Reading from Wednesday, November 17

Hey. Past couple days have been absolutely nutso with work. 16 hour day yesterday.

Reading for November 17
Ezekiel 35:1-36:38
This is really neat. God begins talking directly to Israel. Not the people, but the actual physical land of Israel.

⁹ I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, ¹⁰ and I will cause many people to live on you—yes, all of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. ¹¹¹² I will cause people, my people Israel, to live on you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance; you will never again deprive them of their children.

I will increase the number of people and animals living on you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you as in the past and will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

James 1:1-18
Before I started this project, James had been my favorite book of the Bible. I'm not sure why, I just liked the way it was delivered and written. I tried to memorize the first few verses about a year ago - let's see if I still got it:


Consider it pure joy, brothers when you face trials of many kinds. For we know that through trials you will gain perseverance, and through perseverance, something...ah I lost it...let's see what it actually is...Hey I was actually pretty close:

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

I think in the back of my mind, this was sort of the reason why I started doing this in the first place and why I like having conversations with people with varying viewpoints: I know it will be a challenge and will test my faith. I think they key to the whole thing though is verse 4 there. By "letting perseverance finish its work in me" I will be moving past what had challenged me and on to a resolution that makes me stronger for having gone through it. I think for me, finishing the Bible and discovering what the big picture really means to me will be moving closer to letting perseverance finish its work in me...

Psalm 116:1-19
 ¹ I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
   he heard my cry for mercy.
² Because he turned his ear to me,
   I will call on him as long as I live.

Would anyone else have a different reason for loving God? The whole relationship between God and man is basically founded on the idea of mercy. God comes into this relationship expecting to forgive, and we, after a while, expect to be forgiven. No human to human relationship could ever thrive with that dynamic. Sorta crazy to think about.

Proverbs 27:23-27
 ²³ Be sure you know the condition of your flocks,
   give careful attention to your herds;
²⁴ for riches do not endure forever,
   and a crown is not secure for all generations.
²⁵ When the hay is removed and new growth appears
   and the grass from the hills is gathered in,
²⁶ the lambs will provide you with clothing,
   and the goats with the price of a field.
²⁷ You will have plenty of goats’ milk to feed your family
   and to nourish your female servants. 

Goodnight.

Reading from Tuesday, November 16

What's goin on, friends?

Reading for November 16
Ezekiel 33:1-34:31
The "CYA" clause of the Bible.

God is speaking to Ezekiel here and he draws a parallel between being a watchman for a city and being a follower of God. He says that if a watchman warns the people that an army is coming but they take no action, their punishment is on their own heads, but if he doesn't warn them and they are killed, then their death is on the watchman's head. God tells Ezekiel that he is the watchman for Israel and he must warn them of their sin. So in essence if Ezekiel warns these people and then dusts off his hands, he's good to go whether or not they listen doesn't matter.

I think this is a dangerous piece of text here. This puts a great deal of power and responsibility and authority on that of Ezekiel, but it could easily be interpreted to mean all Christians. Meaning it is on us to call everyone out on their sins and misdeeds. Then you get things like the Westboro Baptist Church. And that's not good for anyone. God sums it up here, but notice that he specifies that Ezekiel is a prophet and not just your everyday Christian:

³² You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays fine music on an instrument. They hear what you say, but they don’t act on it! ³³ But when all these terrible things happen to them—as they certainly will—then they will know a prophet has been among them.”

My Bible has these little side bar notes every few chapters and one of them points out that Ezekiel 34 is the turning point for the book of Ezekiel. Similar to Jeremiah, the majority of the first half consisted of prophecies of doom while now we're getting into prophecies of peace and love. The chapter opens with Ezekiel hearing news of the destruction of Jerusalem. The text actually marks the date - January 8, 585 BC. This is unique because the dates in the Bible usually go by the Jewish calendar with notations like "In the fifth day of the ninth month". This book uses this notation style very frequently - every time Ezekiel received a new prophecy from God, he noted the day, month and year of the event. Now to switch to the other standard is jarring, and I think intentionally so. It's an important date.

Anyway, in the same way we got that great message of the new covenant from God in Jeremiah, we see a new vision of God as a loving and graceful shepherd here in Ezekiel. An image that carries through quite heavily to Jesus' ministry as he describes his relationship with his people.

¹¹ “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. ¹² I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day. ¹³ I will bring them back home to their own land of Israel from among the peoples and nations. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel and by the rivers and in all the places where people live.

One more thing to note - take a look at that last sentence. "I will feed them on the mountains of Israel and by the rivers and in all the places where people live."

God's love is expanding.


Hebrews 13:1-25
This is an insanely great outro to Hebrews. Paul goes out with some really fantastic things to chew on, but I want to dwell on two specifically.


I was in a band for about ten years. The last few years of our existence, we toured up and down the East Coast trying to make a name for ourselves. We usually booked the shows but didn't book a hotel room for afterwards. Partly because we were cheap, but I think secretly we were testing God's ability to provide what we needed. This one night we played a show in Georgia and we didn't get a great turnout and as we were packing up, we watched as all of our potential places to stay walked out the door. Our merch girl started talking to a couple of high school girls who had been dropped off by their parents and they overheard us talking about needing a place to stay. Well the mom shows up and we can see them asking her if we can stay over there. The mom reluctantly agrees and is insistent that the boys and girls sleep on separate floors. We were more than fine with that since we would have ended up sleeping in the van otherwise.

It turned out to be a fantastic night. The mom made a bonfire and we roasted marshmallows and she taught us all the southern slang. Like how they say "Restrent" instead of "Restaurant". She had cots for all of us and made us breakfast in the morning. As we were getting the van ready to head to the next show, we were thanking her profusely and talking about how she really went above and beyond what was expected of our hosts. She responded by saying that she tries to live her life as a Christian and remembered this line from Hebrews:

² Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!

Now, obviously we aren't angels. But she treated us as if we were, and I think that's the point. Because to us, she was the angel.

-- -- --

The second one I want to point out doesn't have a fun story associated with it, but I think it's an important thing to remember:

⁵ Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,    “I will never fail you.
      I will never abandon you.”^[b]
 6 So we can say with confidence,
   “The Lord is my helper,
      so I will have no fear.
      What can mere people do to me?”

