Contemplative Bible Reading

Colossians 3:5 (English Standard Version)

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Watch out for the last phrase of this verse: covetousness which is idolatry.

I sure like that fellas’ car. I sure like that fellas’ vacation plans. Innocent enough, right? Perhaps. Perhaps I like that fellas’ stuff a bit too much. Perhaps I covet it a bit too much. Perhaps I start to live for what that other fella has and it becomes the aim of my life.

Now that fellas’ stuff has become an idol that I worship.

Easy enough, huh? Lord, help me in my unbelief.

Deuteronomy 8:3 (New Living Translation)

Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

God had given his people manna for 40 years. That was the food that sustained them in a desert where there was no food, let alone enough to feed a million mouths.

How did God describe this food? “every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

We live by God’s revelation to us. Food, shelter, health—they are all mere adornments to the words of God. What God speaks, that is what holds us and everything together.

Simple idea. Almost impossible to fully understand. Even more difficult to accept enough to make it the center of my life. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Colossians 2:6 (English Standard Version)

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him

Walk in Him. Wade in Him. Live in Him.

There is an all-too-popular phrase bouncing about “make room for God.” I strongly disagree. I believe this verse strongly disagrees. We walk in Jesus. We live in him all the time, and He lives in us all the time.

There is no “little room” we create in our lives to put God when we want him and keep Him there at all other times.

Walk in Him. There is not substitute.

Deuteronomy 1:20-23 (New Living Translation)

20 I said to you, ‘You have now reached the hill country of the Amorites that the Lord our God is giving us. 21 Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!’

22 “But you all came to me and said, ‘First, let’s send out scouts to explore the land for us. They will advise us on the best route to take and which towns we should enter.’

23 “This seemed like a good idea to me, so I chose twelve scouts, one from each of your tribes.

God’s people reach the land He has promised. It is time to enter. But wait…(why does it seem that something bad is about to happen whenever we pause God’s time?), the people think it is best to send scouts ahead to explore God’s land. As if God would promise them a land that was a bit defective or something like a used car that had a fresh paint job.

Verse 23 is the clincher: the people’s idea seemed like a good one. Boy, if ever that was foreshadowing something bad. The result was 40 years of wasting time until everyone of age had died in the desert.

Why is it that we use the wonderful minds that God has given us to come up with our own bad ideas that seem like good ideas? Can we simply move forward when God puts a promise right in front of us?

Deuteronomy 28:28 (English Standard Version)

The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind

In this section of the second giving of the law, God’s people are warned of the curses that will come from disobedience. This one strikes home–confusion of mind. My mother, following in the footsteps of her father and two older sisters and leading the way for her younger sister, suffered horribly with confusion of mind.

Read this section of Deuteronomy. The curses are horrible for the nation and all the persons around them. This curse, however, is personal. A person, once vibrant and capable, will be reduced to wondering where they are and who is standing next to them—often a spouse, child, or lifelong friend.

Confusion of mind is a horrible curse. My mother and her relatives didn’t suffer it from disobedience to God under the Old Law. Still, they lived as examples of the horrible curses God’s people suffered from disobedience.

Hell on earth? Maybe. Something to be avoided. And something that brings to mind what should be daily thankfulness from me for the grace of God and the sacrifice of His Son.

Genesis 37:26-27 (English Standard Version)

26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites,…

Joseph’s brothers had him! They muscled him into a pit and were trying to decide how to murder him. Evil? What were they thinking?

Judah gets a brilliant idea. If we are to commit unbelievable immorality, why not make some money? Sure. This is great. Let’s profit from …

What were they thinking? Note how evil takes over and leads a group of otherwise good men into … I don’t even know what to call it. They let evil leap from one thing to the next.

It is horrible how our minds—a great gift from God—can take us down a path of refuse. Me? Today? No, I don’t try to sell my brother for pocket change. Where, however, does my mind take me on those days? God, please keep me from those days. Please keep my mind in the right place and heading in the right direction.

1 Samuel 3:19 (English Standard Version)

And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.

I love the phrase here about words falling to the ground and how God prevented this from happening with Samuel. Other translations use the phrase that Samuel’s words were reliable.

Samuel was a prophet in the Old Testament use of that term. God told Samuel what was to happen in the future. Samuel repeated God’s words. What Samuel said would happen did happen. His words were reliable in that what he said always happened.

I can see a person’s words falling from their mouth to the dusty ground and being trampled underfoot. I can see a person’s words flowing from their mouth into the hearts of others. I have known persons whose words did both of these. Yes, it is easy to guess the persons whom I respected.

Please God, let none of my words fall to the ground. Let me love my fellow man enough so that I choose the right words that flow into their hearts instead of under the concrete of the 21st century sidewalks.

Genesis 11:5-7 (New Living Translation)

5 But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. 6 “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”

This is from the (hi)story of the Tower of Babel. The people had one language, on way of living, one culture. God recognized the potential of a united, uniform mass of humans. God recognized the coming accomplishments and the unfortunate accompaniment of harmful pride.

God created culture. He gave mankind different languages, different ways of living, different cultures. Simply put,

They won’t be able to understand each other.

And some 30 or so centuries later, we still don’t understand each other. Perhaps the Internet and what follows in 21st-century communications will further reduce the cultures of the world, but we still have our memories. We still hold grudges. We will not meld into one culture again for quite a while.

Thank you God for differing ways of life. We would be quite dangerous if we understood each other.

John 17:15-16 (New Living Translation)

15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do.

Jesus is praying to God regarding His followers (“them” and “they” in the verses).

Let’s reverse the order of the two sentences to clarify the messages (at least as I read the message):

Your followers do not belong to this world any more than I do. Nevertheless, leave Your followers in this world, but keep them safe from the evil one.

Jesus asks the Father to leave us, i.e., His followers, here in this world. It is not our place; we don’t fit; we don’t belong. Keep us here anyways.

Why? We are one way, one avenue, for others to see God. There are many ways God manifests Himself to mankind. The lives of His followers are one of those ways.

So, we are “stuck” here for some 70 years. I guess we should make the best of it? Why doesn’t God give us a few perks so the time will not be so loathsome? Oh, those things? Oh, well…yeah, the lives we are given do have a lot of blessings. Oh, well…yeah, this is all pretty enjoyable. So, I am blessed so that I can share those blessings with those around me. Sometimes it takes a while for all this to sink in. God, please help my in my unbelief.

Romans 8:8-9 (New Living Translation)

8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)

A simple statement in verse 8: the sinful nature can N E V E R please God. Let’s repeat that:

N E V E R

Next question? Oh, how can we please God? Allow the Spirit of God to live in us. Note the first word: A L L O W. That is not E A R N or B U Y or something that requires tremendous effort on our part. It is like that Old Testament fella’ who humbled himself and washed in a filthy river. He A L L O W ‘ed himself to be healed.

Funny how we don’t like to accept something that allows us to be with God. We want to show ourselves worthy. Funny how verse 8 tells us that the difficult is actually impossible.