As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. – Genesis 15:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 31, 2015): Genesis 15

I have to admit that sometimes I think that Charlie Brown understands life better than most of us. How many of us haven’t been Charlie, trying desperately to kick the football only to have it pulled out before our feet can actually reach the ball? How many of us can say that we haven’t fallen flat on our back and been embarrassed in front of our friends? How many of us can honestly say that we have never gotten up in the morning ready to embrace Charlie’s new found philosophy – to only dread one day at a time. Sometimes there seems to be a lot in this life that deserves our dread. While the boogie man may not be hiding around every corner, doesn’t it at least sometimes seem that he is hiding around most - scary doctor’s results, disappointing relationships, what seems to us to be massive personal failure? I am not sure that I know anyone who is immune to any of these things. They are part of life – to be honest, the scary part of life.

There has been a lot of writing over the past few decades about the detrimental effects of fear. Ulcers, high blood pressure and heart disease are all linked to an unhealthy level of fear in our lives. Some researchers seem to believe that even Cancer can be enhanced by a high level of fear. And sometimes all it takes is just the memory of a scary moment to send our bodies reeling. Fear can also be debilitating. It is the “deer in the headlights” phenomenon. We know we need to move, but we can’t. And, sometimes, I wonder if that might be the exact place where Charlie Brown lives. Dread and fear has overcome him until he can no longer even move.

But what we sometimes miss is that fear is not simply a negative emotion that needs to be excised from our lives. Charlie Brown’s daily dread needs to be dealt with, but occasional fear has an upside. Fear focusses our attention like nothing else can. The reason why last minute solutions are often found has a large part to do with this focussing effect of fear. Fear tells us that there is a hierarchy of things that need to be dealt with in our lives – and numbers 2 – 10,000 don’t really matter in this moment. This moment needs to be dedicated to number 1.

Have you noticed that every time an angel appears in the Bible, the first words out of his mouth are “Do not be afraid?” Because the natural thing to be when an angel shows up in your office is afraid. But for that moment you are focussed on whatever the angel has to say. Abram falls asleep, but he apparently also falls into a “thick and dreadful darkness.” The first time I read those words, I admit that I found them a bit strange – what exactly is a “thick and dreadful darkness?” But I think I know the answer. The darkness is the attention grabbing strategy of God. It is the “do not be afraid” moment because everything in your body is telling you that this is the moment to be afraid. It is God saying, “I need you to listen to me in this moment – to focus on me. If I talk to you on a sunny afternoon you will be too enamored with the sounds of my creation to listen to me. But right now it is my voice that you need to hear. And my voice is all you need to hear.

Maybe the next time we fall into a “thick and dreadful” darkness, we need to learn to step back and listen for the voice of God. He might just be choosing that moment of focus to speak to us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 16

… that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ – Genesis 14:23

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 30, 2015): Genesis 14

The day that I bought my first house, the joke was that at last I had joined the class of the landowners – well, me and the bank. Back on the day I bought the house, I figured that the part I owned was probably just the workbench in the garage – the rest the bank owned. So I was proud of my workbench. Years have passed since that day, but the joke is no less true, except that today I own more of the house. But my house continues to be owned by me – and the bank who has lent me the money to buy it.

But what we sometimes miss is that, while it seems to be hard to make it through life without owing somebody, who we owe matters. And it goes beyond just the interest rate. Who you owe, at least to some extent, gets to call some of the shots over your life. Enter the conspiracy theorists. There is no such thing as a payment that is made without any strings attached. Everyone who gives you money wants something from you. And the only question is this – are you comfortable with where that might take you. Corporations have demanded that employees cover up illegal activities because payments have been made. Friends and family demand favors for the money that you owe them. We have been bought and paid for – the only question that we have to answer is, who is it that owns us?

Abram storms off to rescue his nephew Lot, and in completing his task he did a favor for the King of Sodom and the kings who were aligned with him. Some have wondered about the generosity that the King of Sodom seems to display toward Abraham. But then again, what use is it to be king if someone has carried all of your subjects away into captivity. The bottom line is that the king of Sodom needed his people more than he needed the plunder that had been stolen away from him in the war.

What the King of Sodom was willing to part with would have made Abram rich – or at least richer. But Abram wasn’t comfortable with who it was that he would end up owing. Even at this point, Abram seemed to know that there was something wrong in the valley of Sodom and Gomorrah - and it was something with which Abram needed to remain unconnected.

Besides, Abram knew that everything he had could only come from his God, a commitment that he would not turn his back on – no matter how much the king of Sodom was willing to offer to give to him.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 15

So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. – Genesis 13:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 29, 2015): Genesis 13

Abraham is regarded as father to three different religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The connection between Judaism and Abraham is probably the most clear. Abraham was the Father of Isaac who was the father of Jacob whose name would be changed to Israel. His sons would form the basis for the twelve tribes of Israel (actually thirteen tribes, but Levi was not given a single inheritance within the nation. Instead, they were given the responsibility for the tabernacle, and later the temple - the dwelling places of God. In their place, the tribe of Joseph was broken into two – Manasseh and Ephraim.) So Father Abraham was Jacob’s (Israel’s) Grandfather, and ancestor to all who hold Judaism close to their hearts.

Islam also has a tight relationship with Abraham. Isaac was not the only son of Abraham. Isaac had an older brother named Ishmael. Ishmael mother was Sarah’s (Abraham’s wife) handmaiden or servant. Because Sarah was unable to conceive, Hagar laid with Abraham and conceived Ishmael. According to custom, a child born to Sarah’s servant could be considered to be Sarah’s. But once Ishmael was born, a jealousy sprouted between Sarah and Hagar. So when Sarah finally gave birth to Isaac, Sarah ordered that Hagar and Ishmael be turned loose to fend for themselves. God promised Hagar that Ishmael would become the father of many nations, and it is believed that the Arab nations, the foundation for Islam, are his offspring. And anyone who converts to Islam is welcomed into this connection with Abraham.

