Contemplative Bible Reading

2 Kings 22:11 (New Living Translation)

11 When the king (Josiah) heard what was written in the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes in despair.

By accident, Hilkiah the high priest had found a copy of the Book of the Law—the law that God had given to the people. They brought a copy of the law to King Josiah and read it to him.

Josiah was so surprised and ashamed that he tore his clothes. I can hear him screaming in anguish, “But no one told me that this is what God wanted us to do!”

It had been so long since anyone had read the law. It had been so long since anyone had followed the law. It had been so long… Can you imagine a point in the future when people forget Christmas? When people forget that people used to do something different on Christmas?

There are other (hi)stories of other kings when someone found a copy of the law and read it to the king. Those other kings burned the copies so that no one would know how godless they had become. Not this king. This king went the other way.

Sometimes we need a reminder. Sometimes we need someone to bump into us and let us know that we should love that person across the coffee shop even though their kid just spilled and yelled and upset my morning. The floor can be cleaned and so can the clothes. No one needs to despair as Josiah did. We are all under the grace of God. Some of us haven’t accepted it, yet. Some of us haven’t been told about it, yet. Nevertheless, it is there waiting for us.

1 Kings 18:46 (New Living Translation)

46 Then the Lord gave special strength to Elijah. He tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab’s chariot all the way to the entrance of Jezreel.

Simple statement. The writer wants us to know that the prophet Elijah was able to reach Jezreel before Ahab did. Okay, but notice how. Jezreel was riding in a horse-drawn chariot. This wasn’t a horse-drawn Conestoga wagon that lumbered along at a walking pace. This was a fast vehicle that moved at a galloping-horse pace.

Old Elijah sprinted a distance faster than horses could gallop. Nonsense. Cannot happen. Yet, it did. How? God gave Elijah “special strength.” Elijah set a world record of some sort. This was a miracle.

Okay, a miracle performed 3,000 years ago one time with one prophet. That’s the kind of thing we expect with prophets in 3,000-year-old stories. Nothing like that happens today. Really? How do I know that?

Sometimes we read of adrenaline hitting someone in a moment of crisis as they lift a car off a child or burst through a wall into a burning building to save others. Adrenaline. That’s it. That’s what hit old Elijah. Adrenaline explains all these things. Isn’t it great that we understand these things? Why, we can eliminate the possibility of God working with us today like with Elijah. Right?

Wrong. At least I believe it is wrong. I believe that God still puts special strength in some people at some times in some situations. Sometimes it is a flash of brilliance in the mind. Sometimes it is inexplicable physical strength. Sometimes it is a flood of empathy in a heart that allows someone to offer a tender touch and a hug.

Oh, a hug to someone who doesn’t deserve but needs one? Yes, special strength from God.

Exodus 14:26 (New Living Translation)

26 He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.”

This is part of the (hi)story of God’s people leaving Egypt and taking the long route to the land promised to them. Just a few days out of Egypt, they come to an oasis that has water, but the water is not good.

God helps Moses perform a miracle and make the water good for drinking. After this demonstration of God’s power, the word of God comes to the people in the above verse.

Listen to God and do what is right in God’s sight and you will have health.

Don’t listen to God and don’t do what is right in God’s eyes and you will suffer all the diseases that the Egyptians had recently suffered.

Hmmm, let’s think about this choice for a moment. Suffer all the diseases or be healthy. Of course everyone chooses health, right? Wrong. There are always some people—there are always some days in my life—where folks (where I) choose the other way and suffer.

What is wrong with us? Why do we choose the answer that is obviously wrong? Do we not take seriously the words of God? Do we “want to make our own mistakes?” (I never understood that path.) Do we simply love disease and the sympathy that others show us when we are ill?

I suppose there are many explanations. I suppose there are many excuses. Please God, help me in my unbelief. Help us all to believe and walk in the ways that are right in Your sight. Let us accept Your blessings.

