Reading from Saturday, October 16

Hey dudes. What's shakin?

Reading for October 16
Jeremiah 28:1-29:32
So finally, I've reached the chunk of text containing my favorite and most often quoted verse. As you may have read, I've been a bit put off by the darkness of the book of Jeremiah. It is almost entirely about God's anger against his people and what punishment he will ultimately unleash on them. So I did a little experiment with myself. I tried not to anticipate the fact that verse 29:11 was coming, and in fact I hadn't even noticed I was reading that verse when I started tonight. 


My theory behind this experiment being to show how we can take verses out of context to mean something different than what they do. After reading all the terrifying images contained in Jeremiah, I had anticipated not even noticing the beautiful verse of hope amongst all the anger. Or at the very least, seeing it with new, knowing eyes that showed the verse for it's true, dark meaning. But quite the opposite happened.


As I read through God's current frustration, this verse popped right off the page. It is a shimmering beacon of hope amongst all the horror. It is reinforcement that God is indeed out for our best interests, even amongst all the pain and awfulness he may bring. Think about our journey through Jeremiah so far - think about how hard and scary it has been. In your mind conjure up that image of this angry God, who is so pissed he can't even seem to decide what punishment he wants to dish out. Do you have the image? OK. Now read this.

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² In those days when you pray, I will listen. ¹³ If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” says the Lord.

Does that hit you with the same punch as it did for me? So while I thought it's significance would be diminished or lost all together, my favorite verse became even more powerful for me within it's proper context. That's pretty awesome.

1 Timothy 1:1-20
New book! 


Paul opens his letter to Timothy with an idea that I think we should all live by: 

 ¹⁵ This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 

As Christians we should always take the path of humility. We shouldn't wear our faith like a badge to beat people over the head with, but rather as a mark of shame. Saying "I am a Christian" should mean "I admit my faults. I am a true screw up, in every sense of the word. But I can have life because Christ loved all of us enough to give us that." Saying "I am a Christian" should NOT mean "I am better than you, stupid. You're going to hell and I'm not. Idiot!"

Psalm 86:1-17

 ¹⁵ But you, O Lord,

      are a God of compassion and mercy,

   slow to get angry

      and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

 ¹⁶ Look down and have mercy on me.

      Give your strength to your servant;

      save me, the son of your servant.

I wonder, this God who is supposedly "slow to anger" is mentioned a lot, particularly in the psalms. Is this merely flattering language to make God do what these people want, or is it a truth about him. The evidence of the Old Testament shows that he is usually fairly quick to anger. Maybe it is misreported or misinterepreted - we often don't read about times when God restrained himself - but it doesn't jive with what is written. In my own life I can admit to have experienced God's patience with me, but I'm still not convinced OT God and 2010 God are the same dudes. 

Proverbs 25:17
More straight up talk from Solomon:

¹⁷ Don’t visit your neighbors too often,

      or you will wear out your welcome.

Peace out, friends.