Contemplative Bible Reading

Isaiah 58:6-7 (New Living Translation)

6 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.
7 Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

The 16-hour fast, the one-day-a-week fast. Lots of fasting being promoted these days to reduce weight and all that.

Let’s pause a moment and notice the kind of fasting God wants: give up some of my silly little self-pleasing power. Stop abusing people. Stop being so greedy.

It isn’t easy for us in the 21st (aren’t we advanced and wonderful) century to think about the list from Isaiah. We live in America, land of the free, home of the brave, Google anything, text me, excuse me don’t you see that I looking at my $1,000 telephone?

Are you on the right or left politically? Sorry, but there is plenty here to condemn all sides and everyone who claims to be in between.

This is real fasting. This is yet another reminder of how I fall short of the glory of God daily and how I need to pray, “Please God, help me with my unbelief.”

Revelation 22:2 (New Living Translation)

It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

The Tree of Life will grow on each side of a rive that holds the water of life. There are several fascinating things about the Tree of Life. Note the last one:

The leaves are used for medicine to heal the nations.

I’m not sure what that means, but I like the sound of it. What does it mean to “heal the nations?” Perhaps,

• Stop of from hating those folks on the other side of the border.
• Cause us to love one another.
• Give us the knowledge we need to live well, righteous, and just.

Other ideas?

Exodus 15:11 (New Living Translation)

“Who is like you among the gods, O Lord—
glorious in holiness,
awesome in splendor,
performing great wonders?

Set the scene: the people have just walked out of Egypt with lots of goodies. The charioteers—the elite of the Egyptian army—was destroyed in the Red Sea. Time to sing and dance and celebrate.

The people compare the creator, YHWH (Jehovah), to “the gods.” Recall that these people had lived in Egypt for 20 generations. The Egyptians had lots of gods. The people had learned all about all of them.

Hence, comparing YHWH to other gods was expected. Not good, but expected.

Today, we say things like, “I would rather be with God than have all the money in the world (or something else).”

Sounds good, right? Really? Comparing God to paper we use to exchange for goods? Really?

Lots of gods.

1 Timothy 4:8 (New Living Translation)

“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

Hate to burst the bubble of the fitness industry in America in the 21st century, but, well, burst that bubble folks.

Gold’s Gym? Good for us. Godliness training? Better for us. Nordic Track Fitness Machine? Good for us. Godliness training? Better for us. Pilates? Good for us. Godliness training? Better for us. I could go on.

Hmmm. Something to consider while doing an extra mile on that intermittent, incline changing, speed changing, pep talk screen showing, music blaring, walking machine.

Exodus 31:14 (New Living Translation)

You must keep the Sabbath day, for it is a holy day for you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community.

Let’s correct a common fallacy. The Sabbath day was NOT a day that the old people “went to church.” They were not told, “Go to church or else.”

The Sabbath day was a day that everyone rested. God told the people, now get this one straight…

R E S T (REST) (rest) rest rest rest or die!

Did I get that one across? God commanded the people to rest one day in seven. How hard is it to follow that command?

Well, those people back then were…not so fast. Ever felt like taking a nap in the afternoon at work? Ever take a nap in the afternoon at work? How many Americans answer “yes” to both questions. What is wrong with us? We can’t rest.

Why is it so hard to rest?

Exodus 14:14 (New Living Translation)

The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.

Everyone has their own version of the “Stay Calm and…” saying these days. Here is one from when the people were about to be pushed to their deaths in the Red Sea.

So we have…

Keep Calm

and

Let the Lord fill-in-the-blank

What goes in the blank? Here are a few I list at this moment:

• Guide this meeting
• Tell me what to see to what’s-his-name
• Reduce this fever
• Grant me rest
• Rid me of these nightmares
• Find relief from this constant pain
• Give me peace

The list could go on for quite a while.

Exodus 32:5-6 (New Living Translation)

5 Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!”

6 The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.

Moses is up on the mountain somewhere, out of sight, unseen for just a little too long for the impatient people. Aaron builds a golden calf and an altar.

“Tomorrow,” Aaron proclaims. “A festival to YHWH (Jehovah) the creator.”

All right. We are ready. What happens? Pagan revelry. Hmmm. How did they go from good intentions to, well, something they didn’t intend or something like that?

Before we condemn too much, let’s recall that these people had lived in Egypt for 20 generations. You pick up a lot of pagan revelry and festivals in 20 generations. Should this result be a surprise?

Since Christ was on the cross, we have lived through about 100 generations. How much of our Sunday services are, well, you know, sort of pagan revelry? Oh, no! Not us! We worship just like the Christians in the first century. We have, well, uh, we have, well, we don’t have anything that tells us what they did. And besides, they lived in a pagan world and who knows what they did.

Religious festivals. Religious services. We do what we do. We trust in the grace of God. Let’s have some humility and realization as we do what we do. And let’s thank God constantly for His forgiveness.

2 Samuel 12:29-30 (New Living Translation)

29 So David gathered the rest of the army and went to Rabbah, and he fought against it and captured it. 30 David removed the crown from the king’s head, and it was placed on his own head. The crown was made of gold and set with gems, and it weighed seventy-five pounds. David took a vast amount of plunder from the city.

Let’s try to follow this one…David,  chosen and empowered by God, conquered a city. David took the gem-covered golden crown of the conquered, a.k.a., the loser and placed it on his own head. (“Wow! Don’t I look cool.”)

Do we need to go through this one again? David proudly wore the headpiece of the loser, the person God chose to punish.

How is it that we continue to do these things today? We conquer through God. Then we wallow in the mud of the evil  that God just enabled us to conquer. We treasure the treasure of the loser and the lost and the evil. Will we ever learn? God, please help me in my unbelief.

Genesis 37:26-27a (New Living Translation)

26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? … 27 let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders.

What gain is there in murdering our brother? Let’s sell him instead. At least that brings us some spending money.

What? Well, at least they were…No, this is awful. Already set on murder, they now think of slavery. There is money in slavery. There is no money in murder.

This reminds me of those hypothetical questions, which is worse…and this is followed by two illegal, immoral, unethical, etc. alternatives. The alternatives are both wrong. There is no better or worse between them. Don’t even think about that for a second.

Psalm 37:27 Depart from evil, and do good; (American Standard Version)

Pretty simple. What went wrong with the Joseph’s brothers? What goes wrong with us today?

Ezra 1:2 (New Living Translation)

“This is what King Cyrus of Persia says:

“The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

Strange words coming from the King of Persia, you know, one of the really rich and powerful fellas’ in the world. Everything the King of Persia has was given to him by Jehovah (YHWH) the God of heaven, the God of Israel—one of those puny little places that the King of Persia stomped on a weekend romp through the puny little places.

Strange indeed. Stranger still is how rare it is that I and other Christians today stand and say, “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the money, lands, homes, and family that I have.” Strange indeed.