Contemplative Bible Reading

Luke 5:20 (New Living Translation)

20 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”

This is part of the (hi)story of the crippled man and his friends. We heard this one many times in Sunday School as kids. The men carried their crippled friend on a stretcher to Jesus to be healed. The crowd was too thick to reach Jesus. In a stroke of genius, the men carried their friend up to the roof where they cut a hole in the roof and lowered their friend to Jesus.

Wow. This is a great (hi)story that has been told a million times.

Jesus saw their faith. Not just the faith of the crippled man, but also the faith of his friends. They believed that if they did whatever was necessary to put their friend in front of Jesus their friend would be healed.

Can you imagine the love these friends had for the crippled man? They should have gone to jail for damaging someone’s house. And, oh by the way, this all happened on the Sabbath day. They were breaking the Sabbath laws by carrying their friend around. They were breaking the Sabbath laws by making a hole in the roof of a house. They were breaking the Sabbath laws on and on and on and on.

The faith of the crippled man and his friends was not just, “Belief in something we cannot see.” Their faith was the acts of carrying a man on a stretcher to wherever Jesus was, trying in vain to penetrate the crowds, climbing on the roof with a stretcher (that’s not easy), digging a hole in the roof, and lowering their friend to Jesus. That is a lot of actions that go along with believing in the power of Jesus.

That is belief plus action. That is active faith.

Sit on the couch and say, “I believe.” Well, maybe and that is a long discussion for another day.

Say, “I believe,” and then do whatever I can. That is what we see in this (hi)story. Keep telling it to kids in Sunday School. Live it as well.

Isaiah 43:10 (New Living Translation)

10 “But you are my witnesses, O Israel!” says the Lord.
“You are my servant.
You have been chosen to know me, believe in me,
and understand that I alone am God.
There is no other God—
there never has been, and there never will be.

This one is pretty simple. The implications are far reaching and significant, but the statement is pretty simple. Jehovah God, the Creator is the only God. There is no other—never has been another and never will be another.

Okay, we got that? Only one God in the past, present, and future. Settled.

So now what? Well, I can’t be God. I need to toss out that idea and stop trying to be God. Rats. No, that is quite a relief. I don’t have that burden or responsibility.

Let’s see, does God tell me what I need to know? Yes. It’s all in front of me in umpty-umpteen different English translations and translations into a few hundred other languages. Just read it. Be right with God. Love God. Love each other. Don’t do things that hurt my body. Well, that’s pretty simple.

It appears that this one God for now and evermore is quite a relief. The guidance isn’t changing. Right is right and wrong is wrong and all the right is meant for my well being. Now, how can I mess this up? Let me count the ways. No, let me focus on the one and only.

Job 33:14-18 (New Living Translation)

14 For God speaks again and again,
though people do not recognize it.
15 He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on people
as they lie in their beds.
16 He whispers in their ears
and terrifies them with warnings.
17 He makes them turn from doing wrong;
he keeps them from pride.
18 He protects them from the grave,
from crossing over the river of death.

This is a wonderful promise from God. God speaks to use again and again. My trouble is that I don’t always recognize the voice of God and heed God’s protective advice.

God speaks in dreams. My dreams are often crazy and mixed up and disturbing. I don’t want to listen.

Still, God whispers to me. God warns me and keeps me from wrong. And sometimes God tells me, “You aren’t so great. Calm down and quietly do what is right.” Sometimes, thankfully, I listen.

I believe God speaks to me in the song of tiny birds in high tree limbs and the low cry of a newborn child. God speaks to me in the smile of the young child sitting across Starbucks. “Things will be okay,” God tells me. “Trust Me,” God reminds me. “Breathe.”

Please God, help me to be still and listen. Let me not forsake your voice and the promise of your voice. Thank you for that and countless other blessings.

Psalm 5:9-10 (Christian Standard Bible)

9 For there is nothing reliable in what they say;
destruction is within them;
their throat is an open grave;
they flatter with their tongues.
10 Punish them, God;
let them fall by their own schemes.
Drive them out because of their many crimes,
for they rebel against you.

The writer is asking God to help battle those who battle against the people of God. Those foes lie constantly. Please God, the Psalmist writes, punish them.

God did and will continue to punish those who behave this way. My problem—yes, I always seem to have a problem with these things—is that God doesn’t always operate at the time I want. Seems that God almost never operates at the time I want. Seems God knows better then me. I try to pause and think about that one.

I know that God prevails. I know that God works for those who love God. I just wish God would do those things on my timetable. There always seems to be a lag in time in what I want and what God does. I am impatient. I am not wise. God is patient and wise. In those all-too-few moments of clarity, I realize that God’s patience and wisdom are much better than mine and are always appropriate.

Deep sigh. Please God, help me in my unbelief. Give me patience and wisdom, and allow me to see your patience and wisdom.

Job 33:14 (New Living Translation)

14 For God speaks again and again,
though people do not recognize it.

In this sentence, Elihu is speaking to Job while Job suffers. Much of what Job’s friends say to him is incorrect and is later corrected by God. I think this phrase from Elihu is correct.

