Whoever seeks good finds favor, but evil comes to one who searches for it. – Proverbs 11:27

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 30, 2019): Proverbs 11

Apparently, I am passing through my “Country Music Phase.” Yeah, I know. Who saw this coming? But I have been listening to a little Tim Hicks over the summer, and one tune keeps on going through my mind. The song is “Can’t Take it Away.” Hicks writes this;

            So don’t be Debbie Downing on my parade

            You know what they say, yeah the haters gonna hate

            So if your glass is half empty, go and drink it on up

            And me I’m sipping on a half-full cup.

The song attacks what might be one of the eternal questions of life. How is it that you see the world? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? And the reality is that we often see what it is that we expect to see. In every area of life, whatever it is that we expect is what we end up seeing. If you expect the church to be judgmental and evil, it will fulfill your expectations. In the same way, if you hope to see goodness; you will find that, too.

But I am also convinced that how we see the world will be the way that the world sees us. It is incredible to me how often people that we judge to be bitter have a bitter outlook on life, and see bitterness everyplace that they look. And the people that we love to be around are the ones who look for reasons to love us and the world around us. Often, we are what it is that we search for in the world around us.  

Solomon recognized this concept in his life. If you look for the good, you will find it. If you look for evil, you will find that also. Solomon doesn’t add the next sentence, but he could have. So search for good in every aspect of life. It just makes sense. Could it be that evil is so easy to find because that is what we are searching for? Could we change our world by deciding that we were not going to search for evil, but rather for good? It might be a hard task early on, but the effort would be worth it because we would get to live in a better world.

So are you a “glass half full” or “glass half empty” kind of person. And more importantly, are you willing to change your outlook on life?

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 12

Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. – Proverbs 10:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 28, 2019): Proverbs 10

What do you want to be when you grow up? I know, for a lot of us that is a question that we left behind long in the past. And yet it remains a worthy one at almost every stage of life. What is it that we are aspiring toward in the next phase of life. The problem that we miss is that when we stop aspiring toward something, we begin our serious descent into death. It doesn’t have to be an earth-shattering reason, but every morning there must be a reason to get out of bed and on with our lives.

But there is a disturbing trend at almost every stage of life to aspire towards only what it is that will make us money. Money often seems to have become our goal. And I get it, the need for cash exists at every stage of life. But the unfortunate reality is that aspiring toward money doesn’t actually work. Increasingly, I meet with people under the age of forty who want to retire in the next decade; but that is the end of the plan. They are increasingly looking for an easy way to get to that early retirement date without having to work hard in the present. And the result of that strategy is almost always poverty in retirement, rather than an early retirement.

So Solomon’s advice? Laziness, or chasing after money without work, is a prime recipe for poverty. Working hard is the main pathway to wealth. But there is a second part to this advice. If you work hard at a job that you hate; getting up in the morning will always be a challenge. The best advice that Solomon could give would be not only that we should plan to work hard, but that we should plan to work hard at a job that we enjoy. Because then, it won’t seem like hard work, and wealth will still come.

Solomon’s advice still holds true today. Working hard results in wealth. But the next stage in our financial development is what we do with that wealth. And, for too many of us, we are willing to give away our hard-earned wealth almost as quickly as we receive it; and usually to feed our addictions, or even just to McDonald's or some other purveyor of fast food. And so we are poor, not because we are unwilling to work hard, but because we refuse to hold on to the fruit of our labor. Of course, that is a different problem.

So what do you want to be when you grow up. Because whatever it is that you are aspiring toward in the next stage of life, both your health and wealth lie in the balance.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 11

Folly is an unruly woman; she is simple and knows nothing. – Proverbs 9:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 28, 2019): Proverbs 9

As an older person, I have watched language change. And sometimes, I admit that I am still trapped by those changes. Sometimes I say things I don’t really mean because language has changed. Slang speech of my youth has become offensive. (Or more appropriately, it was always offensive, but in the past we didn’t recognize the offensiveness of our words.) I live in a world where saying anything in a negative way about a segment of our society is not acceptable. I freely admit that I am not sure that when we used the phrase to “Jew someone down” in a price negotiation, we always realized that that was actually a slur against Hebrew people. Or that when we called something stupid, saying it was “gay,” that we were connecting that stupid incident with the LGBTQ community. We should have understood that, but I don’t think that we did. And so sometimes those archaic slangs still creep into our dialogue. We don’t mean what we say, and sometimes that is why it is hard to change our speech patterns.