The Christian view of Abraham is that he is our father through adoption. We may not be able to boast a blood relationship with Abraham, but through faith in the Messiah of Judaism we have also have been welcomed into his family. Three faiths all connected to this ancient, earthly righteous man named Abraham.

And as I hear the words of Abram (Abraham) to Lot, and Abraham’s desire that there would be no conflict between him and his relatives, I wonder how he would have felt about the fight that has been raging for centuries between his various descendants. I am not sure that he would have rejoiced in, or even would have understood, the conflict that exists between the three Abrahamic faiths.

I am also not sure that there is a way back for us, but if there is, I think we need to find it and take it. Judaism, Christianity and Islam need to find a way that they can disagree with each other and yet still love. We are all still trying to serve the same God, even if we choose to serve him in very different ways. And we are still brothers and sisters, the children of Abraham, even if we found our Abrahamic inheritance following a different paths. We should be the biggest allies we have outside of our own faiths – and not the biggest enemies.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 14

Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” – Genesis 12:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 28, 2015): Genesis 12

A recent study provided some good news for parents. According to the study done by McGill University, 98% of kids understand that lying is wrong. Not only that, they understand that lying is evidence of a lack of character, and that they want to be considered or grow up to be people of good character. Finally there is evidence that the parental message is getting through, not just with some kids, but with the vast majority of them. But the study came with some bad news – 98% of the kids surveyed said that they lie, and not just once in a while, they lie frequently. Another piece of unwanted information was that the frequency of lying corresponds with the increase in intelligence, in other words, the smarter your child is, the more likely it is that your child is lying to you. And the study left the researchers wondering openly about the disconnect between what the kids say that they want and know, and their behavior.

Lying also seems to increase with in frequency with age. In fact, the researchers concluded that lying was actually a developmental milestone. Dr. Victoria Talwar, a leading expert on children’s lying behavior makes this conclusion with regard to the study:

Although we think of truthfulness as a young child’s paramount virtue, it turns out that lying is the more advanced skill. A child who is going to lie must recognize the truth, intellectually conceive of an alternate reality, and be able to convincingly sell that new reality to someone else. Therefore, lying demands both advanced cognitive development and social skills that honesty simply doesn’t require.

So maybe it should not be surprising that lying is not something that simply goes away as we get older; it is not something we will eventually that we grow out of. Lying may actually be a defence of our character; when a threat arises to our persons physically, or to just our character and what people might think of us, we lie. The action creates a serious dissonance between what we think that we want to be and what we actually are. And we begin to make excuses to justify our behavior – we begin to explain that we really didn’t have any other choice. We had to lie.

Abram is intelligent and creative – and he apparently lies. If Abram was able to defend himself, he would probably make sure that we knew that what he was saying was not really a lie. Sarai was his sister, at least she was his half-sister. So all that Abram is asking Sarai to do was to highlight that part of their relationship. But his intention is to mislead and, therefore, it is a lie.

Abram’s lie should lead us to see how deeply ingrained the behavior is inside of us – and how hard it is to eradicate. And it might be that to eradicate lying means possessing the ability to see through the lies that we are telling ourselves. Because the person that we may lie to more than any other is the one that we see in the mirror.

 Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 13

 

I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. – Job 42:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 27, 2015): Job 42

Can God create a rock so heavy that he cannot lift it? You have probably heard the question before. It is often thought to be a bit of an artifact question, a nonsense question that belongs somewhere on Alice’s journey to Wonderland. But it is actually just a trick question used by people who do not believe in God to prove their point. The reality is that there is no right answer to the question. First of all, the question seems to admit the existence of God. It speaks clearly about the actions of God. If God doesn’t exist, who cares whether or not he can make a rock too heavy for him to lift. But the question isn’t just a frivolous time waster, a question designed for philosophers to wrestle with. It has a definite purpose – to prove that if God exists, he can’t be omnipotent. If you answer yes to the question, then you are admitting that God’s strength is limited, and that he is not omnipotent. But if you answer no to the question, then God’s creative power is limited, and, as a result, God is not omnipotent. The question has no correct answer except to prove that God, whatever else he might be, is limited in his power.

And it is a question that I tink would have confused Job. Job listens to everything that God has to say. He understands that God has created the Behemoth and the Leviathan, the great untameable beasts of the earth, and yet he can also tame them – God creates and tames the untameable. In the phrases of the question, God creates a rock too heavy for him to lift, and then he goes ahead and lifts it. It defies logic, but then again, so much of what we know about God defies logic. He refuses to be placed in any box that we might design for him. And Job has all of this in his mind as he is confronted by this God. In Job’s mind, all of this is proof of God’s omnipotence. God can do anything.

And because God can do anything, than God’s plans must also be perfect. And if that is true, then there is a reason for all that Job has gone through, even if Job can’t quite fathom what that reason might be – at least not yet. Job’s task is trust God; he doesn’t need to defend him or do anything else – just trust. And since Job now understands God power, trusting him is something that Job can do.

I don’t understand every situation that I have to go through. I don’t have any explanation for the trials and disasters of the earth.  I can’t comprehend why God allows evil to exist on the earth. Oh, I know that I have theories about Satan and evil and darkness, and they can explain some of the evil, but they don’t totally explain away the why of the questions that I ask. I don’t understand why we can’t love. I don’t understand why violence, even passive aggressive violence, seems to be our go to response to what happens in our lives. But that was never a prerequisite of my faith. My responsibility is to simply remember that I serve a powerful God who is working toward what I know is his good purpose. And so I trust. I am not sure what else I can do, especially if I am sure (and like Job, I am) that he exists.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 12

Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones are like chaff to it. – Job 41:28

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 26, 2015): Job 41

Sperm Whales were mystical animals until probably sometime early in the 18^th century. It wasn’t until then that we started to hunt them for the liquid wax that is found in their heads called spermaceti. But, up until then, they were animals that we only encountered when they were far off, and they were beasts that deserved our fear. We never encountered them up close, which was just the way that we wanted it. Even today, the High Finned Sperm Whale that is thought to inhabit the North Atlantic remains an animal of mystery. We have heard the rumors of its existence, we have sat down for the story telling sessions of sailors describing this beast to us, but we have never seen it. We can’t classify it, we don’t know what it really looks like except that it has a high fin “like the mast on a ship.” Does it exist? Many swear that it does, but we can’t prove it.

