Contemplative Bible Reading

Exodus 11:1 (New Living Translation)

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will strike Pharaoh and the land of Egypt with one more blow. After that, Pharaoh will let you leave this country. In fact, he will be so eager to get rid of you that he will force you all to leave.

God’s people were “slaves” in Egypt. We tend to toss about that word: slave. From reading the scriptures, what it meant in Egypt with God’s people is that they were in a defenseless position. Their Egyptian masters had the physical power to force them to do whatever. Work on this, work on that, and work harder. The Egyptians largely controlled the food that was allocated to these descendants of Jacob who had moved to Egypt to avoid a famine some 400 years earlier.

Life in Egypt was not good. Life in Egypt, however, was not terrible. Egypt was a world power with an advanced civilization, government, education, and the like. Today, the poor in America are rich compared to the rest of the world. God’s people in Egypt had a similar situation. Life wasn’t great, but it was life.

In the verse above, Jehovah God tells Moses that God will strike such a horrible blow to Pharaoh and the land of Egypt that the Egyptians will force the people to leave. “Get out of here! Now!”

It would be great to be “free” from the oppression in Egypt. It would not be great to hit the road. The best case would be freedom and full rights of residents in Egypt. That, however, was not an option. So, hit the road, good riddance, and good luck for a million of you wandering in the wilderness in tents. Where will you plant crops? Where will you make food? See ya.

God provided. Even before the disobedience and wandering for 40 years, God provided and God’s provisions were a miracle. There is no reason to believe that a million people could live in tents and survive. God provided.

Praise be to the miraculous power of God. I believe that if I keep my eyes open I can see the miraculous power of God before me everyday.

Genesis 12:6-7 (New Living Translation)

6 Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.

7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Abram, whom God later renamed Abraham, has left his homeland and is moving to the land that Jehovah God designated. This is Abram’s first stop in this valley near Shechem. This “Oak at Moreh” was some type of spiritual site for the locals.

God tells Abram something specific and significant, “I will give this land to your descendants.”

Note, although promised to Abram, it is specifically promised to his descendants. Abram himself would not possess all of it. That would come later, much later.

This was something that Abram would not see. Still, Abram believed. He was the definition of faith: believing in something that he could not and would not see.

Thousands of years later, Paul wrote to the Christians as Rome and told them that Abram was the father of the faithful. Abram was one of the first to act despite all the facts.

Exodus 12:33 (New Living Translation)

33 All the Egyptians urged the people of Israel to get out of the land as quickly as possible, for they thought, “We will all die!”

This is part of the (hi)story of God pulling the people out of Egypt and sending them to a land promised to them through their ancestors. The night of death had just occurred wherein the the oldest child of every house died. Can you imagine the horror of that night? This was not a Halloween horror movie. This was horror.

And this came at the end of a period of tragic events of agriculture failure, weather calamity, and the like. And at the same time some of these Hebrews had been meeting with Pharaoh. What in the world was happening? When would this season of misfortune end? It must be those Hebrews living here with us. There are about a million of them now. Misery and death comes with those pathetic people. Get them our of here before we all die!

That is a logical explanation and conclusion to the events. Nothing else made sense. Death and misery follow those people. Deport all of them, now.

That is what happened. Pharaoh told the people to leave. Take their stuff and leave. All debts and obligations were cancelled. Just get out of here. God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.

Genesis 24:7 (New Living Translation)

7 For the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son.

This is part of the (hi)story of Abraham sending a servant back to Abraham’s homeland to find a wife for his son Isaac. Abraham is talking to the servant. There are many things that could go wrong on this mission. Abraham reassures the servant that,

He (God) will send his angel ahead of you…

What a promise. What a comfort.

Undertaking a journey of miles? Traveling on foot for a thousand miles through lands where if bandits rob and kill you, no one will know anything about it for years? Well, we don’t do that anymore, do we? Well, no, but we have journeys to the doctor’s office about a funny pain in the back or something that could mean death within weeks or mean nothing. God sends an angel ahead of me. What a promise. What a comfort. Thanks be to God.

Exodus 15:26 (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.”

Jehovah, one English name for the LORD who is the one and true God of these people, is speaking to the people through Moses.

Back in Egypt, there were plenty of diseases. The people lived from the annual floods of the Nile River. Floods are messy, disease-ridden events. I won’t go into detail, but yuck. All the muck and sewage run off and all that yucky stuff. Disease was common and everyone knew it was coming all the time.

Shift to the wilderness where a million people were living in tents in a giant camp. Disease? Ever heard of dysentery running through a camp? Gosh, what a mess.

But not here, not with Jehovah God. God heals those who follow. Pretty simple. Pretty miraculous to have a camp of a million people with no disease. Funny how we fail to notice the lack of bad things. Oh sure, the people noticed a lack of fresh water. They notice a lack of variety in the food. They weren’t hungry. They weren’t sick. They weren’t dying of starvation. Didn’t notice that lack, did they?

