Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Kings 8:6 (New International Version)

The priests then brought the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.

The ark of the covenant. That was made famous by the movie with Harrison Ford – Raiders of the Lost Ark. I guess Charlton Heston was too old by then, but I digress.

Let’s move past the movie trivia. What struck me here is the phrase

the ark of the Lord’s covenant

An ark is a type of container. Sometimes it is a flatboat for a barge.

This ark contained the Lord’s covenant, His agreement with His people.

At this time, the only thing in the ark were the stone tablets containing the ten commandments

1 Kings 8:9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

These tablets were the foundation of the agreement and they symbolized the entire agreement. The people had other copies written on other materials, but this copy was the most treasured.

Things are different today. We live by the New Testament or the new covenant, the new agreement. It is the story of the good news of Jesus Christ and His saving grace. We don’t carry it around in a special container of the agreement. Instead, we strive to carry it in our hearts. Of course we can pick up a printed copy at just about any department store and book store.

God, help me to be the container of the agreement. Help me not to contain it, but to share it and live it.

Proverbs 26:20 (New International Version)

Without wood a fire goes out;
without gossip a quarrel dies down.

Religious quarrels tend to follow the same pattern:

1. You and I disagree on the meaning of a part of the Bible
2. You and I continue to disagree on the meaning of a part of the Bible
3. “Studying” does not end the disagreement on the meaning of a part of the Bible
4. I resort to talking about you instead of discussing the meaning of a part of the Bible
5. You resort to talking about me instead of discussing the meaning of a part of the Bible
6. Our gossip turns the disagreement into irreconcilable differences
7. Years from now, people who agree with me continue to gossip about you
8. Years from now, people who agree with you continue to gossip about me

Do you find the place in the pattern where either of us focuses energy on loving God and loving people? Of course not – it isn’t there. We are spending all our energy fueling our quarrel.

Satan wins; we both lose.

It is as if Satan wanted this type of thing to happen all along. It is almost as if Satan invented gossip as a tool to fight God through the two of us.

Micah 7:18 (New International Version)

Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.

What a fundamental question. Who is a God like the one true God?

God forgives sins and shows mercy. So what? So what? This is everything. It is so fundamental that we take it for granted and overlook the wonder of it.

Try to imagine if God did not forgive sins and did not show mercy. What would I do then? What could I do then?

God, help me to remember these simple, fundamental, yet wondrous truths about you. Help me to live forgiveness and mercy.

Job 11:14 (New American Standard Bible)

If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
And do not let wickedness dwell in your tents;

Romans 6:12 (New American Standard Bible)

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,

Genesis 4:7 (New American Standard Bible)

“If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Let’s begin with the last verse listed as it occured first. God is speaking to Cain right after He was more pleased with Abel’s offering than with Cain’s. In this translation, we find the word “countenance” given to describe Cain. We don’t use this word today – it means his expression, his emotion.

God is encouraging Cain. “Pick it up, get over it, come on. If you continue to pout, sin will be at your door:”

you must master sin

Go to the passage from Job, “don’t let wickedness live in your tent.” Keep that stuff away from you. This is tough to do in today’s world of instant access to every imaginable kind of information. So, don’t let wickedness live in your mind.

Paul repeats the thought in Romans: keep sin out of your being. That will solve most of your, i.e. my problems.

God, help me to keep the sins of the world away from me while I walk in this world. I cannot do this on my own. I need your help. Please.

Psalms 15 (New International Version)

¹ LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?

² He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart

³ and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,

⁴ who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath
even when it hurts,

⁵ who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
will never be shaken.

This comes to me as simply one of those pieces of scripture that flows knowledge and wisdom word after word. Commentary is fluff, but since that what I do here, some fluff follows.

Walk in a blameless manner. Not perfection as that is impossible, but blameless. I do wrong, I admit it, ask for forgiveness, and continue my walk.

I try to do what is right in the eyes of God.

I am truthful. I speak what is true with the situation and the people involved in mind.

I don’t attack my fellow man with my words. This one is hard sometimes. Especially when I consider the words that go through my mind, but don’t come out of my mouth. Those thoughts count, too.

I dislike the actions of a vile person. What a great word –  vile. We don’t use this word much. From dictionary.com:

vile – adj.   vil·er, vil·est

1. Loathsome; disgusting: vile language.
2. Unpleasant or objectionable: vile weather. See Synonyms at offensive
3. Contemptibly low in worth or account; second-rate.
4. Of mean or low condition.
5. Miserably poor and degrading; wretched: a vile existence.
6. Morally depraved; ignoble or wicked: a vile conspiracy

I do what I say I will do, even when it hurts me. Oh if the majority of modern mankind would follow this one. “On second thought, I have changed my mind given today’s economic situation. A person can change his mind, right? Why be stubborn (especially when it it more convenient to change)?”

I loan a brother some cash without interest. Money doesn’t buy my integrity.

God, these words were written by a man whose heart is like yours. Help me to be like that.

Psalms 24:3-4 (New International Version)

³ Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
Who may stand in his holy place?

⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false.

Who could approach God under the old law? Only those with clean hands and a pure heart.