In these days of recession and joblessness, this is harder to believe than ever. But I have always believed that God will provide everything you need to get by. Maybe it will be less than you think you need, but it will be everything you need. Of course the homeless and trodden throw a wrench in that theory...maybe this promise only applies to Americans with a college degree. Sarcasm.

Psalm 115:1-18

 ¹² The Lord remembers us and will bless us.
      He will bless the people of Israel
      and bless the priests, the descendants of Aaron.
 ¹³ He will bless those who fear the Lord,
      both great and lowly.

This plays into the idea of God providing what is needed. 

Proverbs 27:21-22
 ²¹ Fire tests the purity of silver and gold,
      but a person is tested by being praised.^[a]
 22 You cannot separate fools from their foolishness,
      even though you grind them like grain with mortar and pestle.

I'm trying to figure out what verse 21 means. Does he mean that the heart of a person is shown when they are praised? Like how they react to praise reveals who they really are? I'm not sure...

Reading from Monday, November 15

Hey gang.

Reading for November 15
Ezekiel 31:1-32:32
So this whole first chapter is about the nation of Assyria. God compares it to a tree and marvels at how it once was a mighty and powerful Cedar which provided shade and water to all the other nations. After scratching my head about how Assyria played into Biblical history, I did a little Google search. Way back in 2 Kings, there was a raid on Jerusalem by the Assyrians. This is the one (I think) where they were all camped outside the walls and about to come in and destroy everything the next day, but when the Jews woke up they found all the Assyrian army dead.

This is certainly reminiscent of the Babylonian attack on Jerusalem, the only difference being that Babylon succeeded where Assyria failed. What does that say about God and the Jews? To me it says that when the Assyrians attacked Jerusalem, God was still patient with his people. The nation had just started to get its foothold, and he didn't want to see that taken away so quickly and ruthlessly. But then fast forward a few hundred years, and God's patience had run thin. He allowed Babylon to overthrow his city and give his people over to another nation.

I know I'm way off topic at this point, but since the destruction of Jerusalem is a fairly meaty topic in the Bible, I think it's worth investigating. So here's what I think is interesting: God is very concerned with his own image - he's got a rep to maintain, right? He's constantly saying things like "So you will know that I am the LORD" and "For my own sake I will..." and I think doing things like wiping out an entire army of thousands of soldiers and parting the Red Sea certainly proved his power and authority, but also his devout love and protective attitude toward Israel. So why fail them when the Babylonians attacked? Well, someone who is powerful can sometimes appear even more powerful when that power is taken away. Think of a mother and son. The mother constantly cooks, cleans and organizes for her son. What if one day, she just stopped doing those things. Would the son know how to take care of himself? Probably not. Would he gain a new found appreciation for the power and skill and work his mother has? Absolutely.

Hebrews 12:14-29

¹⁴ Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

As is my MO, I will always highlight verses that showcase the inclusive, forgiving elements of Christianity. Such is the case here with this verse. But as you may know, I've been consciously avoiding the use of Christianese, and there is a bad case of that here as well. "Be holy".  What in the world does that mean? At first glance, it appears to be an impossible challenge. Holy means divine, no? Like wouldn't that be like asking me to "Be God"? Well, again I did a little research and one of the definitions of holy is as follows:

devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity 

Now, is this not the calling of every Christian? To be completely and wholly (not holy) devoted to the God who came to save us?

That's pretty neat, hey?

Psalm 113:1-114:8
Another nature/God combo deal

⁷ Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord,
   at the presence of the God of Jacob,
⁸ who turned the rock into a pool,
   the hard rock into springs of water.

Proverbs 27:18-20
 ¹⁸ The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit,
   and whoever protects their master will be honored.
 ¹⁹ As water reflects the face,
   so one’s life reflects the heart.^[a]
 20 Death and Destruction^[b] are never satisfied,
   and neither are human eyes. 

Verse 20 is a good one. I should commit it to memory.

Reading from Sunday, November 14

This post created in MS Word – no internet connection at Nance’s house.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.

Reading for November 14

Ezekiel 29:1 – 30:26

So as Ezekiel continues to call out each nation that will be punished by God, he gets to Egypt. Now based on my feeble understanding of history, Egypt was about as powerful then as the US is now. Additionally, Egypt were allies to Israel in many battles – so Ezekiel calling them out is a pretty ballsy move. But apparently when the Babylonians executed their attack that ultimately destroyed Jerusalem, the Egyptian army was nowhere to be seen. So I’m not sure if that’s why Egypt is being punished or if its because of their worship of other gods, but if its because of them not showing up, that’s somewhat unfair because God planned for that to happen in just that way. Again using the little kid analogy, it would be like a parent specifically not inviting Billy to their son’s birthday party and then calling Billy’s parents to ask why he didn’t show up.

Hebrews 11:32-12:13

Speaking of punishment, Paul here talks about the idea of why we should consider Godly punishment to be a good thing:

Endure hardships as discipline; God is treating you as sons…No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

That’s sort of how I’ve justified God’s anger and punishment since the beginning, I’m not sure if that’s valid or not in my mind…

Psalm 112:1-10

“Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.”

Proverbs 27:17

Apparently I copied the wrong verse selection here and I’m too tired to go back and fix it…goodnight.

Reading from Saturday, November 13

This post created in MS Word – no internet connection at Nance’s house.

Another day at the in-laws house, another collection of ridiculous stories.

Reading for November 13

Ezekiel 27:1 – 28:26

There is an incredible retelling of the Creation of man in this chapter and an extremely condensed version of this history of sin. Starting in 28:12 –

“You were a model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adored you…You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness found you…”

It’s just such a great reminder of how this all came to be and why there was this tension between God and man for so long.

Hebrews 11:17-31

Paul is still discussing the virtues and benefits of faith here when he touches on Abraham again. Remember that story of God asking Abe to sacrifice his only son simply because God said so?

I remember the first time I read that, I was immediately struck by the similarities  between Isaac and Abraham and Jesus and God. I always thought that God asked Abraham to kill his own son, so God could “test the waters” of child murder. Kinda crazy to think about, no?

Psalm 110:1-7

I’m getting really tired, but this one appears to be a premonition of the destruction of Jerusalem. Just read it again – there’s nothing in there that’s even close to meeting that description.  

Proverbs 27:15-16

As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens the other.

