Contemplative Bible Reading

Isaiah 60:22 The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will do this swiftly.” (New International Version)

What caught my attention in this verse is the highlighted phrase. There is a time when something works. That something won’t work at any other time in any other place with any other people.

I found myself with two different perspectives on this. These are that God gives us special moments and we sometimes need to wait for the right time.

Special Moments in My Life

Oh my goodness. This could become a list of topics that would fill a book one day.

Eating a hot dog that my mother bought me at the A&W root beer after a baseball game when I was 12.

Riding with my dad on the way home from the Robert, Louisiana asphalt plant while on the radio they talked about Elvis Presley dying.

Seeing Karen in the New Orlean airport as I walked off the jetway. That was the moment that I knew we would be married and be together the rest of our lives.

My son Seth being born.

My son Nathan being born.

My son Adam being born.

Getting a phone call in a warehouse on Andros Island. That led to me learning that my dad was killed in an auto accident.

Waiting for the Right Time to do Something

Events in my life seem to have a right time and many wrong times. These contemplative Bible reading essays are one example. The concept of wikis, the Media Wiki software, Seth having an extra computer at home, Seth having some expertise, the Media Wiki software at work — all these things came together in August of 2006. It was the right time for me to write about some Bible verses that struck me.

The idea that a Bible verse strikes me on the day it does is another example. I have read the Bible through some 20 times. For some reason, a verse strikes me on a particular day.

I used to try to force things. I used to grab a concept and push it on the world. Most of the time – the vast majority of the time – I was disappointed in that the rest of the world didn’t see the brilliant concept that I had seen. The big bang did not occur.

I believe that God has a sense of timing. Things happen with people in the time that God creates. Patience Dwayne, patience.

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Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (New International Version)

6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

A recent series of sermons has dealt with parents raising children. This is one of the passages that caught my attention this morning.

impress them on your children

Let’s look at the words around this phrase. First, the passage is talking about these commandments. In this context, the commandments are the old law – the ten commandments and the other laws.

Can we extend these commandments to the New Testament? People can debate that. For now, let’s go with the idea that we can impress the Bible as we have it on our children.

Talk about them when…

This is a wonderful example of great writing. Instead of

Talk about them at least five hours a week. Instruct them from 8-9 AM each weekday and noon to 1PM on weekends…

We are given when you sit, when you walk, when you go to bed, when you wake… We are encouraged to have God’s word with us and our children as we live our lives. We are encouraged to do this in plain, simple, relevent language.

Perhaps that is how we are to impress them on our children. Use plain, simple, relavent, everyday language. Look for the teachable moment. When the child’s mind opens, make God’s word available to fill the desire.

Such a simple phrase: the Lord is my shepherd.  It can be the confession of a Christian. I am following God. He is my shepherd.

Then comes the question: who are you following? An often heard answer to this question is, “I am going my own way.”  Some argue that no person goes his or her own way. A person is either following God or following Satan.

But suppose a person does not believe that; suppose a person believes there are other ways. Okay, you are going your own way.  Perhaps you would have a richer life following the creator of everything. Perhaps your mind would be more contented and less worrisome if you accepted the grace of the creator.

Perhaps? I think yes.

I include the entire text that follows the simple phrase, the Lord is my shepherd.

Psalm 23 (New International Version)

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Proverbs 1:19 (New International Version)

Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it.

I love this phrase, all who go after ill-gotten gain.

In an unusual case, the NIV has a more poetic phrase than the King James Version. The King James uses the phrase So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain.

The words ill-gotten gain are only in the NIV.

The message is also apt. Those who seek after the goods of others only destroy their own lives.

John 5:6 (New International Version)

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

What a silly question? Jesus asks a man who had been an invalid for 38 years if he wanted to get well. Of course he wanted to get well. Didn’t he?

Maybe not. That doesn’t make any common sense, but that is all too common. Many of us seem to like being “not well.” Being an invalid in some form physically, emotionally, or spiritually gives us something to discuss. (“You think you have it rough, let me tell you about my life!”)

Three questions come to my mind from Jesus’ question:

1. Do you like your life? Your self?
2. Do you want to like your life? Your self?
3. Do you believe you can like your life? Your self?

