Tag Archives: Israel

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Amos 6

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Image by Marilyn M via Flickr

Woe to those addicted to feeling good—life without pain! those obsessed with looking good—life without wrinkles! They could not care less about their country going to ruin. Amos 6:6 (MSG)

Flipping through the channel guide on television this morning, here are the titles I saw:

  • Step & Lose weight
  • Get Luscious Hair!
  • Carve Abs in Bed!
  • Look Younger
  • Anti-Aging Secrets
  • Easy Hair Removal!
  • Weight Loss Breakthrough!
  • Millionaire’s Secrets
  • Sexy Swimsuit Body
  • Summer Sexy Abs
  • Microwave Grilling!
  • eBay Riches!
  • Get Sexier in 90 Days!
  • Look Younger in 14 Days!
  • Body Gospel
  • Look Younger Instantly
  • Food Lovers Fat Loss
  • Overcoming Anxiety

Was Amos talking to Israel, or to us?

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 2 Chronicles 17

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[Jehoshaphat] was single-minded in following God. 2 Chronicles 17:6a (MSG)

When reading 2 Chronicles, it’s important to remember that the nation of Israel was divided in two parts. While we are reading about the kings of Judah (the southern part), the events we read about in the books of the Kings is happening simultaneously in the northern kingdom. Sometimes the parallel events have light to shed on our reading.

Reading about Jehoshaphat’s single-minded devotion to God is a stark contrast to King Ahab, who was on the throne of the northern kingdom of Israel during that time. While Jehoshaphat led the people in devotion to God alone, the prophet Elijah gathered the people of the northern kingdom together and called them to account for their double mindedness:

Elijah challenged the people: “How long are you going to sit on the fence? If God is the real God, follow him; if it’s Baal, follow him. Make up your minds!” 1Kings 18:21 (MSG)

The human eye cannot see darkness unless it is contrasted by light. In the light of Jehospaphat’s devotion, the darkness of Ahab and Jezebel came into greater focus. When we are single-minded in following God, we become the “light of the world” and the darkness stands in stark contrast to our thoughts, words, and love in action.

Today, I’m thinking about my own life. How single-minded am I? Is my life the light that God intends? Do my thoughts, words, and actions stand in contrast to the darkness – or does it all just sort of blend together in a shade of gray?

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 2 Kings 15

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I80 western nebraska. Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah. He was king in Samaria for only a month. 2 Kings 15:13 (MSG)

Bear with me today, as my impressions from the chapter are more wholistic instead of being linked to a particular verse.

I've had a case of the blues for the past couple of weeks. Life feels a bit stagnant at the moment. It's sort of like driving through western Nebraska. You know that you are moving down the road, but you wouldn't know it from looking out the window. The view isn't changing. This has been a very long, very cold, very snowy winter. I feel a bit snowbound. I'm tired of gloomy, snowy days and long, dark nights. The days all seem the same. I feel like hope blew away in one of the three-storms-a-week blizzards a while back. [I'll stop whining now]

At the same time, I feel a whirlwind in the lives around me. A friend with an exciting new job. Another friend shocked to be released from his job. Yet another friend and his family struggling through the whirlwind of activity and emotion which accompanies the journey's home stretch. Surgeries, pregnancies, illness, divorces, changes, and moves. I watch them all from my computer screen inside Vander Well Manor. [Did I mention I was going to stop whining?]

I was struck, as I read today's chapter, of the contrast between Judah's experience and Israel's experience during this section of the historical timeline. Uzziah becomes king in Judah and rules for an impressive 52 years. Israel, on the other hand, becomes a revolving door of leadership. There is no clear royal line. It appears that, if you had the gonads to pull off an assassination, anyone had a shot at the throne. Of course, your reign might be as brief as Shallum because there were plenty of guys with gonads lining up in the queue to take their shot and off you.

One nation with a long, steady, even monotonous experience while next door there is a flurry of chaos and change. It reminds me today that there is a time for everything; a season for every purpose under heaven.

God, be near my friends who journey on a much different road than mine right now. Be near me on my own long, flat path as the experience that feels so different, and a bit lonely. Amen.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and gjs

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Judges 19

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He lifted her onto his donkey and set out for home. When he got home he took a knife and dismembered his concubine—cut her into twelve pieces. He sent her, piece by piece, throughout the country of Israel. And he ordered the men he sent out, "Say to every man in Israel: 'Has such a thing as this ever happened from the time the Israelites came up from the land of Egypt until now? Think about it! Talk it over. Do something!'" Judges 19:29-30 (MSG)

When a five men broke into the Democratic National Committee offices of the Watergate complex in 1972, it was a small story. Like a small stone that triggers an avalanche, the "small" story ended up with the resignation of a president and the changing of history. There are events that, ultimately, become part of changing the course of history.

It's easy to read this horrific story in Judges 19 and wonder what could possibly be relevant about such a brutal event. My initial reaction as I read the tragic details was to wonder how such things could happen or be tolerated. I have to be honest, however. Genocide, misogyny, gang rapes, and brutal killings are still a part of this world, though I turn a blind eye to such things when they don't collide with personal experience. Nevertheless, what's the point of such a bloody event?

Any one who sojourns through scripture for any measure of time begins to perceive the big picture themes that connect these diverse writing. There is a grand story being told and this news story is like a new clipping about the Watergate break in. The nation of Israel started as one wandering nomad who started a family who grew into a nation as slave laborers in Egypt. Moses leads them out of slavery, delivers God's law, and takes them to the promised land of Canaan. Joshua leads the conquest of the land. They are settled, spread out in their tribes. But, thing aren't good. With no king or central government, things are continually falling into anarchy and chaos.

The book of Judges is a chapter in God's grand story that moves us from Israel's settling of Canaan without any real system of human government to the establishment of a monarchy that would give us King David, through whom God would ultimately send us His Son. The chaotic events described in Judges are like stones that create an avalanche of public opinion. Soon, Israel would be clamoring for a king. The story of this concubine's rape and her husband's bloody message to the tribes surely raised that clamor to a fever pitch. Something needs to be done. This event would be part of a chain of events that would lead Israel to cry out for a king to rule them and bring law, justice and order to the land.

Today, I'm thanking God that I live in a time and place where the rule of law prevents such events from being commonplace. I'm also mindful of the terrible consequences when we are not subject to authority.