Contemplative Bible Reading

Numbers 11:34 (New Living Translation)

So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah (which means ‘graves of gluttony’) because there they buried the people who had craved meat from Egypt.

This (hi)story comes from the people wandering in the wilderness for 40 years before entering the land God promised them. Each morning, God put life-sustaining food on the ground for the people to gather and eat. Pretty miraculous stuff but, like in the school cafeteria, you grow weary of spaghetti every Thursday and complain.

Okay, fine. So God had a flock of quail so big that it darkened the sky fly in and drop dead right in their laps. Food! Variety! Let’s chow down (an old phrase that old people remember). That is gluttony exemplified: people who were not starving gorging themselves as if they were.

Here comes the punishment for the unbelief and revolt. “Many” died. They were buried on the spot in the graves of gluttony.

The people ate of a miracle with the wrong heart. Instead of thanking God for yet another miracle and eating from thanksgiving, they ate with hatred and discontent. Finally! God gives us something worthwhile! If we complained loud enough, God would do what he’s supposed to do. What’s wrong with God, anyways? Huh?

Today in America, at least in my neighborhood, the problem with food is that we eat too much of it. Not the food’s problem but my problem.

The real problem is understanding that the abundance of food is a blessing from God. Thank you, God. God has given me more than I would ever need. I sit in a warm coffee shop on a frigid morning (wind chill somewhere below the pain threshold) eating warm buttered bread and drinking a hot beverage. I can complain about how much it cost and that the person who served me didn’t smile as much as I prefer. I can eat with malice and fall into a grave of gluttony. I can look to God and do much better.

Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Titus 1:16 (New Living Translation)

16 Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.

Can you believe such people? I mean can you believe the things such people do? They deny God. And not with their words, but with their actions. Such people are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.

Hmm. How about that? How about me? Uh, well, you know, I live right. Right? Well, maybe some days, but I shoveled out someone else’s driveway and helped a person whose car was stuck in the snow become unstuck. Surely those things are acknowledging rather than denying God. And God gives good people like me a break, right?

Yes, God gives us all a break. It’s called grace. And I can have bad days, and God will give me a break. And I can’t work my way to heaven by the way I live. And now we’ve come around in a big circle back to the beginning.

God has saved me. I couldn’t do that. I cannot live so good that I earn that. I can wake each morning and ask God to help me through the day and live in a way that acknowledges what God has done for me. I can obey and do good for others.

2 Timothy 4:11 (New Living Translation)

11 Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me in my ministry.

This is at the end of Paul’s second letter to Timothy. This is the usual, “I’m done writing the meaningful stuff and here are a few afterthoughts for you.”

I confess to glossing over these things. For some reason, this statement stuck with me. Paul asks that Timothy bring Mark with him when he visits. It seems the Mark would be helpful in the service Paul was performing. Nothing specific like, “Mark is good a summarizing my sermons,” or, “Mark is a great cook and we are really hungry at the end of the day.” Nope. Simply, “Mark will be helpful to me in my ministry.”

Sometimes, that is all that is needed. Someone who will be helpful. Sometimes that is essential—someone who will be helpful.

Not a great speaker or writer or healer or butcher, baker, or candlestick maker? Simply helpful. Simply helpful is often the necessary role. Let’s not push it down the ladder and belittle it. Let’s try to be simply helpful. Paul needed it. Others still do.

Exodus 32:35 (New Living Translation)

35 Then the Lord sent a great plague upon the people because they had worshiped the calf Aaron had made.

This is part of the (hi)story of the people’s journey from Egypt to the land promised them by God. Moses had gone up the mountain to receive the agreement and law from God. The people were restless. Aaron, to calm the crowd before a riot erupted, fashioned a golden calf statue similar to what the people had seen in Egypt. They worshiped the golden calf.

The LORD sent a great plague upon the people.

I’ve looked for definitions of a plague. Most are like, “a contagious bacterial disease characterized by fever and delirium, typically with the formation of buboes ( bubonic plague ) and sometimes infection of the lungs ( pneumonic plague ).”

There is a contagious bacterial disease. Different bacteria cause different things. Most cause this thing called delirium. Delirium is defined as, “an acute, fluctuating disturbance in attention, awareness, and cognition that develops rapidly over hours or days. It is a temporary, often reversible state characterized by confusion, disorganized thinking, and potential hallucinations, commonly caused by underlying medical conditions, infections, medication side effects, or withdrawal.”

Gosh. Imagine a million people suffering such. I don’t want to be in the neighborhood.

Enough definitions. God caused the plague. Hmm. At some times, in some places, with some people, in some situations God sends a plague on people. Here it is in black in white in the Bible.

Uh. That’s not nice. Uh. That is reality. Oh what horror and terror it is to fall at the hands of God.

Pray for forgiveness. Pray for guidance. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Exodus 34:15-16 (New Living Translation)

15 “You must not make a treaty of any kind with the people living in the land. They lust after their gods, offering sacrifices to them. They will invite you to join them in their sacrificial meals, and you will go with them. 16 Then you will accept their daughters, who sacrifice to other gods, as wives for your sons. And they will seduce your sons to commit adultery against me by worshiping other gods.

Don’t mingle with those folks who believe in things contrary to the true God. That is pretty good advice. That is pretty strong advice.

Application today? Well, uh, er, this becomes complicated quickly. It is real simple if you and that girl you grew up with in Sunday school are married and have a bunch of kids you bring to Sunday school so they marry other Sunday school kids. Sure is. Otherwise, well, sigh.