Reading from Friday, November 12

This post created in MS Word – no internet connection at Nance’s house.

Howdy folks. I’m down here at Jill’s mom’s house for Thanksgiving. So the next few posts are gonna be done on Word, and I’m reading from an actual Bible, not online, so the quoted material may see a decrease..

When you say “Thanksgiving” where do you put the emphasis? I like to say “THANKSgiving” but I know most people say “thanksGIVing”. Jill thinks it’s something I inherited from my parents, but I actually started saying it that way on purpose cuz its weird.

Reading for November 12

Ezekiel 24:1 – 26:21

This reading opens with another analogy. God compares Israel to a cooking pot that has been used for years and years, but never cleaned. To the point where there is a heavy build up of crust on the inside of the pot and it cannot be removed by conventional methods. Only when you hold it to an extremely hot fire will the crust begin to loosen so in the same way, Israel has a buildup of sin that doesn’t seem to be able to be removed any other way than to “hold them to the fire” so to speak.

Chapters 25 and 26 are all about other nations that will feel God’s wrath. I think it’s a little annoying that the other nations are subject to God’s judgment for not following him, but are not privy to the grace and gifts he bestows upon Israel.

Hebrews 11:1-16

11:1 – “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Recently, I’ve been considering my belief in God.  As of right now, my stance is this:

I am not fully convinced that there is or is not a God that exists in the sense that he is “up there” somewhere. I would love undeniable evidence in my own life that would convince me to fully believe, but as of know I’m an agnostic Christian. But even if I decide at the end that I can’t believe that God exists, I would still like to practice what the Bible preaches and try to live my life as best as possible. It would just make praying a bit awkward…

But this verse above really makes me want to have a strong faith in every sense of the word. “Certain of what we do not see…” “Certain” – that’s where I have trouble, but I would love to be certain of God. I’m just not there yet.

Psalm 110:1-7

This one is weird and there’s not too much to gleam from it. Next.

Proverbs 27:14

 If a man loudly blesses his neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.

OK, so goodnight.

Reading from Thursday, November 11

Yeah yeah, son.

Reading for November 11
Ezekiel 23:1-49
God again pulls out the prostitute comparison. He compares the ways of Israel to the ways of a prostitute who turned her back on God. When God begins to explain the parable, he gets into what is making him so mad. This has been mentioned a lot in the Bible, but I haven't really gotten into it much: it seems that the religion that the Israelites turned to is one that requires the sacrifice of their own children to the idols. I think we can all get behind God's righteous anger caused by people killing their own kids, but I still wonder about the motivation behind the anger.

Even though he mentions this child murder aspect of the other religion a good number of times, I can't help but wonder if he's exploiting that fact to make it seem like his anger is righteous. God doesn't want us worshiping anything besides him - even if its a God that exclusively gives homeless people free food for life, he doesn't want us anywhere near anything else. So while it's obviously awful that people are killing their kids, I think God is just pointing out one really bad thing about one specific religion and using that to convince people that every other religion is wrong and nasty.

What are your thoughts on this?

Hebrews 10:18-39
This is one of those great little nuggest of the Bible that just makes me happy to be a Christian

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.

I like the idea of not only doing good ourselves, but also thinking about what we can do to encourage each other into committing acts of love and goodness. What are some good ways to encourage one another toward love and good deeds? Let's get a dialogue going. 

Psalm 109:1-31
Ah, David. Remember him? He was the best. He's got some beef with someone and he really lets all his feeling out about this guy.

⁶ Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy;
   let an accuser stand at his right hand.
⁹ May his children be fatherless
   and his wife a widow. 

¹² May no one extend kindness to him
   or take pity on his fatherless children.

It's funny - that kinda sounds like Job...

Proverbs 27:13
 ¹³ Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
   hold it in pledge if it is done for an outsider.

Reading from Wednesday, November 10

Hey gang.

Reading for November 10
Ezekiel 21:1-22:31
Wow. This is pretty funny. God is talking about the impending attack from the Babylonians on Jerusalem and how terrifying it will be. Here's how he describes it:

 ⁶ “Therefore groan, son of man! Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief. ⁷ And when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every leg will be wet with urine.’ It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

God himself said it's gonna be so scary you gon' pee yo pants! Just one of those things you don't expect to see in the Bible. 

Hebrews 10:1-17
This is a pretty cool interpretation of the idea of animal sacrifices in the OT.

³ But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. ⁴ It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
 ⁵ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
   “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
   but a body you prepared for me;

Basically what he's saying is that the animal sacrifices never actually did anything to take away sins but were meant to serve as reminders of sins. It's kinda the same way that asking for forgiveness from sins doesn't actually take away your sins - you are already forgiven. But you are encouraged to pray for forgiveness to remind you of this thing that is hurting you. Like if you hurt your friend and you knew he would eventually forgive you, but never acknowledged that you screwed up, there would always be that tension there. 

Psalm 108:1-13
This is a song

⁴ For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
   your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
   let your glory be over all the earth.

Proverbs 27:12
 ¹² The prudent see danger and take refuge,
   but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. 

Reading from Tuesday, November 9

What what.

Reading for November 9
Ezekiel 20:1-49
So a few dudes come to Ezekiel to "inquire of the Lord" which I would assume means "ask him something" but God refuses in a fairly juvenile freakout. He gets all like "you can't ask me anything because your forefathers were so awful!" But just in the last chapter, God was saying how each person is accountable for his own sins and that the sins of a father will not be passed down to the son. And while these poor inquisitive dudes certainly aren't being punished, they are definitely getting and earful from God. I could just imagine that they wanted to ask if it was gonna rain tomorrow because they had a big kickball game scheduled.

Hebrews 9:11-28

But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸ so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

In this reading, Paul is talking about the idea of an inhertance or will only being active once someone has died. Even in the first covenant God had with the people, there were animal sacrifices made to make it official. What Jesus was was a kind of once and for all sacrifice that ended the need for any other sacrifice. 

Psalm 107:1-43
God sees us through the storm. (Sorry that's totally corny and cliche)

²⁸ Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
   and he brought them out of their distress.
²⁹ He stilled the storm to a whisper;
   the waves of the sea^[b] were hushed.
³⁰ They were glad when it grew calm,
   and he guided them to their desired haven.
³¹ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
   and his wonderful deeds for mankind.

