God's Word

The Desert Fathers knew something about the importance of God's Word. This quote impressed me:

"Let Your tender word wear a hole in the hardness of our hearts; so as we hear Your word frequently our hearts will be opened to rightly fear God."

The Veritas Forum

This is a plug for a website I'm happy to have found. Although I had listened to a couple of lectures from the Veritas Forum, I only recently thought to look for their website. What is it? "Veritas Forums are university events that engage students and faculty in discussions about life's hardest questions and the relevance of Jesus Christ to all of life."

The link below lists various topics that speakers have addressed over the past dozen years or so. They are scholarly, yet fascinating and accessible. The few presenters I have heard were outstanding. I am currently listening to "Is Jesus the Old Testament Messiah?" by Richard Pratt.

Here's the list of topics: http://www.veritas.org/media/topics

More Christians should avail themselves of good teaching like this. I hope that an increasing number of people will utilize this site.

Enjoy!

What Men Live By

The title of this post is the title of a short story by Leo Tolstoy. Short stories are great because they can be read in a single setting and can be re-read frequently. This particular short story is one that I discovered last week. I plan on reading and sharing it many times--it's a good one.

So, if you have a bit of time, do yourself a favor and read this work of beauty. I feel sure that it will bless you. If you don't have time now, you can copy, paste, and print it. Then you may read it later at your leisure.

So, here's What Men Live By, by Leo Tolstoy.
(Click the title for the link.)

Enjoy!

Long Time No Blog

Was it the kiss of death to entitle my last entry "Ideas Aplenty"? Who would have thought that such a post would be followed by a 3 month silence? 

Well, when last I wrote I was reading Leviticus. Now I've reached the middle of Job. There are several things I've been impressed with, but the last 2 chapters of Luke have made me want to read the OT with an eye for Messiah. There is an artificial distinction between the Old and the New Testaments. I want to see the interplay between the two--one complete story. 

So...back to Leviticus. I was struck by the way this book talks about the "holy." It almost seems to be a synonym for "whole." Why does God require that sacrificial animals be without defect? The requirements for physical wellness point to the idea that God wants us to be spiritually whole. HE is whole, entire, complete, perfect. He is wholly good, wholly right, wholly pure, wholly loving, wholly mighty.... Is that a coincidence that in English "wholly" and "holy" sound the same? I don't think so.

A professor of mine, Lawson Stone, scoffs at the notion that 'holy' means 'separate.' Why would the elders around the throne continually cry out, "Separate, separate, separate is the LORD God Almighty!"? Holiness must mean something more. If we are holy, we are set apart for His purposes in the sense that we are wholly His. But it also means that we are flawless, perfect, and complete. Sin is imperfection. God will make us perfect. "Be holy as He is holy" means that we are to be complete, perfect, and whole as He is. We are to be real humans...to be what He created us to be. As the King's X song says: "We are finding who we are." 

The New Creation is holy, without blemish in Jesus Christ.

Be wholly His. Be whole. Be holy.

123 Meme

A friend of mine, Michael Halcomb, just "tagged" me to participate in this interesting "meme" (a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes. --dictionary.com).

What you're supposed to do is:

1. grab the nearest book that contains at least 123 pages (no cheating)


2. turn to page 123


3. read the first five sentences


4. then quote the next three sentences in a blog entry


5. and, finally, tag five more people to do the same.

So, when I got this message at school the nearest book was 4th Grade Spelling. Right now, I'm at home and the nearest book is my Bible.

Page 123 is in Exodus 18. The sixth through ninth sentences are as follows:

Moses went out to meet his father-in-law; he bowed down and kissed him; each asked after the other's welfare, and they went into the tent. Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharoah and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had beset them on the way, and how the LORD had delivered them. Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the LORD had done to Israel, in delivering them from the Egyptians.

I tag Darina Brackeen, Jessica Maples, Allison Brown, Joseph Bishara, and Helen Hickman

Side note: This "draft" has been sitting idle for almost 2 years!

