Contemplative Bible Reading

2 Samuel 12:10 (New Living Translation)

From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.

The prophet Nathan is delivering a message from God to King David. David’s despicable act with Uriah and Bathsheba was over. Now comes the punishment.

God punished David. That was only the start. God punished David’s descendants for generations. War plagued David’s reign as king.

Solomon came next, and even though he had a 40-year reign of peace, he path to kingship was marred by a bloody sword inside his family. As soon as Solomon died, his heir to the throne began wars that went on until the kingdom ended in exile in Babylon hundreds of years of bloody swords later.

And this was all recorded in the history of the people. Great-great-great…grandsons could read of David and understand why their lives were miserable. Did they curse David? Did they realize they had a choice in altering but not erasing history?

Do I understand that each day I can change my (hi)story? Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Genesis 39:6 (New Living Translation)

So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat!

This is the early part of the (hi)story of Joseph, his owner Potiphar, and Potiphar’s wife. Potiphar had put Joseph, a slave, in charge of everything he owned. Under Joseph’s stewardship, the crops and livestock of Potiphar flourished. The rich man became richer.

This was the right hand man of Pharaoh.

Things were so good in the house of Potiphar that the only worry he had was, “What’s for dinner?”

Me? What’s for dinner? I’m richer than Pharaoh’s right hand man. Really? Yes? And so are most of the people I know.

Do we act like Potiphar? Do we act like Potiphar’s wife? Are we watching our household for brewing troubles? Or is tonight’s dinner all we consider?

God, help me raise my mind and heart above my stomach. Let not my blessings cause me to fall.

John 17:3 (New Living Translation)

And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.

Want eternal life? Who doesn’t. How do we get? What is the way? Where do we go?

Good questions. The verse above tells us in a few, simple words: know God and know Jesus, the one sent to earth.

When we know God, we are in eternal life. Sure, the present and frail physical body will fail in a few years, but the soul is already in eternal life with God.

Simple? Maybe. I cannot, however, understand all of this as my mind is too small to comprehend God and what God tells us about these things. Still, I can reach for this. I can reach for knowing God and knowing Jesus, the one sent to earth.

Thank you God for this “head start” on heaven. And that is a simple-minded, human-limited way of trying to understand it all.

John 16:23-24 (New Living Translation)

23 At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. 24 You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.

Jesus changes how we pray in His instructions to His followers. “You will,” i.e., in the future you ask God using my name.”

“You haven’t done this before,” i.e., “You haven’t prayed using my name before.”

Jesus concludes with, “In the future, ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.”

Perhaps this is a small point. Perhaps this is merely a change of format. Perhaps this is a miracle that we each enjoy each time we pray to God using the name of Jesus.

Let us joy in this miracle, often.

Genesis 3:7 (New Living Translation)

At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

Adam and Eve had just eaten the forbidden fruit. They now knew both good and evil. They knew they were naked.

They were embarrassed and felt shame. They immediately covered themselves.

Shame and embarrassment are odd things. You have to know something is right to know something is wrong. You have to know something is wrong to be embarrassed once you do wrong. You have to know that you have done wrong to be ashamed of your actions. Once ashamed you can repent and avoid the wrong. They seem to go around in a circle.

And then we go back and do it again.

What, oh what is wrong with us? We are doomed. We, however, are not doomed. The grace of our Savior keeps us clean in the Savior’s sight. Praise and thanks to God. Shame is not damnation.

Hebrews 11:8-10 (New Living Translation)

8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. 9 And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. 10 Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are mentioned here. These are the patriarchs or the founding father, son, and grandson.

What was their home town?

Uh, well, they didn’t have one. Note the mention of “foundations” in verse 10. None of them had a home that had a foundation, a concrete slab, even those concrete blocks for homes that sit off the ground. Even single-wide trailers have those concrete things that keep them off the ground and out of the termites. Foundations.

The patriarchs lived in tents like immigrants in a detention camp. Not a great background for founding fathers, huh?

I sure have it better. My home has slabs and steel and all sorts of foundations. I live solidly right where I am. We all do. Isn’t that … well, different from the patriarchs? Ooooops, have we gone in the wrong direction here? Are we too settled and comfortable? Am I stretching this point a bit too far?

Maybe so; maybe not. Something to consider now and then as I sink into a comfortable chair in my comfortable house in my comfortable life. Too comfortable? God, help me in my unbelief.

Genesis 26:28 (New Living Translation)

They replied, “We can plainly see that the Lord is with you. So we want to enter into a sworn treaty with you. Let’s make a covenant.

A King named Abimelech came to visit Isaac, one of Israel’s patriarchs. His statement above tells us that Abimilech knew that:

1. God the Creator existed, and
2. God the Creator was with Isaac.

I see no reason why King Abimelech had some unique vision. I believe that everyone has the same ability today. Persons can see God and can see if God is with me.

Perhaps I try to hide God when I am talking to persons. God is with me. Can I get out of the way and let God show through?

1 Corinthians 1:17 (New Living Translation)

For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.

This is Paul writing a letter to Christians in the town of Corinth. Paul tells them of his mission from Christ: preach the Good News.

And, Paul reminds them that he is a rather un-clever fellow. He doesn’t talk well; there is nothing “clever” about it. That way, when people gladly receive the Good News, no one will say, “Boy, that Paul is clever. Did you notice how well he packaged his message and…”

No. People will notice that this klutz told them something and, with no reasonable explanation, their hearts burned and their lives changed. Something out-of-the-ordinary, something super natural happened.

God changed their lives. Not some clever fellow.

Please God, always help me remember that You are the source.

Genesis 31:14-15 (New Living Translation)

14 Rachel and Leah responded, “That’s fine with us! We won’t inherit any of our father’s wealth anyway. 15 He has reduced our rights to those of foreign women. And after he sold us, he wasted the money you paid him for us.

Two sisters, Rachel and Leah, are speaking to their shared husband Jacob. Their father sold them to Jacob.

Let’s try to take that in for a moment. These women realize the position the world has handed them. They are property. They were owned by their father and now they are owned by their husband. They were traded on the open market—literally bought and sold.

These sisters weren’t perfect. They were all too human and sinned plenty on their own. They were, however, loyal in their lives. In the face of injustice, they attempted to be just.

As Christians, we don’t have to act like those around us act. We have a standard given to us by God. Let us reach for godliness. We may not attain it often, but let us constantly reach.

Romans 12:3 (New Living Translation)

3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

The Apostle Paul writes to a group of Christians in a big city. “Hey, big city, careful how you think of others in relation to yourselves.”

Coming from a rural area, I scream, “Yes! Those big city folks are all high-and-might and all that and…” And I am an American all better-than-the-rest-of-the-world and…

And then I read the prior verse:

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Don’t act like everybody else. God has more in mind for me.

There is much in these few verses in this chapter of the letter to the Romans. When I candidly consider my life, there is much I should be living that I am not. Please God, help me in my unbelief.