Contemplative Bible Reading

Genesis 22:18 (New Living Translation)

18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.

An angel is talking to Abraham. Abraham had just followed God’s instructions to take his miracle son Isaac to a remote place and literally sacrifice the boy. Abraham showed faith—showed that he could live by believing things he could not see and that belief led him to obey God.

One result of Abraham’s obedience is stated above by the angel: Abraham’s descendants would bless all the nations of the earth. Huh? How? What?

Through twists, turns, victory, defeat, exile, return, being conquered and occupied, kicked to the dust, raised to glory, and all that stuff, the savior of mankind would come through Abraham’s descendants. That savior would not come at a peak of glory, but during a time of when the people were dominated by an occupying and evil-filled empire. And that savior would do nothing to the empire.

That savior, however, would save mankind from its disobedience. The great obedience of an old man on a desolate hillside with no human witnesses would lead to the cure of all disobedience of all time. Thanks be to God.

Deuteronomy 30:6 (New Living Translation)

6 “The Lord your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live!

Jehovah God is talking to the people about the laws and the results of obedience and disobedience. There are many ways to describe this sentence.

One thing to note is that God can change the hearts of people today and for generations to follow. God can arrange people so that they love one another instead of hate one another. God can arrange people to love books more than television or taking walks more than playing football or… well, whatever. And I wonder, “Who cares about books and television and walking and football?”

Those are little things that don’t matter. Yes, they are little things and no, they do matter. Human history is full of little things that had influence far greater than can be explained. Some college student put a book of faces on a website so that students could giggle and judge appearances. Silly college stunt. Oh, that became that gazillion dollar thing called Facebook. Did God cause our hearts to love that? Maybe not, but it is one of those silly little things that had far greater influence than it should have.

Back to God changing hearts. The decision to love, hate, or ignore is odd. I don’t understand it. Why would anyone love macaroni and cheese? (I don’t) Why would one group of people cling to the Bible, read it daily, and find guidance in an old book like that? What pricked their hearts? I guess the question is, “Who pricked their hearts?” Perhaps it was God who changed their hearts. That happens from time to time and place to place.

Deuteronomy 28:20 (New Living Translation)

20 The Lord himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do, until at last you are completely destroyed for doing evil and abandoning me.

God is warning the people through Moses. There are curses to come for those who disobey the law God has decreed. The above sentence is from a summary of the curses. Note how confusion and frustration are right up their with curses. Confusion is pretty important.

Can’t think straight? Can’t quite seem to “get it?” Something is wrong, but you can’t “put your finger on it?” Confusion.

Our society talks much about mental illness these days. Is that another term for confusion? I don’t want to imply that mental illness is a punishment for sin. There are many of us on many days when confusion reigns. I hate those days. I live in a sin-filled world. Confusion often replaces clarity. The greater accomplishments of mankind are often thwarted by confusion. Any wonder why?

Deuteronomy 13:10 (New Living Translation)

10 Stone the guilty ones to death because they have tried to draw you away from the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery.

Moses is passing the law from God to the people. Earlier, Moses warned of people who would say, “Come, let us worship other gods.” In other words, let’s worship rocks and sticks and rivers and mountains and such. Let’s worship idols. They aren’t real, they have no power, but they have appeal to those who want to assign supernatural power to just about anything.

What to do with such idolators? Stone the guilty ones to death. Put them in the middle of a circle. Everyone surrounding them would throw rocks at them until they died. This was cruel and unusual punishment done in public with the complete participation of the public. This was horrible. This was a punishment and a warning to anyone else who might do likewise.

Serious? You’re darn right it is serious. God didn’t want the people worship sticks and stones and stuff. I often hear people today talking about “worshiping money” or “worshiping jobs” and such. I disagree with describing a preference for some things as idolatry. Idolatry was serious. The punishment was serious.

Romans 8:10 (New Living Translation)

10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.

Why does a human body die? I have heard medical doctors say that they really don’t know a reason. I have hear from people who study aging, and they are unsure of why the human body ages to death.

Oh, here is the answer: your body will die because of sin.

It seems that I used to hear this type of thing said at funerals of my childhood. Nowadays, funerals are “celebrations of life” and such. No slight on these celebrations, but it is easy to forget that we die because of sin. Because of my sin or sin in general? Probably, yes to both.

This isn’t positive, is it? I mean, sort of a sad statement to make on a sad day, a funeral. Well, so be it. Our bodies age and die because of sin.

Numbers 16:12-13 (New Living Translation)

12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they replied, “We refuse to come before you! 13 Isn’t it enough that you brought us out of Egypt, a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us here in this wilderness, and that you now treat us like your subjects?

This is yet another story during the time in the exodus that some of the people griped, grumbled, and rebelled against Moses and God. Moses, trying humbly to quiet the grumbling, calls for some of the grumblimg to meet him. The grumblers refused the invitation.

