Tag: god’s anger

Be Honest (Job 42:7-9)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Job’s Sacrifice, by William Blake (1757-1827)

After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you did not speak the truth about me, the way my servant Job did. Now take seven bulls and seven rams to Job and offer them as a sacrifice for yourselves. Job will pray for you, and I will answer his prayer and not disgrace you the way you deserve. You did not speak the truth about me as he did.”

Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did what the Lord had told them to do, and the Lord answered Job’s prayer. (Good News Translation)

After all of Job’s terrible trouble in losing everything and everyone he cared about; after all of the longwinded speeches of his supposed friends; and after God’s breaking of silence through unanswerable questions; the epilogue of the story brings us God’s verdict concerning Job and his situation.

God finally dispenses his assessment, and renders his judgment. The Lord was not at all happy with Job’s companions; and was pleased with Job. Therefore, God made a decision against the companions, and for Job.

Four times in three verses, God refers to Job as “my servant,” but does not describe the friends as such. It is Job, and not Job’s friends, who spoke truth. Only Job spoke words consistent with reality.

At best, the friends spoke unhelpful words. At the worst, their words were hurtful and full of hubris. In retrospect, they probably should have at least kept their mouths shut. And ideally, they could have been true comforters, and consoled Job in his agony.

This gets at something which I believe we all need to get a firm hold upon: Not extending help, mercy, and consolation to those in dire straits, pisses-off God.

It irks God because it is a misrepresentation of God’s basic character, and distorts God’s true nature.

Being dishonest and pretending to be okay when one is not…

telling someone who is hurting to suck it up and confess their sin…

believing that the world operates according to good guys getting health and wealth, and bad guys getting sickness and poverty…

downright angers the holy and merciful God of the universe.

Job, unlike the Three Stooges he had as friends, affirmed what is right and true:

  • God is the Sovereign of the universe who dispenses both good and bad (Job 2:10)
  • God is the One who gives and who takes away (Job 1:21)
  • God is the Lord to whom we must bow in willing submission (Job 42:5-6)

In the dialogue with his friends, Job rightly insisted that God is sometimes an enemy, and that God’s inexplicable silence and absence is unjust and destructive.

I don’t want you to easily pass over what I just referred to, or to flip-out over it. In truth, God is both present and absent. And God’s absence hurts. Sometimes, it hurts like hell. We must affirm that God is sometimes silent. There are times when it feels like God is on vacation and is paying no attention.

I want you to get ahold of this important dimension to the spiritual life:

Human pretentions and posturing only present a false self to God and the world. That sort of behavior angers God. The Lord wants honest vulnerability.

Whereas Job’s friends insisted on maintaining theological respectability and an ordered theological system, Job essentially said, “To hell with all that!”

And Job was right.

Job contended with God. He cried, yelled, and exposed his innermost thoughts and feelings to God. Job was real. No phoniness existed with him. Yet, Job did not forsake God, curse God, or say there was no God.

The genuine spiritual life is always a tricky and risky combination of devotion and confrontation toward God.

Job presented his true self to God.

Job’s friends presented to God what they believed God wanted to see and hear.

There is a big difference between those two approaches.

God affirmed Job. God was against Job’s friends.

Maybe today it is necessary to rethink what you have always believed it is which gets God’s affirmation, and what raises God’s ire.

If we cannot be honest about what we are really thinking, and about how we are really doing, then we are hopeless people. In that state, no one can help us. And God is not pleased.

The final verdict of God is that only the prayers of one who speaks truth, like Job, will be effectively heard. Less honest prayers, like those of Job’s wife and friends, are foolish and ineffective.

One of the big overall messages of the Book of Job is this: For God’s sake, be honest!

My own culture is one of Midwest nice. That’s a nice way of saying that Midwesterners are mostly dishonest creatures. Every Midwesterner I know, understands being nice and polite to someone’s face, and then speaking gossip and slander to their back.

Ask any Midwestern American how they are doing, and they’ll tell you, “Just fine,” or “Great!” or “The sun is shining,” or some other deflection or blathering lie about how they are really doing. More than once, I have actually heard a depressed person with suicidal ideation tell another person that they are “doing fine today.”