I think sometimes the language of the Bible also interferes with our understanding of what it is saying. We don’t have a problem with Solomon comparing the positive aspects of Wisdom to a “lady of quality” early in this passage, but when he turns to his description of folly, somehow his complaint feels a little like an unacceptable, stereotypical description of a lower class female. “Folly is an unruly woman.”

It gets worse. A better translation of Solomon’s meaning here might be that “folly is a loud, unruly woman, calling out into the street; she is simple (maybe stupid) and knows nothing.” But Solomon is trying to give us an illustration of his truth, using a stereotype with which he believed that his audience would be able to identify.

Today, it would be better to get rid of the stereotype altogether and understand that Folly is often loud an unruly. Folly will clamor to get your attention, but once you begin to pay attention to it, folly has nothing to offer you.

Or maybe we just need to steal the words of Shakespeare from “Macbeth.” Folly “is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 10

The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old … - Proverbs 8:22

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 27, 2019): Proverbs 8

The Libyan church leader Arius stormed onto the Christian scene late in the third century with his ideas designed to change how the fledgling church viewed its Savior. Basically, Arius argued for the unquestioned superiority of the Father in the Godhead; arguing that Jesus was a subordinate of God. But he also believed that Jesus was not eternal, but instead was a created being, just as we are created. And it was really that second belief that earned the Libyan leader the condemnation of the First Nicaean Council in 325 C.E., where Arius and his created Jesus were declared heretical. Arius died eleven years after the council condemned him, and many in the early church believed that Arius’s death was miraculous; God killed him because of his heresy. More contemporary historians wonder if maybe the Libyan was poisoned. Arius was eighty when he died.

Part of the story of Arius is a cautionary tale about the way that we interpret the Bible. Sometimes our tendency to interpret the Bible only in a literal way just produces some humorous or ridiculous results. Sometimes a literal interpretation strains our sense of rational thought. But sometimes a literal interpretation of the Bible carries us into heresy, as it did for Arius.

While it is unfair to blame a single verse on Arius’s heresy, this verse did play a part in what Arius believed. Christians have long interpreted Jesus to be the personification of Wisdom. Here, Solomon writes from the point of view of Wisdom, as if Wisdom were a person. Wisdom talks about his (or maybe her) origins. And here, Wisdom declares that his creation came before the seven days of creation that is recorded in Genesis 1. “The Lord brought me forth (or created me) as the first of his works.” But it seems clear that Solomon is arguing that Wisdom was indeed a creation of God.

And if Jesus is the personification of Wisdom, then it follows that Jesus must have been created. Arius places these words in the mouth of Jesus. “The Lord brought me (Jesus) forth as the first of his works.” In the mind of Arius, it was evident that Jesus was indeed created by God and not co-eternal with God.

But the problem originates with a literal interpretation of Solomon words, taking them to mean a literal order of creation rather than understanding them as they were likely intended, as a poetic expression that God created everything with a heavenly wisdom and intelligence. And if that were not enough, it would also be possible to translate Solomon’s words as “The Lord possessed me before his deeds of old. Or maybe “in the beginning, Wisdom was with God.” And that would be an echo of John’s words – “In the beginning was the Word (or Wisdom), and the Word (Wisdom) was with God, and the Word (Wisdom) was God. He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1-2).

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 9

I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense. – Proverbs 7:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 26, 2019): Proverbs 7

In the story of “The Lion King,” the struggle between Simba and his father, Mufasa, and Uncle Scar is really that between those who know the ways of the world and a child who doesn’t understand. The core plot point is that Uncle Scar takes advantage of his nephew’s youth and inexperience, making the cub complicit with the death of his father, and then convincing the young lion that the death of his father fell squarely on his young son’s shoulders. And so Simba goes into exile believing that he killed his dad, and missing how severely Scar had manipulated the circumstances that caused Mufasa’s death.

But the problem is not that Simba lacked mental capacity. Simba was not stupid, but he was inexperienced. He was gullible. Where Mufasa had learned a long time ago that his brother, Scar, could not be trusted, that was something that Simba was not wise enough to know. Simba’s problem is that he did not have the wisdom to understand that not everyone wanted the best for him. Some people are selfish and only chase after the things that they desired. And the needs or desires of others are rarely considered.       

