Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. – 2 Chronicles 21:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 31, 2016): 2 Chronicles 21

Welcome to Samhain, which officially begins at sunset tonight. Samhain is a Gaelic festival that marks the end of the Harvest (In my part of the world I hope that the crops have been in and harvest has been completed for at least a couple of weeks now – but often, and if the weather holds, the harvest takes longer than we might want.) It also marks the beginning of “the darker half of the year” – Winter. Samhain is celebrated tonight representing the halfway point between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. It is also one of the celebrations that are part of the foundation for what we celebrate today as “Halloween.”

I did not grow up in an anti-Halloween family. I totally understand Halloween’s pagan roots, but, for me, Halloween was a fun night to go out and collect candy. It was a great night for my dad because I also have some food allergies, so at the end of the night my Dad got to keep more of my collected haul than I did (at least it seemed that way.) The family tradition of candy collection on this night has continued. Tonight, my grandchildren will shift into Cinderella, Batman, and Spiderman for their personal pursuit of their candy. And in the empty lot next door to the church, cars will gather with their trunks open to pass out candy to the costumed children who pass by our church looking for some candy to help get them through “the darker half of the year.”

Halloween has also become a good time to be scared. Often people seem to like to curl up and watch a horror movie on this night. There is something that feels right about being scared when you are safe in the confines of your home with your family and friends gathered around. But real fear, something that I hope you do not have to experience on this night, is different – and it is not pleasurable.

For me, this is one of the scariest verses in the Bible. The idea that someone could live their lives and then die, and no one would miss them is terrifying. But this verse goes even a step further. Jehoram of Judah died “to no one’s regret.” His death was apparently a painful one. And to top it all off, Jehoram was buried in Jerusalem, but he was not given the honor of being buried in the Tombs of the Kings. Essentially, Jehoram of Judah seems to represent a wasted life – and that is a true horror story.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 1

Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” – 2 Chronicles 20:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 30, 2016): 2 Chronicles 20

Fairy tales and comic books are more important than we sometimes give them credit for being. Consider the story of “The Tortoise and the Hare.” We know the story. The Hare is much faster than the plodding Tortoise. Of course, that also becomes the Hare undoing in the story. In a race between a Tortoise and a Hare, the Hare doesn’t really have to pay attention. The Hare can go for coffee, snooze by the side of the road, and enjoy the day that is in front of him. The Tortoise, on the other hand, has no such luxuries. The Tortoise must be single-minded in what is about to happen. There is no coffee and no “enjoying the day.” In fact, it is quite probable that the Tortoise will do everything right and still lose the race. The Hare is simply that much faster.

Of course, in the story, we know that the Hare loses. The Hare is so confident in his abilities that he feels that he doesn’t have to pay attention to the little things – like making sure that he got over the finish line first. The Moral of the story is simple, but it is also untrue. In reality, slow and steady does not always win the race. It only wins the race when fast are also unable to focus on the task that is in front of them. The Tortoise, at some point, had to admit that there was no way he was going to win the race, but that he would try. This is the real secret of every “David and Goliath” story.

Jehoshaphat finds himself in the middle of his own “David and Goliath” fairy tale. There is no way that he can win against the forces that have lined up against him. And yet, he is not willing to just surrender and give up. He has to try. And so he comes to God with this message. You are God, and I am not. We have no power to do anything, but you do. We have aligned ourselves with you, and at this moment our eyes are on you – only on you. Either you move, or we are defeated. We will do everything that we can do, but in this story, we are the Tortoise and our enemy is the Hare. God, the ending of this story is solely up to you.

It is in this prayer that Jehoshaphat finds the seeds of his victory. And it is also the seeds of ours. How different our lives would be if we simply realized that our hope is only in the God we serve. If not for him, the Goliaths and the Hares in our lives would beat us every time, even though we do everything right. And so, success depends on where we are willing to place our eyes. The win depends on whether we are prepared to follow the path of Jehoshaphat and say to our God – our eyes are on you. We will do our best, but the ending of this story is solely in your hands.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 21

He told them, “Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for mere mortals but for the LORD, who is with you whenever you give a verdict. – 2 Chronicles 19:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 29, 2016): 2 Chronicles 19

The 1960 Presidential election was a disaster. We seem to have recently focused our attention on the media savvy John F. Kennedy versus the more traditional, and less personable, Richard Nixon. But the reality was that the election was won by the narrowest of terms. In the popular vote, the difference between the two candidates was only 0.02%. But Kennedy won, and Nixon graciously conceded the Kennedy victory in a telegram the next morning.

