Contemplative Bible Reading

Isaiah 45:7 (New Living Translation)

7 I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.

God is speaking to Cyrus the Great of Persia through the prophet Isaiah. God is reminding Cyrus of a few things before God uses Cyrus to accomplish a few tasks in ancient times.

In practical and higher matters, Cyrus needs to understand that the God of Israel, Jehovah or YHWH, is God. God brings light and dark, i.e., day and night. That is something simple that everyone can see and feel. God also brings good times and bad times, i.e., value to some people which is also horror to some other people. That is quite a high concept in human affairs.

Bump your funny bone? Eventually, that comes from God. Anxious about retirement 20 years down the road? Eventually, that comes from God. We live in God’s creation. Everything that has ever happened everywhere in our world has led to this moment. And now, what am I going to do?

Fear God, keep his commands, walk humbly with God. Love one another. Love God. I could go on. I should always go with God. Please God, help my in my unbelief.

Luke 5:11 (New Living Translation)

11 And as soon as they (Peter, James, and John) landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

Peter and his partners, James and his brother John, were commercial fishermen. They fished in a great lake and sold their fish in the markets. This was a business. This was a livelihood. This wasn’t going out on the weekend in a bass boat for fun.

Jesus performed a miracle that allowed them to catch a boat-full of fish. This was a big payday! Peter, James, and John walked away from everything and followed Jesus.

First, they abandoned their business. Gone, forgotten, bye bye. Second, they abandoned a boatload of fish. They could have taken the fish to market, sold the fish, put money in their pockets, and then followed Jesus. That would have made sense.

Nope, they walked away from a boatload of money. They walked away from all the capital investment in boats, line, nets, bait, and everything else.

Can you imagine what their parents said when they learned of this folly? Can you imagine what their fellow commercial fishermen said? Oh, by the way, what did those standing around at the time do with that boatload of fish? Hmm?

That was faith: belief and action. Please God, help me in my unbelief and lack of faith.

Isaiah 44:16-17 (New Living Translation)

16 He burns part of the tree to roast his meat
and to keep himself warm.
He says, “Ah, that fire feels good.”
17 Then he takes what’s left
and makes his god: a carved idol!
He falls down in front of it,
worshiping and praying to it.
“Rescue me!” he says.
“You are my god!”

God is talking to the people through the prophet Isaiah. Many of the surrounding peoples worshiped idols. God is explaining the foolishness of such.

In the above verses, consider the man who makes an idol from the wood of a tree. After felling the tree, the person burns part of it to roast his meat. The fire is useful, and the warmth feels good and comforting.

The rest of the wood is used to make something to worship. The man bows in front of the wood, prays to it, and asks it to rescue him. From what the man needs rescuing is unknown, but the man seems to understand he needs help.

Let’s go buy a bag of charcoal briquettes. Let’s cook some steaks on the grill. We will arrange the briquettes left in the bag into a nice pile. Then we will kneel in front of the pile and pray to each briquette asking for protection and blessing. What do you think? Good idea?

Uh, well, er, looks sort of, well, the Bible uses the word “foolish” to describe this. I guess that word is still allowed in our world of foolishness.

The man who made the idol from what was left of the tree was seeking protection. That man feared something and knew he couldn’t defend himself from that something. That man realized his weakness. That man sought help from the wrong source. The right source of help was right in front of that man. The right source of help is right in front of me right now as I sit in a coffee shop typing these words on a computer some three thousand years after the man and the idol from the tree.

Nothing has changed. Mankind needs protection. God provides. Sticks and briquettes don’t.

Jonah 4:8 (New Living Translation)

8 And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!” he exclaimed.

This is the end of the story of Jonah. God sent Jonah to Nineveh to tell those people in that great city that they were all wrong. They lived sinful lives and needed to turn to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph. They needed to turn to Jehovah the God of Israel. Oh, by the way, the people of Nineveh had easily smashed the nation of Israel in a war.

So here comes Jonah, telling the people of a powerful enemy city that they are all wrong. At the conclusion, Jonah says, “Death is certainly better than living like this!”

Those evil people of Nineveh must have grabbed this fellow who told them they were all wrong and put him in prison and tortured him to the point where wished he was dead, right? Wrong.

Jonah told the message of God. The people repented and turned to God. Jonah was a hero. Then Jonah sat under a shade tree. God sent a little worm to take away the shade. Then Jonah wished he was dead.

Jonah allowed himself to be tortured by a little worm. Can you imagine that? A little worm. Really? How silly.

I don’t like the way someone cuts their hair or doesn’t tuck their shirt in their pants. Can you imagine how disgraceful it is to not tuck your shirt in your pants. Why God should strike down that person and and and … It is a punishment worse than death to be around people who won’t tuck their shirt in their pants and cut their hair right. Why why why … And maybe a little worm will cause me to wish I was dead.

How does God tolerate us? Jonah allowed a little worm to bother him to the point of death. I allow an out of place shirt to bother me to the point of death. We are an odd lot. Thank you God for your eternal patience and grace.

Isaiah 11:3 (New Living Translation)

3 He will delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by appearance
nor make a decision based on hearsay.

Most folks who study these things believe these verses from the prophet Isaiah are describing Jesus Christ. The prior verses tell us that the Spirit of the Lord will rest on this person. And that is the spirit of wisdom and understanding.

Note what this person will believe and use: NOT merely what is seen (appearance) and NOT what may be heard (hearsay). The person with the Spirit of the Lord will rely on more.