Proverbs 27:11
 ¹¹ Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart;
   then I can answer anyone who treats me with contempt. 

Sweet cuppin cakes.

Reading from Monday, November 8

Well I didn't get as far as I wanted to today. Only my second post and I'm probably hittin the hay after this one...

Reading for November 8

Ezekiel 18:1-19:14This passage shifts the focus from God laying out the punishment on Israel to laying out the punishment on individuals. Saying basically that people who are awful will be punished and people who are good will not be punished. But then there's a third category - people who used to be bad but now they're good. That reads like this:

²¹ “But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. ²² None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. ²³ Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

A couple things to note in this selection:

1. It appears that, despite it seeming to be the contrary, God does not take pleasure in killing people - even wicked people. He would much rather see them turn their lives around and prosper. 
2. "Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live" This sentence becomes very interesting when thinking about it in the context of Paul's main message of faith vs. works. God is laying out a plan here that rewards people purely based on works and not on faith. And this is kind of the general idea that non-religious people have about God and the afterlife.
   
   "I'm a good person, I've never killed anyone...I should probably get into heaven if there is such a place." I've heard that statement so many times, and while I do believe that there's more to it than that, I wouldn't blame someone for having that viewpoint. It's so ingrained in the fabric of the relationship between God and man in the Old Testament that it's not surprising that its a view of God that has stood the test of time. 

Then he kinda sums it all up here.

 ³⁰ “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. ³¹ Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

Hebrews 9:1-10
A retelling of the history of the tabernacle and how the priests worked within the system. Very boring.

Psalm 106:32-48
Another recount of the history of the people of Israel. This section again shows the angry yet redemptive side of God:

⁴⁰ Therefore the LORD was angry with his people
   and abhorred his inheritance.
⁴¹ He gave them into the hands of the nations,
   and their foes ruled over them.
⁴² Their enemies oppressed them
   and subjected them to their power.
⁴³ Many times he delivered them,
   but they were bent on rebellion
   and they wasted away in their sin.
⁴⁴ Yet he took note of their distress
   when he heard their cry;
⁴⁵ for their sake he remembered his covenant
   and out of his great love he relented.
⁴⁶ He caused all who held them captive
   to show them mercy.

In this last month and a half I feel like I'm really starting to grasp who God is. I am starting to be able to predict what he will do before I read it. It's like coming home from hanging out with an acquaintance who you finally feel like has become a friend.

Proverbs 27:10
 ¹⁰ Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family,
   and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you—
   better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away. 

Well, I feel like I got one more in me. Let's do it.

Reading from Sunday, November 7

Hey kids. How ya doin? I have some free time so I'm gonna try to catch up a little on this thing.

Reading for November 7
Ezekiel 16:42-17:24
This reading focuses again on the destruction of Jerusalem and why its being destroyed. God compares Israel to a vine which he planted in the most fertile soil and watered and helped it grow, but it ended up withering and dying. Instead of getting into the nitty gritty of this reading, I want to address a thought I had earlier today.

We often hear "If God is a God of love, why does he hurt people?" I think what's wrong about that question is the understanding of the word "love". The first thought that pops to mind for most people would be a tender, caring relationship with no controversy or hardship. But think about someone you love, a spouse, girlfriend or boyfriend, parent or sibling, you love them, but are things always easy and nice? Probably not. I think the comparison is most accurate when looking at the love of a parent for a child. A good parent will not let the children get away with things that will hurt them. You punish them only so they learn not to do those things which may harm them in the future. I know I've made this comparison many times before, but I think its important to think about.

The other type of love that makes a good comparison is romantic love. Love that makes you jealous when the object of your affection spends time with someone else. Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever done something drastic or foolish to try to reclaim your love? In the same way, we sometimes see God simply "react" to Israel's infidelity. It's not because he's vengeful or evil or even bad, he's head over heels in love with us. So he is indeed a God of love, but he is subject to the same pitfalls of love that humans are.

Hebrews 8:1-13

⁷ For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.

Paul quotes Jeremiah here. That section I read a couple months back that made me so happy to be a Christian is referenced here in Hebrews. It's important to remember that the fault of the dissolving of the first covenant was no one's fault but our own. Humans are incapable of sustaining that level of goodness and righteousness for very long. And yet, because of our failure we ended up with a better deal than before. It's not very often that you default on a contract and a new one is drawn up that gives you all the advantages.

Psalm 106:13-31
There are a few major acts of God's wrath in the Bible.

1. The flood which killed everything on Earth
2. The crucifixion
3. The destruction of Jerusalem which we're currently studying 

And one more, but it was stopped by a man. Crazy to think about but back in Exodus, when the Israelites turned away from worshiping God and started worshiping the golden calf, God's anger reached the point it had reached centuries later when Jerusalem was leveled. But Moses pleaded with God to not allow his anger to get the better of him. He convinced him to put his anger on hold and spare the people, but if he hadn't, that likely would have been the fourth major act of wrath in the Bible. 

¹⁹ At Horeb they made a calf
   and worshiped an idol cast from metal.
²⁰ They exchanged their glorious God
   for an image of a bull, which eats grass.
²¹ They forgot the God who saved them,
   who had done great things in Egypt,
²² miracles in the land of Ham
   and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
²³ So he said he would destroy them—
   had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him
   to keep his wrath from destroying them.

Proverbs 27:7-9

 ⁷ One who is full loathes honey from the comb,
   but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.
 ⁸ Like a bird that flees its nest
   is anyone who flees from home.
 ⁹ Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,
   and the pleasantness of a friend
   springs from their heartfelt advice.

Bam.

Reading from Saturday, November 6

Today we went on a thrift store tour with our youth group. It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. A bunch of high school and college kids pile into a van and travel out to the middle of PA and rummage through other people's old crap. I got a sweet sweater that has a deer on it. I almost bought a pink cardigan that said "Special Lady" on it, but it also said "my former owner once peed on me" on the sleeve - by the elbow. And by that I mean, I think there was a pee stain on it.

Reading for November 6
Ezekiel 14:12-16:41
God cites a familiar analogy here in comparing Jerusalem to an unfaithful spouse. He compares the initial building and growing of the nation of Israel to that of a single infant - unloved and unwanted, God came by and helped this dying baby to live. As it grew older, God gave it the finest food and clothes and even luxuries like jewelery to really set it apart and special. But time and again this child whom God raised and protected and spoiled to a degree would turn and give the love God deserved to another god or idol.