Ideas Aplenty

I've really been blessed by the decision to read through my Bible this year. The problem is that in order to maintain the pace to finish this year, I need to read 4 chapters a day (if I read the Apocrypha as well, as I intend). Why is that a problem? Because there have been so many things that I'd like to look into more fully. Right now I'm in Leviticus. While many pass over this book, thinking it dull or irrelevant, I'm finding it to be a jewel. I hope to blog a bit about Leviticus this week.

Seeing as how time marches on (and I have a job and a family!), I don't think I'll get to blog about all the things I'd like to comment on. Therefore, I'm jotting them down here. Maybe someday...

• Beer-sheba is such a signifcant locale in Genesis. All of the patriarchs seem to have major encounters there. After Genesis, it just kind of falls off the map, becoming a reference for the southern boundary of Israel's inheritance. I'd like to study the occurrences at Beer-sheba more closely.
• Saved through water--how many times is this image going to crop up in the Bible? Noah's ark, Moses' basket, the Sea of Reeds (Red Sea exodus), baptism... It's amazing how God uses the vital, yet everyday elements of water, light, bread, etc. to speak and to act in the history of His people. The importance of water (it's cropping up again in Leviticus) and blood (Jesus' side) astounds me.
• Bridegroom of Blood--This incident in Exodus 4:24 is a mystery to me. Why was God going to kill Moses, and how did Zipporah's actions avert God's wrath? I've read a bit on this, but I definitely want to know much more.
• God shows up enshrouded in a dense cloud in Exodus 19:9, 19:18, and many other places. I'd like to look at these occurrences. Are they the same as the description used for God at Mt. Sinai, the Mount of Transfiguration, Psalm 18, etc.? What's the connection between a cloud (or smoke) and theophany? What does that tell us about God's nature?

I know there are other things that have intrigued me, but I can't find where I wrote them down at present. It's late--Giants just won the Superbowl!--and I should get to bed.

God is so good. Hope to blog a bit about Leviticus soon.

Exodus Quote

I'm moving through Exodus now, and I ran across a good quote in Murray Andrew Pura's introduction to the book. He describes the Israelites' trek to the Promised Land as "a spirituality of journeying...an invitation to the children of Israel to put their roots not into land or houses, but into God himself."

I like that.

It fits into the idea of life as a pilgrimage (and as wandering--see also "The Way of the Desert" on Murray Pura's site, above).
This quote serves as a much needed reminder for today of where our true identity lies.

Hagar and Ishmael

The Old Testament doesn't seem to whitewash Israel's history much--at least not in Genesis. The good, the bad, and the ugly are all on display. The shameful stands right alongside the heroic: Noah's drunkenness, Abraham's fear & scheming, Lot's treatment of his daughters (& their treatment of him), Jacob's lies, Judah's seeking out a prostitute, etc.

Having just read Genesis, however, one event stuck out to me as the most shameful--the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael. Let's review the story leading up to that story:

1. The LORD calls Abram and promises to make him a great nation (Gen. 12:2).
2. Abram passes his wife off as his sister in Egypt, and Pharaoh ends up marrying her! (12:19)
3. God promises to make Abram's offspring as numerous as the dust of the earth (13:16).
4. Abram despairs that his servant Eliezer will be his heir, but God assures him that it will be his own issue and that his offspring will be as numerous as the stars (15:2-5).\
5. Sarai herself gives Hagar, her Egyptian slave-girl, to Abram as a wife. She does this so that she can get children by her. Hagar conceives Ishmael. (16:1-4) Abram was 86 at the time (16:16).
6. Once she has conceived, Hagar looks on Sarai with contempt, and Sarai deals harshly with her, driving her into the wilderness. (16:4, 6-7)
7. The angel of the LORD tells Hagar to return to Sarai and submit to her. She does so, and gives birth to Ishmael. (16:9, 15)
8. The LORD promises a son to Abraham and Sarah (18:10).
9. Abraham passes Sarah off as his sister--again. A king takes her for himself--again. God rescues her from his hand--again. (20)
10. Sarah conceives and bears Abraham a son: Isaac (Laughter) (21:2).
11. During a feast for Isaac, Sarah sees Ishmael playing and tells Abraham to cast out Hagar and her son. Abraham is distressed by this matter, but God says, "Go ahead and do what she says." (21:8-12)
12. Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael out into the wilderness. (21:14)

There are several elements in this story that are distressing. Why does Sarah want to be rid of this woman so badly? (Why is the "Mother of the Jewish Nation" so mean?) Why does God go along with her plan? Even if Abraham does agree to this seemingly atrocious act, why does this man of great means send his wife and child away with so little?

