Day 224: Matthew 21

I love Jesus's personality. He is humble, yet stick-it-in-your-face, but not to the people you might think. We tend to want Jesus to get on to "sinners," prostitutes, drunks, adulterers, and others like this. But no, Jesus's world is topsy turvy; it's backwards. He gets on to the religious people--those who think they know what they are doing, but who just don't get it, who are doing it all wrong. Jesus even tells them that it's going to be worse off for them. Wow. And this angers them so much. Jesus protects and defends the sinners, but he doesn't seem to protect and defend the religious leaders and the teachers of the law. He's come to teach us all, and one group is getting it while the other--the ones who should--don't. Which group are you a part of? Are you getting it, or are you judging Jesus and others who defend the sinners?

Day 206: Zechariah 5-8

This is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other.               ---Zechariah 7:9

This message keeps popping up again and again and again in the prophetic books. It's not just any message; it's the message that got the Israelites in major trouble with God because they did not follow it. May we not be like Israel and abide by this command. The world would be a much better place if we all applied this in our own lives--to the people around us in our local communities.

Day 204: Zephaniah 1-3

Zephaniah, the prophet, writes about the Day of the Lord, a day when the Lord will judge and destroy Israel and Judah for all their wrongdoing, their sin. The faithful will be delivered, and the unfaithful will be destroyed.

I'm not sure exactly what the Day of the Lord is, whether it's come or whether it hasn't. Or whether the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus actually means this Day of the Lord will never happen.

But it seems that God is serious about us being faithful to him. He is in control of our lives, and he wants us to be faithful to him. He made us, and we are his. He wants us to seek him, to seek righteousness. Seek humility. We could all use to work on becoming more righteous and more humble. I don't know what's to come, but God wants it from us, and we should thus give it to him.

The LORD your God is with you,
       the Mighty Warrior who saves.
       He will take great delight in you;
       in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
       but will rejoice over you with singing.

Day 198: Obadiah

The book of Obadiah is the shortest one in the Old Testament. In fact, the Bible I'm reading from doesn't even show that it contains chapters, only verses, because it doesn't contain more than one chapter. The book is written by the prophet Obadiah who, like most of the other prophets in the OT, speaks of the judgment of a nation and the hope that one day Judah and Israel will be restored. Obadiah speaks these truths based on a vision he had, and he proclaims to the people that "Day of the Lord" is coming. This promise was a hopeful one for people in captivity, in exile.

In my previous blog post, I mentioned how Amos seems to use the term justice to mean equality rather than judgment (or an eye for an eye). In Obadiah, however, Obadiah speaks to Edom and tells them that their role in destroying Jerusalem--how this country destroyed and betrayed their brother Jacob--will come back to haunt them. That is, what they did to Israel and Judah will be done to them. Retributive justice. God will punish Edom for its sins. They betrayed their relatives and will be punished. Opposite of Edom, however, is Israel who will prosper because God is with these people.

Here's just a bit of explanation of the book.

Day 196: Amos 1-4

Amos, oh Amos. Another book of prophecy about the judgment and redemption of Israel. I would say by now that this has been a consistent theme throughout, but if you've been reading my blog consistently, you would already know that.

One thing that does strike me, though, is how forgiving--and patient--God is. He tells the people--through Amos--that for three sins, even four, He will not turn his back on them. This shows a compassionate God, a forgiving God. A God that loves people.

God also tells the Israelites:

"You only have I chosen
       of all the families of the earth;
       therefore I will punish you
       for all your sins." 

Because God chose them, He had expectations of how they would act. He even thought that they should remain faithful to Him. When they didn't fulfill his expectations, He vowed to punish them for their sins.

Another poignant passage about God comes from Amos 4:13. 

He who forms the mountains,
       who creates the wind,
       and who reveals his thoughts to mortals,
       who turns dawn to darkness,
       and treads on the heights of the earth—
       the LORD God Almighty is his name.

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.

