Reading from Friday, April 23

Yes - so once again I'm way behind, thanks to one Tim Bennett's wedding. The wedding was absolutely incredible - the location, the decoration, the people, it was all unreal. I was asked to give a speech during the reception which I delivered in song form - I brought my guitar and we had a good ole call and response sing along...It's Bennett!...It's Bennett! I think someone videoed it so I'll post a youtube link when its up.

Alright - let's start the catch up.

Reading for April 23
Judges 1:1-2:9
This is really another summary of Joshua. I suppose when these books were written they weren't originally bound together and right next to eachother, but rather separate documents. So the summary of Joshua would be appropriate if that was the case. There really isn't any new information in these first two chapters so we can just move along.

Luke 21:29-22:13
All of the story components from this section have been written about in previous gospels, but there is one little detail that sticks out here:

¹Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, ²and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. ³Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. ⁴And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. ⁵They were delighted and agreed to give him money. ⁶He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

This is the first account time we read that Judas was not acting of his own free will when he betrayed Jesus, but rather was possessed by a demon - specifically Satan. This is an issue with Christianity I used to think about a lot. There is a thought amongst many Christians that whenever they do something bad, or whenever something bad happens, that it is the devil or Satan at work. And while I believe there is a Satan and that he may have some influence over this world, I don't think it's smart to assign every inconvenience in our lives to him.

"Hey Babe, we're out of milk."
"Arg! It's the devil at work! Tryin to tear me down..."

The other thing that makes the example of Judas so interesting is something I've mentioned before: Jesus being given over to be killed led to his crucifixion, which was the plan from the beginning. Without Judas' betrayal, we wouldn't have been redeemed through Christ's sacrifice...right?

Psalm 90:1-91:16
Oh wow - this chapter starts "Book IV" of Psalms. And these are by Moses.

A really great line here:

¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
       for as many years as we have seen trouble.

This is very much in line with the rest of the pslams. There always seems to be this conflict between affliction and gladness - or trouble and peace. And I think - as I continue to read this same message over and over again - from multiple different Pslamists, this message of darkness and light is the very nature of God. The psalms give you a very condensed picture of this dichotomy of God's character, but as I'm seeing the larger picture of the Bible, this is exactly what he does. He does some things - as I'm reading now - that would make most people throw up with disgust, then he does some things that would make people throw up with joy. I've never "joy barfed" but I'm sure it happens...

There are some extremely awful times for people and there are some gloriously wonderful times for people. Think about Christ's crucifixion. Over the course of one weekend we see the whole character of God encapsulated. Through the terrible, awful disasters - he brings miracles. I would encourage you to consider this in your own life - if you're having a hard time right now, one thing I've learned to bee true is that God always delivers on his promises and that the hard times will pass away and yield towards wonderful times. The hard times may return, but know that it's cyclical.  

Proverbs 13:24-25

 ²⁴ He who spares the rod hates his son,
       but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
 ²⁵ The righteous eat to their hearts' content,
       but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry.

Verse 24 there is interesting in the light of the Old Testament awfulness that I've been reading. I know this is probably more geared towards the earthly father son relationship, but think about it from Godly father point of view. He punished Israel - and many other nations - for their disobedience. He did this not because he hated them, but because he loved them. Think about it - if a father sees his son playing  with a machine gun and says, "Ah, let the kid do what he wants" - the son would likely kill himself or someone else.

On the other hand, if he takes the gun away and disciplines him so the son learns to stay away from machine guns, that is the mark of a loving father. Now, its debatable that genocide is taking it too far in terms of disciplining - that would be like the father killing the son for playing with a machine gun. But with the larger "son" of humanity, sometimes it takes the death of a few...or a few hundred thousand for God's son "humanity" to learn...

It's a tough issue for sure, but let's give some thought to that, yeah?

Alright...love, friends.