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