On top of everything, the grumblers called Egypt, “a land flowing with milk and honey.”

I have read some commentators say that this was sarcasm. Egypt did not flow with milk and honey. The grumblers used these words as that is what they heard about the land promised to them.

I find no reason to conclude it is sarcasm. I think they remembered Egypt as a good land. Perhaps they were treated harshly, but the land itself was a good place for agriculture. Is there any reason to believe that the promised land was the only good land on earth?

“Let us go back,” was the cry to Moses. I don’t find anyone stopping them. But if you are a grumbler, you don’t have to act rationally.

Galatians 6:1 (New Living Translation)

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

I’ve mentioned this before, as a child one of the most influential works that was read to me was The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come by John Bunyan (1678).

There were choices to make. Walk on this path or walk on that path. I have since understood the life of a Christian in those terms. Jesus walked on a path. Evil walked on another path. Which path should I walk? It is far more complex than that, but often it is that simple. Sometimes I am on the same path as Jesus, but am lagging far behind. Sometimes I am not so far behind Jesus. It is far more complex than that, but often it is that simple.

Here we have words written by Paul to the churches in Galatia. Paul instructs them in this theology of the path. If someone is overcome by sin, help them back onto the path that Jesus walks. There is no bashing or smashing. Gently and humbly help them back onto the path that Jesus walks.

It is pretty simple. Why do I bash and smash so much? God, please help me in my unbelief.

Leviticus 5:3 (New Living Translation)

3 Or suppose you unknowingly touch something that makes a person unclean. When you realize what you have done, you must admit your guilt.

Look at this part of the law given in Leviticus. The phrase “you must admit your guilt” is repeated often. Later, people are told to confess or repeat the matter or tell others what they did that was wrong. Then comes offering a sacrifice to God in an attempt at penance to show sorrow. The person did something that God declared to be wrong. Let’s not do that. Let’s sacrifice something to help us remember what not to do.

Study these steps and these words. This can be confusing. It is easy to be mistaken in the procedure. Gosh.

When was the last time I brought two turtledoves to someone to be burned on a table? Isn’t that the second day of Christmas from that song by Perry Como? Wait, I’m confused.

Yet, this is how it used to be. This was the old agreement. Thank you God that I live under a new agreement of grace.

Admitting guilt? I find there are occasions when that is still a good idea. Admission usually works better than deception. There is much psychology to this concept of admitting guilt. It is often just a good idea to tell another person, “That wasn’t the way it was supposed to work. That is what I did. I didn’t intend that, but that happened.”

Luke 19:10 (New Living Translation)

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.

Jesus, called the “Son of Man” here, came to earth to seek and save the lost. Consider the first action: Jesus came to seek the lost. Jesus sought the lost. Where ever He was, Jesus searched and searched until He found a lost person.

In Luke 18, Jesus searched until he found a blind person—the lowest of the low in that place. Then Jesus healed or saved the lowest of the low. In Luke 19, Jesus searched until he found a chief tax collector—the lowest of the low in that place. Then Jesus blessed or saved the lowest of the low.

Go to the grocery store. Walk up and down the aisles looking for the lowest of the low. That person? No, they have too much going for them. Over there, that person, that person is the lowest of the low in the grocery store today. Go to that person. Bless that person.

Well, uh, you see, maybe there is something else to this and uh, er, I can’t be expected to … Nope. That is what Jesus did over and over again. Jesus searched for the lost. He sought them. He blessed and saved them.

A wonderful savior is Jesus my Lord, a wonderful savior is he. Words from an old song that are true.

Exodus 34:28 (New Living Translation)

28 Moses remained there on the mountain with the Lord forty days and forty nights. In all that time he ate no bread and drank no water. And the Lord wrote the terms of the covenant—the Ten Commandments—on the stone tablets.

Moses is on Mt Sinai with Jehovah God. Jehovah wrote the terms of the agreement, i.e., the Ten Commandments on stone tablets. This is all miraculous. Stop to consider what we just read.

And then consider this: Moses was there forty days and nights. He ate no bread and drank no water. People can survive forty days without food. Extremely uncomfortable, but live through it.

Forty days without water? No. The general limit is three days without water kills a person. Okay, some could stretch that to five or six days without water. Forty? No. Humanly impossible. Still, with God, all things are possible. This is a miracle. Faith is required. The natural sciences cannot explain this.

This is a miracle. God kept Moses alive, well, and strong. After all, Moses carried stone tablets down the side of a mountain when the forty days were over. That is a strenuous task.

Yet, we miss this miracle in the wake of the miracle of God writing a covenant on stone tablets. It is easy for me to miss the miracles everyday right in front of me. Please God, help me in my unbelief.