The Sperm Whale is the largest toothed predator on the earth. It dwarfs the size of almost everything else that lives. Even after we started to hunt the Sperm Whale for it valuable spermaceti, we found out that hunting them was not a job for the weak or the fearful. Our weapons just seemed to have too little effect on the beasts. If the spermaceti wasn’t so valuable, we would probably have quickly given up. In the early days, hunting them with harpoons and arrows yielded very few kills. It took multiple hits and hits in the precisely right areas to kill the beast. And even then, if the whaler wasn’t careful, he would lose the dying beast in the chase that happened after the fatal blow was delivered. But what made the Sperm Whale so dangerous was that when it was attacked, it had the unfortunate tendency to attack back.

Like the Behemoth, the identity of the Leviathan is unknown. But we have our theories. Most seem to think that this animal is the crocodile, and I understand the attraction to that idea. But I think it is a Sperm Whale. I know, a Sperm Whale doesn’t have scales, but then at the time of Job, the Sperm Whale was a mythical beast to which no one got ever really wanted to get close enough to examine for scales (and neither the crocodile nor the Sperm Whale breathe fire (vs. 21), so we aren’t going to find a living example of this famed beast that matches exactly.) Rabbi Jonathan Bar Nappaha (3^rd Century) writes this about the Leviathan –

"Once we went in a ship and saw a fish which put his head out of the water. He had horns upon which was written: 'I am one of the meanest creatures that inhabit the sea. I am three hundred miles in length, and enter this day into the jaws of the Leviathan'"

One Midrashic legend tells the story of Jonah and adds a note that on the day that the fish swallowed Jonah, the fish narrowly avoided being made a meal of by the Leviathan, which the Rabbi insists eats one whale each day. If it was a crocodile, it must have been a huge one.

But, whatever animal the Leviathan was, one thing is certain. It too was a creation of God, and while our arrows and spears may have had little effect on it, God still controlled the beast that he had created – just as he could approach the Behemoth with his sword.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 42

It ranks first among the works of God, yet its Maker can approach it with his sword. – Job 40:19

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 25, 2015): Job 40

The last male Northern White Rhino makes its home in Sudan. It walks around and does its business with an armed guard, like some prominent western politician. The Northern White Rhino has been hunted (poached) off of the face of the earth. And the hunters are out there that want to take this one down too. It is needed for its horn, which in Asia is thought to have miraculous healing power – even the power to cure cancer. But now the Northern White Rhino is almost gone. Its cousin, the Southern White Rhino is doing much better due to effective conservation efforts. But it appears that even extreme conservation efforts will fail with the Northern White – and so it walks with an armed guard ready to shoot down anyone who dares to try to take it down.

We don’t know the identity of the Behemoth. The subject is hotly argued by those that think they know or have a theory. Possible answers to the identity of the Behemoth range from a mythical creature that only existed in our imaginations (or were built on sightings of animals that could only be seen in the distance and never up close) to some kind of now extinct animal, to one of the three largest land beasts that we know roam the earth – the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the hippopotamus. The problem with the latter suggestion is that none of these three animals fulfill the description perfectly. One of the discrepancies is found in the description of the tail. None of these mighty creatures have a significant tail. The description of the tail that God gives to the Behemoth is closer to the trunk on an elephant, or maybe even the coveted mighty horn of the rhinoceros, but not the tail.

In spite of all of these considerations, the consensus opinion seems to be that God is speaking of the hippopotamus – the river horse. The hippo is the third largest land beast and it is known to be one of the most dangerous animals on the planet. Don’t let its pig like appearance fool you; it is able to run for short distances, it is known for its unpredictable temperament, and it is big enough to cause serious damage to whatever it catches. In fact, God probably uses the image of the hippopotamus (or the elephant or the rhino) because in ancient times these animals ruled. They were believed to be untouchable by the human population of the earth (which might have given rise to the myth that that horn of the rhino was a cure-all, a rhino horn was simply impossible to get even though rhinos were plentiful.) These three animals were the pinnacle of God’s creation outside of the creation of man. And there was nothing that was going to stop them. So Go tells Job to look at the Behemoth “which I made along with you” (Job 40:15). Consider the untouchable parts of my creation, the parts that are so large that you fear them – and know that I created them too. And not only that, God clearly tells Job that he can do something that Job can’t – he can approach and touch the living Behemoth.

But the three living solutions for the Behemoth share something else today. With modern weapons they are no longer untouchable. All three are endangered species, from being hunted and poached to shrinking habitats. This crowning achievement of God is steadily falling to the one God created to be creation’s protector. We have failed, and the present status of the Behemoth, whether we define that as the Hippopotamus, the Rhinoceros, or the Elephant, stands as a testimony against us. We have been either unable, or unwilling, to protect creation - and that is a sin for which I am afraid that someday we will have to answer.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 41

“Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied its ropes? – Job 39:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 24, 2015): Job 39

Queen Victoria was born 196 years ago today. This dowdy Queen who went through many ups and downs in popularity during her long reign as Queen is often remembered only for her “Victorian Morality” and for originating the phrase “We are not amused.” (Victoria denied ever saying those words and those who knew her said that she was often amused – at least during some periods of her life.) But reading through a history of Victoria can be a sad exercise. She seemed to be a woman who was kept under wraps; she was molded by everyone around her. Victoria was brought up under the “Kensington System” – a system of rules which kept Victoria away from anyone who her mother found to be undesirable, which included most of her father’s family. It was a system that enforced a constraining morality on the young Victoria, hoping to keep her away from the decadent example being set by other members of the Royal Family. This was quite possibly the beginning of the Victorian morality for which she is known. The rules seem to have been intended to keep her weak, and dependent on mom.  