We are not born wise. And that is okay. The lack of wisdom in our youth allows us to dream of the impossible, to conceive of things about which the wise have long ago given up. I don’t want my grandchildren to lose their childhood naiveté and grow into wisdom too soon. But that lack comes with a danger, and that danger seems to increase as we move into the future. My grandchildren do not understand the real dangers that lie out there in the real world. They do not see the people who want to take advantage of them and hurt them. But right now that is okay because their parents and grandparents are there to protect them from those hidden dangers.

The youth that Solomon sees falls into this category. The person is not stupid, but he lacks the wisdom needed to protect himself from those who wish to take advantage of him. Maybe this is because he was young, but it seems more likely, in this context, that his maturity is delayed. And it is that delay that concerns Solomon. While we don’t want our children to grow up too fast, it is dangerous for them to grow up too slowly. And when Solomon looks at his sons, he does not want them to be numbered among the simple who have no sense. He needs them to understand that there are those, and in this case, “women,” who want to take advantage of them. It is time for his sons to grow up and protect themselves from those who only want to hurt them and take advantage of them.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 8

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth. – Proverbs 6:1-2

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 25, 2019): Proverbs 6

Some years ago, I took a Christian personality test. It was not a serious test, but one of those quizzes that came equipped with a pithy phrase bestowed upon the test-taker at the end of the experience. I don’t remember much about the test, but I remember the intent of the phrase I received at the end. It read “You can’t die for their sins; someone else already has that job.”  The sentence was an excellent reminder of who I am and my limitations. Maybe at times we all have a “Savior” complex; we want to be the ones to ride in on our white horse and save the day. But that job already belongs to someone else.

There is a constant theme across the biblical books that God is the holder of tomorrow, not us. The writer of Ecclesiastes makes this idea clear. “Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come” (Ecclesiastes 8:7)? Tomorrow is not our domain. Neither is the salvation of tomorrow. And because it is not our domain, we have no right to speak of what is to come.

And it is this idea of guaranteeing the future that is at issue here. Solomon is not talking about loaning someone money, although he does think that that is usually a bad idea. It is also not about co-signing on someone else’s loan, which generally means that the co-signer would be responsible for the repayment of a fixed amount, to be repaid over a fixed period, and with a fixed repayment schedule. Solomon is talking here about guaranteeing someone’s open line of credit. It was a guarantee to pay someone else’s debt without knowing what that debt might become in the future. And Solomon insists that if you are willing to do that, then you are responsible for the trouble that tomorrow is likely to bring to you.

But the danger is not just to the one who guarantees the loan. There is also a high risk of guilt that is borne by the one who potentially ruins the life of a friend. While I have never guaranteed an open line of credit for a friend, I have lent money to them. From my point of view, I never loan more than I feel I can lose. But I have watched the guilt on the part of friends who owe me money and cannot repay. Sometimes that guilt has been so great that they have chosen to break off the relationship with me rather than suffer under it knowing that they cannot repay me. The guilt is real, and the pain it creates is significant. When that guilt is over a level of debt that the guarantor did not know beforehand, the guilt is increased even more.

Even Paul was willing to pay off the past debt of Onesimus, but he did not guarantee any future indebtedness of the slave. In that, he is in total agreement Solomon here. The future is not something about which we can make guarantees, because God has reserved that part of our journey for God alone.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 7

Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. – Proverbs 5:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 24, 2019): Proverbs 5

Context is king. Always. We have a bad habit of missing the context in the Bible, and the result is always a warped message. So Jeremiah writes “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). And we use the verse to assure ourselves that no matter how bad things might get, life will get better; that God has a plan for us. And there is no doubt that he does. But the context of Jeremiah’s encouragement is that it is about a people and not a person. The individuals who first heard Jeremiah’s words had been carried into captivity, and as much as they might have wanted to go home, they never would. Jeremiah words are aimed at the generations that would follow them. God has a plan, but often his plans often seem to take the long way home.

And yet we insist on taking the short view, and the literal view, of what the Bible says. And so Jeremiah’s words are meant for us, not for the children of captivity or our children. The world was created in six twenty-four hour days because that is what the Bible tells us. If we can’t take the Bible literally, then of what value is it to us.

