Contemplative Bible Reading

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.

2 Samuel 14:1-3 (New Living Translation)

1 Joab realized how much the king longed to see Absalom. 2 So he sent for a woman from Tekoa who had a reputation for great wisdom. He said to her, “Pretend you are in mourning; wear mourning clothes and don’t put on lotions. Act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time. 3 Then go to the king and tell him the story I am about to tell you.” Then Joab told her what to say.

Set the stage: there is great trouble in King David’s family—literally a civil war is brewing among David’s children. Joab—David’s nephew and commander of the army—is trying to advise King David. Joab decides to use an around-the-back idea to convince David to bring peace to the family.

Joab brings in an unnamed woman from Tekoa. This woman had great wisdom. Joab’s instructions are “pretend” and “act like.” In other words, lie to the King so he will learn something. Hmm. Is acting lying? Yes, in one sense it is. In another sense it is a teaching and advising technique. Hmm. It is also risky.

It works…in this case. The woman from Tekoa is a good actress—a good pretender. David decides to act and bring peace in his family.

Jesus told lies, um, er, well you see…Jesus told parables. Those were stories of things that didn’t actually happen, but the stories helped people to learn. Jesus told folks things that weren’t true, but could have been and all that nuance.

Pretending, acting, telling stories, etc. Love, converse, point the way to God. I should do better. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

2 Chronicles 24:15-16 (New Living Translation)

15 Jehoiada lived to a very old age, finally dying at 130. 16 He was buried among the kings in the City of David, because he had done so much good in Israel for God and his Temple.

So ends the life of Jehoiada the priest. One of his significant duties was advising young King Joash of Judah. Joash did what was right in the eyes of God as long a Jehoiada advised him. Once Jehoiada was gone, well, things didn’t go so well for Joash and Judah.

Jehoiada did so much good for the people and for God and the Temple. Note, good for mankind in the service of God. This was not either this or that—this was BOTH this AND that. This is not a choice of one over the other. This is a choice to serve God and that service leads to good for others.

A follower of God is a good person, a good citizen, a good neighbor. Followers of God pay their taxes, cut their lawns, coach kids in sports, tutor, sit, heal. The list goes on.

Jehoiada isn’t at the top of any list of the more famous persons in the Bible (Peter, Paul, David, Moses…where is Jehoiada?). He, however, should be. I doubt I will live 130 years. Perhaps someone will say of me that I did “so much good.” It is a worthy goal.

1 Kings 15:11,14b (New Living Translation)

Asa did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, as his ancestor David had done…Asa’s heart remained completely faithful to the Lord throughout his life.

I break with tradition in this blog with how I quote the scriptures in this post. I skip a few sentences and add half a verse to emphasize how King Asa was faithful as David.

King David had many faults. He committed adultery with another man’s wife and had that man killed in battle. David lost faith in God’s power and took a census to ensure his power on earth. David lied and cheated.

Given all these faults, God cherished David for being faithful to Jehovah the God of Israel and worshiping no other Gods. We read here that generations later King Asa followed the example of King David in this respect: Asa was faithful to Jehovah God of Israel and did not worship any other gods.

King Solomon, David’s own son, was praised and rewarded by Jehovah God of Israel for asking for wisdom instead of riches. God rewarded Solomon with wisdom, riches, and peace in his 40-year reign. Solomon, however, fell to temptation and worshiped other gods.

After the split of the kingdom into Judah in the south and Israel in the north, the kings of Israel all worshiped other gods as did many of the kings of Judah. They neglected the ways of David for the ways of Solomon.

Loyalty to the one true God is pretty important. From these examples, I surmise that loyalty to the one true God is paramount. Thanks be to the grace of God and my family heritage, I don’t worship the god of the sun or of rain or hurricanes or blizzards. I have enough other troubles.

1 Samuel 3:19-20 (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.

All Israel knew that Samuel was a prophet, i.e., God spoke to the people through Samuel. How did the people of Israel know this?

Everything Samuel said proved to be reliable.

Well, that’s pretty simple. I mean, surely a prophet would have credit for something spectacular or something, right? Just being reliable, well, anyone can be reliable, right?

Wrong. Everything Samuel said proved to be reliable. Not just this or that, not just the important things, not just the simple things, everything. But what about the temperature tomorrow morning. Samuel probably didn’t say much about that. What about this, that, and the other thing? Samuel probably didn’t say much about those things either.

My guess is that Samuel chose his words carefully. My guess is that Samuel looked to God for guidance before he opened his mouth. My guess is that I could follow Samuel’s example much more. Please God, help my in my unbelief.