Contemplative Bible Reading

Jeremiah 42:19-20 (New Living Translation)

19 Listen, you remnant of Judah. The Lord has told you: “Do not go to Egypt!” Don’t forget this warning I have given you today. 20 For you were not being honest when you sent me to pray to the Lord your God for you. You said, “Just tell us what the Lord our God says, and we will do it!”

The prophet Jeremiah is talking to some people. These folks were the remnant, i.e., what was left of the people who were taken away to Babylon. Those people who had skills and education and good qualities were taken away. Those who lacked all these good qualities were left behind.

The left-behind people went to Jeremiah the prophet and said, “Tell us what God wants us to do. Whatever it is, we will do it.”

Through Jeremiah, God told the people to stay put. Don’t go to Egypt. Well, the people wanted to go to Egypt. Things were better there. That is where they should go. God said, “No.” Back to what the people said. They were lying. They wanted to sound obedient. They knew what they were going to do. They were not being honest.

And they thought they could fool God.

This is the most amazing part. They really thought that they could fool God. God wouldn’t know their plot. God wouldn’t know what they had discussed “in secret” where God couldn’t hear them. They had secrets they could hide from God.

Gosh. How foolish we can all be? We can keep things secret from God. God will never know. Sorry. Not true. And what is worse for us, sometimes, like in these verses, God tells other people our little secrets.

Psalm 90:12 (New Living Translation)

12 Teach us to realize the brevity of life,
so that we may grow in wisdom.

This Psalm is attributed to Moses. Moses is praying and has a list of requests to God. In this request, Moses asks God to teach us about our lives on earth. They are short. Once we realize the brevity of our lives, we may be able to gain more wisdom.

I become impatient and angry now and then (probably more than once a day). I waste a lot of time settling myself. Those actions are unwise. I don’t have much time to waste.

Please God, teach me to realize the brevity of life. Help me to use the time wisely.

Proverbs 1:10 (New Living Translation)

10 My child, if sinners entice you,
turn your back on them!

Simple advice. Oh I wish we would follow this.

“Hey, come on, get behind this latest social cause. It is right!” I hear this too often. Then someone in the ruling elite chimes in. “Yes, let’s do that.”

But wait a minute. That latest social cause is ungodly. Inclusion is not always righteous. Empathy by a Christian is righteous. I understand your feelings about something. I may not share those feelings or ideas. I want you to come to Christ. I may not be all that Christ wants me to be, but being with Christ is better than not.

Sinners entice. And sometimes they are really enticing. Sometimes the sin is described in such a way that it has to be good. It is so good that it is godly. Sorry. No it isn’t. Joining in sin with sinners just isn’t right.

There is an old saying, “Love the sinner; hate the sin.” That old saying has been misused and abused. That is our failing. Still, it is true and right. Please God, help me to live closer to you today.

Psalm 81:5 (New Living Translation)

5 He (God) made it a law for Israel
when he attacked Egypt to set us free.

This sentence is part of a few sentences where the writer urges the people to praise God. The writer concludes with the “why” of praising: because God attacked Egypt to set the people free from slavery.

And how did God attack Egypt? God sent Moses. Trumpets blast, orchestra comes to a crescendo, and Charlton Heston enters with muscles and a flowing beard. Right? (youngsters don’t know Charlton Heston by name, but if you see enough old movies you will get the picture)

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Yes, God sent Moses to Egypt as an attack to free the people. Moses was a “has been.” He used to be important, but was booted out of the palace to wander the wastelands. Whatever happened to Moses? Forty years later he was tending sheep in the mountains by himself. He wasn’t even good enough to manage his father-in-law’s farming business. Just watch the sheep and try not to mess it up.

And Moses had a stick. Just an old stick picked up off the ground.

This is how God attacked mighty Egypt. One has been old man with a stick. And of course it worked.

There is a song about how God moves in mysterious ways to perform His wonders. True song. Unbelievable, but I better believe it.

Proverbs 3:27-28 (New Living Translation)

27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it
when it’s in your power to help them.
28 If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say,
“Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.”

Years ago, Nike had the ad campaign of “just do it.” They found that ad campaign in these verses.

Do I have the power to help and do good for someone? If yes, do it today.

But wait, if I let them wait, I will … Nope. Sorry. Do it today.

Life is much simpler than I make it out to be. I am smart. I can see nuances. I can … Nope. Sorry. Do it today.

If I sit here and sip my coffee long enough, I can … Nope Sorry. Do it today.

Judges 12:5-6 (New Living Translation)

5 Jephthah captured the shallow crossings of the Jordan River, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim tried to go back across, the men of Gilead would challenge him. “Are you a member of the tribe of Ephraim?” they would ask. If the man said, “No, I’m not,” 6 they would tell him to say “Shibboleth.” If he was from Ephraim, he would say “Sibboleth,” because people from Ephraim cannot pronounce the word correctly. Then they would take him and kill him at the shallow crossings of the Jordan. In all, 42,000 Ephraimites were killed at that time.

