The Book of Joel

Day 195: Joel 1-3

The book of Joel isn't very long. Three chapters in fact. Fewer chapters than my daily reading. But Joel is another prophet. He witnesses a plague of locusts (I'm not sure if it's the one recorded in Exodus or a different plague) and a lengthy drought and calls on everyone--all Israelites--to repent. He tells the Israelites that they will be judged for their unfaithfulness and, unlike other prophets who focus on the redemption of Israel and Judah, Joel focuses on their punishment. The book is a bit dismal and gloomy, but that's because his purpose seems to be to condemn the Israelites for their naughty, sinful behavior. However, Joel does end with a description of the bountiful blessings God will give his people if they return to Him.

A well-known verse is recorded in Joel. Here's Joel 2:13:

Rend your heart and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.

This description of God is beautiful. Slow to anger and abounding in love. Gracious and compassionate. Forgiving. Our God is and has always been a loving, forgiving God. How wonderful to know that who He was then is who He is now.

God Speaks...and He Doesn't Say What I Think He's Going to Say

Day 103: Job 38-42

"Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm..."

This is how chapter 38 opens. Job is in his "storm." He is in the depths of despair. He is at his worst moment. And God comes to Job at his worst moment. Interesting.

The rest of what God says really surprises me; it wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting some compassion; some understanding; some empathy. But that's not what God begins with. He basically tells Job that is his bigger than Job. He is the creator of the world and the sustainer of humankind and no human can do all that God does, not even Job. And God is sure to point to Job that He is God and Job is not.

Wow. Is that how God would respond to me? Although we honor and fear God today, we still feel a sense of entitlement in how we talk to God. We are honest with him. We ask him why he's making us go through negative times. We blame him for unhappy or hard times we may experience. We basically do what Job does. And now we should listen to what God says to Job. We are not God. God is God, and we should be mindful of this point. Go read these passages and be reminded about who God is. I wonder if you will be as humbled (and surprised) as I am. 

In spite of how the Lord responds to Job, He admonishes Job's friends for not speaking rightly of Him. He then tells them that Job is the one who has spoken correctly about him.

The Lord then gave Job half as much as he had before, and Job was comforted by his friends and family. The Lord then blessed the latter half of Job's life more than the first half, and Job died a full life.

Let God Out of the Box

Day 85: 2 Chronicles 27-31

I'm curious why most of the kings in the Old Testament who followed the Lord became powerful and successful. For example, King Jotham walked steadfastly with the Lord and he grew powerful. King Hezekiah restored the temple and God blessed him with financial wealth, glory, and honor. The Bible even says that since everything he undertook was for God, he prospered.

On the other hand, those kings who did not walk with the Lord and were unfaithful to him were punished. They were taken prisoner, like King Ahaz, were struck down with a disease, or were killed in war.

One generation was faithful and the next was not. This story is repeated over and over again. What we can learn is that even when one generation was unfaithful to the Lord, the Lord was still faithful to his people--even if he still disciplines and punishes the faithless.

Nevertheless, what I still perplexes me is the message that this pattern sends: if you are good, you will be blessed; if you are "bad" (or unfaithful), you will be punished. And these consequences aren't something that happen "when you get to heaven"; they happen here on earth (at least in the case of the textual examples). So, I don't understand it.

Did good things always happen to good people in the Old Testament? Or did bad things happen, too, but because the person was faithful to the Lord, the biographer/narrator of the books reflects back in a postive way (and likewise for the "bad" people)?

Or maybe the words "blessing" and "prospered" meant something different in OT times. They sure have various meanings today. I don't know. But I don't think we can equate doing good with blessing and doing bad with harm and pain. If we do so, we put God in a box and when trials comes, God cannot get out of that box because we won't let him.

Instead, I think we should try to live in the moment so that we feel what God intends for us to feel at any given time. Sometimes, we are supposed to cry. Other times we are supposed to rejoice and be glad. Still other times call for anger, frustration, and disappointment. God wants us to feel what we feel, but He also wants us to realize that He is working for the good for those who love him, even if "good" people have to go through pain and suffering. If we recognize this when we are not experiencing pain, then when we do experience it, God will not be in a box, and during the midst of our suffering, we will, Lord-willing, not lose our faith.

