Bible in 90, Day 56: Don’t name your kid Uriah

Jeremiah 24-33

*image courtesy of kirsche222 at stock.xchng

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  When the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.”

~ Matthew 13:3-9

Jeremiah 26 tells a couple of interesting stories.  In 7:12, God commanded Jeremiah to go to Shiloh to see what He had done to that place because of the wickedness of the people.  It’s apparent from these comments that something bad had happened, and archaeological evidence tells us that the town was destroyed by the Philistines around 1050B.C.  Shiloh was the first dwelling place of the Tabernacle, along with the Ark of the Covenant.  The Israelites set up a graven image of  that Micah had made (Judges 17, 18:31), and so God destroyed that place.  In chapter 26, God commands Jeremiah to go to the Temple and preach a message that God would destroy Jerusalem like He had destroyed Shiloh, and for the same reasons.

This didn’t go over well.

The prophets and priests surrounded him and brought him up on charges of treason and demanded he be killed.  But the people and the officials sided with Jeremiah, saying that he had spoken in the name of the Lord.  Some of the elders reminded everyone of a time when the prophet Micah spoke a similar message (Micah 3:12).  In that case, King Hezekiah listened to his words and received them as God’s words, heeded them, repented, and avoided the disaster God would have brought had there been no repentance.

This is contrasted by an editorial comment by Jeremiah with the story of Uriah, son of Shemaiah.  Uriah prophesied not long before Jeremiah, also during the reign of King Jehoiakim.  He had the same message that Jeremiah and Micah had, but Jehoiakim threatened him, had him chased down, and killed him.  Same kind of prophet, same message, different results.  It’s interesting to note that another Uriah was killed even while faithfully serving God and having done no wrong (2 Samuel 11).

Don’t ever name your kid Uriah, it just won’t go well for him.

These little stories remind me of the Parable of the Soils (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23).  The same message is delivered to four different kinds of people, and with four different kinds of result.  The prophets & priests, as well as King Jehoiakim, heard a message that Jerusalem was doomed if they did not repent.  They didn’t like this.  They reject the Word of God, and do not accept it, much like the path in the parable.  The people, officials, & elders, as well as King Hezekiah heard a message that Jerusalem was doomed if they did not repent.  They didn’t like this, so they accepted the Word of God, repented resulting in blessing, much like the good soil in the parable.

Let’s always remember that when we are faithfully serving Christ, and we are rejected and hated by men that it is we who are being rejected.  Each hearer has to choose to accept or reject the Word of God.  If we proclaim the Word faithfully, and sow the seed as it truly is, the results are up to God and the hearers.  Let’s also remember that we have a choice every time we hear the Word proclaimed.  Many of us would never be the path, rejecting the Word as no truth at all.  We may, however, be the rocky soil.  When things get hard, the Word finds no root in our hearts and comes to nothing.  When obeying the Scripture isn’t easy, will we be good soil, or rocky?  Let’s choose to accept the Word, obey it, repent if necessary, and receive God’s blessing instead of His wrath.

*originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 51: It will not fail

Isaiah 29-41

*image courtesy of gakiku at stock.xchng

All throughout today’s reading there was an emphasis on the Word of God.  Unlike Psalm 119 that we looked at a few days ago, this is not speaking specifically of the Bible as we know it.  It speaks more to revelation, including some that was not written down in the words of Scripture.  We see the leading of the Spirit of God (30:21), the words Isaiah prophesied to the people (much of which was not written at the time, but spoken), the words spoken against Sennacherib (chps. 36-37), the prophesy to Hezekiah about his healing and the captivity of Babylon (chps. 38-39), and others.

In Isaiah 40:6-8, we see that God’s Word will endure forever, regardless of what happens to man and his glory.  What God decrees will be.  What God proclaims is true.

Where is my hope?  Where am I putting my confidence?  I say that the Bible is all we need.  I use words like inerrant, inspired, and sufficient.  Do I really mean this?

I surely didn’t use to.

I mean, not really.  A lot of us “people of the Book” are like this.  Wesay the Bible is all we need, but then we run to statistics, or “experts” (a topic for another blog entry!), or pop-psychology, or secular philosophy.  Or maybe we do the respectable, scholarly thing and think we have to prove the Bible or back it up with secular thought and wisdom.

I hear people say things like, “You can’t start with the Bible, people just don’t believe it anymore.”  While I understand where that sentiment comes from, I humbly disagree.  I like what Greg Stier said/wrote once (how’s that for documenting sources!), “The Bible is a sword!  If you go hackin at someone with a sword and they say, ‘I don’t believe in your sword!’ what’s gonna happen to them?”  I too that to heart, along with Isaiah 55:10-11 and just started believing that if I spoke the truth of the Word of God, it would accomplish its set goal for that circumstance.