But context is king. And when we take verses out of context, we lose the intended meaning. These few words from Proverbs could easily be used to advertise for a campaign to create clean drinking water in the developing world. And various efforts to do precisely that by Christian organizations is a worthwhile endeavor. And developing drinking water is the literal meaning of the words, but using the words for that purpose would be to ignore the meaning that is intended here. I know that Solomon speaks of water here, but it is not drinking water that he has on his mind.

Solomon’s words are clearly about sex and our sexual desire. There is no way that Solomon starts off this section talking about sex and then stops to discuss drinking water, before returning to the idea of sex. The water here is being used to fulfill a sexual thirst. When Solomon writes that his sons should drink from their own cistern, he is indicating that their sexual needs should be fulfilled within their marriage relationships.  

Solomon reminds his sons and the rest of us who read his words that God is concerned with all of our needs. God gives us physical water to quench our physical thirst. He gives us spiritual water to quench our spiritual thirst. And by creating our marriage relationships, he makes provisions for our sexual thirst to be satisfied as well. But, while it might be tempting to steal sexual water from someone else’s well, God’s plan is that our sexual thirst would be satisfied through our drinking from our own well. And our focus should be on all of the ways that God has blessed us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 6

Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. – Proverbs 4:24

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 23, 2019): Proverbs 4

Recently, I have been drawn into the “foul language” conversation. I was brought up in an environment where the language discussion centered around whether or not “shoot” and “darn” were allowable in polite conversation. There was no discussion on whether the actual swear words were wrong; that was assumed to be true. But the times have changed. I know Pastors who use language in private that would have earned me a lengthy grounding in my childhood home. More and more people sitting in the pews are questioning our definition of “foul language.” After all, they work in environments where the language is far different from what might be heard in church on Sunday morning. And as I dealt with a “foul language” complaint centered around one of our small groups, I was asked the question that I didn’t want anyone to ask me; “What does the Bible say?”

The problem is that foul language is culturally, not biblically, defined. George Carlin made headlines with his “Seven Words You Can’t Say on T.V.” But the Bible doesn’t have a corresponding section. And what makes this an even more difficult problem, as Carlin maintains, is that no one can give you a list of these forbidden words, and if we do come up with a list, my list might be different from your list. I might add that language also changes with time. Carlin could have added to his routine that one of his “Seven Words” is actually written down in the King James Version of the Bible. You may not be able to say it on television, but you can read it on Sunday morning. We can point to comments like this one in Proverbs which instructs us to keep our mouths free from perversity, but the definition of perverse language is left up to us.

So what does the Bible say? The biblical prohibition on our language centers around two issues. Don’t throw dirt on the name God and don’t tear anyone down. These things are perverse. And the problem that the church has is that we are so busy avoiding the “Seven Words” that we miss the intent of the biblical prohibition. We don’t use the name of the Lord in vain by saying “God” or Gawd,” but at the same time we won't hesitate to complain about other church members or things we don’t like in the church. We complain about the focus or the music of the church, essentially allowing dirt to fall on the name of God. Church gossip has long been a problem in Christian culture, which violates the other language ban; Do not say anything that will tear someone else down. Essentially, if you can find a way to use the F word to encourage someone, then the result might be culturally wrong, but it won’t be biblically problematic.

But if you want to keep perverse language out of your dialogue from a biblical point of view, then you need to follow the advice of Paul to the Church at Ephesus. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29). But the problem with Paul’s advice is that that is much harder than just avoiding Carlin’s “Seven Words.”     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 5

Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; - Proverbs 3:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 22, 2019): Proverbs 3

Walk into any church on a Sunday morning and ask those gathered if they trust in God, and the answer is likely to be yes. Ask them to prove that that is the case, and you are likely to receive a questioning look. How can I prove that I trust in anything? It is one reason why I sometimes question our listing of priorities. Often a Christian’s priority list might look something like this:

1.      God

2.      Family

3.      Job

4.      Church

The problem with the list is that making God our number one priority usually doesn’t require anything practical from us. I can say that God is my number one priority and not change anything that I currently want to do in my life. Church, on the other hand, can often make significant demands on our lives and require that we rearrange some of the desires that we have for our lives. So it is easy to say that God is our number one priority, and significantly harder to say that the church is a priority, and so we place church, the Body of Christ, lower on our lists.

