Mess

Judges 10

6-8 And then the People of Israel went back to doing evil in God’s sight. They worshiped the Baal gods and Ashtoreth goddesses: gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab; gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines. They just walked off and left God, quit worshiping him. And God exploded in hot anger at Israel and sold them off to the Philistines and Ammonites, who, beginning that year, bullied and battered the People of Israel mercilessly. For eighteen years they had them under their thumb, all the People of Israel who lived east of the Jordan in the Amorite country of Gilead.

9 Then the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to go to war also against Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. Israel was in a bad way!

10 The People of Israel cried out to God for help: “We’ve sinned against you! We left our God and worshiped the Baal gods!”

11-14 God answered the People of Israel: “When the Egyptians, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines, Sidonians—even Amalek and Midian!—oppressed you and you cried out to me for help, I saved you from them. And now you’ve gone off and betrayed me, worshiping other gods. I’m not saving you anymore. Go ahead! Cry out for help to the gods you’ve chosen—let them get you out of the mess you’re in!”

15 The People of Israel said to God: “We’ve sinned. Do to us whatever you think best, but please, get us out of this!”

16 Then they cleaned house of the foreign gods and worshiped only God. And God took Israel’s troubles to heart.

Psalm 40:16-17

But all who are hunting for you— oh, let them sing and be happy. Let those who know what you’re all about tell the world you’re great and not quitting. And me? I’m a mess. I’m nothing and have nothing: make something of me. You can do it; you’ve got what it takes— but God, don’t put it off.

1 Timothy 1

19-20 There are some, you know, who by relaxing their grip and thinking anything goes have made a thorough mess of their faith. Hymenaeus and Alexander are two of them. I let them wander off to Satan to be taught a lesson or two about not blaspheming.

I picked mess today because I have a lot of them surrounding me.  Normally, that specific word might not be in the bible so much, but I am using the Message, and so of course it abounds.  And I’m not feeling very bright today, so these are short responses.

The first passage makes me so thankful for the merciful God we see today painted through the picture of Jesus.  Just think of how many times God would have said, “Go ahead!  Get yourself out of your own mess,” if He based his anger off of how much we turned away from Him to worship something else.  We might not be bowing down and singing praise, but we worship false idols just the same.  

What is really cool here is how quickly God turns from his anger after they repent; taking their troubles to heart.  While part of me wants to say, “God in the OT sure gets angry a lot,” the other part of me has to say, “Boy, those Israelites sure turned away from God a heck of a lot.”  Some might say, “Why is a big, almighty God getting so angry for?  That doesn’t seem right.  He shouldn’t get angry.”  But that I think shows a bit of ignorance about the character of God (and I’m not judging others who have said it, because I have thought it myself).  

We as people experience anger because we are made in God’s image, and our anger is a reflection of part of his character, and we feel anger in similar ways.  Really, one of the main things that seem to upset God is betrayal.  His people betray him; he gets angry and punishes them.  Now when our friends or family or whoever betray us, we get angry, and we often won’t speak to them again (at least, not at a normal volume) until they have apologized for the wrong we think they have done us.   Now the same thing here is kind of at work with God and his people, except that when His people betray Him, it is a sin, and God can’t be near sin.  So I think one of the reasons He gets so angry is because His people have knowingly separated themselves from Him, and for Him to forgive them, they need to first repent of their sins and be cleansed.

As for the Psalms passage...this one is great.  I love the phrasing-- ”And me? I’m a mess.”  Thats fitting for me--I’m all over the place at times.  But the next phrase is so good; “I’m nothing and have nothing: make something of me.”  I’m sure the Psalmist had plenty of things, and was probably a well-respected guy (I mean, he made into the Bible, after all).  But who he has made himself; what he has gained in terms of possessions--those aren’t what’s important.  He wants God to make something of him; to use him for good.  I want to get to this point of humbleness and reliance on God.