This is incredibly freeing.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that we check our brains at the door of the sanctuary (whether coming or going!).  I’m saying that sometimes we get too caught up in worrying about whether or not someone will accept our words as soon as we start quoting Scripture.  The thing is, some people just won’t!  I’ve actually experimented around sometimes with quoting Scripture, but not sounding like I’m quoting anything.  (This is aided by Scripture memory, study, and meditation).  Sometimes we need to blatantly say, “The Bible says…” but other times I just quote a passage and rely on its truthfulness to accomplish what God sent it out for.

Let’s  assume that when we quote Scripture, we are speaking pure truth.  Let’s not shy back from it, or apologize for it, or try to prove it or back it up with other sources.  Know that we are speaking the very Words which God Himself spoke, and they carry the same authority and power as when the Spirit led the author to write them.  Let’s trust the Word, trust the Spirit, and see what God may bring about as His Word pours from our lips like rain from a heavy cloud.

*originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 44: Yes that’s the book for me!

Psalms 109-134

*(slightly altered) image courtesy of my buddy Billy at stock.xchng

Today we read the shortest chapter in the Bible, and the longest!  Psalm 117 with just two verses, is the shortest, and Psalm 119 with 176 verses is the longest!  Psalm 119 is considered a masterpiece of Hebrew poetry.  It uses a form known as an acrostic to talk about the Bible.  This particular acrostic form takes each letter of the Hebrew alphabet in turn with each line within a stanza beginning with that letter.  So, the first eight lines begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, aleph.  The next eight begin with bet, and so on.  This is not the only acrostic in the psalms to use the full alphabet, but it is the only to use each letter for eight lines a piece, giving it its great length.

In using the alphabet in this way, the psalmist is poetically describing the perfection of the Word of God – the obvious theme of this psalm.  Today, we might say the Bible is perfect from A to Z.  Or we might write out characteristics of the Bible beginning with all 26 letters of the English alphabet to show its perfection.  The point is clear, the psalmist regards the Scripture as being complete, holy, and perfect.

Hopefully, you have at least a similar belief, otherwise this 90 day challenge wouldn’t make much sense.  Maybe you’re not doing the challenge and you’re just reading this because you came across it or someone referred you to it.  I’d challenge you to read the Bible, consider its claims, and see where you stand.

Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is living and active, that is powerful and life-changing.  You cannot read the Scriptures, apply it to your life, and be the same.  It will change the way you think about yourself, about others, and about your actions.  It will challenge your motives and intentions, your world-view, and your assumptions.  It will give us the knowledge and wisdom we need to avoid sin (Psalm 119:11).  It is sufficient to equip us for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Let’s take advantage of this great gift of God!  Let’s continue to read it, memorize it, meditate on it, talk about it with our brothers and sisters, and apply it to our lives (Psalm 1:2, 119:11, 97; Ephesians 5:19-20; James 1:22).  Let’s not be like the one who looks into a mirror, walks away, and forgets what he has just seen (James 1:22-25).  Let us learn from God’s Word and let it shape our lives.

*originally at Words of Reason

Would you listen?

*image courtesy of  RAWKU5 at www.sxc.hu

Hard to believe we’ve passed the 30 day mark!  When I first started the Bible in 90 Days Challenge, it was alway my intent to test drive the process with a view to doing the whole church challenge.  As a part of doing the whole church challenge, I am going to redo the blog.  I will write all-new articles on my second time through.  In addition, I’ve considered something else that I think might benefit some people.

I want to do a podcast.

I’ve been wanting to do one for some time now, and this seems like a good way to start.  So, my question is, would you listen?  If you think that what I’ve had to say (write) so far is valuable, would you like to hear an audio version?  To start off, I’d probably just record what I write in my articles.  However, I hope to develop it into something more so that it flows with the blog, but isn’t just the blog.  I’m thinking about a short podcast here, 5-10 minutes maybe.  Maybe less.  So, would you listen?

originally at https://wordsofreason.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/would-you-listen/

Bible in 90, Day 30: Ignorance is no excuse

1 Chronicles 10-23

*image courtesy of my buddy Billy at www.sxc.hu

There was an interesting story today that on the surface can be kind of puzzling.  In 1 Chronicles 13, we read the story of Uzzah’s death after touching the Ark.  At first glance, it appears kind of harsh.  The Ark was being carried along, and everybody’s celebrating before God.  Suddenly, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark so it wouldn’t fall off the cart.  The next thing ya know, he’s been struck dead by God!

Harsh much?

So here’s the thing, this whole situation was wrong from the start.  It seems like everything was going along great and then some guy dies, right?  Wrong.  If you read down to 1 Chronicles 15, you’ll find out that David did some homework while the Ark stayed at the house of Obed-Edom and discovered why Uzzah was killed.  They had not consulted the Lord on how to transport the Ark.  Only the Levites were supposed to carry the Ark (Numbers 4:15; Deuteronomy 10:8).  No one, not even the Levites were to touch the Ark directly.  The Levites only touched the poles that were slid into rings on the side of the Ark, thus never touching the Ark itself.

