Contemplative Bible Reading

Exodus 32:5 (New Living Translation)

Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!”

We are an odd lot.

Moses was up on the mountain with God getting the ten commandments and all the other laws. The people grew restless and impatient. They had quickly forgotten the miracles in Egypt and crossing the sea on dry ground. They made an idol. Aaron built an altar in front of the idol.

Aaron stood in front of an idol and a place of sacrifice to the idol and said, “Let us never worship any such man made object. Let’s destroy it and every such idol of folly we ever see!”

No, wait, that wasn’t it.

Aaron stood in front of an idol and a place of sacrifice to the idol and said, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!”

Uh, huh, wait, er… We will use this idol to celebrate to Jehovah the Creator of all? Again, uh, huh? Aaron wasn’t a stupid fellow. Yet he uttered these stupid words.

Behold the patience of God. Behold heartless and brainless folks like me. Like we hear on Sesame Street, “One of these things is not like the other.”

Okay, Mount Sinai to Sesame Street. We’ve covered all that territory. Lesson learned? God tolerates us because God loves us. Oh that I may never forget that and never stop adoring God.

Micah 7:18 (New Living Translation)

Where is another God like you,
who pardons the guilt of the remnant,
overlooking the sins of his special people?
You will not stay angry with your people forever,
because you delight in showing unfailing love.

The prophet Micah is describing God to the people. Punishment, punishment, and more punishment is coming for the masses for all the repeated sins of centuries.

Still, there is a remnant—a small remaining group of faithful. Yes, this remnant was sinful as well. They were, however, special in their remorse.

God would not stay angry with this remnant forever. God delights in showing unfailing love.

Let’s repeat that one: God delights in showing unfailing love.

Stop. Let it soak in. Breathe in thanksgiving. Thank you God. Let me never forget.

Leviticus 16:20-22 (New Living Translation)

20 “When Aaron has finished purifying the Most Holy Place and the Tabernacle and the altar, he must present the live goat. 21 He will lay both of his hands on the goat’s head and confess over it all the wickedness, rebellion, and sins of the people of Israel. In this way, he will transfer the people’s sins to the head of the goat. Then a man specially chosen for the task will drive the goat into the wilderness. 22 As the goat goes into the wilderness, it will carry all the people’s sins upon itself into a desolate land.

This describes part of the ceremony that was to occur on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur. This is the origin of the term “scapegoat” or a person who was blamed for the mistakes of another.

This is symbolic. It shows that the people admitted their many sins. Those sins were put on the head of the goat who was driven off to the ends of the earth never to return. The sins of the past year? Gone. Poof!

This leads us to Jesus Christ and how all the sins of all mankind for all time were transferred to Jesus to be carried away. Gone. Poof!

This also leads me to my day-to-day life here on earth. Do I carry burdens with me on my aching back? Do I slump through life under their weight? Do I drop them off on a goat and move ahead in a joyous life?

Let’s not be naive. Life is tough some days. Bad things happen that hurt. Let me, however, not be stupid. I am not alone. God is with me. God has provided people to be with me—the church. God has provided relief.

Please God, let me know where the scapegoat from heaven is and how to place my burdens on its head.

Exodus 28:3 (New Living Translation)

Instruct all the skilled craftsmen whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom. Have them make garments for Aaron that will distinguish him as a priest set apart for my service.

God is talking to Moses. There is much work to be done as God is instructing Moses and the people how to build a tabernacle or place of sacrifice in the form of a large tent that can be moved. In addition, the people were to make special garments for Aaron and the other priests to distinguish them as special servants who were to be set apart.

God did not leave this to chance. God filled some of the skilled craftsmen with the “spirit of wisdom.” These artisans were aided and guided by God as they measured, cut, and sowed the special garments (I don’t know enough about garment artistry to list what is involved).

At some times in some locations and some circumstances, God gives some persons a “spirit of wisdom.” Maybe that spirit holds for the rest of the person’s life; maybe that spirit is temporary and leaves the person when the task is complete. Regardless, the spirit of wisdom is from God and aids mere mortals to do miraculous things for God here on earth.

Have I ever been given a spirit of wisdom? I don’t know. There have been times when I had solutions to problems that I usually couldn’t solve. Then there have been all the other days when I stumbled and bumbled with the simplest of things. There have been days when instead of turning and walking away, I spoke a few words that improved a person’s day. Perhaps that was God’s spirit of wisdom in me for five seconds. Look around us. Do we see people doing things that are unusually good? Perhaps that is God’s spirit of wisdom. Thank you God.

Jeremiah 30:22 (New Living Translation)

You will be my people,
and I will be your God.

This is a short and simple statement. God is talking to the people through the prophet Jeremiah. At the time, the people were in bad shape. They were scattered among several nations in exile. Their disobedient lifestyle caused their nation to crumble to the point where foreign armies walked in, picked the healthy people, and took them away to be servants, accountants, merchants, and do lots of things the rich conquerors didn’t want to do.

A better time will come for the people. They will realize that Jehovah the Creator will be their God. The people will worship and serve Jehovah. They won’t worship other gods any longer. Life will be better. Society will be better. People will be happier and healthier.

Gosh, that sure sounds better than being deported to a place where you don’t understand anything anyone says, everyone spits on you, you do jobs you don’t like, and conditions are just … rotten.

I guess we can still choose what to do. Well, life here in America is pretty sweet. What’s the problem? Look around. All sorts of people pay no attention to God and they are doing just fine. Maybe so. Maybe not. Are people content? Happy? Satisfied? Have a good relationship with their kids? Maybe so. Maybe not.