God repeatedly calls Israel a prostitute, and in a really kind of mean way. Well, not mean, but stern and almost instructing in tone. Here:

³⁵ “‘Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the LORD! ³⁶ This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you poured out your lust and exposed your naked body in your promiscuity with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your children’s blood, ³⁷ therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see you stark naked.

Meaning - all the other nations' gods that Israel ended up worshiping over the years, God would turn those nations against Israel and when Jerusalem is destroyed they will see the Israelites "stark naked" so to speak. To me, I believe he means that as tragedy strikes the true character of a person is revealed.  So they will see their personalities "stark naked" - but still just as shameful, if not more so. Especially if you're a panicky person in tragedy, like me.

Hebrews 7:18-28
Remember back when I started and I was all concerned about the animal sacrifice thing and why Jesus didn't do it and why modern Jews still don't practice it today. Paul sums it up perfectly:

²⁶ Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

Now I'm not sure if this true - I'm kinda back and forth on the divinely perfect nature of Paul's letters. Sometimes I think he's just a really smart and learned Christian with some great ideas and thoughts on God and Jesus, but I just don't know if I take everything he says at his word.

Psalm 106:1-12
This is another historical psalm about the history of the Jews in Egypt and their subsequent escape.

⁸ Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
   to make his mighty power known.

Not for the sake of his people or the world, but for his own sake. This was coming up a lot a couple of months ago, but I still don't like how it sounds. Did he do it so his name would be well known and that's it? Or does he want his name well known because of the gift he is able to offer them? Couldn't tell ya, but it sure comes off as arrogant and childish. 

Proverbs 27:4-6

 ⁴ Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming,
   but who can stand before jealousy?
 ⁵ Better is open rebuke
   than hidden love.
 ⁶ Wounds from a friend can be trusted,
   but an enemy multiplies kisses.

Passing out. Thrifting is tough work. 

Reading from Friday, November 5

I'm so excited. As is the custom in the Murray household, Jilly and I usually can't wait to give each other our Christmas gifts. Well Jilly went super early this year and gave me my present this evening. I'm typing on it right now. It's a glistening new 13" MacBook Pro. Oh yeah. So killer.

Reading for November 5
Ezekiel 12:1-14:11
There is a great deal of talk about destruction in this reading but there is also a great deal of hope. Within the prophecies of doom for Jerusalem, there is also a strong sense of God wanting this to be the lesson that sticks. Wanting this punishment to be the one that really gets through to his people so he and his people can be reunited. It's similar to the send-your-kid-to-boarding-school move. A last ditch effort to set the human race on the right track. And again, it didn't work. The only thing that worked was God himself dying for us.

Hebrews 7:1-17
This reading concerns the idea of becoming a priest back in the OT. Most priests were descendants of the tribe of Levi, but there was also this other dude named Melchizedek who was a priest during Abraham's time and was considered very great in the history of Israel. Paul makes a connection between Melchizedek and Jesus that I don't quite understand and it doesn't feel like it would be super relevant so I'ma skip this one.

Psalm 105:37-45
Ah ah ah...this is glossing over some facts here:

³⁹ He spread out a cloud as a covering,
   and a fire to give light at night.
⁴⁰ They asked, and he brought them quail;
   he fed them well with the bread of heaven.
⁴¹ He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
   it flowed like a river in the desert.

Remember that story from Exodus? God had provided water and manna for the Israelites to eat while they were wandering the desert, but they wanted meat. They complained and complained and God finally gave in and brought forth hundreds and thousands of quail for them to eat, but everyone who even touched it to their lips was struck dead with a plague. You can reread that post here.

Proverbs 27:3
 ³ Stone is heavy and sand a burden,
   but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

Yes yes.

Reading from Thursday, November 4

Yo yo, sons. What's the wordy word in the happy haps?

Reading for November 3
Ezekiel 10:1-11:25
Before I get into this reading, I want to go back to the idea of Israel's ultimate destruction which we read about last night. Ever since the Israelites took over the land of Jericho, they have more or less been displeasing to God. And while God obviously did some despicable things to both Israel and the surrounding nations, they were what I would call "one offs". They were single isolated occurrences of punishment on his people for specific wrongdoings. Now, after centuries of infidelity, God finally had enough. There was no other way to get the message through to his people than to utterly destroy them by sending the Babylonians to their doorstep. 

But even in the pinnacle of his anger and vengeance, he still desperately wants this relationship with his people. This is where crazy poo-eating, mushroom taking Ezekiel comes in. God puts upon him the task of restoring the people of Israel to the good graces of their God. Maybe that's why he is so privy to these insane visions of God - God had to show himself to someone to get a big enough motivational fire under them to go out and proclaim that God was still there and still desired a relationship with his people, even after the destruction of the land which bared his name. 


OK onto this reading - Ezekiel is back to his crazy hallucinations of Godly possession of objects. In Chapter 10, he talks about the cherubim that reside in the Temple of God in Jerusalem. Cherubim are those creepy little angel statues that you see on churches, and sometimes as a fountain - peeing out of their little wieners. 

These temple cherubim did not look like the image above though. They looked like this: 

 ⁹ I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like topaz. ¹⁰ As for their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel. ¹¹ As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the cherubim faced; the wheels did not turn about^[b] as the cherubim went. The cherubim went in whatever direction the head faced, without turning as they went. ¹² Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels. ¹³ I heard the wheels being called “the whirling wheels.” ¹⁴ Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

Very similar to the image of God with the four faces - and equally as terrifying with the whirling wheels of eyes and death connected to them. There is no lesson to be had in Ezekiel's vision of the Cherubim of death, at least not one that I can see. He's just sort of conveying what he had seen. 

-- -- --

Chapter 11 though gets back to God's promise to restore Israel with its people. God is telling Ezekiel what to say when he goes out and prophesies among the people, here's the gist of what he asks of old Zeke:

 ¹⁶ “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’

 ¹⁷ “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’

 ¹⁸ “They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. ¹⁹ I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. ²⁰ Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹ But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

Verse 20 is a repeat of something we saw back in Jeremiah I believe. When God is giving the promise of the new covenant to his people, I remember that phrase being there. Other than that, this seems to serve as an apology to his people. It's fair to say that God had no other choice to get Israel's attention, but I'm sure it pained him to do so...