So Solomon gives us a practical way of showing that we really do trust in God; by giving to him and his work from our material wealth. If we really trust God, and if we want to honor him, we will give to God a portion of what he has already given to us. Giving to God recognizes that God is the author of all of our wealth in the first place. We are merely returning to him a portion of what he has already given to us. And that we trust that what he has given to us in the past, he will continue to provide for us in the future.

The act of giving also changes how we interact with our money. I have always recommended that we work off a 10-80-10 relationship with our money. The first ten percent goes straight to God. This is our firstfruits. It is a practical way that we trust God and recognize that everything that we possess belongs to him. The eighty percent reflects the amount of money on which we are willing to live. We budget our day to day expenses according to that amount of money. And when that eighty percent is gone, we are broke. The last ten is what we pay ourselves. It helps us build up our emergency funds, save for significant expenses and wants that we might have, and to help us prepare for our eventual retirement. If we build up these funds, we will find that financial emergencies might disappear from our lives, and reasons not to trust God with our resources would also fade into the past.

But all of it begins with a practical expression of our trust in God and giving back to him.         

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 4

… and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure – Proverbs 2:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 21, 2019): Proverbs 2

Forrest Fenn says that he buried about two million dollars’ worth of gold and jewels in the Rocky Mountains for someone to find, setting off a grand treasure hunt. The claim came after Fenn had received a diagnosis of terminal cancer, and his desire is that, once the treasure has been found, that the site of the recovered treasure would also be his final resting place. And so the search is on. Some have claimed to have found the treasure, but those claims remain unconfirmed.

Searching for Treasure in the Rocky Mountains is neither an easy nor a safe task to be pursued. At least four people have died in the pursuit of the Fenn treasure. The body of Randy Bilyeu was found along the Rio Grande in July 2016, six months after he disappeared. Jeff Murphy’s body was found in Yellowstone National Park in June 2017. Jeff had fallen 500 feet down a steep slope. Pastor Paris Wallace was also found dead along the Rio Grande in June 2017 after telling family members that he was going to search for the treasure. Eric Ashby moved to Colorado for the express purpose of searching for the cache, and his body was found in July 2017 in Colorado’s Arkansas River. Authorities have asked Fenn to call off the search, but that also has not been done. And some openly question whether the treasure actually exists, arguing that the Fenn treasure should be referred to as the Fenn hoax.

But the Fenn treasure is not the only treasure that is still out there somewhere. And we are willing to risk our lives to find any treasure. With that in mind, Solomon asks his readers to consider a second question. We know that we are willing to risk our lives in the pursuit of treasure, but what are we willing to sacrifice in the pursuit of wisdom. While we are often willing to hang off of cliffs to look for hidden treasure, are we willing to even read a book to discover the wisdom that is necessary for living life? Maybe we would find ourselves in a much better space if we were willing to risk as much in our pursuit of wisdom as we are willing to spend in our search of treasure.

Somehow, we need to reprioritize what is important. And the reality is that treasure without wisdom will not get us as far as we might think. Fortunes have been found and lost, frequently because the possession of wealth did not give us the wisdom of what it was that we should do with our treasure. Solomon wanted his son to be rich. And he would be. Solomon would pass down wealth to him. But he also knew that the money his son would one day inherit would let him down if he did not possess wisdom for life.

Money and treasure are just tools. Without wisdom, the tool is often lost and disappears from our lives. Wisdom allows us to use that tool, and others, to have the most significant positive effect on our lives. But Solomon is also right that while we are willing to chase after treasure, we are seldom willing to put the same effort into our pursuit of wisdom. And, somehow, that needs to change.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 3

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: - Proverbs 1:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 20, 2019): Proverbs 1

Amenemope was an Egyptian scribe who lived during the late twelfth century or early eleventh century B.C.E. Amenemope is known to us because he left a wisdom text called “Instruction of Amenemope.” The “Instruction” is ostensibly a teaching that Amenemope wanted to leave for his son. It is a collection of principles by which Amenemope hopes his son will endeavor to live his life.

What makes this set of teachings essential to students of the Bible is that it seems that the writings were important to King Solomon, who lived a century or a little more after the sage Amenemope. The teachings of Amenemope so impressed Solomon, the son of David, that Solomon wanted to have a set of instructions of his own. The result of that desire is the book of Proverbs. 