This is all so simple and all so complex. There is much happening that we don’t see. Perhaps all this happiness is more than what we let people see of our lives. God, however, sees. Do I want Jehovah the Creator to be my god?

Isaiah 30:21 (New Living Translation)

Your own ears will hear him.
Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
whether to the right or to the left.

God is speaking to the people through the prophet Isaiah. God will teach the people when they will listen. God, with God’s perspective and understanding, will tell them to go to the right or to the left.

Imagine that. God—all seeing and all knowing—will tell me which way to go, what to do, what to say (what NOT to say), and on and on. What a blessing. All I have to do is … forget myself and listen to God.

Uh, er, well, that last part, uh, er, I don’t know about that one. You see, I’m here and I know what is happening here, and God is ancient and maybe a little behind the times, and God isn’t on TikTok or whatever is new this weekend and I, uh, er, well, you know.

Nope. Wrong. Wrong again.

I believe God talks to me. There are many ways God talks to me. Sometimes by reading the Bible, sometimes in prayer, and sometimes through a guy sitting on a sidewalk trying to stay warm in the winter. God tells me the way I should go. Am I listening? Am I following the directions? Am I ignoring one of the greatest gifts given to mankind? Please God, help me to listen and obey.

1 Thessalonians 1:8-9 (New Living Translation)

We don’t need to tell them about it, for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God.

Paul and his fellow missionaries are writing to the Christians in Thessaloníki (I think that’s how to spell it). Paul tells these Christians what the other Christians in the region think of them and feel about them.

One of the things we often gloss over in this introduction to the letter is the Christians in that place had turned away from idols and turned to God. That is no small matter. They completely changed their lives. I never experienced this drastic a change. Most Christians in America have never experienced this drastic a change.

In their past, these Christians woke each morning and bowed to a statue. They believed the statue could alter the course of human events. They believed the statue could bring rain and bountiful crops and good business. Often, they statue would cause their political leader to be nice to them.

This was not superstition—wink, wink, wink while mumbling some words. This was a true belief in the power of a thing to do the unthinkable.

These people tossed those things into the trash and looked instead to God. They recognized that God had the power over creation. They recognized their right relationship with God and that the sacrifice of Jesus made them right with God.

That was a miraculous change in the lives of these people long ago in a place whose name I can’t spell. Let us ponder that one for a while. Thank you God for giving me examples of how You change lives.

Isaiah 30:22 (New Living Translation)

Then you will destroy all your silver idols
and your precious gold images.
You will throw them out like filthy rags,
saying to them, “Good riddance!”

God is talking to the people through the prophet Isaiah. The people have been disobedient. God, however, tells them that if they return to God, God will be there for them.

Repentance and return to God will cause the people to destroy their idols of silver and gold. All those precious metals will be like filthy rags. “Good riddance!” Finally, done with that junk. It was a complete waste of time and everything else. Why did we ever have those things sitting around?

Yes, why did we ever have those things sitting around collecting dust? That was all they did; collect dust. That’s how they became so filthy.

Many things of this world are just like that. Junk collecting dust until it is filthy. God gives us things to enjoy, and we righteously enjoy them in God’s will and God’s grace. Sometimes, however, well sometimes we fall in love with some of these things and just… We wake one morning wondering where we are and what we are doing.

Please God, help me to wake every morning looking to You. Help me to enjoy the things You give me without treasuring them beyond all reason.

Ecclesiastes 7:29 (New Living Translation)

But I did find this: God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path.

The writer reminds us of a simple yet critical thing: God created us to be virtuous.

Well, that’s nice. What does that mean? And, so what?

The definitions of virtuous and virtue vary. They mostly have to due with high moral standards. That’s nice, and we have to note that moral standards vary from culture to culture. What is morally good in one culture can be bad in another. Universal standards across all the peoples of the earth? Well, maybe there are some.

Since, however, this note comes from a Hebrew in the Old Testament, we can look to the moral standards stated by God threw various highly esteemed persons to God’s people.

In relation to relations among persons, we have the basic things like: tell the truth, respect others’ property, respect others’ families, respect others’ lives, etc.

God created us to do these things. Pretty simple. Why can’t we do them? Well, we, uh, er, well, you know. We, just can’t seem to do them. Yet, God created us to live this way. Who am I to argue with the Creator? When you ask that question, I am stumped. Either I believe God created or I don’t.

Proverbs 22:29 (New Living Translation)

Do you see any truly competent workers?
They will serve kings
rather than working for ordinary people.

This section of Proverbs begins with, “Listen to the words of the wise; apply your heart to my instruction.”

Next are a series of “Don’t do this and don’t do that” as those things go against God’s will. Then we have verse 29 given above. Opposite of all the “Don’t do” things is “do be competent,” as competent workers will serve kings.

Well, that’s nice, but we don’t have kings in America and what’s the use of all that? No, we don’t have royalty in America, or do we. We do have lots of “powerful” people with lots of money and influence and all that.

Do I want to work for American royalty? Why not. They have influence. If I work there, I can have influence for God on those who influence others.

Perhaps this is naive. Really? The competent grass cutter guy influence the person who has enough money to not cut his own grass? Whether the royalty is in Washington D.C. or Tickfaw, La (a real place), they are influential.

Joseph, a convict out on a work program, influenced Pharaoh and saved millions of lives that begat billions of children through the centuries. Naive? Fairy tale? Or maybe that was the miraculous power of God working through someone who was despised by his own family and left to rot in a dungeon. Oh, perhaps that can repeat itself. Perhaps it does repeat itself daily.

Lord, help me to be a competent worker despite my circumstances.