Hebrews 6:1-20

¹⁰ God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. ¹¹ We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. ¹² We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

At first, this seems like Paul is going back on his idea of Faith vs. Works. God not forgetting good you've done in his name is clearly a reward for specific works. But then he clarifies it here in verse 12: "...to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised" He is referring to Abraham there who in Genesis received and believed a promise from God that he would be the father of a great nation, even though he was childless at a very old age. 

Psalm 105:16-36
This is kind of a brief history of Israel - specifically the events of Exodus and the first Passover. Nothing too great in terms of take away, but its a good thing to remember as Israel's history is founded on those turbulent years. 

Proverbs 27:1-2

 ¹ Do not boast about tomorrow,
   for you do not know what a day may bring.
 ² Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth;
   an outsider, and not your own lips.

Yeah - stop bragging ya jerk. 

Reading from Wednesday, November 3

What up, sons? Who's ready for some more freaky poop-eating Ezekiel? I am.

Reading for November 3
Ezekiel 7:1-9:11
So this one isn't as strange and actually fits in with a lot of what Jeremiah prophesied about. The entirety of chapter 7 is about God's impending destruction on Israel, apparently from the Babylonians. But he is freaking ruthless about it. Not only does he guide the Babylonians in the right direction but he gives them specific instructions to do awful things to the land and to the people:

“Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. ⁶ Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple.  ⁷ Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city.

The mark on their head was similar to the Passover where the Israelites smeared the lamb's blood over their door to protect them from the angel of death. But here, God is using a group of people to just kill everything that doesn't have the mark. I can see the logic behind God's methods - weeding out the pieces of the engine that are causing trouble for the other pieces - but these are human lives we're talking about. As someone who had a recent death in my family, I can tell you that losing a grandfather to old age is hard. To see someone you love get decapitated or blugeoned by a being in the sky that is supposedly your God, well I imagine that's just a little bit harder. 

Hebrews 5:1-14
So remember back in Exodus when Aaron became the high priest over the people of Israel? Well Paul is making a connection between Jesus and the role of high priest. Apparently he fulfilled all the requirements of that role but he didn't take the glory and pride that comes with such an esteemed position. And while it's not a news flash that Jesus was humble, it's still a cool concept to think about.

Psalm 105:1-15
This talks about another one of God's promises - that the Israelites would inherit the land of Canaan. The writer here gives an illustration of how they were protected in the "early years"

¹² When they were but few in number,
   few indeed, and strangers in it,
¹³ they wandered from nation to nation,
   from one kingdom to another.
¹⁴ He allowed no one to oppress them;
   for their sake he rebuked kings:
¹⁵ “Do not touch my anointed ones;
   do my prophets no harm.”

Gives you a little insight as to how a violently aggressive God behaved against those who threatened his people.  It puts a frame on the actions he carried out in Egypt, but it's something. It's also interesting to note that here in Psalm, God is talking about how he will defend Israel, and in Ezekiel he is crawling up the walls to get them out of his face for a while...

Proverbs 26:28

²⁸ A lying tongue hates those it hurts,
   and a flattering mouth works ruin. 

My flattering mouth is time for sleep. Goodnight.

:Reading from Tuesday, November 2

Hey hey kids. What's goin on? So for the past few months we've been looking for a new place to live. Our lease is up at the end of the year and trying to find an apartment complex that allows dogs and is affordable and is close to work is fairly difficult.

Well we finally found a place and we just got approved today and it's incredible. Let me just say one thing about it: on site movie theatre. I didn't even see what the apartment looked like - I was sold from that point on. So we're moving in mid December and should hopefully be all set up by the time the new year rolls around. Exciting times.

Reading for November 2
Ezekiel 3:16-6:14
This book gets stranger and stranger. There's a section in this reading where God commands Ezekiel to construct a clay model of the city of Jerusalem, and then to lay on his side and stare at it for a year. A YEAR! Then he has to do it for another month and half on his other side. God tells Ezekiel what he should eat and gives him a recipe for a specific meal that he is supposed to eat at set times during the day. But how is he to cook it? God suggests that Ezekiel use burning human poop to heat it up. Ezekiel objects to this - who knows why - so God relents and says "OK, you have a point, that's pretty gross. You can use cow poop if you'd like."

How about this. How about no one uses poop to cook anything ever. How about we make that a commandment.

Hebrews 4:1-16
This is something that is fairly commonly known among Christians, but I think it's a good thing to reinforce. 

 ¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,^[f] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Jesus was tempted in every way possible so he knows what it was like to come face to face with our human weaknesses. The fact that he did not give in to those temptations is what should give us resolve to be better people. Sure he was God, but he was also human - we cannot be perfect like he was perfect, but we can sure try. 

Psalm 104:24-35
I'm always a big fan of the interplay between God and nature and this is about as beautiful an image as you could conjure.

²⁷ All creatures look to you
   to give them their food at the proper time.
²⁸ When you give it to them,
   they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
   they are satisfied with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face,
   they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
   they die and return to the dust.
³⁰ When you send your Spirit,
   they are created,
   and you renew the face of the ground.

The idea of God taking away breath to end life and sending his spirit to create life is awesome. It makes the whole lifecycle of things seem so peaceful - as if God was conducting an orchestra of intricacies of life on Earth. 

Proverbs 26:27
²⁷ Whoever digs a pit will fall into it;
   if someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them.

I dug a small hole last week to plant a flower...and sure enough I fell into it. I also dropped a 50 pound tripod on my toe and shaved off a chunk of thumb skin from a handtruck that collapsed unexpectedly. I'm sure that's what Solomon meant though...
 

Reading from Monday, November 1

Oof. Rough day. Insanely long day at work and then Jilly called from home telling me that the carbon monoxide alarm going off. Fire department came, the whole deal - it was a dead battery. Then the very, very angry building maintenance guy came and replaced the alarm. It's just...been a long day.

Reading for November 1
Ezekiel 1:1-3:15
Wow. This is the most strange and unique opening to a book in the Bible as I've ever seen. It is written from the first person perspective, which is rare to begin with, but Ezekiel describes a vision of God in unprecedented detail. It's so shocking and weird that many people believe that what Ezekiel actually saw was a UFO. I mean this is just an excerpt of an entire chapter of this stuff:

¹⁰ Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle.

I will say this: if that's what God looks like, that is freaking terrifying. I believe this is the first chronological vision of God where he didn't appear in some Earthly shape like a burning bush or a cloud or a pillar of fire. He appeared as a giant flying Manlionoxeagle - or maybe God is actually Manbearpig. 

The rest of this reading is about how Ezekiel was called to be a prophet. After seeing this vision of God, he spoke to Ezekiel and told him he wished for him to be a prophet for him and to lead the Israelites in the right direction. He also asked him to eat a scroll. It's really, REALLY weird. Read it. It's crazy.

Hebrews 3:1-19
This one runs the risk of losing its meaning because of a heavy amount of "Christianese" but it's still a good thing to think on:

¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

Allow me to try and translate that into normal English.

"Hey guys, you should really try to keep your faith in God and don't let your vices get the best of you. Instead, help each other out every day so that you don't end up jaded by the fact that your vices can make things end badly for you, cuz you know what you're getting into..."

Psalm 104:1-23
Interesting. This sounds very similar to the vision of God that Ezekiel saw...

² The LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment;
   he stretches out the heavens like a tent
 ³ and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
   and rides on the wings of the wind.
⁴ He makes winds his messengers,^[a]
   flames of fire his servants.

Proverbs 26:24-26
²⁴ Enemies disguise themselves with their lips,
   but in their hearts they harbor deceit.
²⁵ Though their speech is charming, do not believe them,
   for seven abominations fill their hearts.
²⁶ Their malice may be concealed by deception,
   but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

Alright, kids. Have a good night. 

Reading from Sunday, October 31

As I pull into the home stretch of the Bible in a year, I've started thinking about my overall journey so far. I went through a bunch of my old posts last night. I wanted to see if there had been any noticeable change in my outlook on life or faith in general. The overall feeling I got when going back was that I was much more motivated at the beginning. I wrote a summary of every book I finished, I opened every post with a little anecdote, I prayed at the end of each post - and then looking at my more recent posts, it just seems like I'm trying to get through it as quickly as possible. And in some ways that's true - I am working two weeks behind, but I still try to put my heart into each post, even if it doesn't seem like it. I also have the other game blog now, so my attention is divided.

I definitely want to finish strong. I think what I'll do is once December hits, I will put the game blog on hiatus and really focus on finishing this thing. Not only on time, but with my whole heart behind it. After I finish, I also plan on writing a few additional posts summarizing the whole thing. If you guys have any questions for me or ideas on what you would like to see in the summaries, please, please let me know.

Reading for October 31
Lamentations 4:1-5:22
This is the final section of Lamentations.

Holy crap - this is insane. This is what happened after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem?!

 ¹⁰ With their own hands compassionate women
   have cooked their own children,
who became their food
   when my people were destroyed.
 ¹¹ The LORD has given full vent to his wrath;
   he has poured out his fierce anger.
He kindled a fire in Zion
   that consumed her foundations.

The idea here of God giving "full vent to his wrath" is a meaty image in my mind. God turning his wrath-o-tron  up to 11 and just unleashing on his people. Again, I find it strange that the entire book of Jeremiah was about how God was going to punish every other nation, especially Babylon, only to lead Babylon to triumph over Israel and burn their capitol city to the ground. Maybe the punishment God promised to bring on Babylon is retribution for their attack on Israel? But all those promises happened before Jerusalem was destroyed. Meaning this is another "God knows better, but he's gonna do it anyway" scenario. In the same way God "hardened Pharaoh's heart" back in Exodus, God led the Babylonians to victory over Israel, so he could carry out a divine punishment on them. Why not stop the attack and punish no one. That would be a like a parent bringing their kid to a strip club and then grounding them for a month for going to a strip club. I don't get it.


Then the conclusion of Lamentations ends with uncertainty:

¹⁹ You, LORD, reign forever;
   your throne endures from generation to generation.
²⁰ Why do you always forget us?
   Why do you forsake us so long?
²¹ Restore us to yourself, LORD, that we may return;
   renew our days as of old
²² unless you have utterly rejected us
   and are angry with us beyond measure.

This is a very "psalmy" idea, but that doesn't make it any less relevant, even to us today. Where is God? A question that I'm sure every Christian has asked of themselves, or of the unresponsive sky above. God, for everything the Bible claims he is, is mysteriously silent and invisible. It is very easy to question and doubt when you have a belief in something so intangible.

I wish I had a strong follow up saying "even though it's tough, it's worth it - and at times I can guarantee that God is in the room with me" but I can't say that. God is a tough thing to believe in. It takes a lot of faith and patience to keep it going, especially when you know all the terrible things he did in the Old Testament.

Hebrews 2:1-18
I'm getting real sleepy.

  In putting everything under [humans],^[d] God left nothing that is not subject to them.^[e] Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them.^{[f] 9} But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

It's crazy to think that Jesus went from being God - this indescribable being of awesome power - to being a dude. In one way, I think most people would think that would be awful, but I think Jesus enjoyed it. How often have you wished you were a bird or a dog - just for a little while. I think to Jesus it was not only unique and interesting, but the whole point of God coming to earth in human form was to understand the humans. To be our fellow man for a little while to see why it was so hard for us to keep God's commandment. And got felt every temptation and awful sadness that every person on earth feels from time to time.

Psalm 103:1-22
This sounds like an abused spouse making excuses for their significant other.

⁹ He will not always accuse,
   nor will he harbor his anger forever;
¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve
   or repay us according to our iniquities.

"Yeah, he killed all those people over there, but he's not always like that. He's really sweet when you get to know him."

Proverbs 26:23
  ²³ Like a coating of silver dross on earthenware
   are fervent^[a] lips with an evil heart.

sO SLEEPYXXWWDV

Reading from Saturday, October 30

What it is, ya'll? What it is?

Reading for October 30
Lamentations 3:1-66
There is some awful stuff in this chapter. I get the same feeling reading this as I did reading Job. Here are a few things which the author attributes to God's doing:

 like a lion in hiding,
¹¹ he dragged me from the path and mangled me
   and left me without help.

¹⁶ He has broken my teeth with gravel;
   he has trampled me in the dust. 

Now obviously these are metaphors - I don't think that God hides in alleyways waiting to "mangle" people, but rather this is how the author feels about what he believes God has done to him. I started to think about why something like this would be included in the Bible. Why would the decision makers choose to leave in text that appears so negative against God? Well, a couple things. First, I thought that it is good to see that as we suffer through life's trials, our forefathers suffered in the same way, felt the same pains, experienced the same hardships and betrayals of a normal life. And that through all that, they still had faith. The other answer was presented to me just a few verses later:

²¹ Yet this I call to mind
   and therefore I have hope:  ²² Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
   for his compassions never fail.

 ³¹ For no one is cast off
   by the Lord forever.
³² Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
   so great is his unfailing love.
³³ For he does not willingly bring affliction
   or grief to anyone. 

Verse 33, if taken at its word, is a key component to the problem of suffering. It doesn't answer the question of why bad things happen when there is a good God around, but it at least says that he doesn't want bad things to happen.

Hebrews 1:1-14
Hey another new book.

Jesus defined:

³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. 

I have gone back and forth on the two God theory - that being the idea that the God of the OT and the God of the NT were completely different. Many people said that Jesus should be the way to think about God and I thought that was nice, but I couldn't call it accurate in my mind. I could never imagine Jesus standing idly by as the Israelites slaughtered the women and children of Midian. I couldn't imagine Jesus wiping out every first born male in Egypt just to prove to everyone how awesome and magical he is. I couldn't imagine Jesus opening up the earth and swallowing thousands of people for minor insurrections. And yet the text here suggests that to be the case.

Psalm 102:1-28
Again, we see a very similar affliction with this psalmist:

⁸ All day long my enemies taunt me;
   those who rail against me use my name as a curse.
⁹ For I eat ashes as my food
   and mingle my drink with tears
¹⁰ because of your great wrath,
   for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.

And yet again, we see the same optimistic hope for God's mercy to come through.

 ¹² But you, LORD, sit enthroned forever;
   your renown endures through all generations.
¹³ You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
   for it is time to show favor to her;
   the appointed time has come.

Proverbs 26:21-22
²¹ As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire,
   so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.
²² The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
   they go down to the inmost parts.

Alright, kids. Have a good night.


 

Reading from Friday, October 29

Hey buds.

Reading for October 29
Starting fresh on two new books. I'm excited about Lamentations - it's sort of in that same category as Job and Ecclesiastes.
 
Lamentations 1:1-2:22
So just a little background on this book. It is believed that it was written by Jeremiah during Nebuchadnezzar's attack on Jerusalem. So in this book he is "lamenting" the destruction of this former great city.

So reading this in context really gives it a different feel. I used to read this book because I thought it was "emo" and sad and thought it would help me write better songs. I would try to shoehorn the ideas of a group of people lamenting the loss of their great city into my ideas of being sad about being dumped. Clearly in context, Lamentations is even more powerful. If it actually was written by Jeremiah, it means that the man who had written a fabulously complex book of prophecy and history about God was feeling betrayed by him which would cause him to write something like this:

 ⁵ The Lord is like an enemy;
   he has swallowed up Israel.
He has swallowed up all her palaces
   and destroyed her strongholds.
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation
   for Daughter Judah.

My problem with this idea is that the writers of the Bible assigned every thing that happened to God. Whether its good or bad, God had a hand in it somehow. And its frustrating to read that a group of jerks known as the Babylonians attacked and burned Israel and the Israelites blame God for it. Of course I believe that God can have whatever influence he wants to over the world, but I don't think people should assume he is responsib;e for every single thing that happens. Sometimes people are just buttholes.

Philemon 1:1-25
This book is only the one chapter and its a short one. Basically, Paul reveals that he has a son and asks for Philemon to prepare a place for him. That's pretty much the gist of the book. Why include this in the Bible?

Psalm 101:1-8
I can't tell if this is from God's perspective or David's...

  I hate what faithless people do;
   I will have no part in it.
⁴ The perverse of heart shall be far from me;
   I will have nothing to do with what is evil.

I think its more powerful if its God...

Proverbs 26:20
 ²⁰ Without wood a fire goes out;
   without a gossip a quarrel dies down. 

Yeah.

Reading from Thursday, October 28

What it is, ya'll?

Reading for October 28
Sweet! This reading concludes both Jeremiah and Titus.

Jeremiah 51:54-52:34
This is a rather strange conclusion to the book. The last three or four chapters were exclusively about how Babylon would be utterly destroyed by God. But Jeremiah ends with a story of Babylon taking over Jerusalem and essentially burning the entire city to the ground. So what's the takeaway? I mean historically, Babylon is eventually destroyed, but why build the anticipation of the evil empire being brought to its knees only to conclude with it being even more evil and powerful?

Maybe the original readers of this text were familiar with the fall of Babylon and saw that action as justification for its demise?

All in all, Jeremiah was sort of all over the place. One minute I'm skimming the text because I'm so bored, the next I'm jumping up and down from some beautiful insight I was privy to, the next I'm rereading huge sections because the text is so think and cumbersome. Prophecy, exposition, history - Jeremiah covers the entire spectrum of a Biblical book. In a way, it's sort of every book in the Bible. There are tough sections and beautiful sections. Chapters that are hard to read and chapters that jump off the page and slap you in the face with their beauty. Its certainly a challenge, but so is the Bible.

Jeremiah 29:11 still retains the spot as my favorite verse in the Bible, especially in the context of the surrounding chapters as I discovered in this reading. But there are also a lot of really weird things in this book. Definitely a tough one to digest and by far one of the longer books in the Old Testament. I'm happy to have it behind me.

Titus 3:1-15
This is just a solid piece of Biblical guidance. I really can't lend anything else to it. Read it and enjoy it.

 ¹ Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, ² to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.

 ³ At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. ⁸ This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

 ⁹ But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. ¹⁰ Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. ¹¹ You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.

Psalm 100:1-5
A simple piece of Christian faith

¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
 ² Worship the LORD with gladness;
   come before him with joyful songs.
³ Know that the LORD is God.
   It is he who made us, and we are his^[a];
   we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Proverbs 26:18-19
I never thought I would see the words "maniac shooting flaming arrows of death" in the Bible.

 ¹⁸ Like a maniac shooting
   flaming arrows of death
¹⁹ is one who deceives their neighbor
   and says, “I was only joking!”