Contemplative Bible Reading

Judges 3:5-6 (New Living Translation)

5 So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, 6 and they intermarried with them. Israelite sons married their daughters, and Israelite daughters were given in marriage to their sons. And the Israelites served their gods.

The people of Israel moved into the land promised to them by the Creator. The land was still inhabited by those who were hostile to them. How to make peace?

On quick and practical way in the times was to marry them; make them part of your family, and they will no longer hate you. Was that what God wanted them to do? I think not. One result of the quick and practical way to peace is what is shown in the conclusion above:

And the Israelites served their gods.

ooops. Instead of marrying and bring the new family to God the Creator, they married and went the way of the other gods. Perhaps good intentions—definitely bad result.

Let us keep our eyes and hearts on the good intentions and watch when our results drift away. Let us pray that God helps us in our unbelief.

Matthew 11:4 (Holman Standard Christian Bible)

Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see:

Much of the life of a Christian is spiritual, i.e., it is not subject to the physical sciences. We simply cannot explain what is happening with physical evidence.

Much, however, is subject to the human senses and physical experience. Jesus, here, tells people to go and report what they have seen and heard.

While we marvel at the spiritual, let us not forget the simple physical evidence that we see and hear.

Matthew 10:16-17 (Holman Standard Christian Bible)

16 “Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves. 17 Because people will hand you over to sanhedrins and flog you in their synagogues, beware of them.

I have always loved the imagery in verse 16. I can see a snake slithering in the bushes (those snakes are sneaky). I can see a fluffy white dove sitting in a shade tree (can you be more peaceful than that?).

Enough of the stereotypical images.

shrewd: having or showing sharp powers of judgment

harmless: not able or likely to cause harm

Now read on through verse 17. Why show sharp powers of judgment? Because there are people out there who will grab you and flog you. Forget the movies. Flogging usually meant death from infection, not to mention the pain.

Why be unable to harm? Because the things they were to say would not be enjoyable to every listener. There actions would have to cover how some persons would hear their words.

A great verse with great imagery.

1 Timothy 6:17 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy.

Good news: God provides us with all things to enjoy. Ice cream? From God to enjoy. Worship ice cream? Not what God intended.

Okay, ice cream is a silly example. Instead of “ice cream,” try…well, you get the idea. There are all sorts of things we could put in there. It is too easy for us to slip from enjoying a thing to putting it practically first in our lives. It must be too easy because I often do it.

I can tell myself, and anyone who will listen, that the things I enjoy just a little or a lot too much are more enriching than the things that the other fella’ enjoys. I mean reading a good book is more enriching than snorting cocaine, right? Yeah, but let’s not exaggerate the point. Wait, if it makes me look good in my own mind, I’ll exaggerate. After all…

No, there is no “after all,” and putting a good book in front of just about everything else in life is wrong. The rich, who are damned in the above verse, put their hope in their wealth. Putting my hope in a good book is the same.

Enjoy? Yes. Enjoy too much? No. How much is too much? If I ask, I am probably doing too much.

2 Chronicles 20:3 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Jehoshaphat was afraid, and he resolved to seek the Lord. Then he proclaimed a fast for all Judah,

There are armies from several nations massed and ready to attack. King Jehoshaphat was afraid. He was afraid of physical death. He was afraid that all his friends and family would be slaughtered.

Fear ruled.

So what did the King do. He proclaimed, “Everyone stop eating!”

Nuts. Right? Well, this wasn’t a diet plan. Stop eating and seek God. Stop considering all those things that we normally consider to be important. We have a real crisis on hand, so whether we wear the brown shoes or the black shoes to the office today doesn’t really matter. McDonald’s or Chick Fil A this morning doesn’t really matter.

Seek God. Now.

My life? No really big crisis in front of me, right? Then why do I seem to be able to find something to fret about?

Okay, smart guys, stop fretting. Seek God, now. Simple, yet difficult on some days.

2 Chronicles 32:7-8 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

7 “Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria or before the large army that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. 8 He has only human strength, but we have Yahweh our God to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people relied on the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.

This is a classic “pep talk” from the Old Testament. That is sort of a dismissive description, but it rings with some generations of Americans today.

The enemy—a real enemy that desires to kill me, my family, and my culture, not just one of those “enemies” in the culture or other wars we imagine today—is coming. The enemy has the numbers, the technology, and all the other advantages that gives them…well, they are going to win. They are going to kill us all and take anything they want.