And then the allegations of voter fraud began. In an opinion piece written by Mark K. Updegrove for the New York Times, Updegrove writes “In Chicago, in one instance, 121 votes were counted after only 43 people voted, and 6,138 ballots were cast in a Texas county with just 4,895 registered voters.” The Republican Party was up in arms. They began legal proceedings and started a process that could have led to a recount. What they did not do was allege that the whole system was rigged. They trusted the system, and instead focused on local and specific charges of voter fraud, hoping that if they won in these local problem areas that a nationwide recount would be demanded by the authorities. But, maybe the most surprising move was that Nixon refused to be personally involved in the process. It wasn’t that Richard Nixon was a saint. Nixon had committed himself to some questionable acts during the campaign. But here he drew the line. This election was now in the hands of the Republican Party. He had moved on.

In retrospect, Nixon’s decision to leave the allegations in the hand of the party probably saved his political career. Nixon would live to fight another day. He refused to burn the bridges behind him. And eventually, Nixon won Presidency (twice). Unfortunately, he also fell hard; a fall that many attribute to his defects of character. But those flaws in character could have easily led him to end his political career in 1960 rather than in the mid-1970’s. Updegrove’s opinion piece ponders what lessons Donald Trump, the current Republican Candidate, could and should learn from his predecessor.

When we are reading Chronicles, it is important to remember when these words were written. Chronicles was written at a point in Jewish history when the people were beginning to return home from the Babylonian exile. Chronicles is essentially a “learn from what has happened before” manual. Much of what it includes we already know from the books of Samuel and Kings. But some of it is new, and to those new passages, we might want to pay attention. 2 Chronicles 19 is new material. And it is not a surprise that the author of Chronicles would want to include these words. In the process of rebuilding the nation, this would seem to be advice that many of their ancestors had missed. “Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for mere mortals but for the Lord, who is with you whenever you give a verdict.” If you want to have a future in the land, remember who is really in charge. When you give advice, or when you judge, remember that it is God’s judgment that matters. Don’t disqualify yourself from what comes next. There are going to be a lot of significant decisions in the months ahead, but they need to be “God decisions.”

It is good advice for all of us. Whatever we do now in the heat of the moment, make sure that it does not disqualify ourselves from what comes next – because in just a moment, the next act will begin.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 20

But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the breastplate and the scale armor. The king told the chariot driver, “Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.” – 2 Chronicles 18:33

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 28, 2016): 2 Chronicles 18

There is an old episode of M*A*S*H where Colonel Potter and Hawkeye are called out to a small combat hospital at the front. With bombs and shells falling all around them, their task is to put the wounded back together long enough to get them to a hospital. After completing their job, they were making their way back to the 4077 when all in a sudden bombs start exploding all around them once more. Now, it probably didn’t help that the two homeward doctors had also discovered that Klinger had remembered to pack some beverages for the ride back and both of the men were now drunk. But, just at the right moment, the doctors find a foxhole and jump in - and then begins a conversation over the use of guns. Potter is adamant. They have sidearms with them, and the guns are meant to be used. But Hawkeye disagrees. His memorable statement is that he would heal their wounds, and he would bind their wounds, but he would not inflict their wounds. Potter finally convinces Hawkeye just to discharge his weapon into the air to try to scare the enemy off with the noise, and to that suggestion, Hawkeye agrees. He pulls the trigger on his gun with the barrel pointed at the sky until he has no bullets left. No harm was done, either to the bodies of the enemy or Hawkeye’s ideals. Just six wasted bullets.

In the story of this battle between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and the Kingdom of Aram, it is clear that Ahab is the target of the enemy. And so when the enemy sees a man dressed as a king, it is natural that they would think that that king would be Ahab. But when they take a closer look, they realize that it is not Ahab. It is still a king – in this case, it is the King of Judah - but in the heat of the battle it seems that the king of Judah is not worth an arrow.

And yet, even though the soldiers of the attacking army have been commanded to fight only against Ahab, someone fires an arrow even though the intended target has not been spotted. This arrow is the counterpart of Hawkeye’s bullets. It is fired without purpose and without a target. It is as if someone had the arrow loaded into the bow and just decides to loose the arrow rather than release the pressure on the bowstring and put the arrow away. The bolt is wasted. It has no chance of doing any damage, except that it does.  Somehow that wasted arrow finds the one spot on Ahab’s armor that is vulnerable to attack.  

Throughout history, people have tried to put a name to the soldier that fired the fateful arrow. But in so many ways that just seems to defeat the point of the story. Ahab’s death is not brought on by a skilled warrior and it is not the result of a cleverly designed attack. Ahab would be killed by the wasted arrow of a warrior too lazy to not to let the arrow fly. Ahab’s life ends in such a way that it could only be called an act of God – and in fact, it is an act of the God that Ahab had denied throughout most of the length of his life.

(See also 1 Kings 22:34)

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 19