Wednesday, March 10

I'm very excited. Tomorrow we have a few of Jilly's friends from Germany coming to stay with us - or ZE GERMANS! as I've been referring to them. Honestly, though - I'm really pumped to get to know them and show them around our little corner of the world.

Reading for March 10
Numbers 14:1-15:16
Oh, Israelites! So rebellious.

So the Israelites hear that the promised land is filled with giants and they start up the wah wah wagon. They even go so far as to say "let's elect a leader and go back to Egypt to be enslaved again." Joshua speaks up as the voice of reason here saying "dudes, this place is awesome. Don't be afraid of these giants, God is with us." This is the next line in the text:

¹⁰ But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.

Like, I can understand being upset about having only dry manna to eat for two years, but this is just plain dumb. Here is Joshua, presenting a perfectly logical argument, stated beautifully, and these buttholes want to stone him.

God has had enough at this point. He tells his people (through Moses) that because of their lack of faith in God, even after the countless miracles he's performed for them, they will never inherit the promised land of Canaan, they will die in the desert. Their children will be forced to wander the desert for forty years before getting to move into the land. Once the people hear this they decide that they do want to try to go into Canaan after all, but on their own and without the help of God. They try to get in but are immediately rousted out by the natives of the land.

I'm really enjoying this historical stuff about the Israelites, but there is one nagging problem I'm having with this. It's the fundamental problem of God's need to be worshiped, and the punishment for not doing so. Is it benefitting him for us to worship him? I don't think so...what could God possibly need from us? So it must be beneficial for us to worship him. Which is why the Israelites were punished for not doing so. God wanted what was best for them, but they continually threw it in God's face.

Now, admittedly, God didn't exactly make it easy on them - roaming around the desert with bland food and the necessity of constant, ritualistic animal sacrifices wouldn't really be a big selling point on the "Become a Jew" brochure at the time. But whatever it was, following all of those requests God made, somehow benefited the Israelites. Whether they were aware of it or not...

Mark 14:53-72
Jesus' "trial"
So Jesus had been arrested for no charge at all, and the court grasped at straws to find something to convict him of during the trial. Many people stood up and lied about different things, but none of it agreed and couldn't be used to convict him of anything. Until finally the High Priest asked him if he was the Christ. Jesus replied:

 ⁶²"I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."

That did it. This was deemed blasphemous and this statement is what sent him to the cross. On the other hand, this statement is what freed humanity forever.

Psalm 53:1-6
 ¹ The fool says in his heart,
       "There is no God."
       They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
       there is no one who does good.
 ² God looks down from heaven
       on the sons of men
       to see if there are any who understand,
       any who seek God.
 ³ Everyone has turned away,
       they have together become corrupt;
       there is no one who does good,
       not even one.

Wow. This is somewhat humbling. It's true though, otherwise Christ's sacrifice wouldn't be needed. "There is no one who does good." Not even "No one is perfect", this is saying that no one does anything good at all. Now this could have been an exaggeration because this is lyrical in nature, but it's still something to read and be challenged by. 'Prove him wrong' kinda thing, yeah?

Proverbs 11:4
 ⁴ Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,
       but righteousness delivers from death.

I saw the movie "The Road" a few months ago. The basic premise is that there has been some sort of worldwide catastrophe and there are very few people left on earth. There is also very little resources so the remaining people are fighting over what's left. The story focuses on a father and son who are on a journey across this barren land.

One of the opening scenes shows them rummaging through a pile of stuff they come across, looking for any sort of sustenance, finding none, they continue on. But as they walk away, the camera shows them intentionally stepping over a stack of cash and jewelry. Showing just how worthless all of those things become the instant our economy is changed by an event like that.

Out of the whole movie, that scene stuck with me the most.

How worthless all our "treasures" are. "Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath."