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.