But the pattern of reining Victoria in seemed to continue even into her reign as Queen. She seemed to be misled about the people around her, and then after her husband, Prince Albert, died, Victoria seemed to rein herself in. It wasn’t until her diaries were released after her death that we began to realize what a remarkable woman she was, and the extent of her influence on public policy during her reign. One has to wonder how different things might have been if Victoria had been simply turned loose on the world.

The wild donkey that God mentions here is likely the onager. The onager is a large donkey, almost more like a horse, although the onager’s legs are much shorter than a horse. But unlike their domestic cousin, the donkey, the onager has been found almost impossible to tame. To live, it must run free.

And so God asks the question – “who was it that set the onager free?” Can you fathom why you can tame a donkey, but an onager must be free? Who was it that untied the onagers ropes so that they can never be tied back up again. They were questions that Job and his friends could not answer. We still can’t explain so much about the differences between the two animals. And with dwindling European habitats for the Onager, the animal has been placed on the wildlife endangered list. There may soon come a day when the only onagers we will be able to see will be in zoos – still untamed and with spirits that drive them to be free.

And maybe that is not a bad description of Queen Victoria. She was an onager who needed to run free. Circumstances conspired against her freedom and tried to keep her safe within a prison meant to protect her – and yet, she still found a way to run free.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 40

Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass? – Job 38:25-27

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 23, 2015): Job 38

If a tree falls in a lonely forest, does it make a sound? The philosophical thought experiment has a long history. The idea may have been first explored by the philosopher George Berkeley in his “A Treatise Concerning the Principals of Human Knowledge” (1710), although Berkeley never actually asks the question. But since then philosophers seem to have had trouble not asking the question in some form. The basic idea behind the question explores the relationship between an event and the observation of the event, and asks the question whether or not the observation of an event changes the event in some way. Even theoretical physicist Albert Einstein got into the act, supposedly asking fellow physicist and friend Niels Bohr whether he realistically believed that the moon does not exist if no one is looking at it.

The question almost seems absurd to our modern minds. If we were involved in the conversation with Einstein and Bohr, maybe we would point to the very real effect that the moon has on the earth regardless of whether we are looking at it or not. The tide, a result of the gravitational interplay between the moon and the earth, would continue to happen even if no one on earth thought to look up and behold the moon – or if dense clouds enveloped the earth hiding the moon from our view. And yet, we also can’t ignore that, at least with regard to some events, observation of an event can and does change the event. (Here is another thought experiment. Because of the Baltimore riot, a baseball game between Baltimore and the Chicago White Sox in April 2015 was played in a closed ballpark – no fans were allowed in to see the game. It was thought to be the first time in Major League Baseball History where a game was played and no fans were there to watch. The announced paid attendance at the game – zero. The question, did the lack of fans effect the outcome. And the answer, most likely, is yes. Sports players feed off the energy of the fans, something that was totally absent at the game. But one very real difference did occur. The game, in which Baltimore won 8-2, only took two hours and three minutes to play. Maybe the secret to shortening a baseball game is to not let any fans watch.)

God responds to the conversation that is happening between Job and his friends very poetically. For the scientifically minded, a discussion of storehouses filled with snow and hail (vs. 22) and a place where lightning is dispersed (vs. 24) seems somewhat silly or antiquated. We understand the cycles of the weather, and what it is that causes snow and hail and lightning to fall to the earth. But that isn’t really God’s point. Speaking in words that Job and his friends would understand, God asserts his control over the weather. He is the one who designed the system, and he is the one who knows the inner workings of the weather, and he remains the one who is fully capable of interrupting the system.

But God also answers Berkeley’s philosophical question. God sends the rain even to deserts where no one lives, and the rain produces grass that no one will see and on which no animals will graze. There is entire ecosystems on the earth that exist outside of human perception. With our own very limited and egotistical view, this seems like a waste. Why should something as valuable as rain fall on a desert? Why should grass grow where there are no animals to graze? And why should flowers bloom where there is no one to admire their beauty? The simple answer is because God is there, and as much as we know that he created us, he also created the desert and the grass and flowers, and he is concerned with everything that he has created -  and not just us.

If a tree falls in a lonely forest, does it make a sound? Of course it does, because God has observed and noted the tree that fell and he has heard the sound. And in the end, does anything else really matter?

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 39

So that everyone he has made may know his work, he stops all people from their labor. – Job 37:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 22, 2015): Job 37

I have to admit that I love “snow days.” You know, those days when the weather (where I live it is usually the snow) is so bad that you just can’t get into work. The schools close down and everyone just stays home. These are days to throw some extra wood into the fire place and just enjoy the pause because the weather isn’t going to let you do anything else. I need days of pause. I just don’t experience snow days very often (in fact, I really can’t remember when the last time was when I had one.) Part of the problem is that the city in which I live is just too prepared for snow. A good friend of mine spends his winter as part of the army of drivers manning the snow plows to make sure that I can get to work. A few years ago a blizzard hit on Saturday night. As I watched the snow fall (and accumulate on the ground) I was sure that no one was going to be in church the next morning. But the next morning came and we dug ourselves out and a few people were missing from the church service, but not many. Secretly, I am a little jealous of people whose city’s are a little less prepared for snow –and who just decide to shut down when the snow falls.