The Timothy verse is also very interesting--there were those in the church who made a “thorough mess of their faith” by believing everything was acceptable in their newly found faith.  This can be approach the tricky line of “If I’m saved by faith, and all my sins are forgiven by God, then how can we really do anything that is unacceptable?”  That question is basically answered by Paul’s handing them over so that they may be “taught a lesson or two about not blaspheming.”  Because it’s not so much a question of living with the knowledge that everything is forgiven, but living like you don’t need to be forgiven (and thereby falling into the fallacy of actually believing that idea as truth).  I think this can be much easier to fall into, especially in this day and age when it is so easy to become self-sufficient (and self-satisfied).  However, I think the very fear of this sin creeping into our hearts can be a wake-up call to turn away from it.

Anyway, that’s it for today; I haven’t been keeping up as much because we are on a road trip, but I will want to try and be a bit more faithful in keeping up with this.

Wait

Judges 3 12-14 

But the People of Israel went back to doing evil in God’s sight. So God made Eglon king of Moab a power against Israel because they did evil in God’s sight. He recruited the Ammonites and Amalekites and went out and struck Israel. They took the City of Palms. The People of Israel were in servitude to Eglon fourteen years.

15-19 The People of Israel cried out to God and God raised up for them a savior, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjaminite. He was left-handed. The People of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon king of Moab. Ehud made himself a short two-edged sword and strapped it on his right thigh under his clothes. He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Eglon was grossly fat. After Ehud finished presenting the tribute, he went a little way with the men who had carried it. But when he got as far as the stone images near Gilgal, he went back and said, “I have a private message for you, O King.”

The king told his servants, “Leave.” They all left.

20-24 Ehud approached him—the king was now quite alone in his cool rooftop room—and said, “I have a word of God for you.” Eglon stood up from his throne. Ehud reached with his left hand and took his sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s big belly. Not only the blade but the hilt went in. The fat closed in over it so he couldn’t pull it out. Ehud slipped out by way of the porch and shut and locked the doors of the rooftop room behind him. Then he was gone.

When the servants came, they saw with surprise that the doors to the rooftop room were locked. They said, “He’s probably relieving himself in the restroom.”

25 They waited. And then they worried—no one was coming out of those locked doors. Finally, they got a key and unlocked them. There was their master, fallen on the floor, dead!

26-27 While they were standing around wondering what to do, Ehud was long gone. He got past the stone images and escaped to Seirah. When he got there, he sounded the trumpet on Mount Ephraim. The People of Israel came down from the hills and joined him. He took his place at their head.

28 He said, “Follow me, for God has given your enemies—yes, Moab!—to you.” They went down after him and secured the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites. They let no one cross over.

29-30 At that time, they struck down about ten companies of Moabites, all of them well-fed and robust. Not one escaped. That day Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel.

The land was quiet for eighty years.

Luke 11

21-22 Martha said, “Master, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you.”

23 Jesus said, “Your brother will be raised up.”

24 Martha replied, “I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time.”

25-26 “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?”

27 “Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.”

37 Others among them said, “Well, if he loved him so much, why didn’t he do something to keep him from dying? After all, he opened the eyes of a blind man.”

Romans 8:26-28
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

Today’s word is wait, and the passages I found for it are probably ones I’m not going to try to tie together.  

The first passage I came across is an Old Testament story that I read many years ago, and probably forgot about it quickly because it was a King James Version (and who really wants to wallow through that these days?).  Reading it in the ever so palpable Message, however, gives it a certain...je ne sais quoi.  As in, “Quoi the heck?...”  Because what else do you say about a grossly fat king appointed to torment a misbehaving Israel, whose belly is so massive that when it is stabbed with a sword, the sword is basically sucked in and disappears?  And then after the God ordained assassin slips out through the porch, the king’s servants are all like, “Oh, shoot; door’s lock.  King must be dropping a deuce.  And it’s probably going to take awhile, because dude’s a massive monarch.”  

Besides the wrongly accused deuce-dropping when actually dropped-dead king drama, there are some things that really strike me here.  First, it’s that once again we have a situation presented for us where Israel has turned away from God, and after being forced into slavery, they repent.  When God in his mercy hears their cries, he sends a savior; one of the many smaller preludes hinting at a greater, ultimate savior.  