I believe God wants us to enjoy our lives. He did sacrifice His Son for us, and that seems like a pretty good indication that He wants us to like something about our lives.

God, help me to like my life and my self. Help me to want to get better. Most of all, help me to want to be well spiritually, to accept the grace You have offered.

John 6:8-9 (New International Version)

8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

These verses come from John’s account of Jesus feeding the 5,000. Andrew brings a small amount of food, sees the five thousand people, and asks a question that any sane, rational, logical person would ask. How far will they go?

Andrew could see the physical. He could count people and weigh food. At this time, he could not see what was unseen; he could not see what Jesus could do with a few biscuits and sardines. He was putting limits on Jesus’ power.

Do we do the same? Do I look at a person and size them up? Do I decide what that person is worth, what they can do, where they can go?

I am afraid I do and I am afraid I don’t do it well.

John 11:57 (New International Version)

But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.

This verse occurs late in the life of Jesus. The Pharisees wanted to arrest Jesus and do away with him. They saw Jesus as a threat to their position. This is a well known part of the life of Jesus.

Later I noticed something that I had not before.

John 12:10-11 (New International Version)

10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.

They wanted to kill Lazarus as well. Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. There were many people who knew that Lazarus had died. These people had seen the body of Lazarus wrapped and put in a tomb. These same people now saw Lazarus alive and walking about.

Lazarus was evidence of the true nature of Jesus. Jesus was more than a carpenter’s son from Nazareth.

The Pharisees wanted to destroy the evidence of the nature of God.

I see people still trying to do that.

Those people are putting on a show, they cannot be happy in their circumstance.

He must be after something. Why else would be give so much of his time and money?

Happiness, contentment, giving from love – these are evidences of the nature of God.  Some people want to destroy these evidences.

God, help me to show evidence of your nature. Chase away the doubts that sometimes come into my heart. Keep me from killing Lazarus as well.

1 Chronicles 13:8 (New International Version)

David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets.

Look at the title of this post. I would think the verse was talking about a battle with an enemy army or building the temple or the city wall. Those feats, however, are not the subject of this phrase.

Celebrating is the subject.

David and the people celebrated with all their might. They did not just smile or applaud or give a standing ovation. They celebrated with all their might.

I have to ask myself about my own life. Have I ever celebrated before God let alone celebrated before Him with all my might?

Psalms 64:1 (New International Version)

Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint; protect my life from the threat of the enemy.

Several weeks ago I read the above verse in a Bible class. I read it again just this morning. I paraphrase this as God, listen to me complain.

What a request! How arrogant can the person praying be? Hey God, I have a beef with you and you had better listen!

As I wrote above, I read this a few weeks ago. I believe I only read the first verse of this Psalm and it stayed with me. Today as I read I continued through to the end of the Psalm. What stuck with me was the last verse.

Psalms 64:10 (New International Version)

Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him; let all the upright in heart praise him!

What a change of words. Rejoice in the Lord…praise him!

That brought about such a change in the person praying and writing this Psalm? This Psalm speaks of taking refuge in the Lord. Let others – the subjects of my complaints – do what they may. As long as I take refuge in the Lord, as long as I always turn to Him as my Lord, I will be fine. I will praise Him and worship Him because I know that he will listen to my prayers – which sometimes come across as pretty strong complaints.

Thank you God for a listening hear, a tender heart, and a strong refuge.

Proverbs 20:17 (New International Version)

Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man,
but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel.

Ouch! How does that feel? A mouth full of gravel. The Bible contains great literature and some great phrases – this is one of the many in Proverbs.

Literature aside, this is a powerful, true statement. Fraud – tricking someone and taking their possessions – is pretty easy if you try. The fruits of fraud – the possessions taken from another person – are sweet. That is the way most possessions are – sweet.

But what do I have in the end? A mouthful of gravel. A life where everything is dirty and grinds in my mouth until I have no teeth. Then I can only eat mush, and nothing makes mush taste good.

Fraud and easily gained possessions are sweet – at first. Nevertheless, they bring no good to me.

God grant me the wisdom to understand how a quick, fraudulent live only bring me to mush and worse.