Wednesday, February 10

SNOW DAY! Yeah, so we are totally snowed in up here in the North Jersey. Which was nice today to be able to stay home and hang out with the doggy and wifey, but tomorrow I need to get up early and dig the cars out. Not much looking forward to that...


Reading for February 10
Exodus 30:11-31:18
God's instructions conclude
This section ends God's lengthy instructions for Moses on the things he asks Moses to build or make. God even gives Moses an executive summary! In bullet points!

⁷ the Tabernacle;^[h]
   the Ark of the Covenant;^[i]
   the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement;
   all the furnishings of the Tabernacle;
 ⁸ the table and its utensils;
   the pure gold lampstand with all its accessories;
   the incense altar;
 ⁹ the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils;
   the washbasin with its stand;
 ¹⁰ the beautifully stitched garments—the sacred garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments for his sons to wear as they minister as priests;
 ¹¹ the anointing oil;
   the fragrant incense for the Holy Place.

I know that there has been a relentless search for the Ark of the Covenant, and many people who search for it end up dying in the search. I'm not sure if anyone's ever found it, but it is remarkable that the secular world believes that this thing actually exists. Which does give some outside credibility to the Bible.

What I mean by that is that a lot of people seem to believe that the Bible is the direct word of God because there's lines in the Bible that confirm that suspicion, and that really bothers me because you can't prove something without external confirmation. That would be the same thing as saying "I'm the King of England." and then someone says "Oh yeah, prove it." and I say, "Well I said I was the King of England two years ago, and I even wrote it down. See?" And then they're all "But you've never even been to England" and then I'm all "Shut up! You don't know that" and then they're all "you wanna get a chicken sandwich." And I say "yes. Totally."

Sorry, got a little off track there. Anyway - Ark of the Covenant and the secular search for it I think gives some credibility to the words I'm reading.

Matthew 26:47-68

This line has always mystified me...

   Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. ⁵¹ But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear.
 ⁵² “Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword. ⁵³ Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands^[a] of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? ⁵⁴ But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”

I just think it's crazy that Jesus says he could ask for thousands of Angels and it would happen. I'm not doubting that it could happen, but his confidence about that being a potential reality is really cool. It also makes me think back to Jesus prayer in the Garden of Gastheneme - asking for God to take away his need to go to the cross, but only if it was God's will.

That makes me think - if we pray for things that are outside of God's will, will he allow it to happen? At least for Jesus it seems to be true, because it was obviously God's will for Jesus to go to the cross, but Jesus is so confident that he could pray for a swarm of angels and get them that it seems that God was willing to do whatever Jesus wanted. But Jesus is God. But Jesus prays to God as a seperate entity. Confusing...

Psalm 32:1-11
I like this line:

 ⁸ The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
      I will advise you and watch over you.
 ⁹ Do not be like a senseless horse or mule
      that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”

This has always kinda been my view of the whole fate thing. I feel like there are certain milestone events that have been fated or planned to happen, but how we get there and how it affects our lives at that time is up to us. So God being the guide to show us the right path seems like it fits into that idea. It's not God making decisions for us and making our right path clear, but he is merely a guide - and I believe that through prayer and through reading the Bible, God's hints about which way to go become clearer and clearer.

Proverbs 8:27-32
Beautiful

²⁷ I was there when he established the heavens,
      when he drew the horizon on the oceans.
 ²⁸ I was there when he set the clouds above,
      when he established springs deep in the earth.
 ²⁹ I was there when he set the limits of the seas,
      so they would not spread beyond their boundaries.
   And when he marked off the earth’s foundations,

I especially like the idea of the horizon line being drawn - takes me back to that cool creative God I looked up to at the start of my journey.

Alright cool. I'm tired and I need to wake up early so I better hit the old hey as they say. Good night friendz.