Day 155: Isaiah 34-37

This passage concerns how God will deal with his people, in two primary ways: First, in chapter 34, God will judge the immoral people, those who are faithless and corrupt. Then, in chapter 35, God will redeem the faithful. God judges and redeems. This story will come up again with Jesus. God will judge, and Jesus will be the sacrifice so that we can be redeemed. I love how the biblical story repeats itself.

Day 67: I Kings 14 to 17

From now on, the Kingdom of Israel was divided into two: Israel and Judah. There were kings over each and these nations were at war with each other. For the most part, Israel followed God and Judah worshiped Asherah poles and other idols.

And in the midst of all this evil comes Elijah, a prophet. His message is one of the judgment of God. In 17:1, he says that there will be no rain in Israel until he commands it.

Elijah performs several miracles here in chapter 17.
1. He prays to God that it will not rain and it did not rain. He prays to God that God's judgment will fall on Israel. God's nation had disobeyed God, so God was punishing them.

2. During this dry season, God provided for Elijah, and this is where another miracle comes into play. It involves a widow and her family. Elijah asks her for flour and oil, and she was hesitant about giving him any because she barely had any, and they were in a drought. But she did it, and she, her family, and Elijah had enough flour and oil to survive on throughout the drought. The jugs never ran empty.

3. The widow's son dies and she asks Elijah to pray to God to give him back his life. Elijah prays fervently that God will raise the son back to life, and God does it.

Much more is to come from Elijah, but for now we see that he is a man of God who obviously has a close relationship with God.

Day 2: Genesis 4-8

The story goes: Cain and Abel were brothers. Abel offered pleasing sacrifices to God, while Cain didn't. Cain grew jealous and killed Abel. It sounds like something right out of a Hollywood film. Cain must have been dealing with some intense emotions. Anger. Hatred. Embarrassment. Jealousy. Feelings I've had before, too.

After the murder, God confronts Cain about his sin and places a curse on him, a curse of being a wanderer for the rest of his life. Cain will never have a home. He will be nomadic. In spite of this curse, God still does something for Cain: God puts a mark on Cain so that no one can kill him. God actually protects Cain from being murdered by others. I find it a bit strange that God would do that. God could have punished Cain in so many ways. He could have struck Cain down himself right then. Or he could have done nothing for Cain and just let him go, knowing full well that someone else would kill him for what he had done to Abel. An eye for an eye, right? But no. God protected Cain. What kind of justice is that for Abel that his murderer can never be murdered? Cain murdered Abel, but Cain himself could never be murdered. What?!! God’s choice puzzles me a bit because it seems like such a strange choice. Has justice been served here? It doesn't appear so.

Perhaps this story says something to us about who should be the one to dole out justice. God is the ultimate judge, and he chose to protect Cain. Maybe we should think twice before we seek justice for something done to us or someone we love. Maybe this story teaches us to give God the control when bad things happen to us. While we might want to take out our wrath on someone because of the awful and unspeakable things that happen to people in our world, especially when they happen to people we love, perhaps we should let God do the avenging and punishing. Not because that person doesn’t deserve to be punished. And not because we don’t feel anger, hatred, jealousy, and revenge, just like Cain. By no means! We should let God be the judge. God can even take our feelings away. He wants us to be formed in ways that bring peace and purification to our souls and part of this is not seeking revenge. When we do this, we don’t have to carry around those feelings forever, and we will be formed in ways that are holy and good. And, ultimately, we will find peace.

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Genesis 6:5-8 is so powerful. The passage begins with the Lord seeing how great the wickedness on earth had become. It then moves to the Lord regretting that he had made human beings in the first place (I guess God was not viewing things so “good” after all). And it ends with “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” The contrast of Noah with the rest of humanity cannot be missed.

I like the faith of Noah. He built a huge boat because God told him to do so, and God saved him from the destruction of the earth because of Noah’s righteousness. Noah’s family was saved, too—all because of the faith and righteousness of Noah. I want to have faith like Noah. I want to be able to hear God speaking to me and to obey his commands.

Side Note: “Noah’s Ark” really is a violent story. Tell me again why Peyton's baby nursery is decked out in this stuff?!! And why is this story one of the most popular ones we teach our children?!! Maybe we should rethink this approach.