Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Chronicles 26:13 (New Living Translation)

13 They were assigned by families for guard duty at the various gates, without regard to age or training, for it was all decided by means of sacred lots.

This writing is about how people were assigned guard duty at the various gates of the city. Without regard to age or training, people were given their assignments.

Whoa. Without regard to age or training? Guard duty? Do you sleep well at night knowing the guard may be 13 or 73 years old and not know how to hold a spear let alone us it? Huh? Of course not. This is foolhardy.

But wait—these were chosen by lot. Casting a die, drawing straws, pulling a name out of a hat. Whoa. That is even worse. Really? Just by some chance or something.

But wait—let’s include the adjective and have sacred lot. “Sacred” meant that this was from God and dedicated to God. It wasn’t a normal casting of lots; it was dedicated to God and approved by God. This was holy in all the most serious sense.

The sacred lot was used in several places in the Bible and the history of the people and even later in the history of the church. Pull a name out of a hat? Yes, after prayer and great contemplation about which names went into the hat. God chose David over all his older more handsome and bigger older brothers. God chose Moses, a guy cast off from society, his family, and was stuck watching someone else’s sheep. We go on and on.

God showed people what God wanted via godly lots. But I’m smarter than that, huh? Nope. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 (New Living Translation)

9 History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.

Nowadays, I read of “the end of history” and “being on the right side of history.” The Old Testament old book of Ecclesiastes, however, provides a different history of history. Under the sun, here on earth when people forget about God who is above, history repeats itself. We don’t learn from history; we just go around and around.

But wait, that must no longer be true. We, us folks on earth, are so much smarter than those folks who preceded us. We understand all this. We can stop the repeatedly repeating of repeatable mistakes. Huh?

Naw. Just us folks here. Just something we do. We have to make our own mistakes or something like that. Avoid the mistakes or others? You see, those others didn’t know how to skirt the edges of things and play with fire without being burned. I can do those risky things without consequences. I am just smart enough to do that.

Naw. Just us folks here. Just something we do. Please God, help me in m unbelief.

Galatians 2:21 (New Living Translation)

21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Paul is writing to a group of Christians gathered in Galatia. A long time ago in a place far, far away kind of thing. These are simple words; this topic bends the mind and at times goes far beyond my ability to understand or even question.

Paul emphasizes the importance of grace as it relates to God, Jesus, and mankind. Grace is what saves me. It is a gift from God. That gift was sealed or wrapped up like a present with a ribbon and bow by the sacrifice of Jesus. Grace is superior to following any detailed set of instructions, and I mean DETAILED instructions.

If keeping a set of detailed instructions would make me right with God, why did Jesus die on the cross? This is a question with an obvious answer. The “if” part of the question is false. False proves nothing. Jesus needed to die on the cross because I am unable to appear before God in my natural pathetic state.

There are times when I don’t like any of the above. I’m a pretty good guy. God would accept me, right? I pay my taxes, keep my lawn cut, drive the speed limit, and all those things that society expects of pretty good guys. Unrighteous? Well, that’s a judgement call, huh? Yes, it is a judgement call with God being the judge and oh, uh, er, I am pretty pathetic.

Grace has meaning—a lot of meaning for me. Grace is what saves me from myself. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Proverbs 29:25 (New Living Translation)

25 Fearing people is a dangerous trap,
but trusting the Lord means safety.

This is a wise saying written a few thousand years ago. Lots of “wise sayings” were written a few thousand years ago. This one is from God and concerns mankind and God. Let’s pay more attention to this one.

Am I afraid of other people? Yes, there are some frightful people out there. Am I really afraid of people in general? Am I afraid that what I have can be taken by these other people?

We are in an election year in America. I think this will be published online a few days after the national election. Lots of fear, uncertainty, and doubt in America this autumn.

Do we fear them? Do we fear those other people who voted for those other people? I’m not sure who “we” and “them” are, but them are not we, or something like that.

Fear is a dangerous trap. It leads to all sorts of un-God-like behavior. Such behavior is bad for me. See how this works. Fear, ungodly behavior, sin, destruction of myself. Not good. The first step—fear—is a trap.

How do I escape this downward spiral? Trust the LORD. Pretty simple idea which can become all complicated and icky and such if I let it. Trust the LORD, Dwayne. Avoid fear of others. Please God, help my in my unbelief.

Galatians 2:9 (New Living Translation)

9 In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews.

Paul is writing here to the Christians in Galatia. He describes a meeting with Peter, James, and John—pillars of the church in Jerusalem and part of the group who walked with Jesus (literally). Up comes this fellow Paul, who had destroyed churches in his past, who ministers with Gentiles all the time.

Attitude? Do the pillars of the church take an attitude of superiority to this newcomer and his, uh, er, sort of disdained group to whom he ministers? No. Acceptance as co-workers is the attitude.