This is one of those stories from the (hi)story of God’s people that just doesn’t make any sense to me. Woe is me. In the time of the Judges, lots of military action and death, we have yet another hotly contested dispute.

At this time, the people of Ephraim had an accent. They didn’t pronounce the word “Shibboleth” they same way that the other folks did. It was an indication that “they are one of them, not one of us.” If “they are them not us, kill ’em.”

42,000 men were killed. Let’s repeat, 42,000 men were killed.

The people of Gilead (the killers) and the people of Ephraim (the killed) were cousins. They were all related and traced their families back to Jacob. Cousins were murdering cousins, and this was all in the name of something that was supposed to be, well, someone thought it good.

Live by justice and righteousness? Forget that. Kill anyone with one of those accents.

Sigh. We do these things; we wonder why God is not pleased. Okay, I haven’t killed any distant cousins this week. Sure, I may have become angry at someone I read about or saw on TV or Facebook, but I didn’t…well, I didn’t show much love or understanding and didn’t behave just and right.

Please God, help me in my unbelief.

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.

The Wikipedia definition of witness includes: a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter.

Through the prophet Isaiah, God is telling the people, “YOU have knowledge about ME. Act like it.”

And part of that knowledge is pretty simple, plain, even “blunt.” God is the only god. There is no other. And I love this last phrase, “there never has been, and there never will be.”

God expects the people to BE WITNESSES. They have knowledge; they should share it.

Well, any “ifs,” “ands,” or “buts?” Sure, I am pretty clever and creative and can invent some sort of excuse or something. Just give me a minute or two. The truth is, my little clever ideas are just silly. There is no other God who created all and is all alone in that seat.

God, please help me in my unbelief. I am a witness. Have me to testify clearly about all I have seen, heard, and felt.

Proverbs 1:18 (New Living Translation)

18 But these people set an ambush for themselves;
they are trying to get themselves killed.

This is one conclusion to a tale of how sinners entice the righteous to plunge into sin with them. It has to do with setting an ambush to attack innocent people and steal all their goods. They even use the idea that it is “fun” to do these things.

But in the end, they are trying to get themselves killed.

It is not always about highway robbery. It can be about many things. Let’s go do this… Let’s go do that… Come along with us. And they are digging a pit for themselves. They are setting a trap for themselves. They are ambushing themselves.

That isn’t fun; that isn’t funny. Please. Let’s all take care with our lives. Draw closer to God each day. Seek wisdom from God. Let God guide us in each decision of each moment. Sure, this sounds like old-man advice from a tired old man. One of the things about being old is that I have seen many friends and loved one ambush themselves. It isn’t good.

Proverbs 4:25-27 (New Living Translation)

25 Look straight ahead,
and fix your eyes on what lies before you.
26 Mark out a straight path for your feet;
stay on the safe path.
27 Don’t get sidetracked;
keep your feet from following evil.

There is an old expression (I heard it 40 years ago), “Plan your work; work your plan.”

The above verses are probably the source of that old expression. I supposed there are many phrases in the Bible that could be a source of that old expression.

Except these instructions in Proverbs are not about planning work and working to the goal of a plan. I believe that these are about something far more important. These phrases are about wisdom and judgement concerning righteousness and evil. These are far more important than project planning and management.

The last words of the proverb shows that. “keep your feet from following evil.”

I think of my marriage. I fixed my eyes on what was ahead—the rest of my life with the wife given to me by God. There was a path to life-long marriage. It is a straight path for my feet. I stay on the path each day, each step. I do not become sidetracked. With the blessings and grace of God, I remain on that path.

There are many other parts of life that I can apply this wisdom. Time does not allow writing all of them. Please God, each day, each step, keep my on the straight path. Bar me from sidetracks.

Exodus 1:8 (New Living Translation)

8 Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done.

And now we come to the (hi)story where God uses Moses and others to bring the descendants of Jacob out of Egypt. This begins with a small statement about the new king in Egypt. This king knew nothing about Joseph.

How is that possible? The following verses show that the new king knew about the people of Israel, i.e., the descendants of Jacob, who were living in Egypt. These children of Jacob were numerous, strong, and accomplished. The new king saw a group that could rival him and the ethnic Egyptians who ruled the land.

Yet, this king didn’t know about how Joseph was a ruler during the great famine that brought this Israel into Egypt. Okay, it was about 400 years earlier. Four centuries is a long time (America is only about 2 1/2 centuries old). The official records, however, would have this information.

This king (called Pharaoh later in Exodus) was ignorant of the history. Later we see that Pharaoh was ignorant of his own words as he constantly promised one thing after another to Moses and then disobeyed his own words. Sometimes we refer to such as just another lying politician.

God works in mysterious ways. Here we see a ruler who has forgotten history—a key history at a key moment in time. The historians of the land failed to show the king what they certainly knew. Everything hinged on a simple oversight. God works in mysterious ways.

Why did so-and-so do this-or-that last year? Couldn’t they see? Couldn’t they understand? How could they overlook something? God works in mysterious ways. I believe God still does this things like causing someone to forget something on some occasions.