Clean hands? Wash with soap and water. Well, not literally. This meant my hands were free from the stains of blood of murder and other malice. My hands were clean from stolen goods; my hands were clean from abusing others.

A “pure heart” seems obvious, but difficult to achieve. I mean, I don’t hate anybody. Maybe I don’t like the guy who pulled in front of me on the road yesterday or the man at work who kept wasting my time with silly ideas, and then there is the guy who was just doing his job, but wouldn’t do what I wanted him to do instead. I mean, I don’t hate those people. You know?

Excuses.

So I don’t have a pure heart. I am have pretty good one. Not good enough for the old law.

God, I am so thankful that I am not under the old law. Thank you for the new covenant through Jesus. Thank you for your grace. Help me to never forget how wonderful it is and to never stop living a life of thankfulness.

1 Samuel 30:23-25 (New International Version)

²³ David replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and handed over to us the forces that came against us. ²⁴ Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.” ²⁵ David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this.

These verses record David’s words after a battle. Part of his army was exhausted and stopped to recover – they stayed with the supplies. The rest of the army pursued the enemy to the final battle and gathered the spoils of war. They brought these goods back to where the first part of the army was resting.

How do we now divide the goods? It seems that the men who fought the final battle would receive more than those who stopped and rested with the supplies.

Wrong.

David sets the policy:

The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.

That is silly, short-sighted; it will never work. It won’t be long before soldiers would stop short of the final battle and take it easy. They know they will have an equal share. Why risk death and suffering when every one has an equal share?

David’s policy worked. It worked because he knew the men involved. They were all good men serving the Lord’s army. They would not “slack off” and wait for an equal share while their fellow soldiers fought. Those who needed rest needed rest. They were true to their word. Their hearts were right with God.

God, we have much to learn from these men and their dedication to service. Help us to learn.

1 Peter 5:7 (New International Version)

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Please note the qualify working in the sentence – ALL.

Here is an exercise:

Get a piece of paper and a pencil

At the top of the paper write “My anxieties that I am giving to God for Him to handle for me”

Now write a list of your anxieties

Take a while to do this, there is no hurry

Okay, finished? Have you cast all your anxiety on Him?

Now, you know that one extra thing that worries you? That thing that you didn’t put on the list. Okay, now put it on the list, too.

The vast majority of people who do this little exercise  add at least one more anxiety when given the extra chance. For some reason we seem to hold onto at least one or two worries. They are too big, too little, too embarrassing, too secret, too well known, too something-or-other. We hold onto them as if God doesn’t know about them or cannot handle them for us.

How silly are we? How human and fallible are we?

God, help me to turn all of it over to you for your care. Yes even that one thing I am considering right now.

Proverbs 28:21 (New International Version)

To show partiality is not good—
yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.

A simple, yet profound Proverb.

America, 2009. Food is a problem here. We have too much food, and food is too convenient.

Fried potatoes are not  good for you, especially if you don’t eat them for breakfast before embarking on 12 hours of hard physical labor before your next meal. One of the things that kept prior generations from eating too many fried potatoes was the labor in preparing them and then cleaning your kitchen after wards. When was the last time you washed, pealed, washed, cut, and then fried potatoes in a frying pan. What a chore; what a mess, and what a cleanup job.

Anyways, food here and now is so convenient that we cannot imagine people doing something wrong to get a piece of bread. Why bread is everywhere, and who would want a plain piece of bread? Who cares?

Well, in many places in many times in mankind’s history, a piece of bread was a treasure, and men would do all sorts of wrong for a piece of bread.

Adjust the Proverb for inflation,

a man will do wrong for a tank of gasoline

Ever see people cut in front of other people at a gas station? That rings right out of this Proverb.

That was only a teenager I cut in front of. So what? (partiality against teenagers)

That was an old lady. She’s retired and has no place to go. I’m working. I’m in a hurry. (partiality against old ladies)

I won’t go into the partiality against people of differing color, nationalities, accent, dress, brand of car, and so on.

God, help me to love all my neighbors without being partial to whoever. Help me to keep from wrong for a piece of bread, a tank of gas, or whatever catches my eye at the moment.

Isaiah 3:16 (New International Version)

¹⁶ The LORD says,
“The women of Zion are haughty,
walking along with outstretched necks,
flirting with their eyes,
tripping along with mincing steps,
with ornaments jingling on their ankles.

In this chapter, God is angry with His people. He lists their sins and their coming punishments. Verse 16 tells of the sins of the women. The next verse tells of the result:

¹⁷ Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion;
the LORD will make their scalps bald.”

Not good.

Each generation reads verse 16 in light of it current circumstance. In America, we have read these verses ten different ways – one each for each decade – in the last 100 years. What does “outstretched necks” mean anyway?

The key word here, the word that doesn’t seem to change meaning with the change of styles, is haughty. Dictionary.com defines it as:

adjective: disdainfully proud; snobbish; scornfully arrogant; supercilious: haughty aristocrats; a haughty salesclerk.

I still lots of words that are interpreted through the culture of the day. I guess what comes to mind across culture is that these women expected to be served instead of expecting to serve.

God has never liked that attitude. He has never displayed it.

God, grant us humility and the heart of a servant.