1 Samuel 26:12 (New Living Translation)

12 So David took the spear and jug of water that were near Saul’s head. Then he and Abishai got away without anyone seeing them or even waking up, because the Lord had put Saul’s men into a deep sleep.

This is part of the (hi)story of David on the run from King Saul. In this episode, David and Abishai sneak into and out of King Saul’s camp. They proceed unnoticed because God had put Saul’s men into a deep sleep.

Notice several things here: some people sleep well on some nights because God helped them to do so. Tired? Need rest? Feel restless? Know someone else in that situation? Pray. Ask God for a deep sleep. God has the power to bring it. Too simple? Nothing is too simple for God—especially when it is needed.

Also note that God uses something so simple and so common to change world events. God caused soldiers to sleep so that David could walk through their camp and change history. Everyone sleeps (well, the great majority of us do almost) every day. It is common and basic. Yet God influences it when God wants.

And let’s extend this. If God uses something so common as sleep to change the world, God can also use other common, everyday, simple things to change the world. Things such as a cup of coffee, a piece of toast, a biscuit, a shoelace that is untied, a broken chair, an unmade bed, a dirty windshield, etc. How long a list can we make of common, everyday, simple things that can cause us to change our course and affect the lives of many persons?

Pray. God, use this or that or whatever it is to cause me to love others more and to do the things You want me to do.

Mark 10:2 (New Living Translation)

2 Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife?”

I don’t remember how many times I have sat in a Christian discussion in which the topic was this verse and what follows. We love to discuss divorce and remarriage. We must love it as we have done it so often.

In all these discussions, we focused on the words, “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife?”

We never focused on the words, “Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question:”

The foundation or basis for the entire thing was a question that was a trap. They didn’t want to know what Jesus thought about divorce. They wanted to trick Jesus into saying something that could be used against Jesus later.

I have been in many classes and discussions when someone wanted to pose a hypothetical question. “If so and so does this or that, is that worse than so and so doing that or this, and what should be done with so and so after that and the other thing and…”

At some point in life I adopted the answer, “I don’t answer hypothetical questions. Do you have something real that you wish to discuss?”

That wasn’t and isn’t a popular answer, but I stick to it.

Jesus recognized the question given to Him was a trap. Jesus walked away from the trap. In essence, Jesus asked the people, “What is it you really want to discuss?”

The people shyly admitted that they were asking, “Is this worse than that or is the other thing worse than the first and third thing or other?”

Jesus taught them that sin was sin and that sin separated us from God. Only by accepting the saving grace of God can we come to God. All the trap questions and hypothetical questions in the minds of men and the ensuing discussions don’t help us one little bit. Let us look to God.

Matthew 10:12 (New Living Translation)

12 When you enter the home, give it your blessing.

Jesus is sending out the 12 apostles and giving them instructions on what to do and where to go. this sentence above is part of the instructions of Jesus.

We don’t talk like this these days. We don’t say things like this. And what does it mean to give a home your blessing?

It doesn’t mean to deposit a twenty dollar bill on the table at the entrance to pay for room and board. Should that be a hundred dollar bill these days?

Some of the commentaries I read say, “Salute the house.” Uh, well, that doesn’t help me. Other commentaries say something like, “Peace be on this house.” I guess that makes some sense. I want the peace of mind, heart, and spirit that comes with the grace of God to be on this house and all who live here.

Hey, I sort of like that one. The next time I walk into someone’s home I stop and speak clearly and say… Oh, wait. That is sort of weird, isn’t it? I mean, we don’t talk like that these days. Do we? Well, maybe we should talk like that these days. Maybe we should do and say things that most folks don’t do and say. Let’s begin today.

Joshua 7:24-25 (New Living Translation)

24 Then Joshua and all the Israelites took Achan, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, daughters, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, tent, and everything he had, and they brought them to the valley of Achor. 25 Then Joshua said to Achan, “Why have you brought trouble on us? The Lord will now bring trouble on you.” And all the Israelites stoned Achan and his family and burned their bodies.