Do I? Ooops. God heals. God heals me daily. Thanks be to God.

Genesis 12:1, 4b (New Living Translation)

1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. … 4b Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

God is speaking to Abram; God will later rename him Abraham.

God’s instruction is simple, “Leave.” Go to another land. Leave your relatives. It is time for you to go your own way and make your own legacy.

And Abram was 75 years old. Are you kidding? At age 75, pick up and leave? Start all over again? At 75? Crazy, right?

Abram did as God told him. Once again, followers of God do things that just don’t make any sense. Faith is sort of that way. Go ahead. Follow God. Yeah, but. No. Go head. Follow God.

Exodus 16:7a (New Living Translation)

7 In the morning you will see the glory of the Lord…

This is part of the (hi)story of the people wandering in the wilderness for 40 years before entering the land God had promised. There are about a million hungry mouths to feed every day, so God has a solution. Go out of the camp every morning and you will see the glory of the Lord.

Hmm, let’s see… a double sun rising. Nope. Well, a mysterious weather front falling from the sky that drives herds of animals to the camp for capture and eating. Nope. Caravans loaded with food where the owners are compelled to give food to God’s people. Nope.

Hmm, let’s see… small bits of something that you could bake, boil, fry, or fricassee (I don’t even know what that last word means, but you could do it to or with or something with that stuff the Lord provided).

The glory of the Lord is small bits of edible stuff. Huh? That’s glorious? Yes, it is. The sustenance of life in a place where such doesn’t exist. Dependence on God fulfilled. That is glorious.

I believe that there are little bits of the glory of the Lord in front of me everyday. All I have to do is push my ego out of the way and notice them. Please God, help me to see Your glory every day in the little bits of miracles you provide. Help me in my unbelief.

Genesis 3:8 (New Living Translation)

8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.

There is something about hiding that we people do. There are games we play as children where hiding something or someone or ourselves is good fun. Then there is the hiding that Adam and Eve did in this (hi)story.

If you, in this case God, cannot see something. It doesn’t exist. If I cover a dirty frying pan with a towel, it doesn’t exist and I don’t have to scrub it. If I cover a hole in the wall with a picture, it doesn’t exist and I don’t have to patch the hole. If I hide among the trees, God won’t see me and won’t ask me about what I was doing talking to that serpent.

When a two-year-old child hides a mess from a parent, it is obvious to the parent what is happening. When a person hides sin from God, well, are you kidding? It is obvious to God. What Adam and Eve had done was obvious to God. They, however, resorted to hiding anyway. Silly. Foolish.

The good news is, we don’t have to hide any longer. We are forgiven. We won’t have to scrub that messy frying pan because God has already cleaned it. We don’t have to patch that hole in the wall because God has already fixed it.

There is something amazing about not having to hide our mistakes. We don’t make as many mistakes. That doesn’t quite make sense, but that’s the way it is in our human condition. Thanks be to God.

Exodus 16:29 (New Living Translation)

29 They must realize that the Sabbath is the Lord’s gift to you. That is why he gives you a two-day supply on the sixth day, so there will be enough for two days. On the Sabbath day you must each stay in your place. Do not go out to pick up food on the seventh day.”

The people of the LORD were stuck out in a wilderness. There were a million of them (a low estimate) and they needed food. God put food on the ground every morning. On the sixth day of the week, God put double on the ground. They people were to pick up enough for the sixth day and also the seventh day. On the seventh day, they didn’t have to gather food. They could sleep in. They could sleep it!

Yet, large numbers of them rose on the seventh day and went out to pick up food.

God’s gift was one day of the week where the people could rest. The people tried to work that day. Hey, this is free day. Relax. Yet, the people couldn’t relax. They needed to set aside something for a rainy day. That makes sense, right? Nope. Wrong. God told them that they wouldn’t have a rainy day as long as they were faithful to God.

Hmm. Be faithful. No rainy days. Doesn’t make sense. Much of following God and the workings of God doesn’t make much sense to me. It makes sense to God, but not to me. That is difficult for me to accept. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Ephesians 5:8-9 (New Living Translation)

8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

Paul is writing to the Christians in Ephesus. He is writing about the change that has overcome them by following God, i.e., the Lord. Paul explains one part of this change by writing about light. It is like a light from the Lord has replaced the darkness that used to be in in them.

“Live as people of light,” Paul encourages. The light is in you, live like it.

And here is the bonus. That light within people produces only what is good and right and true. Let’s consider that for a moment. The Lord has put something in me that produces good and right and true. I don’t have to work and study and try for years to achieve that. It is there. God put it there. I just have to get out of the way and let it be. It is like standing aside so a light shines. Just stand to the side. Simple, but somehow I mess it up. God, help me in my unbelief.