Reflections on King Solomon: Wisdom and Drama

Day 64: 1 Kings 1-4

If God came to you and told you that you could ask Him for anything in the world, what would request?

It would cross my mind to ask for financial security. I'd also consider asking for such things as peace, love, and contentment. I might ask for friends or power or recognition or even more time in the day. Who knows? But I think it's an important question to consider.

Solomon had this option. God told Solomon that he would give him whatever he wanted in all the world. Solomon didn't choose wealth or power; he chose wisdom. He wanted to have a discerning heart, to be someone who could assess situations and make wise decisions. He wanted God to give him greater wisdom as the king of Israel, discernment to make wise and fair rulings and to distinguish between right and wrong.

God granted him this wish, but he also gave him wealth and honor as well. God greatly blessed Solomon.
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The Bible is full of drama! It's like a soap opera at times with murder, sex, and jealousy, and it is so surprising at times! First, there is so much drama involving Solomon becoming King of Israel. Adonijah, David's oldest son crowns himself king, but Bathsheba and Nathan want Solomon to become king so they trick David to give Solomon the crown.

Second, Solomon ends up killing his brother Adonijah because of a request to take Abishag as his wife. I don't really get it. Is Solomon jealous?

Third, Solomon kills everyone associated with Adonijah. Murder, murder, murder. I thought one of God's commandments was "Thou shalt not kill." Why does Solomon get away with all this bloodshed? And the bloodshed of innocent people. I don't understand why God blesses Solomon instead of punishes him.

Additional Note: After I posted this, I was talking to Shane (my husband) about this violent section of I Kings and expressing surprise about Solomon's violence, and he told me that the scene in The Godfather was actually patterned after this section of I Kings. If you've ever seen The Godfather, you know how violent that was. It's amazing (strange) that this would be the case. I am very surprised.
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As David is dying here is the advice he offers his son Solomon:
"I am about to go the way of all the earth," he said. "So be strong, act like a man, and observe what the LORD your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go and that the LORD may keep his promise to me: 'If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.'"

That's the kind of values I hope to instill in my children.
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Did you know? 
* Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. Wow! Times sure have changed since Moses left Egypt!
* When God appeared to Solomon to ask him what request he wanted, Solomon was dreaming.

Choices

Day 39: Deuteronomy 26 to 30

"See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess....This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
Deuteronomy 30:15-20

God gives us free will. He has shown us what the path he wants us to walk looks like and how we can walk that path in obedience to him, yet he allows us to choose whether or not we will take that path. And then he also outlines the results of our choices--blessings or cursings.

I like the part where Moses says, "Now choose life."

Choose life.

Choose life.

Poetry and Prophets: Singing Praises to the Lord

Day 31: Numbers 21 to 25

Poetry, done well, can move the soul. Read aloud the following words by Balam, a prophet who uttered oracles about Israel:

How beautiful are your tents,
          O Jacob,
     your dwelling places, O Israel!

Like valleys they spread out,
     like gardens beside a river,
like aloes planted by the Lord,
     like cedars beside the waters.
Water will flow from their buckets;
     their seed will have abundant water.

Their king will be greater than Agag;
     their kingdom will be exalted.

God brought them out of Egypt;
     they have the strength of a wild ox.
They devour hostile nations
     and break their bones in pieces;
     with their arrows they pierce them.
Like a lion they crouch and lie down,
     like a lioness--who dares to rouse
          them?

May those who bless you be blessed
     and those who curse you be
          cursed!

Hear the word of the Lord.

Desert Wanderings and Heavenly Blessings

Day 27: Numbers 5-8

"The LORD said to Moses, 'Tell Aaron and his sons, "This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

'The LORD bless you
and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.'

So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them."
--Numbers 6: 22-27

God gave this blessing to the Israelites. Isn't that a bit odd that God gave this blessing to the Israelites? A blessing that involved God blessing them, making his face shine on them, being gracious to them, turning his face toward them, and giving them peace. Yes, Aaron was the one that delivered this blessing to the Israelites, but God was the one who came up with it.