This is exactly the phenomenon that Elihu is talking about. As he speaks these words to Job, it is snow days that he has in mind. In his world, when the snow comes in winter, it meant that the farmer had to stop his work. He enjoyed a snow day (really a season of snow days.) And the snow day, the inconvenience of not being able to work, was a gift from God, It was also a reminder that even the things that we do with our hands, our ability to work, comes from God.

Too often we seem to believe that we are self-made people. That the things that we possess, we possess because of the sweat of our brow and the talent that we possess. But Elihu points out that every capability that we have to create with our hands, we have only because God has given it to us. And every capability that God gives to us, God can also take away – and sometimes by something as simple as a snow day.

But it is also quite possible that Elihu was pointing right at Job and the situation that had developed in his life. Job had once been able to create, but God had stopped him. And not only that, Job’s situation had influenced Elihu and Job’s other three friends ability to work. All five of them had stopped from their labors because of the action that God had taken. Elihu and Job’s friends would eventually decide to leave Job and go back to work, but Elihu makes sure that Job understand that if he  ever hoped to be able to work again, it could only happen because God had decided to end Job’s snow day.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 38

Be assured that my words are not false; one who has perfect knowledge is with you. – Job 36:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 21, 2015): Job 36

During the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln was asked a question. “Do you believe that God is on your side?” It isn’t a very unusual question. The combatants in every war usually believe that they are fighting on the side of God. In ancient times, as nations would go to war, both sides fought for their own national god’s. And the nation that won, won because their god was stronger than the god of the other nation. And the pantheons of the gods grew as people added the gods of other nations, especially if they were gods that were on the winning side of the war, to their own list of god. So the question of whether or not God is on your side, or maybe better, which god is on your side, is a very basic question.

But Lincoln’s answer was not basic. Lincoln answered the question this way – “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side,” said the President, “my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” There is a big difference between asking whether God is on my side, or whether I am endeavoring to be on God’s side. In one, I want God to come in and bless my plans and my endeavors. I am the one in control and all I want is for God to bless my desires. In the other, I want to go and strive to be a part of where God is already moving.

I love the way James Moffat translated these words of Elihu. Moffat in his translation interprets these words of Elihu like this: “Here stands a man whose insight is unerring.” It is almost like Elihu is claiming to be God. At the very least he is claiming that he stands as a prophet of God - that God has placed his stamp of approval on Elihu’s words. The problem is that Elihu has made absolutely no effort to find out where it is that God is moving. He has assumed that God was on his side, rather than being concerned about being on God’s side – and finding out what it is that God is doing, especially in the life of Job.

There is absolutely no ambiguity about where I want to be. I don’t want God to come and bless what it is that I am doing. I don’t want to stand in the place of Elihu and assume that what I am saying is the voice of God. But I desperately want to be where God is moving. Abraham Lincoln worked where God was working and the result was that the world was changed. This is my hope and my prayer, this is what I want to spend my life doing – all for a chance to be a part of what God is doing on the Earth – and change the world.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 37

So Job opens his mouth with empty talk; without knowledge he multiplies words.” – Job 35:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 20, 2015): Job 35

A couple of weeks ago a Virginia bank robber made the news, not so much for his robbery, but for his defence. His defence was that his actions of taking money from a bank wasn’t really a robbery. He told the story of the robbery in these words – “I came into the bank, she gave me some money, and I left.” Okay, it wasn’t quite as simple as that. He walked into the bank and handed the teller a note asking, very politely, for $150,000. The note said please, and had a number of happy faces drawn on the paper. So it wasn’t really a robbery – he asked and she voluntarily parted with the money. The robber also videotaped the robbery and posted the video on his Instagram account. Again, not the action of a bank robber. He was innocent.

Well, apparently not. Apparently, whether you walk into a bank with a note demanding for $150,000, or politely asking for $150,000 – assuming you don’t have $150,000 on deposit with the bank - the crime for which you will be charged is still robbery. And posting the robbery you just committed on your Instagram account doesn’t make you innocent, it makes you … I seriously want to find a word other than stupid to describe this, but stupid just seems to sum it up so well.

When we continue to read the words of young Elihu and the older friends of Job, I seriously want to find a word other than stupid, but stupid just seems to sum it up to well. Elihu steps up his attack on Job. He accuses Job of talking, but his word are empty. God is not the least bit interested in the things that Job is saying. If God was interested, he would have moved already. God silence is in indictment on everything that Job is saying. Not only that, God’s silence proves that the things that Elihu and his friends are saying is true. Job should rejoice that God is letting him talk. Apparently if Elihu was God, he would have shut Job up a long time ago.

If only Elihu could have realized that every word he was speaking was true, but that it was misapplied. It wasn’t Job that was speaking empty words, it was Elihu and the elder friends of Job. A little later in the story God is going to remember these words of Elihu and he will speak to Job as he responds directly to Elihu’s charge. “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me” (Job 38:2-3). But the answer to the question isn’t Job, it is Elihu. But he just isn’t smart enough to realize that.

If there is a repeated warning in the story of Job, it is a caution to be careful about the things that we think we know. Elihu is so certain, all of the circumstantial evidence points to Job’s guilt, not his own. And so he tries to speak with the voice of God, but he misses the point completely. And because of that, he will have to answer to God. Our reality is that there is precious little in this life we can know, and when we begin to think that we know, we are placing ourselves in a dangerous position and opening ourselves up to the charge of being, well, stupid.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 36

Personal Note: Happy Birthday to my daughter-in-law Michelle. I hope you have a great day!

If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and breath, all humanity would perish together and mankind would return to the dust. – Job 34:14-15

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 19, 2015): Job 34

Bill Nye and Buzz Aldrin agree, we must go to Mars. It is the next logical step in our journey. Some scientists might argue that it would really be a home going since they believe that life began not on the marshes of earth but on a water soaked Mars. But life as we have experienced it here might have started on Mars, but it would never have become what we know of as life there, that would take a very specific set of conditions – conditions that exist only on Earth. Going to Mars might be the essential next step for our species. As it stands, all of humanity inhabits one small, frail, and vulnerable planet. All of our eggs are in one basket, and maybe it is time to change that.