Proverbs is a unique book among the other biblical texts. Unlike other books in the Bible, Solomon’s Proverbs is a collection of sayings or axioms by which we might live our lives. But it is also a book that is more concerned about living life in a practical manner then it is about communicating ideas about salvation, God, and his desires for his creation. And it is unique because it is similar to, and at times dependent on, the secular writings of other nations that were written at about the same time or slightly earlier than the Book of Proverbs; such as the “Instruction of Amenemope.” And while Proverbs appears to borrow from other secular texts of the time, Solomon rarely quotes from other parts of the Hebrew Canon. Garrett points this out comparing it to early American writing. “An analogy to this is American folk wisdom which, although often dominated by Christian morality and presuppositions, contains few allusions to the Bible or Christian theology.” Although Solomon builds his wisdom on earlier Hebrew writings, including that of the Torah, he rarely bothers to quote directly from that work.

All of this combines to make Proverbs a very different kind of biblical book.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 2

Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in obedience to him. – Psalm 128:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 19, 2019): Psalm 127 & 128

John 3:16 might be the best-known verse in the Bible, or at least in the top three alongside “The Lord’s Prayer” found in Matthew 6 and the Shepherds Psalm; Psalm 23. Much has been written and preached on John 3:16; For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And sometimes we personalize the words of the Apostle. For God so loved (insert your name here) that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish. I can almost hear the encouragement of the evangelist; If you were the only one who needed to be saved, Jesus still would have died. And that is true. But unfortunately that is not what John says in this most famous of verses.

Personalizing John 3:16 renders a truth, but John’s fundamental truth is much stronger; For God so loved the world. He loves you and me – yes, but that is just the start of it. Some have tried to limit John’s words. They want to effectively change his words into “For God so loved the elect” or maybe “For God so love the men,” but the problem is that that is not what John wrote. John said “world.” And what if that is what he meant. No limitations. God loves the world. He loves you and me, and those who love us and as well as those hate us and are indifferent to us. For God so loved the world – no limitations.

John stands in good company. The message of the prophetic book of Jonah says the same thing. If you thought that the story of Jonah was about a whale or a big fish, then you might have missed something. The moral of the book of Jonah is found in the final verse of the story, and the story places that moral in the mouth of God. God’s message to Jonah was direct; “should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals” (Jonah 4:11)? Apparently “For God so loved the world” included even the evil people of Nineveh and their animals.

The Psalmist makes the same statement. It is clear, and we need to hear it. “Blessed are all who fear the Lord.” Blessed are all; everyone; the world. God’s blessing is not dependent on gender, race, class, education, or even how smart they are. What it is dependent on is whether or not we are willing to journey with God; whether we are willing to recognize the wisdom of God.

After all, God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son. And that includes you and me, but it definitely isn’t limited to you and me.      

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 1

And Hiram sent him ships commanded by his own men, sailors who knew the sea. These, with Solomon’s men, sailed to Ophir and brought back four hundred and fifty talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon. – 2 Chronicles 8:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 18, 2019): 2 Chronicles 8

The history of naval enterprise extends back to the first ocean capable boats invented by the Austronesian people, a loosely connected group of people who spoke the Austronesian language and who lived in Southeast Asia. The ability to travel over the ocean allowed the Austronesian people to spread as far west as Madagascar, and possibly even the eastern shore of Africa, and as far east as Rapa Nui (Easter Island), although it is conceivable that they made it all the way to the Western coast of South America. A wide swath of the South Pacific and Indian Oceans was owned by this early sea-faring population without any competition from any other civilization. But the secret of traveling the oceans of the world did not stay with the Austronesian speaking people. In ancient times, Egypt learned the ways of the sea, as did some of the other nations. In modern times, Britain and Germany have tried to own the oceans, but the greatest maritime nation ever might be the United States. Their ships can be found in almost every ocean or sea far and near on the planet. They dominate the waters of the earth.

But one nation that was never able to learn the ways of the sea was Israel. Their people fished and negotiated the lakes within the country, but that experience was much different from what was needed to travel on the oceans of the earth. And so they needed help from those who knew the ways of the sea in order to carry out their maritime commerce.

