Contemplative Bible Reading

Deuteronomy 8:19-20 (New Living Translation)

¹⁹ “But I assure you of this: If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them, you will certainly be destroyed. ²⁰ Just as the LORD has destroyed other nations in your path, you also will be destroyed if you refuse to obey the LORD your God.

I am in a group study of the Bible every week. On several occasions, we have read and discussed Old Testament scriptures where the LORD told the Israelites to kill everyone: men, women, and children – even the smallest of children.

How could the LORD tell His people to kill babies?

I don’t have a good answer. Now I have a better answer, maybe not a good one, but a better one.

The destruction of entire peoples was a lesson.

It was terrible when entire peoples, even to the youngest baby, were destroyed. The word “terrible” is not strong enough. I can’t think of a word that is strong enough. The LORD’s people who were doing the destroying knew first hand how terrible it was. Imagine killing babies. You know how terrible it is.

Then the LORD tells His people,

Those terrible things that you saw and did, those things will happen to you. You know about terrible punishment. That is what awaits you if you forget me.

Maybe that is why the LORD had His people do those terrible things. So they would know what would happen to them.

Again, this is not a good answer, but, for me, it is a better answer.

Numbers 31:1-2 (New Living Translation)

¹ Then the LORD said to Moses, ² “On behalf of the people of Israel, take revenge on the Midianites for leading them into idolatry. After that, you will die and join your ancestors.”

I was once associated with a contract in which many employees were told, “Work faster to finish the job. And, by the way, as soon as you finish the job you will be unemployed.”

What do people do in such circumstances? Work slower so they will have more paychecks? Work faster so they will have fewer paychecks?

Now we consider Moses in these verses. The LORD’s instructions are:

Do your job so you can die.

Whoa! Should Moses rush this revenge-on-the-Midianites job or go into a few years of strategic planning?

What would we do?

Numbers 5:6 (New Living Translation)

“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: If any of the people—men or women—betray the LORD by doing wrong to another person, they are guilty.

Have I done something wrong to another person? Yes.

Do I sometimes do something wrong to another person? Well, yes, but not as often as in the past.

What’s the harm? I mean, doing wrong is doing wrong, but I’m human. We all do wrong now and then.

Look at the verse. When we do something wrong to another person, we are betraying the LORD. Oooops. The LORD takes these things seriously. These “another persons” are His creation. He loves His creation and doesn’t take kindly to those who wrong His creation.

It is difficult for me to remember this. That the LORD treasures all of His creation, and I am supposed to honor that.

Genesis 2:15-17 (New Living Translation)

¹⁵ The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. ¹⁶ But the LORD God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— ¹⁷ except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

Let’s go back to a foundation principle.

The knowledge of good and evil.

Adam and Eve lived with God in the garden. That is the way God intended mankind to live. We know the rest of the story. Eve and Adam ate from the one tree God advised them to avoid, and yes, we know the rest of the story.

What was this tree? It provided mankind with knowing the difference between good and evil (pretty obvious if you think about it). Once mankind knew the difference, we were able to choose which way we went. Rats! Many of us, well, all of us, have spent much of our lives choosing the evil over the good. That is called sin. Afterwards, God provided his Son to cleanse us from that sin, cleanse us from choosing the evil over the good.

It is all pretty simple when you consider it. It is all pretty difficult to do on a daily basis, that is, choosing the good over the evil. The evil is so attractive on a short-term basis.

God, thanks for the cleansing power of the blood of Your Son.

Titus 3:10 (New International Version 2011)

Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.

Sometimes I am curious about how people twist words without thinking about their true meaning. This seems to happen when people discuss, i.e., disagree about what they read in the Bible. The above verse is one example.

Watch out for the divisive person. Whoa! Who are these divisive persons? How do I recognize them? I have heard people warn me away from such divisive persons, but I was never sure.

Let’s look at another translation of the Bible in English and to a little more context.

Titus 3:9-11 (New Living Translation)

⁹ Do not get involved in foolish discussions about spiritual pedigrees or in quarrels and fights about obedience to Jewish laws. These things are useless and a waste of time. ¹⁰ If people are causing divisions among you, give a first and second warning. After that, have nothing more to do with them. ¹¹ For people like that have turned away from the truth, and their own sins condemn them.

Okay, the divisive person is one who causes divisions among you. Another take is that the divisive person divides the group into smaller groups. Aha! Well, on second thought that makes sense as that seems to be the definition of the term.

Now let’s back up a verse. The writer is discussing spiritual pedigrees. Now I know people who were divisive along spiritual pedigrees. With a moment of thought, I can name hundreds of people like that. Hmm, if I were to avoid all these people…

That takes us to verse 10. Give these dividers a few chances to stop their dividing. Just a few, however, not a thousand chances. These dividers tend to push you into a group here or there and often without you realizing it.

Genesis 4:7 (New Living Translation)

You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

What a picture drawn by these words:

Sin is crouching at the door.

Look at the photo of a tiger crouching. I don’t want to be in that animal’s stare. There are a few funny things about that crouching tiger:

• He doesn’t make any sounds
• He doesn’t smell bad
• He isn’t mumbling threats

From all outside appearances, the tiger is stretching his muscles. What is the worry? What is the worry about sin crouching at the door? Lots to worry.

Jude verse 22 (New Living Translation)

And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering.

God shows me mercy – lots of it. On some occasions, I am to show mercy to others. Well, that one is a bit tougher. I mean, I am not God and I don’t have as much mercy as He does and well you can’t really tell when someone else needs some mercy and this is all a bit too much for me and I have lots of other excuses to write if you give me the time.

Sigh. Okay, let’s move on here.

Yes, I know people who have wavering faith. I see a fellow like that every day in the mirror. My reaction to these people? I don’t have to think about that. Jude encourages me in the answer as plain as can be.

Share some of the mercy that God has poured on me.

1 Peter 2:16 (New International Version)

For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.

We are free.

We are free from

silly human stuff that chokes our lives

For example, our cares choke our lives. Such as:

• I care about what you think of me
• I care about what I own
• I care about getting even with you (or ahead of you)
• I care about my retirement accounts

It is such a relief to be free. All we have to do is accept the freedom. Yikes, that can be difficult.

Ephesians 2:10 (New International Version)

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

There is much in this short verse. Let’s start at the end and work backwards.

God planned for us to do good things; God planned this long ago. I believe that God created this planet and humans to live on this planet with him – as in the Garden of Eden.

Oooops, we ruined that situation by disobeying God. Now what do we do? Now what does God do?

God recreated us through the sacrifice of Jesus. We have the opportunity to be like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. All we have to do, this one is easier to write than to do, is live like we are cleansed from sin. All we have to do is turn our backs on the disobedience and live as happy and full as God intends.

God, help me everyday to realize how you want me to live. Help me everyday to be the person you created anew in Christ Jesus.

Exodus 25:1-2 (New Living Translation)

1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to bring me their sacred offerings. Accept the contributions from all whose hearts are moved to offer them.

This is the second time that I write a post on these two verses. This time, I have to ask a question. Note the last sentence:

Accept the contributions from all whose hearts are moved to offer them.

Does this imply that they were not to accept contributions from all whose hearts were not moved to offer them? Was Moses to know who was giving from the heart and who was giving from some other motive? After all, Moses was given special insight into God’s will. Perhaps he could know what was in the hearts of men.

Should we do anything of the sort today? Some churches accept money from other organizations. Are the hearts of these other organizations right? Are they right enough for us?

Can God use the gifts of the unloving? I think so. Should we use the gifts of the unloving? I don’t know.