They also argue that science needs a manned Mars mission. This generation of scientists were spurred on by manned missions to the moon. But we haven’t been back to the moon since 1972 (Apollo 17). Now it might be time to set our eyes a little further away. As far as a permanent human presence is concerned, Mars is really the only available site in our neighborhood. Venus, while the closest to the Earth in size, has experienced an uncontrolled Green House Effect in its atmosphere. The result is that Venus is the hottest place in our Solar System, much hotter on average than Mercury which is the closest planet to the sun. Our moon has no protective atmosphere, a must for long term human development. Mars on the other hand has an atmosphere, admittedly a very weak one, but some scientists believe that it might be able to be strengthened to make Mars a home for humans – and a second basket for our eggs.

But all of this is scientific conjecture. And we probably won’t know what we can do until we try. But the key would seem to be in our ability to establish a stable atmosphere there. It is the one thing that earth has that no other planet has. However, there is also a warning for all of us here. Mars looks like it had a stable atmosphere at some point in its past, but a rogue asteroid probably collided with the planet tearing the atmosphere away (it might have even been one of Mars two moons that caused the Martian disaster.) Venus has a stable atmosphere on steroids. If there is a Global Warning example that we need to pay attention to, it exists on our sister planet. This might be where we are headed if we are not careful. Life depends on this breath that surrounds the earth. But that breath has to exist within very narrow limits – too much or too little and we are finished.

Elihu makes a very valid statement. If God were to take away his providence, his spirit - his breath, we would be no more. We know that his blue planet is more fragile than even Elihu ever guessed. It sometimes seems that catastrophe must be hiding around every corner. In many ways it is amazing that we have not suffered the consequences of life in our solar system the way our two closest neighbors have suffered. Either the rampant atmosphere of Venus or the rarified one of Mars seem like they should be very real possibilities. Yet we are still here.

Scientists might call it luck, or point to the pockmarked moon that has absorbed a number of solar system impacts that might have been labeled for earth. Elihu might call it the breath of God. I agree with Elihu. But it also raises the stakes a little. This planet’s atmosphere is incredibly fragile. We can’t do anything about the next asteroid that is headed our way; that we have to leave in the hands of God. But we can and need to take steps to protect this delicate atmosphere, this breath that God has leant to us – until the day he decides to take it away.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 35

For God does speak — now one way, now another — though no one perceives it. - Job 33:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 18, 2015): Job 33

Sun Tzu was a master of military strategy during the 6^th Century B.C.E. His best known work is “The Art of War” – a book which continues to have a significant impact on our culture more than 2500 years after it was written. “The Art of War” is used a strategy manual in many of our competitive endeavors – including business and sport.

One of the more well-known stories of Sun Tzu tells of Sun Tzu’s rise to prominence. Before the King of Wu hired Sun Tzu, he tested him. He asked him to make a fighting force out of his 180 concubines. Sun Tzu took the women and formed two companies, and then he place the king’s favorite concubines at the head of each of the companies. He then commanded the women to face right. The women giggled. Sun Tzu stepped back. He taught that the general’s (in this case himself) first obligation was to ensure that the order was understood. He needed to make sure that his army of women understood what it was that was being asked of them. After taking that step and teaching what was expected, he once again ordered the women to face right. The women giggled. And Sun Tzu, over the protestations of the king, had the two favorite concubines at the head of each company executed. He raised two new woman to the head of the company, but now there was a difference. They understood both the command as well as the penalty for failure. And women performed their maneuvers perfectly. The story leads us to one of Sun Tzu’s lessons. “If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame. But if his orders ARE clear, and the soldiers nevertheless disobey, then it is the fault of their officers” – Sun Tzu.

Elihu seems to make an accusation here. The idea that has been argued by all of Job’s friends is that Job is guilty of sin, and therefore is now receiving his punishment. But Elihu changes the charge slightly. He asserts that God has spoken, that God always speaks, we just don’t hear him. If that is true, then the next question that needs to be asked is “why are we not hearing him?” Is it our fault, or is it God’s. If it is God’s inability to make himself heard, then how can we be held responsible. He speaks, but we have not been created in such a way that we can hear the delicate sound of his voice. We dream, but we don’t remember the dream, or can’t make sense of the dream. God speaks, but his voice is too soft for us to hear. Sun Tzu is right. The responsibility of the General is to make sure that his voice is heard. And if this is the meaning behind Elihu’s words, then God has not done that. But if we are the giggling women who hear God’s words, understand God’s words, but refuse to follow the words of God then we are the ones who are responsible - and we must bear the punishment.

Elihu is right – God is speaking. But Job has heard his voice. His actions are evidence that he has heard God and is willing to obey. The commands of God have been clear. Job was to take care of those less fortunate, to act with compassion and mercy, to make the world a better place through the material things that he possessed. All of these things Job has done. And yet, he is still in this place of judgment. And the problem goes back, not to what Job has hears, but rather to what was not heard – God’s discussion of Job with Satan in heaven. So for that discussion Job has not been made responsible.

Having said that, Elihu seems to admit that he and the other friends of Job are on the same level as Sun Tzu’s giggling women – they have not heard the command of God (Elihu freely admits that “no one perceives” what it is that God is saying) and for that they would be responsible. It was not that they couldn’t hear God, because Job had heard God. They just didn’t want to hear his words – they were satisfied to sit in the corner and giggle, and then pass judgment on Job.