Hiram had both the ships that could sail the sea as well as the sailors who knew the ways of the world’s oceans. His relationship with Solomon made both of these assets available for Solomon and Israel. But these were not free gifts given to the Israelite people. Solomon would have paid the expenses incurred as well as made it financially worthwhile for Hiram to help him in his endeavors. Solomon would grow in fame in the area, but to get to the far reaches of the near east, he needed help. And a lot of that help seems to have come from Hiram, who made a good ally for Solomon because he had some of the knowledge that Solomon lacked.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 127 & 128

Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever. – Psalm 136:19

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 17, 2019): Psalm 136

“God, I will give you everything, except _______.” Have you ever prayed that prayer? I think it is a fairly common one, and it takes many surprising forms. For instance, every time that we pray that our will would supersede God’s, it is this prayer that we are really praying. Every time we cry out to God because the health of our child is not what we wish it to be, we are saying “God I will give you everything, but you can’t have that.” The prayer ends up on our lips more times than we might think. And no, I am not suggesting that we should stop praying some of these prayers. I pray for my kids and grandchildren on a daily basis; they are precious to me. I think that God wants us to pray for those who are on the journey with us, especially those who are the most precious to us. But somewhere in the prayer there needs to be the recognition that even in the worst situations, God might be doing something. And the last thing that we want is to get in his way. Somewhere in our pleading for sick children and hurting adults, there needs to be the echo of the prayer of Jesus in the garden. “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup (this sickness, this pain, this time of trial) be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). God I know what I want, but only you know what it is that I truly need; and what it is that fits in with your plan.

Psalm 136 rehearses some of the history of Israel. It tells a story, interspersed with a reply from the worshiping congregation that forms a reminder to the worshippers that God’s love is perfect; it endures forever. And included in the story are names, including that of Sihon, one of the kings over the cities of the Amorites. The story of Sihon is a story of what the king was unwilling to give to God. In the case Sihon, it was his territory. Sihon denied entry of Israel into the space that he controlled. He thought that Israel was a threat to what he owned. You can almost hear his prayer. “God you cannot have this. Take your people somewhere else.” The slight was remembered by Israel as part of their history. But it was also part of the movement of God.

In the end, the territory of Sihon became part of Israel. It is found in the territory of the transjordanian tribe of Gad. It would be easy to say that Sihon was right to fear Israel and deny their passage through his land. Israel had designs on what belonged to him. But that isn’t really true. The original plan of God was that Israel would settle on the west side of the Jordan River. Sihon’s territory was not in the mix. At least it wasn’t until Sihon opposed the movement of God. It was only after Sihon denied passage to Israel, that this land that he was so scared of losing became vulnerable.

Maybe the moral of the story of Sihon, King over the Amorites, is that the will of God will be fulfilled in our midst. We can give freely of what we have, or we can withhold, but the danger to what we consider to be precious increases when we refuse to release it to God. Pray about everything, ask for God to intervene in the stresses of life. I am convinced that he will answer the prayers of his people. But at the end of the day, the healthiest response from us is that we want God’s will to be accomplished, even if it causes us momentary pain. Because, ultimately, our territory and possessions are his, whether we recognize that truth, or not.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 8

For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own, Israel to be his treasured possession. – Psalm 135:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 16, 2019): Psalm 135

Early twentieth-century philosopher, Elbert Hubbard, wrote that “A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” In practice, those kinds of friends are hard to find. Most of us have been burned at least once by friends who have rejected us, or even worse, betrayed us by sharing private information that they had come to know about us. Finding a friend who knows us yet still loves us can be hard. But these kinds of friends are also essential to living a full life.

While I love Hubbard’s definition of a friend, it is also a reasonably accurate description of what love is and how we can know when we have found it. (And I am not just talking about the romantic kind.) Love sees us with different eyes. Love does not look for a reason to tear us down but instead seeks circumstances when it can lift us up. Love is seldom ever earned. It is best seen as a gift that we give to each other, not really expecting that the gift will ever be returned. But when it is given back to us, an extraordinary relationship is born.

The Psalmist declares that God has chosen Israel as his own; God’s sacred possession. It would be easy to believe that there must have been something special about Israel for God to give this gift to the nation. But the Bible is clear that Israel did not earn it. Jacob was deceiver all of his life, yet God still exalted him. The people of Israel were small and insignificant among the nations of the world. They tended to be whiners. Israel was also historically faithless, never satisfied with the gifts that came from the hands of God, but instead spending much of their history chasing after the gifts they hoped that they could receive from other gods. They even gave the most precious gift that God had given to them, their children, as offerings on the altars of false gods.

