Genesis 38

 This chapter is very uncomfortable for multiple reasons. I am going to look at one of them today. In verses 8-10, We see God killing Onan because he refused to get his dead brother's wife pregnant. One might say this is silly for God to do. However, consider what Onan's actions were saying. By refusing to have a child with Tamar, he was saying that he wanted his brother's life to be completely cut off. The people of that time considered the child to be the ongoing life of the parent. By doing this he also refuses to continue his father's life (linage). It was the equivalent of saying, "I would rather our entire family die off than give my brother a child to carry on his name." 

This was done in secret. so other than Tamar, no one would know of his actions. If continued the line of Er could end and everyone believing it was through no action of Onan. By ending Er's lineage, he would be killing his brother and no one would know he committed the crime. God knew and the price for murder is death, thus God killed him. 

So why did God intervene this time when it is sure other times he didn't? My best guess is that because Judah had a destiny in the coming of the Messiah, God intervened. The Messiah's coming was greater than just one man or one family and God stepped in. Even when the man, Judah, and his sons weren't great examples. God's plans were greater than Judah and his sons. God worked things out for his ultimate goal even through this mess.

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Isaiah 18

 The Lord will remain quiet (verse 4), but then God will cut off their plans like a pruner. This reminds me that there are times when it seems God is doing nothing but then he moves and all the plans of his enemies are undone before they have a chance to blossom. Yes, God does at times let the people go forth and do what they want. Yes, God does judge afterward. However, there are times when God stops something before it can develop. We may not see the times God has stopped something but we can know that he does. Was this why he punished Sodom and Gomorrah? I think so, but we can't know because God stopped it without us knowing the why. I believe that in eternity we may learn all the ways God protected Christians, Israel, and possibly all of mankind without us ever knowing it. 

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Job 13

 Job asks his friends in verse 9 if they could deceive God if He examined them. Job is pointing out that though his friends are good at saying how he must be disobeying God that they couldn't stand before God any better. We will see later in the book that this is true. God will examine them and find them wanting. For me, it is a reminder that instead of criticizing others we should focus more on our own lives. Complaining and pointing out how others fail will not erase our sins. It is only when we go to God and let Him examine us can we be made pure. 

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Luke 17

Luke 17:1-4 warns that temptations to sin will come. Things that cause people to fall are bound to take place. However, Jesus makes it clear that we need to be on guard not to be the people that cause this to happen. We shouldn't do things that will draw people to sin, hold on to bitterness, or participate in something wrong. In fact, if we are involved in these things then according to Jesus it may be better to drown yourself. I don't believe that Jesus wants us to commit suicide, what he wants is for us not to be involved in these activities or to repent if we have. 

Along with this warning that the opportunity to sin will come, Jesus also says that we need to help our brothers (and sisters) in Christ who are caught in sin. This includes if he sins against you. "That church did me wrong" may be an accurate saying but the question you need to ask yourself is have you forgiven them? There are sometimes good reasons to move away from a group of people who are in a church to protect yourself from their immaturity (or maybe their hypocrisy) but there is never an excuse to hold on to hard feelings. To quit going to church altogether is like saying a restaurant served you bad food so you will never go out to eat. It's like saying, Walmart did me wrong so I won't shop anywhere again! Jesus warned that things were going to happen. He warned people who did them would be in trouble. He also said when your brother (or sister) in Christ does something to forgive, again and again. 

It would be easy to look at this scripture and say, yes so and so, or that church should listen. However, Scripture isn't there for us to sit in judgment of others, but to have it judge our own hearts. What does this Scripture say to you?

Luke 17:1-4 NIV Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

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Psalm 14

 

The fool has denied God, but according to this Scripture, everyone is messed up. No one is really good. So what hope do we have? Verse seven lays it out, "Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad." What can make things better? When God restores his people. 

The children of Israel thought that this was when God would put a king on the throne and restore their earthly kingdom. However, the salvation that mankind needs isn't an earthly kingdom but the kingdom that Jesus came to establish in the hearts of men. The good news for us is that Salvation has come out of Zion. It came through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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Genesis 37

"We didn't lie?"

The brothers didn't lie to their father. They didn't say that Joseph was dead. They only asked leading questions. Does this mean they are innocent? Absolutely not. They were being deceptive even if they technically didn't lie. 

What they did do was bear a false witness. Their words might not have been a lie but what they were carrying, as it were, was false. 

What does this have to do with us? We have to make sure that we don't try and justify ourselves with half-truths and misrepresentations so we can tell ourselves we are innocent when we aren't. Let's be honest with ourselves, with others, and with God. One day, we are going to stand before God and we won't be able to mislead him or ourselves. Let's practice being honest now.  

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Genesis 36

 

We see in verses 6-7 that the land could not handle the flocks of both Esau and Jacob. Like Abraham and Lot they went separate ways so there wouldn't be problems. We aren't told why Esau left Canaan, but I have to think it had to do with the covenant God made with Abraham that was passed down to Jacob. Whatever the reason we see two groups which could have fought for resources finding a different direction. 

Isaiah 17

"But though they thunder like breakers on a beach, God will silence them, and they will run away. They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind, like a tumbleweed whirling before a storm" (vers 13 NLT). The people may rage and roar but when faced with God they become as nothing. We need to remember this when the voice of the world seems so loud that it wants to deafen us. Right now the words of God's distractors sound loud, however, God's turn is coming, and once he really speaks all other voices will fade. Hold on to the one who will outlast the rest. Hold onto God. 

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Job 12

 Here is my paraphrase of how Job is responding to Zophar. I know God can do what he wants and no matter how powerful someone thinks they are God can bring them low or raise them up. I know this, I'm not as dumb or as clueless as you think I am. But...(that's the next chapter).

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Luke 16

 This parable of the unjust Stewart is one of the harder parables of Jesus to understand. God seems to praise the character of a person who by all other understanding of scripture will stand under God's judgment. So what is going on here? Augustine points out that even the wicked plan ahead when things are looking bad, but there are times when the children of light are really, kind of, clueless (my word not Augustine's). Jesus isn't in favor of cheating. Jesus is in favor of us preparing for what is to come. Jesus wants us to realize the best use of wealth is to make friends but untimely that won't help us. We need to prepare for eternity. As Augustine says, "Would you not insure yourself for eternal life?"(Sermon 359AD).

So how do we prepare? Not by trusting in wealth (verse 13, 25) and not by trusting in yourself (verse 15) but by trusting in the good news of the kingdom (verse 16). If you trust in wealth you will be eternally bankrupt (verses 19-31).

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Psalm 13

 

The psalmist asks "How long must I wrestle with my thoughts." I realize this is often my greatest issue. It isn't as much the words of those around me as the words that come from in me. It is the battle that most of us face, the battle of the mind. The answer is partly found in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. It comes from putting on the mind of Christ and having His spirit change us. It comes from engaging in the Word of God. How long will we wrestle? Maybe until we see Jesus, but we won't have to do it as often if we put His word in our hearts and minds and be led by His Spirit.  

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Genesis 35

"Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob" 

Didn't God already say this? Yes but God is reminding Jacob of it. Perhaps it is because of all that took place that Jacob/Israel didn't take on his new name? We don't know but God is reminding him. God reminds us too. We are broken and messed up people but we are to be called something else. Here is the interesting fact, what you call yourself is what you will become. God knew this and therefore, I think, He reminded Israel/Jacob what he was supposed to be calling himself. By calling himself the Prince of God, it would hope he would start acting like it. 

So what is your name? If you have accepted Jesus it is "Child of God." Let's live into it. 

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Genesis 34

 Why be circumcised? I can understand doing it as an adult to obey God, but just to make a buck? However, this is how Shechem and Hamor convinced their men to join with them in this act. 

The plan was simple. Do this one thing and then absorb Jacob's clan and his wealth into their families by marriage. Theft by marriage, something nobles would do for millennium. When we see this we realize that as horrible as the act of Levi and Simeon was the people they killed weren't innocent either. They were willing to ignore the rape and accept circumcision* just to gain wealth. 

At the end of the chapter, the only innocent person I see here is Dinah.  

*Circumcision was to be an act supposed to symbolize a commitment to God.  As I see it, doing it for their reasons was blasphemous.

Isaiah 16

 "As the Years of a Hireling" (vs 14)

I have had jobs where I worked when I didn't need to. Jobs where I worked because of the mission of the organization. I did it for a reason. I have also worked at jobs where I was just a hireling, a person to only do a job. In these later jobs, it wasn't that I had the attitude of a hireling but my employer looked at me and everyone in their hire as just bodies to do a job. When the end of the day came in the hireling job, I didn't stick around, I took as it were my money and left. God is saying when the time is up for Moab, God is going to say, as it were, I'm out of here just try and do this without me. Unlike, the places I worked, without God's blessing and protection, everything was going to fall apart. 

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Job 11

But sometimes it seems to...

 Zophar here starts off with the assumption that Job is a liar. How did Zophar go from a man who would sit with his friend in mourning to calling him a liar is amazing. However, as we have mentioned before Zophar responded without seeking God and used the wisdom he had obtained. As mentioned before and with this week's reading in Proverbs bears out, Zophar seems right. Most of what Zophar is saying sounds, as if, it was put directly into the book of Proverbs (remember this was written first). We see in Job life lived out in a broken world, in a world where Proverbs fail and good people see bad happen. 

Let's not be quick to judge. 

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Luke 15 The Lost Son

 The parable of the prodigal son is a favorite for most people. The son goes off and lives the worst possible life and then comes home to be welcomed by his father. It is a great story of God's love and redemption. However, here in Luke chapter 15, the story is being told for the sake of the truly lost son. This son was not the prodigal. The prodigal was redeemed and received back into his Father's house. The Lost Son in this story was the older brother.  Jesus was trying to redeem not the prodigals with these parables in Luke 15, he was trying to reach the "obedient" son who chose not to enter his father's house. Jesus was trying to reach him by giving him/them a new perspective on life. Some did get it, but most didn't.

The church is filled with people who want to save the prodigal, but Jesus wants to save the older brother too (non-prodigal/religious).

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Proverbs 3

 At the beginning of chapter three, we see a promise that is repeated through most of Proverbs, that wisdom will give long life. The promise of long life is a feature of wisdom and following God. However, we have the record of Scriptures, history, and life which says this isn't always the case. So what is the deal?

There is a popular song that says, "Only the good die young." I, being a little cynical, want to ask good at what? However, the idea does seem to have a large following, but is it true? First, I think first we do have to answer the question who or what is good? Biblically speaking none of us are truly good, only God is. If you are thinking of good people according to our relative definition then, yes, good people die young.  

So what is the truth? I have to say from my own observations that by in large, those who apply the wisdom of God do live longer and are by average do better. However, we live in a fallen and broken world where bad things happen and selfish people do things that can and do hurt those who are doing right. The principle is true, but the application is often broken when people interfere. The one promise we do have is ultimately God will make all things right. 

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Genesis 33

 Jacob went before his wives and children to meet Esau. However, I am not impressed with the obvious favoritism displayed in the order in which Jacob put his family if Esau had attacked. So like with most of us, we do good but we also fail in other areas. Jacob, like us, is a work in progress. 

Genesis 32

 Ronald Reagan was famous for saying "Trust but verify." This is what I see Jacob doing here. He is trusting God and going forward but he is also verifying that Esau isn't coming with a murderous rage. As I see it God told Jacob to return but God didn't say that he would never face difficulties or loss. Esau is coming out with four hundred men and that doesn't seem like a welcoming party to Jacob or to me either. What was Esau's plan when he loaded up four hundred fighting men? We don't know. Maybe, he knew the dangers of the area and wanted to protect his brother? Maybe his plans didn't include the well-being of Jacob? What I see is Jacob did what he could to prepare for the worst and then trusted God for the rest. This isn't a bad strategy and actually, I think it is a Biblical approach to much of our life. Trust God but prepare.

Side note: Preparing to the point where you are depending on yourself rather than God isn't what I'm talking about.  

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No Post?

 Sorry about no posts this week for the Bible Reflections. I have been sick but will get caught up later. 

Isaiah 15

 

In one night God tells Isaiah that these two cities will be destroyed. Ar may be the old capital and to see it wiped out in one night would be decimating. As it relates to me/us, this is a good reminder that things happen that we may not imagine and we could see everything changed. Three weeks ago a tornado came through and destroyed houses not four blocks from where we lived. It was close. It could have been us. For me, it is a reminder that my confidence needs to always be centered on God, not things that can quickly change. 

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Job 10

 I don't get this, why is this happening God. This is what Job says in this chapter. It is the question that many ask and it is a very real feeling. It doesn't seem strange that God would create us only to let us sin, only to let us fall into judgment. The truth is that for those in pain, the truth of how God responds in the world won't help. Love is what is needed. It is compassion and sympathy, the very things Job's friends at this point won't be giving.  

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Luke 14

 Count the cost.

Things are pretty good for me right now. Far from perfect and financially nowhere near what is recommended for having at my age for retirement, but still, it's okay. For me, ministry has never been a way to get wealth or to get ahead as most, no, all of my moves further into ministry have cost me financially. That being said, compared to other people I feel mostly secure. The danger for me and maybe for you is that when you are in a place like this are you willing to let it go if it is required to so that you may follow God? 

If you or I aren't then we aren't ready for the kingdom of God. These aren't my words. These are Jesus' and they are uncomfortable. I pray that I am. Sometimes I know I am, other times I hope I am. What I do have to do, all of us need to do, is to ask God to test our hearts and see if we are. I pray that nothing I have will I consider worth more than God. 

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Psalm 12

 Things aren't like they used to be. People aren't honest like they were once. I have heard this many, many times. I may have even said something like it before. However, the world ebbs and flows. There are times when people are more godly and there are times when it seems people are moving actively away from scriptural norms. This was true in David's time also. At the beginning of the chapter David seems to make the same comment, Things aren't like they used to be. It's kind of comforting to know that others have seen times of degrees, but as the Psalmist points out God will judge rightly. 

Genesis 31

 Jacob hasn't always been the most honorable but here in the beginning of the chapter, we see Jacob in a different light. Jacob listens to Go, and Jacob gives God praise for all his increase. He realizes his danger, yes but it is the command of God that causes him to work with his wives (good to see) to leave the land. 

Rachel however doesn't leave well enough alone. She goes in and steals the family gods of her father. These gods weren't just idols but in that area, they also served as deeds to property or proof of ownership. There are also other reasons she might have taken them but they served as a danger which holding on to idols always does. Ultimately, Jacob buries them and any other false God near Bethel (Genesis 35:4), thus making a clean break with all idolatry in his home. 

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Genesis 30

 

What about the mandrakes? Mandrakes were considered at this time a help for women to get pregnant. Leah was upset that her sister wanted them when she already had the affection of her husband and now saw this as her trying to take something else from her. God however used this incident to show that it wasn't medicine, superstition, or human manipulation that was their provision.

Here again, we see people trying to get what they want by manipulation but God is faithful to his covenant in spite of it. Yes, there comes a time when God expects his people to grow up, as it were, but the frequency of Gis mercy is amazing.