The enemy, however, only has human strength; we have God.

Let’s stand back and cheer at the big picture. This is correct. We have God on our side. In the eternal scheme, we triumph through God.

Let’s close in and wince at the small picture. The enemy has it all and will do whatever they want if God allows it. God, in his big-picture perspective, may allow the expected.

Yikes. Come on God, give me a break. Don’t let Alzheimer’s, cancer, or cataracts ruin my temporary time here on earth. Do what you did here in this chapter of the Chronicles. Please. Pretty Please.

I am not God. Some days that is more difficult to admit than others. And that is why I pray daily, please help me in my unbelief.

Joshua 10:9-10 (New Living Translation)

9 Joshua traveled all night from Gilgal and took the Amorite armies by surprise. 10 The Lord threw them into a panic, and the Israelites slaughtered great numbers of them at Gibeon. Then the Israelites chased the enemy along the road to Beth-horon, killing them all along the way to Azekah and Makkedah.

Joshua, as usual, was facing superior forces. No problem. God messed with the minds of the enemy. In this instance, God threw them into a panic: sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety, often causing wildly unthinking behavior. The superior forces fell into “wildly unthinking behavior.”

So that’s it, have them stop thinking.

God created us with minds and the ability to use them to think. As we see here, we can become a little twisted so that we stop thinking. A little fear. A little more fear. A little worry. A little more worry. Toss in a lack of sleep. Toss in some anxiety.

Sometimes people ask me about marriage and Christianity and other such grand topics. My advice? Sleep every night. Rest the mind. Everything else seems to go better thereafter. Panic? Stop. Breathe. Rest. Pray. Use the mind God has given us.

Luke 5:12-13 (New Living Translation)

12 In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground, begging to be healed. “Lord,” he said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”

13 Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

Sometimes Jesus just didn’t know how to act.

Jesus failed at etiquette: the customary code of polite behavior in society or among members of a particular profession or group.

You don’t touch people who have an advanced case of leprosy, and that is just what Jesus did in verse 13. What was wrong with Jesus? Didn’t he understand how to act? He didn’t behave in a customary manner.

Let’s make a list of things that are contrary to behaving in a customary manner:

• Go to a disaster area
• Help people you don’t know
• Talk to strangers
• Treat enemies with kindness

hmm…I could go on, but perhaps these make the point.

Yesterday, my wife and I saw a movie about Paul and Luke. Okay, a work of fiction, but it had a few good points. Luke, a physician, was thrown in a filthy dungeon and beaten. The jailer’s daughter was sick. Luke tended to the sick daughter. It is not customary manner to try to heal a person who beats you.

Yes, sometimes Christians just don’t know how to act.

John 6:2-5 (New English Translation)

2 A large crowd was following him because they were observing the miraculous signs he was performing on the sick. 3 So Jesus went on up the mountainside and sat down there with his disciples. 4 (Now the Jewish feast of the Passover was near.) 5 Then Jesus, when he looked up and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these people may eat?”

Jesus is about to take five biscuits and two sardines and feed thousands of people.

Jesus and His followers at a lot of meals together. My guess is they skipped a lot of meals together because they didn’t have anything to eat on some days of there walking about the land.

The vast majority of the meals eaten and skipped were normal—not recorded anywhere. They merely ate a little food. Now and then, however, something amazing and miraculous happened—like this day with the boy and his lunch.

I believe this is like my life today. Sometimes a miracle happens, but sometimes not. I wish God would do the miracles on my schedule instead of His. Really, I do. Perhaps we all have this wish somewhere, sometimes. Then again, my wishes would probably make a big mess. Some care and oversight should be involved in miracles, and I don’t have those qualities often.

God, help me to accept that You are God and I am not. Help me to see and appreciate the miracles you perform everyday. Help me to point to them and show others how You live with us today and every day.

John 6:29 (New English Translation)

Jesus replied, “This is the deed God requires—to believe in the one whom he sent.”

Pretty simple. What does God require of me? Of each of us? Believe in the one whom He sent, i.e., believe that this Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Son of God sent to the world to take away my sins so that I can be in God’s presence.

Pretty simple.

Funny how God gave us the brains to twist this about and make it into something far more complicated.