Monday, February 11, 2013

Through the Bible in one year - Day 42




Psalm 41:11-13
By this I know that you delight in me:
my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
and set me in your presence forever.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen

This is the end of the First Book of Psalms – we can tell by the double Amen on the last verse. I thought about Asa and Judah from yesterday’s 2 Chronicles reading, where they poured out their hearts in prayer for the Lord’s help and in that help they knew they had the Lord’s favor; this seems to be what the Psalmist is getting at here. We too can look for the Lord’s favor, and help in times of trouble. A little earlier the Psalmist says that even his friend whom he trusted has turned against him (verse 9) and I know a lot of people who have felt that way at one time or another. People disappoint, but God never does – if we trust in His plans over our own. Circumstances can and will often not be what we would desire and there are awful people or just plain broken people who make mistakes just as you and I do, and these people can and do things that hurt us or those we love – so when the Psalmist prays for the Lord to show his favor, and to allow him to ‘repay’ his enemies – how often do we do that? Yes, we can think these things, but I actually doubt that this is our way out of the hurt – rather, like Jesus – and Stephen, it gives us peace when we forgive those who hurt us.

I have read this portion of Genesis and it describes understandings of right and wrong and duty that I do not know in our time; this duty to a widow in the family. There is a lot of other things going on that we can recognize; wickedness, jealousy, greed and fear. All these are evident in the beginning of the story of Judah and his sons, and in the end when the society would have condemned the woman for bearing a child outside of marriage, her father in law admits that he was ‘more wrong’ in denying her the right to have children – and an inheritance because of his fear of losing his last son. While the story is strange maybe to us, the concern God shows for his people and for the Widow in particular is a take-away for me today.

From 2 Chronicles today we hear more of Asa:
The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. (2 Chronicles 15:1-4)

This reading today ends by saying that the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. (verse 17) Would that the same thing could be said about us in our time. I also noted in this reading that Asa had to undo the idol of his mother and demote her from being Queen mother (verse 16), this made me think about Jesus who said he came not to unite families but to divide them; mother against daughter, father against son...this reading shows us there are times when to obey the Lord is to break from the family idols (Matthew 10:35).

In Acts today we get to read more about Saul ,who was glad to persecute the new believers, this same Saul who had the authority to put them to death for blasphemy; this Saul meet Jesus and is blinded by his light; this same Saul is sent to one of the new believers, Ananias. Poor Ananias! He is told to go out and look for Saul and pray for his healing. Ananias say, excuse me but haven’t you heard what he’s been up to? Maybe you missed the news report of the stoning of Stephen? No, God knew these things but planned on using Saul, and Ananias was to help. “OK” Ananias goes and prays and Saul is healed. In this case Ananias trusted the Lord or feared not doing what was asked of him more than he feared Saul and the authorities; what do you supposed could have happened in Genesis if Judah had not been afraid for his son’s life, but had honored his commitment to Tamar? Well, we don’t know but in this reading from Acts we see what God can do when we obey.

Today’s readings: Psalm 41, Genesis 38, 2 Chronicles 15, Acts 9:1-31

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