Regardless of how the blessing was given to Israel, God wanted them to know that they were His. That He put His name on the Israelites. Once again, God is giving the Israelites an identity. This time the identity involves God, graciousness, and peace, all while in the arms of God who is blessing them and keeping them.

As an extension of the promise, we, too, are given this blessing. But what's interesting is that we can now give this blessing to others. If you have ever been to opening or closing chapel at ACU, for instance, you have this blessing sung as a song. At the beginning of the year and at the close of the year, we gathered together in Moody Coliseum to sing "The Lord Bless You and Keep You." It's a tradition.

At the beginning of the Fall semester, this song was a message of hope. Hope for a blessed year. Hope that when things were to get bad or hard or busy--as all college semesters happen to do--we could look to God and He would bring us peace.

At the end of the year, the song had a different feeling to it. A different tone. We were all about to depart to different areas of the world and spend our summers in various ways. The song became a blessing of sending. A way to be sent out into the world. To remember that the Lord wants blessing for us. A way for us to bless each other as we depart ways and, hopefully, do good things for the Lord.

This blessing that God gave to the Israelites keeps on giving thousands of years later. Even in bad circumstances, which the Israelites surely faced as they wandered in the desert, they could remember this blessing. They could remember that the Lord wanted good things for them.

And so, too, can we. As we wander through our own deserts of pain and suffering, we can look to this blessing and we can remember. We can remember that God loves us and that he blesses us--then and now. And He can bring us peace.

During the past year and a half, I experienced many deserts. I wondered where God was and what He was doing to bring me out of my desert. I also wondered why he would let things happen like they did with the church plant and why he wasn't blessing our church in the way we wanted. After reading these first three books of the Bible, though, what I better understand is that God was wandering right there with me, just like He did with the Israelites. He never left them; in fact, during their desert time is when He gave them this blessing. He didn't shorten their wandering, though, just because they were experiencing hard times. Yet he did bless them. He gave them what they needed most--an identity in the Lord.

And now that I have journeyed from deep in the middle of a desert to a place that is much more fertile and cultivated, I can see how this experience--the literal things that took place as well as the spiritual journey I was on--shaped and formed me. I appreciate this blessing in ways that I could have never articulated before. I can appreciate how my own journey paralleled that of the Israelites, and this fact brings me comfort. I can also see how God has finally brought me peace, a peace that I would have never known on my own but only through his blessing and his work.

Imagine

Day 20: 31-40

Moses. I respect Moses. Here is a man who obeys God’s commands. Always. He does everything the Lord commands of him and as a result, as 33:11 says, “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” Wow. That is so cool. Moses got to speak with God in a way that I’ve wanted to my entire life.

Moses even got to see the glory of God while God was shielding him in a cleft of the rock.

God is so creative!! His imagination is like none other. He is poetic, beautiful, and artistic.

Imagine being able to speak to God face to face. Can you do it?

What is amazing is that God has passed these traits on to His people. He blesses His people with this same creativity. For instance, the writer of Exodus emphasizes the craftsmanship and artistry of the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, the priestly garments, and other things as well. God fills people with his Spirit and they do amazing things for Him. In this case, Bezalel and Oholiab and a whole host of others were put in charge of the artistic designs for all the items God wanted built. The Lord gave them skill and they used it for His glory.

Imagination.

Shane has been preaching on imagination the last two Sundays, and the sermons have really got me thinking about this word. I don’t think I use my imagination enough where God is concerned. I tend to see reality. I’m a realist, you could say. But I don’t dream often enough about how life could be. I don’t imagine life being very different than it is now.

But it could be.

God has an imagination, and He’s given me one, too. He’s given you one. Maybe we should begin dreaming about the possibilities when we imagine.

A world without poverty.
A world without racism.

A world without injustice.
A world without murder, rape, pornography, hatred, divorce, sexual immorality.
A world without sin.

A world full of love and full of people who love God.

Can we imagine it? If we imagine it, it just might happen. But if we don't imagine it, it will never happen.

Imagine.