Sometimes it seems that nothing has changed. The critics still seem to be the ones who are sitting in the corner giggling and then passing judgment. And while we can’t expect that to improve, we can recognize who they are who sit in judgment over the things of God in this world, and ignore them as we try to do the will of God that we have heard – to go and love the world that God so loves.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 34

But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. – Job 32:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 17, 2015): Job 32

I recently watched a first season episode of the Beverly Hillbillies (intact with the original opening sequence) and was caught off guard by the advertising in the opening credits. In this case the sponsor was Winston Cigarette’s. In the opening credits, after the portion of the credits that we are used to from watching old reruns of the show, we see Jed Clampett point and then the singer continues the saga of Jed Clampett as the loaded up Hillbilly Mobile passes a truck with an advertisement on its side.

            Now come along and visit with the Clampett family

            As they take you to their mansion in the hills of Beverly

            And when they do you’ll run into a friend of theirs you’ve met

            That good old friend with filter blend, Winston Cigarette’s

            Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.

Beyond the fact that cigarette advertising on television has been against the law since the mid to late eighties in North America, it shocked me to see how closely a brand could be linked to a product – like the Beverly Hillbillies. Winston cigarettes also sponsored the Flintstones including advertisements shown during the show that would feature different characters relaxing and enjoying a Winston cigarette. The tie between the product and the show was intimate. The danger that we seem to have missed was that the brand of the show could then be tarnished by the product to which it was linked – in the case of the Beverly Hillbillies and the Flintstones suffering from the health problems produced by Winston Cigarettes.

In a digital world, defending the Brand has become more important than ever. We have become very careful to whom we might lend our name or our brand. Rock bands are careful to manage who uses their songs to sell product. Actors carefully consider the cause before they do an advertising spot. Even in the bloggerverse, bloggers carefully manage their brand knowing that a misstep could quickly destroy everything that they are trying to build. The recent fight between Brian Williams and NBC is really over a question of brand protection. The big question is simply can a popular reporter who now has been shown to have lied be brought back on at the Nightly News without tarnishing the NBC brand? There is no doubt that damage has already been done to the brand, but what happens next if Williams resumes his career at NBC? And right now I am not sure that anyone really knows the answer.

Elihu makes his appearance in the Job saga. There is much controversy over the historicity of Elihu. He appears and then leaves and is never heard from again. Supporters of Elihu’s historicity point to the lineage as proof that Elihu was a real person. Elihu is the only person in the whole saga that comes complete with a genealogy. But critics wonder if that might be the problem. It is almost like someone at a later date appended the book adding the Elihu chapters and giving him a genealogy to make him appear historical. I lean toward the historicity of Elihu, but also recognize the problems.

But Elihu’s complaint against Job is a brand complaint. Elihu is disturbed that Job clearly states that he is a servant of God, but spends his time protecting his own brand instead of God’s. As far as Elihu was concerned, Job’s first responsibility should have been to protect the image of God that was being projected in the argument.

Job is not given a chance to respond to the charge, but my guess is that Job would agree with Elihu. Job has been attacked and backed into a corner by his friends, and he has fought his way back out, but in the conversation Job has unwittingly questioned the integrity of God. He has essentially created a Brand problem for God. The problem which everyone in the story seems to miss is that there is an understanding in the argument that has been accepted by all parties involved that either Job or God are wrong. As Job maintains his own innocence, he casts question with regard to the integrity of God. What the reader of the story understands is that both Job and God are right. There is no need for one of them to be wrong. And this is maybe one of the things that we begin to learn from the questioning of Elihu.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 33

Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. – Job 31:35

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 16, 2015): Job 31

We want to be heard – we need to be heard. In the wake of the unrest that has shook the United States, this one fact seems to be repeated. We need to be heard, but sometimes it seems that no one is listening. I almost weep as I hear the sides face off against each other on various news programs. I think the words that hurt the most are “we know what happened.” I have heard the words repeated several times over the past few months, and they have become part of the problem. We don’t know what happened. We have suspicions, we can make conclusions given the evidence, but we don’t know. We have to stop throwing that word around as casually as we do.

Fox News had to apologize a couple of weeks ago for misreporting an incident that happened in Baltimore. According to Fox, the reporter witnessed the event. A black man went running past the reporter with police chasing. There was a shot, the black man fell with the police officers falling on top of him. The news report – a black man has been shot in the back by police officers. The truth was obvious. The arrogance of the reporter was – I know what happened - I saw it. The truth. A black man was being chased by police on suspicion of a weapons violation. In the act of running away the suspect threw away the gun he was carrying. As the gun hit the ground it discharged. The shot hit no one. The police tackled the man and place him under arrest. The veracity and accuracy of eyewitness reports to an event have been repeatedly questioned. The problem is that our minds are very powerful instruments that are capable of filling in the blanks as we watch something happen. We don’t even realize our brains are doing it. The result is that too often we do not see what is really happening, we only see what we expect to happen.

Job has argued his case. The problem is that both sides seem to know what is true. The actual truth is that both sides are wrong. The truth is held only by God. Here, Job’s argument almost seems to be brought to a premature end. In reading his words there seems to be so much more that he wants to say, but you can almost hear him mutter under his breath “what’s the use.” His friends are going to believe what they believe. No matter what Job says, it will not change the opinion of those who now gather around him.  It is a waste of his breath. The only one that can solve this argument is God, and for the moment God seems to be comfortable in his silence.

