January 15

So I've been doing some thinking. I don't think it's fair of me to jump to these rash decisions about God just based on very small portions of books scattered amongst the Bible. If this project is to be effective, I need to read every word as unbiased as possible. The Earthquake in Haiti has certainly begun my negative skew, but I will try to read with a more fair approach to the text. I wouldn't watch 5 minutes from the beginning of the movie, 5 minutes from the end, and 5 minutes from the middle and say "this sucks" or "I don't get it." Of course I don't get it! I'm looking at random samples of a larger complex story.

Alright, fresh start:

Reading for January 15 
(link to the web version of the text if you'd like to read it on your own)

Genesis 31:17-32:12

OK - some pretty intense action here. So from the last reading we learn that Jacob tricks Laban and gets all of his livestock. In this reading, Jacob takes his whole family and everything he owns and leaves in the middle of the night. Laban finds out that he leaves and is furious. God warns Laban not to attack Jacob, so when he meets him, he pleads with him to return. He says that Jacob took away his daughters and grandchildren. So they make a covenant - Jacob promises not to harm Rachel or Leah and not to take any other wives, and Laban agrees to let them go.

Now Jacob is focused on reconciling with his brother Esau. Remember, the one he screwed over twice? So Jacob sends messengers ahead to Esau to tell him that he is planning on returning and to share Jacob's prosperity in the twenty some years since they last saw each other. The messengers return and tell Jacob that Esau is on his way to meet him, with an army of 400 men!

Jacob is understandably nervous and decides to divide up his family and livestock so that if one group is attacked, maybe the other will survive. He prays a very earnest prayer about how loving and merciful God has been to him.

⁹ Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac—O Lord, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.’ ¹⁰ I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps! ¹¹ O Lord, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children. ¹² But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.’”

So God wasn't just brushing off Jacob's deceitful actions in the last chapter, he was being merciful and loving. I need to remember that God put a lot of hope in humanity and specifically, Abraham's lineage.


Matthew 10:24-11:6
Jesus continues to speak to his disciples here before sending them out to continue his work. He sets the context here for geting into heaven, and it basically boils down to acknowledging Jesus publicly on Earth. He says that his they will face intense persecution. At the time that was probably very true for the disciples, because the Jewish Conservatives were afraid of the status quo being shaken up. But here's my issue - if Modern Christianity is meant to be this giving, forgiving, inclusive type of thing - what problem would people have with that? Is this another one of those things we can dismiss as a cultural norm of the time? Well, I guess there's always people who have a problem with someone. But the way Jesus puts it here, it seems like it would be us against the world...

Psalm 13:1-6
So in the tradition of seeking wisdom as it was silver, I decided to do a litle research on David and these Psalms. I was hoping to find out what he was going through that is causing him all this grief, and what enemies he was specifically talking about. I couldn't find anything about that, but I did find a good analysis of this psalm. The analysis said its interesting that this psalm starts very negative and doubting God's plan and timely action, but ends with David ultimately trusting God.

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love.
      I will rejoice because you have rescued me.

Maybe this psalm is a parallel of how my journey through the Bible will progress...

Proverbs 3:16-18
The author continues to highlight the power and value of knowledge in this passage:

 ¹⁸ Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her;
      happy are those who hold her tightly.

This seems to go against the general attitude of humility within the Bible, but I think its great. I think this encourages readers of the Bible to study it and get the whole story. Not to pick a small piece of it and follow only what they like. I feel like I've been doing the picking small piece thing, I've been picking the favorable things, but I am obviously still missing a lot of stuff.

There's also a kind of stigma with Christianity that we are ignorant to science and information. I don't think we should ignore things like evolution or other things that may challenge what we know, rather search for knowledge and try to make sense of them in our minds.

Alright - thanks for reading. Have a good night.

Dear God. Thank you for the continued motivation to read your word. Thank you for the wisdom to see that I can't jump to conclusions without getting the full story. God, please be with the victims of the Earthquake in Haiti. I know I can't understand why this happened, and while this is still very frustrating, but all I can do now is ask for you to help the people there. I thank you for the outpouring of donations and time and service that I have seen already, but it is just as heart wrenching to hear about mass graves and people missing loved ones. I know that this breaks your heart more than any person on earth. I know this because of your feelings toward humanity that I read in Genesis, and the regret you felt for humanity turning out so badly.

I pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.