I really feel for Hagar and Ishmael in this story. The scene in 21:15-16 is heart-wrenchingly pathetic. Sarah seems so cruel. I really can't find any way to excuse her. Hagar and Ishmael, however, are not without blame. First of all, Hagar was treated very well by Sarai when Sarai gave her to Abram as a wife. In return, Hagar looked at Sarai as if she were one big nothing (my rendering of the Hebrew verb in 16:4). So, perhaps Sarai had some justification in getting rid of her the first time? After all, God did tell Hagar to go back and submit to Sarai. Interestingly, we are not told how well she followed through on the submission part.

In Galatians 4:29 we learn that Ishmael "persecuted" Isaac. Is this what Sarah has seen in 21:9 when the Septuagint says that she saw the Ishmael "play" with Isaac? (The only time this verb is used in the NT is 1 Cor. 10:7--a very negative context.) It may well be that Ishmael was making fun of Isaac on his special day, and Sarah caught him. Regardless, Sarah's reaction seems pretty harsh.

Abraham, who was conflicted over the whole affair (after all, he'd cried out to the Lord on Ishmael's behalf in Genesis 17:18), ended up sending them away. Why? I am convinced that this was a matter of faith, just as the binding of Isaac was. God had promised Abraham twice (chs. 17 & 21) that He would make a great nation out of Ishmael. Abraham simply believed it. Thus, he sent them out in faith.

In a way, this story reminds me of Joseph. Perhaps Ishmael could one day have returned to Sarah and say, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good." Who knows? I wish I knew more of Ishmael's story. I've heard that Muslims claim him as their ancestor, which disturbs me. I do know that he shows up again in chapter 25 to help Isaac bury Abraham. He lives to be 137 years old and is the father of 12 princes (just as God promised).

I am bothered by this story, but I do think it shows that God cares about all humanity. It shows that He works through flawed people. It shows that we should laugh with others (rejoice with those who rejoice) and not at them. And it shows that God can be trusted. He is El Roi, the God who Sees. No matter how things appear, He will take care of His own.

Free Book from christianaudio.com

http://www.christianaudio.com/ is once again offering a free download. In addition to their free monthly offering (Paradise Lost in January), they are currently offering The Imitation of Christ.

If you want to download this classic, the code to enter at checkout is: FREEIMITATION

I hope you download and enjoy it! (If anyone has questions about this process, please ask.)

A modern day Imitation of Christ that Renovare is promoting as their "Book of the Year" is Deep-Rooted in Christ: The Way of Transformation, a book that has risen to the top of my Amazon wish list. Though I haven't read it, I'm absolutely sure this will be a wonderful book. If anyone has read it, I'd love to hear more.

Noah

The Spiritual Formation Bible comments that Noah spent 120 years building the ark. Impressed, I looked for evidence of this assertion and could not find any. As far as I can tell, the text is silent. The only references to a time period point out that Noah was 500+ years old when he fathered his sons (Gen. 5:32) and 600 when the flood began (Gen. 7:11). I couldn't find a reference to when he began building. 6:18 seems to indicate that he began construction after his sons had been born.

Regardless, Noah's trusting obedience is remarkable. He spent many years and undertook considerable expense building a huge boat hundreds of miles from any large bodies of water. It seems probable that he risked his reputation as well. How could an undertaking of this sort not appear mad? Yet he did it because he knew the LORD. Evidently, his family also knew that he knew Him. I question God's leading if things don't work out rather quickly. Noah's obedience was a "long" and unwavering obedience.