I believe this can be applied directly to what we call “deepfakes,” i.e., those made up videos that show people doing this and saying that. This and that were never done or said by the person, but it sure looks (appearance) and sounds (hearsay) like the person did and said them.

Life can be difficult today. We can certainly make life difficult today. There is so much video and audio and photographs everywhere all the time. Look at this, listen to that. Can you believe so-and-so would do and say this and that?

I believe the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, provides me what I need to avoid all the this and that and other junk in our world. Let’s pause, breathe, pray, and look to God. Let’s keep our mouths shut and our social media commentaries quieted. God leads me when I get out of my own way. It is up to me to get out of my own way. Please God, help me to not judge by appearance and not decide based on hearsay.

Proverbs 10:19 (New Living Translation)

19 Too much talk leads to sin.
Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.

I have been writing this contemplation collection of thoughts for about 16 years as of this morning. I have struggled with contemplating the collection of Proverbs. Every phrase could be a contemplation. They could stand alone without comment—especially comment from me.

The Proverb above is yet another example. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.

The King James Version is, “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.” Wow, that is one way to put it. It requires me to think a while, but there it is. The wise man “refraineth” his lips.

Now, does this apply to writers and writing words? I am afraid it doth, I mean does. Folks, believe it or not, I write a lot of words that I delete. I refraineth my keyboard now and then. Perhaps I should refrain more—much more that I do. Too much writing leads to sin. Please God, lead me.

Proverbs 10:17 (New Living Translation)

17 People who accept discipline are on the pathway to life,
but those who ignore correction will go astray.

One book that greatly influenced how I read the Bible and live as a Christian is “The Pilgrim’s Progress.”

Being a Christian is like walking on a pathway. There are several pathways to choose. Choose the pathway that Jesus Christ is walking. Walk so that I can see Jesus Christ. If I am on a different pathway, I cannot see Jesus Christ. Get back on the right pathway.

This little Proverb describes the pathway to life; it is there for those who accept discipline.

Of course “discipline” means different things to different people. I’ll use the definition that follows in the next phrase above—accepting correction.

Stop, wait, reconsider. You are on the wrong pathway, Dwayne. Change to the correct pathway, now.

Please God help me in my unbelief.

Jonah 4:7 (New Living Translation)

7 But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away.

The story of Jonah is famous for??? The great fish or whale that swallowed Jonah. The fish was so great that Jonah lived inside it until it spit Jonah out on the shore. Wow! That fish was certainly big.

Now consider the little worm at the end of the story of Jonah. It was a worm, you know, one of those little things. This little worm bit the stalk of a leafy plant that was providing Jonah shade from the blistering sun.

Without the shade of the leafy plant, “the sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die.”

Okay, let’s back up a moment. Jonah was inside a great fish and prayed to God to be saved. Now Jonah wishes to die. Which creature sent by God caused Jonah to wish to die? The worm. The little worm. Uh, okay, makes sense, right?

Wrong. None of this story of Jonah makes any sense. Jonah the prophet goes in the opposite direction God told him to go. Jonah asked to be thrown into a stormy sea to a certain death. A great fish saves the life of Jonah. Jonah goes to an enemy city. The enemy city repents and turns to God. Jonah is mad that folks are worshiping God. Jonah wants to die because of a worm.

Enough contradictions and turning to the opposite path? The story isn’t believable.

But consider the worm. The lowest and lowliest of God’s creatures. It is the final straw that causes the prophet of God to wish to die. Consider the worm. Please God, don’t let a worm cause me to wish to die. Always help me to look on the glory of your creation and creatures and your grace.

Proverbs 1:15 (Christian Standard Bible)

15 my son, don’t travel that road with them
or set foot on their path,

The writer is encouraging the reader to avoid the path of all who make profit dishonestly. Those folks are greedy. They want profit so badly that they are trapped by the traps they lay for others.

Life is often simply a series of choices. I choose to go down this road, that road, or some other road. Sometimes I reject all the roads and set off across country. “Across country” is just another road. One that I choose to make, but I didn’t make it. Across country was already there. It was just another road I chose.

Sometimes I can step off the road I have chosen and step onto another road. Sometimes, however, changing roads isn’t possible. Well, I’ll backtrack to a point where I can get off this road.

Well, I can create an excuse or what sounds like an alternative to all these roads I can choose. That’s just me trying to be clever and outsmart the writer of this proverb. Silly me. That doesn’t work.

Choose the right road. God help me choose the right road. And God, please walk with me.

Isaiah 8:12-13 (New Living Translation)

12 “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.
13 Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you tremble.

This reads like it was written last weekend. Life is not filled with conspiracies no matter what TikBookGram or whatever tells me. Things are the way they are because people made them that way. There is more stupidity than evil intent. Perhaps.

God is of paramount importance. The rest of the stuff that fills social media? Don’t live in dread of that.

Fear God? Tremble in the presence of God? Yes. I don’t read this so much as, “you better watch out because God is gonna’ get ya’.” I read this as, “Pay attention to God.”

This does read like it was written last weekend. “This person said this. That person said that. Some group of people is doing some such thing! Let’s all panic!”

This reads like it was written every day in the history of mankind. Make Jehovah God holy in our lives. Look to God, not to InstaFaceTok or whatever is the most important place in the world this weekend. God is constant. This other stuff is just fluff that blows around this way and that. Children are frightened by the wind. Adults are not.