This is part of the (hi)story of a man named Achan who lived and died several thousand years ago. Achan had stolen some things that were dedicated to God. This thievery brought punishment and grief to all the people (all the Israelites).

Once found guilty, Achan faced punishment. We read that ALL this Israelites gathered and threw rocks at Achan AND ALL HIS FAMILY until they all died. ALL the Israelites then burned the dead bodies.

This was one of the great things that discouraged sin in the land. If you, my good neighbor and friend, sinned in such a way that required punishment of death, I had to help throw rocks at you until you died. I had to throw rocks. We didn’t have a professional executioner that did this for us. We all had to participate in killing you.

That was bloody and awful.

“Please don’t do that,” neighbors would tell one another. “I don’t want to help kill you, but I will have to help kill you if you do that.”

Have an affair with the young man down the road? I will have to help kill you. “Borrow” things without permission? I will have to help kill you. The list goes on. The “I will have to help kill you” goes on.

That was bloody and awful.

The death of Jesus on the cross was bloody and awful. The death of Jesus on the cross ended this bloody and awful situation in the community. Consider that for a moment. If nothing else, consider the size of that great gift. I no longer have to help kill my friend and neighbor.

Thank you God.

Ephesians 1:16b-17 (New Living Translation)

16b I pray for you constantly, 17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.

Paul describes his prayer for Christians living in Ephesus. Among several things, Paul asks that God will give them spiritual wisdom and insight.

Paul does not ask for business acumen or the ability to invent airplanes in the year 55 (1,850 years ahead of the Wright Brothers). No, spiritual wisdom and insight. Something powerful and worthwhile. With those things, the people would know God better—not just a little, but a lot, deep and wide and rich.

I feel that I know God better today than 30 years ago. Probably better than 10 years ago. That is comforting. Things roll off me easier these days. I’m not as upset now. Life is more pleasant. Sure, there are bad days, there are very bad days, but I am given my daily bread—what I need for each day.

Thank you God. Please bless others with greater spiritual wisdom and insight.

Romans 16:10a (New Living Translation)

10 Greet Apelles, a good man whom Christ approves…

Here we hear about a man named Apelles. No, I don’t know how to pronounce that correctly. And I don’t know anything else about this man. What I do know is that Apelles was a good man whom Christ approves.

We have many words in the New Testament about Peter, John, Mary, Paul, and others. Apelles? There are six words here. That is all.

I pray that one day someone will say, “Say hello to Dwayne. He is a good man whom God approves.” That will suffice. That is much more than I deserve. Please God, help me to live up to that standard.

Numbers 35:20-21 (New Living Translation)

20 So if someone hates another person and waits in ambush, then pushes him or throws something at him and he dies, it is murder. 21 Or if someone hates another person and hits him with a fist and he dies, it is murder. In such cases, the avenger must put the murderer to death when they meet.

This part of the reciting of the old law concerns the death of a person by accident or by HATE. In today’s legal terms (I am not a lawyer, but I can read) we often use the term “manslaughter” for “the crime of killing a human being without malice aforethought.”

Gosh, malice aforethought sure seems nicer than HATE.

In this old law, God is highlighting the role of HATE in SIN. In the New Testament, Jesus notes how HATING someone is the same as murdering them.

“Well, I don’t hate that fella’ over there. I don’t like some of the things that fella’ does, but hate? Naw, I don’t hate.”

That sure is a fine distinction. That sure is convenient for me to say. I have covered all the bases and come out clean and sin free and …

Nope. Sorry. Once again, I have tried to be God and set things up for my benefit. Nope. Sorry. Doesn’t work that way.

I am to love that fella’ over there. Don’t like some of the things that fella’ does? That is not a consideration. Love that fella’ PERIOD. THE END. Please God, help me in my unbelief.