After the waters recede, God puts His "bow" in the clouds as a sign of the covenant between Himself and all living creatures (Gen. 9:13). Having called it a "rainbow" my whole life, it never occurred to me to associate this word with the weapon. Yet the Hebrew word -- qeseth -- is exactly the same for both. The flood occurred because of man's great wickedness (6:5) and corruption (6:11, 12), but it is the sin of violence that is singled out in verses 11 and 13. "The earth was filled with violence" because of "all flesh." The earth was punished because of its violence, but now that the punishment is complete God hangs His weapon up . . . for good.

This is the second of the great signs of the covenant between God and man. The first was Sabbath. The second points to the peace that God desires. The world was not meant for violence, and we have a responsibility to care for one another. Let the rainbow remind us to drop our weapons: physical aggression, verbal attacks, cynicism, unforgiveness, anger, judgmental attitudes, hateful looks, lust, temper tantrums, revenge, greed, jealousy, or whatever else they may be.
God, who has every reason to be angry with us, has set His weapon aside. Let us do the same.

Finally, this incident that occurs with Noah in chapter 10 has always puzzled me. What exactly happened in 9:22, and why was it so bad? After reading several opinions, I agree with Victor Hamilton's assessment in the NICOT. Ham saw his father naked, and made it a public spectacle instead of respectfully covering up his father's shame. Actually, the author doesn't draw attention to Ham's lack of respect as much as he emphasizes the great respect shown by the other sons. They walk backward and turn their faces away so as not to see their father's nakedness. Evidently seeing one's father naked was a very big taboo--one that Ham treated treated lightly.

It's interesting that there is no condemnation here of what Noah had done. This was the first time anyone had ever gotten drunk (9:20). How was he to know what would happen? It was trial and error! The point is though that Noah got drunk and got naked. How it happened is somewhat beside the point. The only other time that nakedness has been mentioned so far is in the Garden, where it was associated with shame (or the lack thereof). Maybe this story also has something to teach us about God, about peace, and about how we are to treat one another. I believe there is a time to expose someone's sin, but remember how the Bible says we are to confront sin? Do it alone, just between the two of you. Don't embarrass your brother or your sister (or your father). Ham should have acted thus. Instead, he went and shared the juicy tidbit with the whole world! . . . or what was left of it. I think of the way that God covers over our sins, and it makes me want to remember the post that was taken from my eye before I remove splinters from the eyes of others.

The God Who is Always Near

Yesterday I blogged about how God doesn't smother us with His presence but gives us space to choose Him. We are free to obey or disobey.

Very soon after posting, I read my daily devotional, which shows the other side of the coin--the God who is always near. Emmanuel. I was reminded of the lengths to which the Lord has gone to be intimately connected with us. The Spirit of God Himself indwells us. We are His children. After my comments of last night, I thought this was just too good not to post. So, plagiarism and all, here's the January 10th entry of Celtic Daily Prayer (p. 594):

PSALM 139:7-12 2 KINGS 6:16-17 ROMANS 8:38-39

I ever with Thee,

and Thou with me, Lord ...

'I am with you always,' He says. He is all around His people, as strong and reliable as the mountains. He wants us to be with Him, prepares a place for us to share, comes to our place, to our ordinariness, shares bread and wine at table. The commonplace is given great significance because of His presence.

Jesus often turned up in unexpected places and in unexpected ways. When we do not see Jesus around us, it is often because we do not look well enough.

Open my eyes to see.

I ever with Thee,

and Thou with me, Lord.

The God Who Gives Us Space

I've chosen to use The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible for my Bible reading trek this year. This is a Bible I received for Christmas 2006. As I come across new insights while reading, I'd like to share a few of them from time to time. The first new insight was in Genesis 2 & 3. Although Adam and Eve walked and talked with God in great intimacy, God was not always looking over their shoulders.

God was not constantly and immediately present, even before the Fall. He "made room for them to obey or disobey." This is amazing to me. We have a God who does not constantly hover over us, breathing down our necks. He gives us space. "This space allowed by God's 'absence' is necessary. In order to move beyond unknowing innocence, we must develop a character and an identity that freely seek harmony with God."