Yet God still chose them. God chose Israel not because she was great, but rather because God was great in love. It was a gift given to Israel, even when they refused to return that gift to God. It is this love of God that Moses makes clear to Israel in Deuteronomy

The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments (Deuteronomy 7:7-9).

The same argument is also valid for the rest of us. God chooses us not because of anything that we have done, but because his love is great. And when we decide to return that kind of love, a great relationship is born between our God and us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 136

When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “He is good; his love endures forever.” – 2 Chronicles 7:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 15, 2019): 2 Chronicles 7

I am a relatively large man. That one fact, I am told, can be intimidating. My uncle is very tall, and I can remember as a child wanting to be just like him. I never did reach his lofty heights, but I made up for it in bulk. Standing six feet, two inches tall, and weighing just over 200 pounds in college, my size was an asset on the football field and walking down a dark alley.

But, when it came to children, I can seem daunting. I learned early on that when I wanted to interact with small children; I really needed to get down on the floor with them. Bending over was not good enough; I needed to sit, crawl, and lie down to get them stop being scared of the big man in the room. My nieces took years to get comfortable with me. (At least, now in their mid-twenties, I hope that they are comfortable with me.) But one story that I remember from their early childhood was one of them wanting to get from one place in the house to another, and the only way to get to her destination was to walk by me. And so she mustered up every ounce of courage that she could find, and with her teddy bear in hand for support, she walked by the place where I was sitting. And under her breath she was whispering a mantra she had learned from her mother, who is my sister; “He’s just a big teddy bear. He’s just a big teddy bear.”

As the glory filled the Temple, and fire was falling from the sky, it is easy to imagine that it was terror that was filling the hearts of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. There must have been a moment when they wondered if this God that they had come to serve might accidentally destroy them. I am sure that I would have watched the fire fall and been totally unsure of what the proper thing to do might be?

According to the Chronicler, the people fell to the ground, calling out the words “He is good. His love endures forever.” It is a reasonably common reminder that we find in the Psalms and a refrain that has been added to several texts. In Psalm 136 alone, the phrase “His love endures forever” is used twenty-six times. But here, the phrase seems a little less poetic. And I wonder if the phrase was more of a mantra, like the one whispered by my young niece as she made her way past me. In spite of all that I am seeing and the terror that threatens to engulf my very soul, I need to remember that “He is good. His love endures forever.”

And in all of the moments of life, it is a mantra that is useful on our lips as well.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 135

But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! – 2 Chronicles 6:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 14, 2019): 2 Chronicles 6

Apparently, in the Philippines, it is believed that you should not take a bath after three o’clock on Good Friday. And if you do, then evil will fall on the household. And so, every Good Friday, there are myriads of good Filipino mothers screaming at their children that, at least on this day, baths have to be finished by three o’clock (and I am assuming a follow-up command that they should not do anything after three o’clock that would get them dirty again.) I am not sure of the roots of this belief, but it is an exciting connection between Christianity’s Holiest Day and a cultural superstition. Jesus died for our sins, but apparently that sacrifice might be made null and void by a dirty six-year-old in a bathtub on Good Friday afternoon.

Superstitions are not unknown within the Christian Church. Don’t place any other book on top of the Bible. That was a lesson I learned as a young child, and still mindlessly obey decades later even though I don’t think that there is any biblical injunction that demands this kind of behavior. Or maybe it is that we are closer to God inside a church than we are anywhere else. Spoiler alert, God inhabits every corner of our world. Many of our actions seem to be only marginally biblical, and majorly based on some superstition, although we do take great strides to argue in the opposite direction.

Solomon openly questions that if the heavens could not contain God, then how could the Temple that he had built keep him in one place? And we are glad that Solomon makes this statement. Because up until now it often seems that Solomon might be believing the idea that God inhabits the Temple to the exclusion of every other place on earth; that somehow the Temple that his father had dreamed of really could contain God. But God is not held by our brick and mortar walls.

And while we are on the subject, God is not contained by our religious services or rituals either. I am not saying that going to church, partaking in communion, being anointed for healing, or getting baptized are not worthwhile activities. I believe that they are. But the truth is that it is not just in those activities where God can be found. He is with you Monday as you head for work, and he is with you when you fight with a co-worker on Tuesday, and maybe with your spouse on Thursday. The Psalmist got it right;

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you (Psalm 139:7-12).

There is no place that we can go where God cannot find us. He is looking for us before we even know that we want him. And that is a good thing. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 7