But really, based on the Old Testament, you can kind of see why Jews would have been surprised when Jesus came as savior; why they might have expect a warrior king.  In the past, that’s how God rescued them--He gave them men who rescued them from slavery; who brought them back to God and ruled in righteousness.  But one of the other common themes in the Old Testament is the Israelites constant return to rebellion; it’s the reason they need to be rescued in the first place.  So despite not taking up a sword strapped to his thigh, Jesus instead reconciled us in a way where we no longer needed any further reconciliation; that of our souls to God.  

The passage in Luke is a familiar one; a chapter that includes the shortest and most easily memorized verse (“Jesus wept.”).  For all those who complain about God’s timing not being our timing, imagine how Mary and Martha (or probably just Martha) felt--”Oh, thanks for showing up Jesus.  Oh no, you’re just a little bit late; considering our brother’s dead and all; but we’re glad you took the scenic route and really enjoyed your time getting here.”  Then Jesus tells them, “The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all.”  He asks if Mary believes, Mary probably nods in a bit of confusion.  

But seriously, these sisters showed a lot of trust in Jesus--unlike these knuckleheads who said this, “Well, if he loved him so much, why didn’t he do something to keep him from dying? After all, he opened the eyes of a blind man.”  And that is a sentiment that we heard echoed to this day, “If God is a loving God, why do so many people starve?”  “If God is good, why didn’t he stop what happened at Sandy Hook?”  “If God is good, why is there evil?”  There is no doubt tragedy in the world.  But even if there were no “big” evils like genocide or starvation, would be satisfied?  Or would the questions just be on a smaller scale; “If God is good, why did my husband cheat on me?”  “If God is loving, why did my wallet get stolen?”  

It’s almost funny, because we always hear that question asked about what is being done to others or to us, rather than what we do.  “If God is good, why do I lie to my parents?”  “If God is perfect, why do I hate my boss?”  Like what I wrote yesterday; we are so ready to judge the evil around us, but we fail to look at our own hearts.  If we did, we might feel more amazed at who Jesus is.  Jesus’s willingness to raise the dead; to comfort the mourning; to die on the cross.  One of the things I think that Jesus is showing here is that yes, things are going to be hard, things will be sad.  People we love will die, and sometimes it won’t feel right.  But he says, “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life... And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all.”  Yes, Jesus offers us life beyond this; but he also offers resurrection of a broken heart from hopelessness, and he offers it now.  But it takes belief.

The last passage is one of hope, I feel.  When we are burdened, Jesus God is with us.  When we feel like we are weak, or like we don’t know how to approach him, he intercedes for us.  He prays for us, translating our heartache into a petition for God.  And while he doesn’t promise that it will be easy, he does say it will be worked together for good.  We might not see the end result in it, but we can hope and trust in God’s provision.

New.

What I’m doing this month is taking one word from 3 (somewhat) randomly chosen passages on the Bible, and then just basically contemplating them.  They may fit together, they may not.  But lately I have been a bit...reluctant about Bible reading, and so this is my way of kind of getting into the groove of things.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it every day, but I’d rather it be an enjoyable study than a burdensome task.  And this is not something that I am going back and correcting; there are mistakes and grammar inefficiencies and probably theological misunderstandings; but it’s my own personal study, though it is open for reading.  So today’s word is: New.

All verses are from the Message.

2 Corinthians 5:17

16-20 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.

Psalm 149:1-4
Hallelujah! Sing to GOD a brand-new song, praise him in the company of all who love him. Let all Israel celebrate their Sovereign Creator, Zion’s children exult in their King. Let them praise his name in dance; strike up the band and make great music! And why? Because GOD delights in his people, festoons plain folk with salvation garlands!