So now Job ends the argument. The New International Version says that Job attached his signature. The King James Version says that he closes with his one supreme desire – that God would hear him. But what Job literally says, which the NIV translates as signature and the KJV as desire is that he attaches his Taw. The word Taw is simply the final letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Job might simply be saying that we have run out of letters to use in our argument, we have reached the end. And unless God is going to speak, this is going nowhere, because you refuse to hear me and I can’t hear you. No one really knows other than God, therefore, this has to be the end.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 32

Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress. – Job 30:24

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 15, 2015): Job 30

I recently watched the 2007 movie “Into the Wild.” The movie is the story of the life and death of Chris McCandless. McCandless was a young adventurer who dreamed of living for a few months off of the land in Alaska. But McCandless was unprepared for the experience. While he desired to live off of the land, the evidence seems to lead us to the conclusion that McCandless just couldn’t find enough to eat to keep him alive during his stay in the Alaskan wild. At one point, realizing that he was in trouble, McCandless attempted to walk out, but his way was blocked by a fast moving river that had been nothing more than a slow moving creek when his journey began. McCandless then returned to the bus that he had been using as his home since he entered the wilderness. The movie argues that McCandless death was due to unintentional poisoning – he ate plants that should never have been ingested. But when McCandless body was found by hunters a couple of weeks after his tragic death, he weighed only 66 pounds. The cause of death on his death certificate was simple – starvation.

Chris McCandless and his "Magic Bus"

At some point near the end of his life, McCandless wrote a note intended for anyone who might happen along the Stampede Trail and stop by his “magic bus.” The note read:

Attention Possible Visitors. S.O.S. I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out. I am all alone, this is no joke. In the name of God, please remain to save me. I am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening. Thank you, Chris McCandless. August?

McCandless journal indicates that he was scared and quickly losing hope. His last journal entry was written on August 12, 1992. His lifeless body was found by hunters on September 6, 1992. He had been in the Alaskan bush for four months.

Scholars have argued that this passage in Job is unintelligible. Their argument seems to be that it simply can’t mean what is seems to mean, that Job is accusing God of assaulting him at the time in his life when he was most helpless and asking for help. But the question that naturally seems to grow out of that argument is “why is that impossible?” It seems to be the one of the most natural of our reaction. We often seem to be disturbed by God’s silence. One of the cries that I hear frequently from suffering people is in the form of a question – what have I done to anger God in this way? And if that is our reaction, why is it impossible that it might be Job’s – that Job might misinterpret the silence of God for the anger of God. Again, we have the advantage of knowing the heavenly argument in the beginning and the God blessed end of the story. But at this point neither of these things are known to Job. And in the presence of his friends and what we might call their worldly wisdom, Job’s faith is beginning to falter. Maybe God is not who Job believed God to be.

The tragedy of McCandless’ death is that it simply did not have to be that way. If he could have hung on for just a little longer he could have been found. On his attempt to escape the Alaskan Wild, there was a hand drawn trolley that would have taken him safely across the river less than a mile from where he confronted the raging water. McCandless simply didn’t know it was there. If he had a map with him he could have found his way out. If he was better prepared for the Alaskan wilderness he could have survived. But the silence that greeted his S.O.S. note was not because no one cared – even though in those dying moments in the bus I am sure that is the way that McCandless felt. And I am sure of that because it is the way that we all feel when our suffering meets with silence – and it is in those moments that we need to remind ourselves that we are loved by God, and by others, in spite of the silence. To argue that that type of a reaction was impossible for Job is to deny Job’s humanity – to say that he was not like us.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 31

Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me, because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist them. – Job 29:11-12

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 14, 2015): Job 29

I am struggling with the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber. Admittedly, I have no horses in this race. I am not from Boston and have no connection with the city (other than my love for the Bruins, probably a left over consequence of my childhood dislike of the Montreal Canadiens.) I personally don’t know of anyone who was killed or even hurt from the blast that Tsarnaev caused. I have heard their testimonies. There is no way that this should have happened. And the bombing that took place at the Boston Marathon in 2013 was nothing more than the work of pure evil.

But having said that, I look at pictures of Dzhokhar and I see a kid, a child who should have so much of life in front of him. The reality seems fairly simple. He was nineteen at the time of the bombings. By law he was an adult. But he wasn’t really. Our brains don’t mature until we are in the twenty-five to thirty range. The evidence seems to point toward the fact that Dzhokhar’s brother and mother had radicalized. We don’t seem to understand why, but we know that it happened. The older brother was on the cusp of maturity, the extent of influence that mom had on what happened at this point is unknown - and I am not saying that mom helped plan the bombing, but it is beginning to look like mom may have set up the conditions that allowed for the planning of the bombing. And Dzhokhar’s brain was not yet mature enough to see any other way. He was idealized and in the process of being radicalized. The teaching he had received had taught him that the people he was about to hurt deserved no mercy. And the temptation is to give to him what he gave to others. But that temptation is not necessarily right.

Job’s defense of his own actions might simply be summed up by saying that he was a man of mercy. He extended mercy to the poor and to those without power. Christianity, since its inception 2000 years ago, has been as a faith built around the idea of mercy. Jesus teachings seem to lead us toward this kind of response. Job was exalted because he believed in mercy, as were the early believers in Christ. Mercy became an identifying feature of this group called Christians. But the mark seems to be fading.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev did not extend mercy to his victims. It appears that he may have been taught very clearly by both his mother and his brother that those who did not believe as he did were not deserving of mercy. But at this point his brother is dead and his mother has fled the country and continues to accuse the United States of stealing her children from her. Maybe she needs to look inside her own belief systems to understand the fate that her children have suffered. The truth is that it did not have to be this way. But it is.

Dzhokhar is still young. But no matter what the decision of this trial is, and the result of the countless appeals that will be made by his lawyers in an effort to keep him off of death row, his life is over. And that is tragic. But maybe it is time for us to take a page from Job’s defense and decide to be the ones who will extend mercy – even to those who refuse to extend mercy to us. The truth is that execution of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has no upside. At some point, the killing simply has to stop. And maybe this is the point. Dzhokhar is not asking for our mercy. It may be that he has no way inside of his mind to frame that kind of request. But it is evident that he has become the poor and fatherless in our midst. Whether or not he deserves mercy, maybe we need to give it if for no other reason than to prove to ourselves that we are not the same as our enemy. We have the ability to stand with Job and be marked by our mercy and our compassion.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 30