Reading from Tuesday, September 21

Keep it goin, dog.

Reading for September 21
Isaiah 37:1-38:22
This is a retelling of one of the events that occurred in 2 Kings, I believe. The king of Judah was Hezekiah, who as I recall was one of the better kings from the Israeli nations. He was worried to the point of death about an impending invasion from Assyria. The night before the invasion, the Assyrians were camped a little ways outside of Judah and it says an angel of the LORD swept through their camp and killed all of them. All 185,000 of them.

Now the thing I want to point out here is God's motivation for doing this. He first says that he is offering this help because Hezekiah prayed to God and asked him for help, but he also says this:

³⁵ "I will defend this city and save it,
       for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!"

 What I'm really interested in here are those three little words in the middle of the verse. "For my sake." This is so strange to me...we're seeing God having an actual desire and need. By saying "for my sake" he's inferring that saving Judah from an invading army is beneficial to God himself. How can that be? My understanding is that God is whole and needs nothing. But perhaps he needs us. Perhaps the relationship between God and servant is mutually beneficial. There are so many commandments by God to worship him - he needs the worship of his people. So by saving Judah, he is saving his worshipers and likely gaining new ones by performing this miracle.

I think God needs us just as much as we need him. What a concept...any thoughts on that, dudes?

Galatians 6:1-18
Hey - this is the last chapter in Galatians! Woot! And Paul closes with a great rally cry:

⁹Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

This is what I want to believe Christianity is all about. This is what I want to share about my faith and this is what I am proud of when people ask me about what I believe. I know there is more to it than this though. There are some things about this faith that I'm still not sure about, but for now - it certainly can't hurt to do good to all people. So that's what I'ma do.

Psalm 65:1-13
This reminds me of this sermon. God loves the land he created. He cares for it like a patient gardener.

⁹ You care for the land and water it;
       you enrich it abundantly.
       The streams of God are filled with water
       to provide the people with grain,
       for so you have ordained it.  

Proverbs 23:24
 ²⁴ The father of a righteous man has great joy;
       he who has a wise son delights in him.

Word up homie G's.