fruits of the spirit to surface? Do I suppress God’s gifts and instructions? What is wrong with me? Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Luke 17:10 (New Living Translation)

In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’

Jesus is telling us something here. The glory of doing what Jesus asks me to do? There is none. That’s my duty.

And, I am an unworthy servant. I am not worthy to be a servant of Jesus. It is His gift to allow me to serve and have a duty.

That is pretty humbling stuff there that Jesus says. Can I accept that He is Jesus and I am me? God, please help me in my unbelief.