Contemplative Bible Reading

Ezekiel 14:4 (New Living Translation)

Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Israel have set up idols in their hearts and fallen into sin, and then they go to a prophet asking for a message. So I, the Lord, will give them the kind of answer their great idolatry deserves.

Oh, what a horrible curse. God, speaking through the prophet Ezekiel, is going to send a message to the people. The message will be what they deserve to hear.

Please, God, don’t send me a message I deserve. Instead, send me a message of hope, love, grace, and promise. Send me a message of love and compassion; send me a message of empathy so that I can embrace my fellow sinners with your love.

Jeremiah 9:24 (New Living Translation)

But those who wish to boast
    should boast in this alone:
that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord
    who demonstrates unfailing love
    and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth,
and that I delight in these things.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

Jeremiah 9:24 (New Living Translation)

God is talking to us through the prophet Jeremiah. God tells us what God brings. Here it is…wealth, health, power, got to be something like that, huh?

Justice and righteousness. God brings doing what is right for one another according to God’s standards.

Hmmm. A failure in translation? There’s got to be more than that, huh? I mean, you know? Tell us how to cure cancer or at least give us a vaccine for this year’s virus, right?

No, those other things—as significant as they are in our lives—pale in comparison to treating one another justly as God teaches. If we could practice justice and righteousness, perhaps we would have the energy to answer some of the other questions that plague us (like plagues).

Please God, help me to put first things first.

Jeremiah 9:24a (New Living Translation)

But those who wish to boast
    should boast in this alone:
that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord

Jeremiah 9:24a (New Living Translation)

Want to brag or boast about something? Don’t we all? Here is something:

I know the Creator. I understand that the Creator exists. I seek to learn of the Creator God and what is desired of me.

Well, I have a long way to go and will never reach the end.

Isaiah 42:16 (New Living Translation)

I will lead blind Israel down a new path,
    guiding them along an unfamiliar way.
I will brighten the darkness before them
    and smooth out the road ahead of them.
Yes, I will indeed do these things;
    I will not forsake them.

Isaiah 42:16 (New Living Translation)

God is speaking through the prophet Isaiah. These are the types of things that God does.

Want to do some of the things God does? Sure I do, but I can’t… Yes, there are many things God does that I cannot do, that is why God is God and I am not.

Still, there are many things God does that we can all do. We can all lead persons down unfamiliar paths. We can all brighten the darkness that befuddles some. We can all smooth the paths of people who are stumbling.

We can all refuse to forsake others.

Please God, help me to do the things You do.

Isaiah 32:1-2 (New Living Translation)

1 Look, a righteous king is coming!
And honest princes will rule under him.
2 Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.

The prophet Isaiah is relaying a message from God to the people. A new king is coming one day. The new king will not bring military might or economic prosperity. No, the new king will bring righteousness—the state of being right with God.

With a righteous king will come princess—the dreaded middle managers, huh? No.

These princes of the righteous king will bring relief from life’s daily troubles. The harsh winds won’t tear my skin. Storms won’t rip my clothes and rip the roof from my home. There will be life-sustaining water to drink. There will be the relief of cool shade on a hot day.

Being right with God…today that is “no fun” as God just tells us things we shouldn’t do. No. That is a lie that our world has told itself for generations.

A righteous God brings relief from the pains of a harsh world. A righteous God brings middle managers who bring the relief that God gives. A righteous God brings righteousness into our lives.

Please, oh righteous King, come soon.

Psalm 99:9 (New Living Translation)

Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at his holy mountain in Jerusalem,
for the Lord our God is holy!

Consider the last words: Jehovah our God is holy. Holy means separated, different. The Creator, Jehovah, the God of the chosen people is different from all other gods. And there were and are many other gods—many other things that persons worship.

The Creator, Jehovah is different. The Creator created. Other peoples worshiped things created by the Creator. The Creator, however, is the one and only God who created everything.

Let us exalt the Creator, Jehovah, the one God.

Pretty simple stuff. How and why do we struggle with such simplicity?

Job 37:23-24 (New Living Translation)

23 We cannot imagine the power of the Almighty;
but even though he is just and righteous,
he does not destroy us.
24 No wonder people everywhere fear him.
All who are wise show him reverence.”

People everywhere fear God. Those select few who are wise revere God. Why do the masses fear God?

God is just and righteous.

Let’s wait a moment now and consider this. God is just and righteous. Wow! That is great, right? Everyone should love God for this justice and righteousness. This verse, however, tells us the opposite—everyone fears God because of that.

Sigh. Back to us and our failings. We are rarely just and righteous. We fear the Creator who is one way, but we are something else. The Creator will discipline us until we become like Him, right? Huh? Maybe. Who knows?

Fear. We fear God because we fail to be like God, and we know we fail. Sometimes the fear leads us to deny God exists. If the just and righteous God does not exist, I have nothing and no one to fear. Well, that’s safe.

Well, that’s just plain childish. We know God is there. We know God is always just and righteous. God allows us to choose our reaction. We can worship or we can fear or deny.

Please God, help me to adore and worship you.

Job 36:26 (New Living Translation)

Look, God is greater than we can understand.

We find this statement in one of the more contemplative (hi)stories in the Bible.

God is great. God is so great, we cannot understand God. We cannot truly know God, because God is just…well, God.

There are days when I wonder in amazement.

There are days when I hate this!

I want to understand. I want to…well, I want to be equal to God. Actually, I want to know all there is to know about God so that I will be greater than God. How silly and childish can I be? (Don’t answer that. The answer is pretty darn silly and pretty darn childish.)

This statement—God is beyond our understanding—comes in the middle of a long discussion among some pretty smart fellas. Their pretty smart conclusion is that even though they are pretty smart, they aren’t even close. And I am not even close.

Perhaps I should concentrate my understanding on the simpler encouragements God has given me: love my spouse, love my children, love my neighbors, be thankful. Please God, help my in my unbelief.

1 Peter 3:3-4 (New Living Translation)

3 Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. 4 You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.

Women should not wear fill-in-the-blank-with-your-favorites.

And while we are at it, men should not wear same-blanks.

A few years ago, a man in our church died. He was in his 30s; he left behind a wife and two small children. Many people stood at his memorial service and spoke of him with tears and laughter.

Some people talked of how the young man helped them find jobs. Some spoke of an old car the young man gave them so that they could go to work and have hope. Some spoke of how the young man contacted others who provided clothing and food and shelter. Some spoke of how the young man spoke kind words that lifted their spirits on blue days.

Not a single person said anything like, “That guy was a sharp dressed man.”

What would someone say about me?

Isaiah 35: 5-7 (New Living Translation)

5 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind
and unplug the ears of the deaf.
6 The lame will leap like a deer,
and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!
Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,
and streams will water the wasteland.
7 The parched ground will become a pool,
and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.
Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish
where desert jackals once lived.

These verses tell what will happen with the Lord God returns. Incurable maladies will be cured. But that is a figure of speech. It is about healing the spirit and hope. Or is it?

There is the part about springs in the wilderness and marsh grass. Figure of speech or reality?

How about both? How about the physically blind having their sight restored. How about long dormant springs being freed with a few cracks in the rocks. Why not?

And how about hope being restored. People changing their feelings and attitudes towards God and towards one another.

I believe these verses have figures of speech AND have literal fulfillment. Why not? Is God too small to physically, mentally, emotionally, and any other -lly we can imagine to what God wishes for us?