Then on Sunday we're going to ORB Sunday service and then Jilly has a "special valentine's day surprise" for me. What potential!
By the way, yesterday was one month since I actually started reading. Woot.
Alright, let's read.
Reading for February 11
Exodus 32:1-33:23
Wow. This gets freaking crazy. So the past 3 or 4 chapters have been God giving Moses rules and guidance. While Moses was on the mountain having this conversation with God, the Israelites got restless and decided to give up on God and worship a new God. Now one of two things happened here:
1) Moses was on Mt. Sinai for like a year or something
2) He was up there for a couple of hours and its just that the Israelites have such terrible faith.
I'm betting on #2. Time after time - in this book alone - the Israelites have turned on God even after seeing multiple miracles. This makes me think back to the necessity of the plagues and the 'hardening of Pharaoh's heart' thing I was so upset about earlier. If God was using all that nastiness to get the faith of his people, he failed. Which is maybe why he got so mad...
While God is wrapping up his conversation with Moses, God tells him that his people have started worshiping a false idol and threatens to wipe them all out. This makes sense why he's pissed. Maybe he even feels guilty for doing what he did to the Egyptians. But - and this is really cool - Moses talks him out of it! He reasons with God and calms him down. Which doesn't make sense because Moses makes his people kill eachother shortly after.
After Moses finds the false idol, he orders it to be burned and then asks for everyone who is on the side of the LORD to join him. A group of people join him. He tells this group to go and slaughter everyone else in the camp, even their own family, for their sins. It says about 3,000 people were killed. Damn, yo. Then, on top of that - God sends a plague on the people for what they did. So the people who survived the massacre, were then stricken with some horrible illness. That's real cold.
After all this happens, Moses asks God to show himself. God says that Moses cannot look at his face or he will die. Maybe that goes back to the idea of God and sinful man not being able to exist on the same plane. Anyway, God obliges - and as far as I know, this is the only time in the whole Bible that he does this.
Wow. Serious action, no?
Matthew 26:69-27:14
This is a short section of text, but extremely powerful nonetheless. Again, this is a section I know very well, but am trying to look at it with new eyes. This is after Jesus was betrayed and arrested and all the commotion begins.Basically, three things happen here:
1) People notice Peter as being one of the followers of Jesus, but every time someone brings it up, Peter denies even knowing Jesus. It happens three times and right after the third time, the rooster crowed, just as Jesus had predicted. These few verses are often talked about in sermons as exemplifying the forgiveness of Jesus. Because Peter went on to do great things for Jesus after the death and resurrection. He essentially built and fostered what is now the Christian church.
2) Judas hangs himself. The words used in this section really capture the inescapable guilt that was choking Judas from the inside. Check it.
3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.”This has always puzzled me - the death of Jesus is the crux of the Christian faith. If he just said, "ehh screw it, let's get some chicken sandwiches" Christianity would not exist. So Judas was only fulfilling his destined role and because of his actions, Jesus' beautiful sacrifice became possible. Yet we look on him as possibly the worst person in the Bible. I mean, don't get me wrong - if the resurrection didn't happen (and I know that's widely debatable), then Judas' actions are despicable. But because of what I believe happened after the death, then it makes what Judas did...well not beautiful, but..."part of the plan". It's like LOST - whatever happened, happened.
“What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.”
5 Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself.
3) Jesus 'trial' begins. The Roman governor, Pilate starts reading the charges against Jesus, yet throughout the reading of the charges, Jesus remains quiet. In his head, the injustice must have been screaming like a jet plane, but he had to keep those feelings held back, so what needed to be done would be carried out.
Psalm 33:1-11
This is great. Enjoy.
1 Let the godly sing for joy to the Lord;Hey, wait a minute. Check out that last line. So what happened back in Exodus when Moses changed God's mind about slaughtering all the Israelites? Either, God's plan was actually changed by Moses or God's plan was NOT to kill all the Israelites, and God was simply about to commit a crime of passion. I think it was the second one - though if he asks, don't tell God I called it a crime of passion.
it is fitting for the pure to praise him.
2 Praise the Lord with melodies on the lyre;
make music for him on the ten-stringed harp.
3 Sing a new song of praise to him;
play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy.
4 For the word of the Lord holds true,
and we can trust everything he does.
5 He loves whatever is just and good;
the unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth.
6 The Lord merely spoke,
and the heavens were created.
He breathed the word,
and all the stars were born.
7 He assigned the sea its boundaries
and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs.
8 Let the whole world fear the Lord,
and let everyone stand in awe of him.
9 For when he spoke, the world began!
It appeared at his command.
10 The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations
and thwarts all their schemes.
11 But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever;
his intentions can never be shaken.
Also, another reference to fearing God appears here - so we should fear him because of the ease with which he created the planet which I am currently sitting on. Meaning - his power is unmeasurable - so don't mess with him.
Proverbs 8:33-36
Nothing really of note here, but I'll copy/paste - maybe you will see something enlightening in it.
33 Listen to my instruction and be wise.Alright - donesville. Crap it's freaking late. I'm still so pumped for this weekend! YEAH! I can't wait!!
Don’t ignore it.
34 Joyful are those who listen to me,
watching for me daily at my gates,
waiting for me outside my home!
35 For whoever finds me finds life
and receives favor from the Lord.
36 But those who miss me injure themselves.
All who hate me love death.”
No comments:
Post a Comment