Reading for October 6
Jeremiah 6:16-8:7
Again, God is threatening some serious punishment on the Israelites. We are reminded here that Israel have continuously turned toward and then almost always immediately away from God. To put it in perspective, imagine being in a relationship with someone who every month decides to break up with you and then every other month takes you back. But when they break up with you, they do so because they are in love with someone else. Then they find out that the other person is a jerk and then they coming running back to you every time. This would be incredibly frustrating. Eventually your patience would wear out for this relationship, and even though it was very close to happening, God never actually gave up on his people. Instead he did the opposite. He sacrificed everything so he could be with us.
Colossians 2:8-23
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,[b] God made you[c] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sinsNothing too profoundly new here - just a reminder for myself of the impact of Jesus' sacrifice.
Psalm 78:1-31
Hey remember this story?
20 When he struck the rock, water gushed out,
and streams flowed abundantly.
But can he also give us food?
Can he supply meat for his people?"
27 He rained meat down on them like dust,
flying birds like sand on the seashore.
29 They ate till they had more than enough,
for he had given them what they craved.
30 But before they turned from the food they craved,
even while it was still in their mouths,
31 God's anger rose against them;
he put to death the sturdiest among them,
cutting down the young men of Israel.
Proverbs 24:26
26 An honest answer
is like a kiss on the lips.
I gave my wife an honest answer like 20 times today.
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Hey man, I've been thinking a lot about some stuff you've said, and I want to offer my two cents.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, anytime I read the bible I have to remind myself that this was not written for me. God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, may use it to speak to me, but it was not written for me. It was written for either Hebrew speaking Israelite or Greek speaking Christ followers. It was not written for a 21st century twenty something year old post modern Christian.
I also have to remind myself that the bible is a human document, written by humans and put together by humans, yet used by God in ways that God only knows. I don't think that everything in the bible actually happened. Take Jonah or Job for example. I think both of those stories are something like parables. Does that limit the truth within them? I would say no. Do I think that God ordered the mass murder of thousands? No, I don't, but why would an ancient scribe include that purpose? What is the theological/historical purpose to this? What does this then mean about how I am supposed to understand the nature of God? That leads me into my next point.
I think Jesus is the only way that we can know God. There is no other way, for God outside of Christ is unknowable. So, while what is said about God in the Old Testament is very important, it is only important in the sense that it points to Christ, the Son of God incarnate on earth. Everything, I think, points to Christ, including the "Job" moments when God appears unjust. Christ on the cross even asked God, why have you forsaken me? God's ways are not our ways, and we can never understand God. But we can know Christ, and as Christians we are called to stand in the midst of uncertainty and say, Yes, I believe.
Keep up the good work man. I really hope to talk to you indepth about this some day.