Isaiah 42: 5-9 

God’s Message,

    the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies,
    laid out the earth and all that grows from it,
Who breathes life into earth’s people,
    makes them alive with his own life:
“I am God. I have called you to live right and well.
    I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.
I have set you among my people to bind them to me,
    and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:
    opening blind eyes,
    releasing prisoners from dungeons,
    emptying the dark prisons.
I am God. That’s my name.
    I don’t franchise my glory,
    don’t endorse the no-god idols.
Take note: The earlier predictions of judgment have been fulfilled.
    I’m announcing the new salvation work.
Before it bursts on the scene,
    I’m telling you all about it.”

The first passage got me thinking about this article a friend posted on his Facebook status the other day.  It’s called “Six Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person”, and it was posted on Cracked.com.  Basically, it seemed to me that it was saying if you have mediocre relationships, or if you are having trouble finding a job, or if you generally think you deserve more, then buck up and make yourself a better person.  It said that the world doesn’t value you for being a nice, polite, friendly (etc. etc.) person--it values you for what you can give to the world.  Your accomplishments, your work, your skill sets--these are what people see, and these are what will attract people to you.  

I think this article is incredibly useful in many ways--especially in a society where people expect to be handed everything without giving back; in a culture of “me” minded people who are constantly feeling they deserve something (and I am not excluded from this way of thinking at times).  People judge people based on your actions and accomplishments.
Now, where this ties into the first passage: the Cracked article is how the world will view you (and how we often view the world).  But for Christians, we are called away from this mindset; “...we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look... Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new.”  We are created new, and we are to look at others as such.  

“All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.”  Despite all the protestations that we are good people, that if people only could see inside and know our true feelings, we would get what we deserve.  Though I think if people really did have the opportunity to see into the hearts of others, they would quickly sequester them in fear of judgement (or why else is there such a fear of commitment and intimacy?).  God looks at what we’ve done, and covers us our hearts with Jesus, seeing him when he looks at us.  To which we should all breathe a sigh of relief, as our hearts are not being seen for the rotten mess that they truly are.  But what this also means is that we are to look at others with this same Jesus-cover as well.  If they caused us pain, if they have done harm to those we love, if they win awards, if they are kind; if they lie, steal, piss themselves in public, help an old lady across the street--we are to view them as creatures of God.  

And this is so easy to type, but so hard to do.  When people do me wrong, I want to be angry at them; when people betray my friends, I want to be angry for them--but we are called to give this up this way of thinking, because it is the way of the World; the way of our old selves.  “God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them.”  We are then also called to lovingly serve as reconcilers of people. This has been something I have failed in enormously in recent times.  I have been hateful and bitter because I felt I deserved to be; I felt that I was in the right and therefore held the power of judgement.  This has been a call to me to examine my own ways; I need to let myself be reconciled with God, because I have been resisting. This is something I will need to continuously work towards; a constant struggle to let go of the self I am clinging so tightly to.

The second passage is a short one, and I think it is very good to meditate on, because it is a celebration of God’s love, and it shows how good it is to worship in community.  “ And why? Because GOD delights in his people, festoons plain folk with salvation garlands!”  Connecting with the first passage a bit--even though we are “plain folk”, God has made us new creatures and “festoons” us “with salvation garlands.”  It is a mercy worth thanksgiving.

The last passage, an Old Testament one that seems to clearly point towards the coming savior, is really lovely.  “The God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies, laid out the earth and all that grows from it, Who breathes life into earth’s people, makes them alive with his own life...”  What a beautiful picture!  If you are like me and like to look at pictures of space; of other galaxies swirling in the deep unknowns, then this idea of an infinite God stretching out his hand to create his majestic work should be very striking to you.  

I especially like that line, “Who breathes life into earth’s people, makes them alive with his own life,” because it shows how each of us has God in us; our life spring flows from God.  We were given consciousness, the ability to think, to love, to create, to choose--and when we chose death, God gave us a new choice; “I have set you among my people to bind them to me, and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations, To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light: opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons, emptying the dark prisons.”  We can open our blind eyes, and see with the eyes of Christ.  And I think that ties back with the first passage--instead of seeing others (and ourselves), in the eyes of the world, we are given the ability to see others through the eyes of Christ--and that means loving them for all they are, because what defines them is not themselves, but that they are creatures of God.