Contemplative Bible Reading

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.

Ecclesiastes 8:17 (New Living Translation)

17 I realized that no one can discover everything God is doing under the sun. Not even the wisest people discover everything, no matter what they claim.

There is much about God that I do not understand. That is part of God being God and me not being God. Why doesn’t God heal this person? Why doesn’t God cause a leader’s heart to end a war? It is a blessing that God gives us the mind to have these questions (another topic for another day).

And here we have it right in front of us in an ancient text. No one can discover everything God is doing here on earth. “No one” excludes me, too.

But I am a good guy. I am a good Christian. Surely, God will reveal to me… Nope. God will reveal to me some things. God will reveal to me the things I can handle rightly. God will withhold those things that are just too much for me. And God will choose correctly, no matter how much that frustrates me.

Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Genesis 30:27-28 (Christian Standard Bible)

27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor with you, stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” 28 Then Laban said, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

This is part of the (hi)story of Jacob as he lived in the land of his father-in-law Laban. Jacob wants to take his wives—the two daughters of Laban—his children, and all his livestock (worth lots of money), and return to the land of his birth. Laban is resistant to Jacob leaving.

The text tells us that Laban realizes that he has been blessed by Jehovah—the God of the family of Abraham. The source of this realization is divination. This is obtaining knowledge by supernatural means. In this case, somehow God told Laban. And Laban recognized that it was God telling him this. (Some English translations omit the phrase “learned by divination.”)

Laban is not in the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Still, God spoke to Laban in some way. Still, Laban recognized that it was God.

At sometimes in some circumstances God speaks directly to some people. I believe that happened in biblical times and I believe it still happens today. That is right in front of us in the Bible. If someone tells me, “I got a message from God.” I should not deny that. Whether I accept it fully is another matter, but it could be true. If the “message from God” contradicts what the Bible clearly teaches, I don’t accept it. Let’s keep open hearts and minds and listen to the heartfelt experiences of others.

It was miraculous that God spoke to Laban. It was miraculous that Laban recognized the message from God. I was a good thing for Laban that he listened.

Proverbs 6:12-13 (New Living Translation)

12 What are worthless and wicked people like?
They are constant liars,
13 signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye,
a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers.

Yikes! Here is a description of worthless and wicked people. First and foremost, they are constant liars. For some reason, they can’t tell the truth. Why not? I suppose there are a thousand reasons for each lie told by each “worthless and wicked” person. I don’t understand all the reasons.

Let’s simply start with, “You can tell the truth.”

We use the phrase, “I’ll be honest with you…” when we mean something like, “I’ll be candid with you.” I usually don’t explain all there is about this to people, but I will try to explain it to you. What is happening behind the scenes is such and such. This causes us to do such and such and that appears to be some other thing. So, out of fear or embarrassment or (and here is where all the thousand reasons appear), we don’t quite tell the truth.

Well, we can tell the truth. Let’s just do that. Let’s not be confused with “worthless and wicked” persons. Tell the truth. “This is what is happening. We mean well and our results don’t always match our intentions. Please be patient with us.”

Genesis 18:18-19 (New Living Translation)

18 “For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. 19 I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.”

As a child, I often heard the phrase, “God’s chosen people.” This referred to how God chose Abraham’s descendants or Israel (another name for Abraham’s grandson Jacob) for a special purpose. The special purpose from Abraham’s descendants is stated simply in these verses:

…keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just.

God gave “the way of the Lord” directly to Abraham on Mt. Sinai. Do these things (paraphrasing God, which is often done with peril) and you will be doing what is right and just. The world needs an example of what is right and just. And God chose Abraham’s family to show everyone what is right and just.

History shows that there are plenty of folks who don’t like “right and just.” They prefer other things. That hasn’t changed much. I have been blessed in that there were always plenty of folks around me who knew what was right and just and attempted to do that in their lives. Many of these folks failed on many days, but they attempted to do right and just. I have failed on many days, but I am attempting to do right and just.

Please God, help me in my unbelief.