Folks, good Christians reading this, the attitude of Peter, James, and John should be our attitude. There is much to do as Christians. There are many folks who need to hear the good news that we have to share. Accept others as co-workers. Yes, but they didn’t go to the right school or read the Bible correctly or, or, or…

Accept others as co-workers. I have been fortunate in my life that others have accepted me as a co-worker. I have known people who were not accepted, and that hurt. That hurt deeply and for a long time. Let’s not do that. Let’s be like Peter, James, and John.

Psalm 103:14 (New Living Translation)

14 For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.

Whoa. This isn’t a very flattery description of us folks. The writer is describing the LORD God. God knows us since he created us. We are weak and only dust.

Well, I sweep dust and dirt out of my house. Get rid of dust.

The lines of text that surround this verse describe a much different situation with God. God doesn’t punish us for all our sins as we deserve. God cherishes us. God forgives us. God loves us.

God loves us dust? Yes. That doesn’t make any sense to me, but here it is right in front of me in black and white or whatever colors I have my computer screen set to at the time.

Thanks be to God for the unfailing and unending love God has for me and all of us. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Judges 6:13 (New Living Translation)

13 “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”

This is part of the (hi)story of Gideon defeating the Midianites with only 300 soldiers and the trumpets and pitchers holding torches. Gideon here has one of his many moments of doubt.

Why has all this happened to us?

My grandparents told me all these stories about the miracles that God performed when our people left Egypt. There were all those miracles and miraculous battle victories as our people entered this land promised to us. What happened to us? What about all those things my grandparents told me?

Grandparents tell things to grandchildren. That seems to be the way of things since the first grandparents appeared on earth. Some, maybe most, of the things grandparents tell are true. Gideon, however, had not seen the tales of his grandparents come true.

Up until now.

Now, Gideon would become one of the things that grandparents would tell their grandchildren. Now, Gideon would become one of the (hi)stories adults told children for several thousand years. Now, Gideon would inspire people for a thousand generations to believe in the power of God and to allow God to show power through little powerless people.

God hasn’t asked me to take 300 soldiers and battle an army outnumbered a hundred to one. Well, maybe not in those terms, but maybe so. God asks each of us to do things that are beyond belief and human power and the laws of nature. God asks each of us to be the mechanism for God’s miracles in everyday life.

I believe that the miracles our ancestors told us about are still happening everyday right in front of us. We simply need to be like Gideon. He believed all those things his grandparents told him. He allowed God to act miracles through him. God, please help me in my unbelief.

Joshua 23:7-8 (New Living Translation)

7 Make sure you do not associate with the other people still remaining in the land. Do not even mention the names of their gods, much less swear by them or serve them or worship them. 8 Rather, cling tightly to the Lord your God as you have done until now.

Here are a few emphasized instructions to the people as they are about to enter the land promised to them by God. There were many peoples and cultures in the promised land. There would be many occasions to be led astray by those peoples and cultures.

God’s people were told clearly to not even mention the names of the gods of the peoples in the land. Instead, they were to cling tightly to Jehovah their God. Jehovah their God was the Creator, the all-supreme God.

Cling tightly. I find this two-word instruction to still hold for me today. There is nothing else. This is pretty simple, but we tend to make things complicated. Cling tightly.

Judges 10:13-14 (New Living Translation)

13 Yet you have abandoned me and served other gods. So I will not rescue you anymore. 14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour of distress!”

Sometimes life is tough. Sometimes we stray from the people who truly love us and care for us. We go elsewhere for “fun.” Then we have troubles. And who helps us in trouble? These elsewhere places?

This is a tale of woe as old as the time of the Judges. The people turned away from the loving Jehovah who was their God. They turned to other gods for fun. Then the inevitable trouble came. “Help me, somebody.” Where to turn? Where did these gods go? They provided fun, huh? Why won’t they help me, now?

When will we learn? We are an odd lot. How does God tolerate our endless folly? Thank you God. Please help me in my unbelief.

Deuteronomy 28:47-48 (New Living Translation)

47 If you do not serve the Lord your God with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits you have received, 48 you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. You will be left hungry, thirsty, naked, and lacking in everything. The Lord will put an iron yoke on your neck, oppressing you harshly until he has destroyed you.

This is part of the (hi)story of the people receiving the old law from God through Moses. There are blessings for obedience and curses (we don’t like to use that word much these days) for not obeying.

God wants service. As we read hear, not just service, but service out of joy and enthusiasm. Whoa. Must be something lost in translation here, huh? Serve with Joy? Serve with Enthusiasm? I mean, wait, there isn’t much that I do these days enthusiastically. Huh?

Right here in front of me in black and white. Clear as day. Not just obedience and service to check the boxes on some checklist of boxes, but with joy and enthusiasm. Please God, help me in my unbelief.