People influence other people. Am I influencing that person for God or is that person influencing me for something else? Should I marry non-Godly people so that I can show them the Godly way? How can I show them God if I don’t mingle with them?

Yes, this becomes complicated quickly. Please God, help us, guide us, care for us.

Genesis 5:22-23 (New Living Translation)

22 Then Moses went back to the Lord and protested, “Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? 23 Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!”

Moses, after some strong convincing by God, has returned to Egypt to bring the people out and to the land promised to their ancestors. Moses has spoken to Pharaoh. That didn’t go well. Pharaoh changed the work rules and now demands more product in the same amount of time for the same food.

Things are worse.

Moses has the nerve to accuse God of bringing more trouble on the people. Pharaoh is more brutal and you, God, are doing nothing. YOU ARE DOING NOTHING! YOUR PLAN ISN’T WORKING!

Let’s add the word “yet” onto the end of that statement.

Stop. Breathe. Wait. God works in God’s time. Sometimes, despite all my patience and wisdom and understanding, God’s time does not match my time and that just drives me nuts. It was driving Moses nuts those thousands of years ago. Not much has changed in those thousands of years.

Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Genesis 35:5-6 (New Living Translation)

4 So they gave Jacob all their pagan idols and earrings, and he buried them under the great tree near Shechem. 5 As they set out, a terror from God spread over the people in all the towns of that area, so no one attacked Jacob’s family.

This is part of the (hi)story of the travels of Jacob. At this point, Jacob gathers all the idols in their many forms and buries them. He leave them behind. This is quite a buried treasure for someone to find.

After that, Jacob and his great family sets out on a journey through hostile territory. No reason to fear, for God spreads a terror over all the people in that area. The people were so terrified that no one attacked Jacob’s family.

Note, because they were travelling, lived in tents, and made camp every night, the had no defensive positions. They had no walls or strong buildings in which to sit and defend themselves. They were exposed at all times. They were “easy pickings” for those who would harm them and steal their possessions.

Yet, none of that happened. God’s terror kept everyone away. Maybe we don’t call it a “terror” these days, but I believe God does this today. God causes people who have the power to attack, kill, and steal to not do those those things. Some people travel safely through unsafe territories. There is no natural explanation for such. It is the supernatural work of God in the lives of people. Even those, and especially those, people who have no regard for God.

Genesis 28:16-17 (New Living Translation)

16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” 17 But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”

The is part of the (hi)story of Jacob and his journey to find a wife. Jacob camps for the night at a place called Bethel. Those who study the geography of the time feel Bethel is just north of Jerusalem. Jacob dreams of a stairway to heaven with Jehovah God standing at the top of the stairway and speaking to him.

The verses above discuss what happens to Jacob when he awakes in the morning. There is much in a couple of sentences. I would expect no less from a person who just had such a dream—imagine speaking with God in a dream.

Jacob calls this place, Bethel, “the house of God, the very gateway to heaven.”

Consider this literally. There is a place named Bethel that is the gateway to heaven. You can enter heaven at that place by walking up a stairway. Surely this is all fantasy, the stuff of dreams and such. But is it? Is there a place where I can open the gate and climb the stairs to heaven.

The text God has given us is an amazing one. There is so much in it that I do not understand. Perhaps one day. Praise be to God.

Luke 24:2-4 (New Living Translation)

2 There was a man there whose arms and legs were swollen. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in religious law, “Is it permitted in the law to heal people on the Sabbath day, or not?” 4 When they refused to answer, Jesus touched the sick man and healed him and sent him away.

Here is an example of how Jesus often taught. First was the test or the exam. After that, came the lectures or talks. We mostly do this the other way around in our education system. Perhaps we are backwards?

It is the Sabbath and Jesus is at a dinner. A horribly sick person was sat next to Jesus. This person looked awful. Really. If this person were in the coffee shop I am in now as I type these words, people would move away and leave the place.

It was no accident that such an unsightly and unhealthy person was placed next to Jesus on the Sabbath day. This was a trap.

Jesus healed the person. What a wonderful blessing.

The next sentences contain the lecture. They are about humility and serving those who are lesser than myself. That is what Jesus did. He stooped down and served the sick person.

Jesus goes on to talk about not putting yourself in a seat of honor. Instead, take the lower seat like a servant. Invite the poor to your banquet. The rich can pay you back, the poor cannot. Just as the sick person could not pay Jesus for the miracle.

Jesus continues the lecture with a story about a banquet. The rich passed. The banquet holder invited the poor. Stoop down. Serve the poor.

It is all about serving those whom society disdains. It is all about love and service.

Okay, I got it. Uh, do I do it? Not well enough. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Genesis 27:27-29 (New Living Translation)

27 So Jacob went over and kissed him. And when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced, and he blessed his son. He said, “Ah! The smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors, which the Lord has blessed!

28 “From the dew of heaven
and the richness of the earth,
may God always give you abundant harvests of grain
and bountiful new wine.
29 May many nations become your servants,
and may they bow down to you.
May you be the master over your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
All who curse you will be cursed,
and all who bless you will be blessed.”

These are the words Jacob spoke to bless his younger son Isaac instead of his older son Esau. Seems pretty simple. Who would get all riled up over these words? Yet, Isaac and his mother lied, cheated, and stole to receive these words (more on that some other day).

These words, however, meant something. Words used to mean something to some people in some places. People listened and took words to heart. People changed their lives by hearing words. It was simple yet profound.

Take a lesson from this? Look at a person, pause, breathe, think, and say a few words like, “You are created by God and put in this place at this time for a reason. May God guide you and bless you. May you listen to God and bless others with the blessings of God.”