Has God spoken to you lately? Has God spoken to me lately? Is that bird chirping in the tree the first thing in the morning a voice from God? Is that morning headache of dehydration a voice from God? Is that smile on the face of a child across the coffee shop a voice from God?

And, by the way, what is God telling that person across the room whom I despise (strong word, but let’s be honest about this)?

God speaks again and again. Am I listening?

Isaiah 43:13 (New Living Translation)

13 “From eternity to eternity I am God.
No one can snatch anyone out of my hand.
No one can undo what I have done.”

In this section of scripture, the prophet Isaiah is relaying what God told Isaiah about God. The self-description ends with, “No one can undo what I have done.”

There are different ways to understand this last phrase. One is that God created the earth. Can anyone un-create or undo that creation? I don’t think so. The earth belongs to God who created it. The fate of this planet is up to God.

In the 1980s, we were greatly concerned about mankind destroying the earth with nuclear weapons. Today we seem to be greatly concerned about mankind destroying the earth with carbon dioxide, which we all exhale continuously.

I love the beauty of the earth which God created. The heavens declare the glory of God. I don’t fear that mankind will destroy God’s creation. Thinking we have the power to undo what God has done is quite boastful on our part. We (me) want to be equal to God. There are many days when I want to be God and decide what happens to those who deserve my judgement. Those are not good days for me. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Proverbs 18:17 (New Living Translation)

17 The first to speak in court sounds right—
until the cross-examination begins.

Ah, the cross-examination. That is when someone stands and says, “Let’s look at this again and consider some other things.”

In my career, this was called a “hostile audience.” That was a group of persons who were skeptical about the ideas being presented. They didn’t have to be hostile. I highly recommend healthy skeptics. Stay healthy towards yourself and others, but still question.

Some persons call this “the devil’s advocate.” I don’t dislike you, but I will act as if I do for the moment. Please bear with me.

And there is a question like, “Did you act in a manner pleasing to God?” or “Were you loving and considerate to your neighbor?” Yikes. I struggle with those questions on most days. Please God, forgive my unbelief.

Esther 2:3-4 (New Living Translation)

3 Let the king appoint agents in each province to bring these beautiful young women into the royal harem at the fortress of Susa. Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the harem, will see that they are all given beauty treatments. 4 After that, the young woman who most pleases the king will be made queen instead of Vashti.” This advice was very appealing to the king, so he put the plan into effect.

The above verses are the what the personal assistants of Xerxes suggested to him after his Queen had rebuffed him. Xerxes liked this idea and did it.

Wait. This is all wrong. Gather young women who look right, bring them captive to the king, put them in his harem serve his sexual desires. This is all wrong. Can we write that often enough? This is all wrong. Yet, this is what happened. This is early in the (hi)story of how God used Esther and her relatives to save God’s people from annihilation while in exile. Everything worked the way God intended.

What? How can something that is all wrong lead to a conclusion that God wanted? As the song says, “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform.”

Current American politician does such-and-such. Christians cannot abide by that (let’s round up beautiful young women and put them in the presidential harem—YIKES). We shouldn’t abide by that. What do we do?

Okay, I don’t have a good answer. Please, someone else provide it. Pray for wisdom. Pray for survival. Trust in God and live my life as an expression of God’s love.

Daniel 3:15-17 (New Living Translation)

15 I will give you one more chance to bow down and worship the statue I have made when you hear the sound of the musical instruments. But if you refuse, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace. And then what god will be able to rescue you from my power?”

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.

This is part of the (hi)story of Daniel’s three colleagues who were assigned the foreign names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, asks an age-old and often-repeated question, “What god will be able to rescue you from my power?”

In other words, “Do you know who I AM? I am the ruler. Who or what is more powerful than ME?”

The three react as they should. “Why ask such a silly question? Jehovah, the God who created all is all powerful.”

Everyone knew that! At least it should have been obvious to all, especially a world conqueror and highly educated person like Nebuchadnezzar. The three give the obvious and often-quoted answer. We know the rest of the story. In this situation, Jehovah chooses to demonstrate God’s power once again for yet another audience of those who need to see the obvious: God is God and we are not.

Each day, most of us are confronted with the same old obvious question. What god can do such-and-such? There is no need to answer, but sometimes we answer anyway. Please God, help me to answer kindly and in faith. If You choose to demonstrate Your ability like in this (hi)story, so be it.

Proverbs 1:11, 14 (New Living Translation)

11 They may say, “Come and join us.
Let’s hide and kill someone!
Just for fun, let’s ambush the innocent!

14 Come, throw in your lot with us;
we’ll all share the loot.”

These words are so foolish they are almost comical. “Just for fun.” Whoa. “Let’s do something terrible, just for fun.” If it is all “just for fun” that does not make it okay. “We don’t mean to hurt anyone, this is just a joke, you know, for fun!”

Sorry. Throwing rocks off an overpass onto the windshields of cars is not just for fun. Playing a prank on someone to scare them is not just for fun. Kidding someone about their weight, race, ethnicity, parents, family, etc. is not just for fun. “Kidding” is not just for fun.

But what about a sense of humor? Careful. That can be just for fun and that can chase people away from God just as much.

Just for fun takes a lot of care and love and thought. Show all that care and love and thought first, often, and for a long time before attempting the “just for fun” part.