From the very beginning, God does not impose His will on humanity. He grants us the freedom to make choices by "absenting" Himself. His constant, immediate presence would preclude such choice. Of course we need God's presence, but He allows us to choose it...to choose Him. The consequences can be disastrous, and it is God who bears the brunt of the pain. We often blame God for allowing others to make wrong choices, not realizing that He suffers the rejection perhaps most of all.

"We are formed by our reactions and choices to what God puts before us." The good news?--He keeps on putting Himself before us...if only we have eyes to see and ears to hear. And the process of drawing closer to Him, though it be slow and painful at times, is precisely what we were made for.

(All quotes are from the opening essay of The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible, "The People of God in Individual Communion," pp. 1-5.)

Reading the Bible

Two nights ago I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. This may not be anything unusual for many folks, but for me it was a rare experience. Regardless of the circumstances, I have a real knack for being able to sleep. Tuesday night was different. My head was swimming with little details and big details--things I need to do at work and home and...unanswered questions. So, in the middle of the night, I started writing things down. I prayed. And the result of this sleepless bout surprised me.

During this time, I was convicted that I needed to...read my Bible!
What?!
I didn't get any insight about the future, nor did this really solve any of my problems. But I am now super ramped up about reading my Bible through in a year. The funny thing is that although I have two Bible related degrees, I have only read my Bible from cover to cover twice. Only once did I do this in a year's time.

When I think about this in conjunction with the other word from the Lord--"Look to Me"--it fits perfectly. I want God to be my vision. Reading the Bible will keep my focus on Him while allowing Him to speak to me. I feel sure that He will speak. I trust that He will lead.
I'm excited about God and eager to read His Word.

This can be nothing but good.

Thank You, sweet Father!

Tying Up Loose Ends in a New Year

I fell off the map for a couple of weeks during the Christmas break. My parents came to visit us, and I soaked up all of the sweetness of family time. I missed posting on the fourth Sunday of Advent (focus--the Gift of God), Christmas (a day that is doubly special for me because I celebrated the 24th anniversary of my baptism), and the New Year.

As I look back on 2007, it seems to have been a season of wandering for our family. We are unclear of our future. My dreams of pursuing a PhD faded. I had a successful season of schooling, but now I am unsure why I even came out here. We're in debt, and, career wise, Darina and I have both had our confidence shaken.

We're not out of the wilderness yet, but feel that God is saying, "Look to me," and I have absolute confidence that God will guide us as we do. "Be Thou my Vision, o Lord of my heart"--this is the devotional thought that 2008 starts out with. Couple that with Psalm 123 (previous post), and it seems evident that God is saying, "Lift your eyes to me. I will guide you. I will have mercy."

This is going to be a good year. The Lifter of my head is beckoning me to look His way. "Hineni"--here I am, Lord. What a good God we have.

Listen to Psalm 103:105--

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Other notes:

• I got a Phil Wickham CD recently (thanks for the tip, Michael!) and I am loving it! Good music, and very worshipful (though not "dead-on Rufus Wainright" in my opinion).
• Christianaudio.com is offering Paradise Lost as its free mp3 download during January. I've never read it, but I'm sure it would be a blessing.
• Joshua (our six year old) got a "real Bible" for Christmas and has begun reading it on his own. I'm so proud!
• Lydia (our three year old) is the prayer nazi--she reminds us to pray at the table and she determines who prays when and makes sure everyone prays. Thanks to her, we had one of the best Christmas prayers I've ever been a part of.
• Darina and I had a nice time of prayer after the New Year rolled in. She even joined me in praying a prayer out of Celtic Daily Prayer, a "first-footing" prayer to welcome Jesus into the home as the year's first guest.
• Despite what I've written above, we are not a super-spiritual family. We fight like crazy people--shameful. We often seem to limp along as parents. We struggle. But God's grace is with us.
• I feel like I'm rambling, so...let's call it a night.

May God bless you who read this!!! May He guide you and be your Vision this year. May He be your hope, your comfort, your strength, and your joy. God bless you! God bless you!

It occurred to me that when I was a young believer I prayed more boldly for large-scale changes. I want to return to that boldness. We serve an ALMIGHTY God. May He bless you and wrap you in His love.

Happy 2008!

--Clay