Back to the Grind

I'm ba-ack! And it's time to get blogging again. Hold on to your hats. . . here we go!

Here's the question and answer from Monday:
If the disciples are quiet, what will shout out instead? (Luke 19)
Luke 19:40 40 "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

And here's the question and answer from Tuesday:
Who is Job’s complaint directed toward? (Job 21)
Job 21:3-4 Bear with me while I speak, and after I have spoken, mock on. 4 "Is my complaint directed to man? Why should I not be impatient?

And here's the question of the day:
What does God promise to his people, his saints? (Psalm 85)

And here's the reflection of the day:
I just spent 15 minutes trying to come up with another way to rephrase a sentence. I came up empty. So, I'm just going to copy and paste it here instead:

In other words, Psalm 85, especially vv. 8-13, captures the reality that Christians already know and experience in Jesus Christ, but that exists amid the ongoing brokenness of the world and the sinfulness of persons and of our society. (J. CLINTON McCANN, JR. NIB Commentary on Psalms)

Psalm 85 is one of our Year of the Bible readings for today. (The others are from Job and I'm just not feeling up to tackling him today. So he will wait.) So, in case you don't have your Bible close at hand, here are the verses that quote is referring to:

Psalm 85:8-13
8 I will listen to what God the LORD will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints-- but let them not return to folly. 9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. 10 Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. 11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. 12 The LORD will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. 13 Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.

Peace, love, faithfulness. . . sounds a little like the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23), doesn't it? Galatians goes on to tell us that "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires" (Gal 5:25). Christians who have been crucified with Christ know what true peace, love, faithfulness are because they are righteous--they are in right relationship with God.

The way of life Psalm 85 is talking about--what it is characterized by--is how the Hebrew poets recognized a special way of life in relationship with God. Christians further define that as life in Christ. A life lived in Christ is a live full of forgiveness and hope and joy. . . life lived in "the reality that Christians already know and experience in Jesus Christ."

In this way, we know what awaits us after death. In this way, we have a foretaste of the kingdom of God. But it is only a taste because "that [reality] exists amid the ongoing brokenness of the world and the sinfulness of persons and of our society."

"Thus, as Mays points out: “The vision has an eschatological reach. It needs the coming of God himself to realize it fully (vv. 9, 13). The psalm therefore is a judgment on any easy satisfaction with life under the conditions created by human character and a summons to look for and pray for the time and life created by the character of God.” (McCann)

God is the missing piece in the puzzle. And we look forward to the time when God will end the brokenness and sinfulness of this world, replacing it with peace and righteousness. Mays, in the above quote, pushes us to resist "easy satisfaction" with a life lived according to the world's standards.

Ah, there's the rub, as Shakespeare would say. "Easy satisfaction" is so, well, easy and comfortable. And easy, don't you think? What methods do you try to avoid "easy satisfaction" in your life? How is your life being created by the character of God?

Let me know!
Allison

Sunny Wednesday Part 2

Wow! "Here comes the sun, do-do-do-do. . . "

Went into the church (basement) for Bible Study and a meeting and came out to sun, not rain!

Reflection of the Day:
Rahab (Josh 2) has to be one of the most fascinating characters we have come across so far in the Year of the Bible. She may be one of the most fascinating characters in all of the Bible.

We had a lively discussion at Bible Study about this passage, including all the, uh, shall we say sexual innuendo that fills this passage. But that's not what I wanted to talk about here.

I wonder how we Christians (and Jews too) feel having Rahab as such a heroine of the faith. She is known for her cunning and wit, her powers of deception and misdirection. Not the usual characteristics that biblical characters are lauded for, right?

Yet Hebrews includes her in the "Faith Hall of Fame" in chapter 11 and James calls her righteous "for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction" (James 2:25). Rahab is even included in Jesus' genealogy in Matthew 1.

Another fascinating aspect of her character, as we read in Joshua 2, is something Jerome Creach points out in his commentary on Joshua. Creach points out the similarities between "the wife of noble character" (Prov 31:10ff) and Rahab the prostitute, particularly in the details of the crimson thread and flax on the roof (presumably used for making clothes for her household in both cases).

Though Rahab uses rather unorthodox means, at the heart of her intent is to provide for her family, to ensure their deliverance in the face of the invading Israelites. I can't say that I blame her.

Allison

Finding Truth in the Middle of Extremes

Good morning/afternoon/evening! I know I saw this a lot but I REALLY am glad you stopped by again. Sometimes I wish I could be there next to you as you read the day's chapters from the Bible--just in case you had a question or wanted to talk about something. But alas, this is the closest I'm going to get, so I'll try to make stopping by here as worth your while as I can!


Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Fri, Mar 20: What will happen if the Israelites turn away and worship and bow down to other gods? (Dt 11)
Deuteronomy 11:16-17 6 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the LORD's anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you.

And here's the question of the day:
Sat, Mar 21: Romans 2:6 6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done." What do you think this means?


And here's the reflection of the day:
As we've been reading through the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Old Testament), we've seen the theme of God's righteousness over and over again. Leviticus tells us, "Be holy, because I the Lord your God am holy." Hence, all the rules and the regulations given to the Israelites in order to help them be just as holy as they can possibly be.

Believers are called to live according to a higher standard--morally, ethically, and in faithful obedience to God's commandments. It is even the duty of believers to share those standards with others and encourage them to live up to said standards. And sometimes, we can get a little carried away with our good intentions. Pretty easily, we can get so wrapped up in the importance of moral standards that we're imposing on others that we lose sight of whether we ourselves are living up to those very same standards.

In Romans 2, Paul has a discussion on moralizing. We might prefer a more relaxed attitude toward moral and ethical behavior and this, as Wright points out, makes us "all too eager to read Romans 2 as a denunciation of moralism and then to feel self-righteous because we are not self-righteous" (Wright, NIB Commentary on Romans).

Paul believed that morals mattered to both corporate society and to the individual. Disregarding these morals is sure to lead to disaster. He does not object to people having high moral standards; only when one failed to practice what one preached did Paul have an objection. Wright points out that Paul's point "was the hypocrisy of denouncing faults while secretly practicing them oneself."

And it all comes down to the final judgment, which Wright calls "excellent news for millions in our world, as it was in Paul's." He says this because judgment is "a promise that wrongs will be put to rights, offering a strong and sure hope that can sustain those who suffer oppression and injustice. But in Jesus the Messiah this hope has come forward into the present."

The final judgment has been warped in many ways over the years of reading and preaching. It has been watered down into "vague hopes for a better life hereafter and vague warnings about possible unpleasant consequences of wrongdoing" (Wright, NIB Commentary on Romans). But it also has been "artificially pumped up into shrill hell-fire denunciations and casual self-satisfied salvation-assurance" (Wright, NIB Commentary on Romans).

The truth of the final judgment lies somewhere in between these two extremes. Wrongs will be righted, and hope will be offered to the hopeless. God's perfection righteousness will be extended to those who sought, all the days of their lives, to be holy, because the Lord God Almighty is holy--doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God (Micah 6:8).

Have a great day!
Allison