If David had sought the Lord in the first place, the Ark would have been properly carried by the Levites.  It never would have sat on a cart, and thus would have never been in jeopardy of falling off.  Uzzah would have never reached out his hand to steady it, and thus would not have died that day.

This gets back to the idea of the right worship of God (see Day 8).  Combine this with the concept of God’s revealed will, and you can see what went wrong today.  There was a right and wrong way to worship God for the Israelites.  God had very specific commands on this (as we saw in Leviticus).  In addition, these commands and expectations were clearly laid out in the Law for all to see.  It was negligence of the Word of God which lead to the tragedy we read about today.

The same can happen to us today.  If we neglect God’s Word, the Bible, we can find ourselves in a mess we never saw coming.  We may find ourselves facing the judgment of God for treating something lightly which we didn’t even know about.  We may think skipping out on some taxes is no big deal since we haven’t read and heeded Romans 13:1-5.  We may come to the Lord’s Supper with no thought toward the condition of our heart because we have not read 1 Corinthians 11:27-32.

Let us not be guilty of the sin of neglect.  Much of God’s will for our lives is spelled out clearly in the pages of Scripture.  Let us make reading and study of the Word a habit, as this 90 day challenge is striving to do.  Let us seek the Lord’s instructions, and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment to live them out (Ephesians 5:8-10; Galatians 3:10).

Bible in 90, Day 19: Right in our own eyes

Judges 15-Ruth-1 Samuel 2

*image courtesy of jeffphoto at www.sxc.hu

So that last part of Judges is pretty rough huh?  Did you find yourself reading and thinking, “How in the world could they do these things?!”  How is it that the people who not long ago were begging Joshua to accept their vow to follow the Lord (Joshua 24:19-22) were now killing, raping, mutilating, and generally running amok?  The answer is found repeatedly throughout Judges (17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25) – “There was no king in Israel.  Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Mark Driscoll talked about this in a sermon last year.  In that sermon, he said that without God, we are capable of anything.  He’s right.  The old cliché “But for the grace of God, there go I,” holds true.  If we totally abandoned ourselves to our sinful desires, held no regard for the things of God, and kept ourselves outside of the means of His grace, we might be shocked at what we would be capable of.

Oddly, it is in the midst of this period that the story of Ruth is told (Ruth 1:1).  In the original Hebrew ordering of the books of what we call the Old Testament, Ruth follows right after Proverbs.  Proverbs 31 talks about the virtuous woman, and then is followed by an example of such a woman – Ruth.  It is noteworthy, and speaks to Ruth’s character that her story should shine in the midst of the dark, perverse time she lived in.  Interestingly, Ruth is a not a Jewish woman!  The most faithful and noble character in this story is a Gentile!  Ruth has the honor of being one of only two women to have a book of the Bible named for them (Esther is the other), as well as being one of a handful of women who are mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (The others are Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba, and Mary – Matthew 1).

After this story, we are introduced to a new character, Samuel, and a new era in Israel’s history.  The wickedness continues into 1 Samuel, and is found now in the priesthood!  But God has a plan in place to bring Israel back to him.  We see the first peeks of this plan as God honors Hannah’s prayer and brings forth a very special son.  “Samuel” is Hebrew for “God hears/heard” and will be an ironic pun used later when God calls him as a young boy.

There are at least two things we can take from the theme we’ve examined today.  The first is that God is always working out His plan.  No matter how dark and twisted the times may get, God is still on the Throne (see Day 4)!  God kept enough people for Himself to maintain the holy line of the Messiah and bring about a beautiful story such as Ruth’s.

Second, is that we must never allow the culture or our sinful selves to determine our values.  Everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes in Israel.  How similar this is to our culture today!  “If it feels good, do it!”  “I’m ok, and you’re ok, and that’s ok!”  “It’s all relative.”  We do not live a day of firm moral conviction and undeniable truth.  We live in a day of lax ethics, uncertainty, pride, and selfishness.  We are not the only society to raise our own views and thoughts above everything and everyone else.  Rome did it, France did it, even Israel did it!

Let us never assume that 50% + 1 equals truth or right.  Let us never assume that our own views, formulated in the selfishness of our own hearts are the best.  Let us look to God and His Word for what is good and just, what is evil and corrupt.  Let us not do merely what is right in our own eyes, but let us walk humbly before our God.

Bible in 90, Day 15: The Secret & The Revealed

Deuteronomy 23-34

*image courtesy of fasnail at www. sxc.hu

If you weren’t paying close attention, you may have missed something big today.  In Deuteronomy 29, there’s this amazing verse:

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”

Did you ever stop to think about the fact that God has revealed certain things about Himself, life, and the universe?  Isn’t that amazing?  The stance of the hard agnostic is not just that he doesn’t know if there is a God out there, but that if there is a God, we cannot know Him.  And ya know, if it weren’t for the Bible, I might be inclined to agree.  I mean, what would an all-powerful, all-knowing god want with us?  If you consider god in purely logical categories, it’s reasonable to assume that he wouldn’t have much, if anything, to do with us.