That sort of claptrap gets us nowhere, especially with God. The Lord is okay with you and I telling him what we really think, even if we are extremely upset with God. God isn’t bothered by our anger, yelling, or messed-up thinking. But God is bothered by our pretending, our dishonesty, and our false presentations.

None of this means that we must wear our heart on our sleeve. In fact, I have found that persons who declare to me that they “tell it like it is,” are some of the most false people on the planet. It’s usually a sign that I’m not going to get from them how they are really feeling. It usually means they’re angry, and want to talk smack against someone, without ever examining themselves.

Don’t be a jerk. There are nice jerks, and obnoxious jerks, but in the end, they’re all just jerks. You and I really can speak honest words of truth, without being a jerk about it.

Job was honest, real, raw, hurt, angry, sad, lonely, and grieving out of his mind. And he was no jerk. And God affirmed him.

Personally, I’d rather have God’s affirmation than anyone else’s. How about you?

Almighty God, help us to speak and act truthfully in all situations. May we be honest with ourselves and with others, building trust and integrity in our relationships. Thank you for your example of truth and honesty. Help us to follow in your footsteps and to live with authenticity.

Guide us to be honest even when it is difficult, recognizing that honesty is the foundation of trust and respect. Help us to confront our own falsehoods and to seek the truth in all aspects of our lives. May we create environments where honesty is valued and encouraged, fostering open and transparent communication.

We pray for those who struggle with honesty, asking for your guidance and support in their journey towards truthfulness. Thank you for the clarity and peace that comes from living honestly. Help us to embrace and uphold this value every day. Amen.

Avoid the Downward Spiral (Judges 6:1-10)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 

They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.” (New International Version)

Frankly, the biblical Book of Judges is rather depressing. Its descriptive arc is a sad downward spiral of forgetfulness and disobedience – with the people crying out for deliverance and being saved – and then another slide, even lower than before, into memory issues, and negligence of the law.

Newer and greater levels of depravity occur, the further one reads into the Book of Judges. Indeed, early in the book we are given the reason for such an immoral and idolatrous slide:

The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel…

After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 

In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress. (Judges 2:7, 10-15, NIV)

In today’s Old Testament lesson, yet another round of disobedience brought yet another threat, in the form of the Midianites and Amalekites. Midian’s annual raids of Israelite land destroyed crops and led to the livestock eventually starving. The people were left just trying to eek-out a living and survive.

The Midianites were a nomadic people, subsisting mostly through trade. They were not farmers, and really did not need to raid Israel. It seems they came and did their damage just to keep Israel weak and under their thumb, unable to compete in the caravan markets that Midian depended upon.

The story of crop destruction, and Midianites as thick as locusts, communicates divine judgment and connects with Joshua’s warning to remember God and be faithful to the covenant law:

“If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.” (Joshua 23:16, NIV)

The Israelites cried out in their distress to God for deliverance. They were answered by an unknown prophet who clearly connected the people’s disloyalty to their adverse situation. Although Canaanite gods may have been tolerant of worshiping other deities, the Lord, Israel’s God, is certainly not.

In the case of the ancient Israelites, the people’s disobedience caused their suffering. The prophet did not promise any sort of deliverance. And the distressed people were left wondering if they had been abandoned by God.

This entire situation is a set up for the character of Gideon, who will come on the scene as one of the dominant deliverers in the Book of Judges. And Gideon’s story further illustrates the ever-increasing relationship between Israel, Canaan, and immoral behavior.

By the time we get to the end of the book, there is a sort of morbid and depressing anarchy that has settled amongst the people, ending in the statement:

In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. (Judges 21:26, NIV)

That was not a statement of freedom, but of depravity. It was almost like living in a dystopian society in which nobody was really safe.

Yet God always has had a remnant of people who are faithful and remember the great things which the Lord has done.

So, if we want to avoid the downward spiral in the Book of Judges, the believer is encouraged to keep memory of God’s works, words, and ways in this world; and to remain faithful in obeying God’s law and embracing God’s love.

We need the law of love, and the love of law, in order to rightly relate to our neighbor and be concerned for the common justice of all persons – instead of living in a bubble of supposed safety, doing only what seems right to me.

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Contrast of Good and Bad (1 Samuel 2:11-17)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Top picture: Eli’s sons commit sacrilege; Bottom picture: Hannah and Elkanah bring the boy Samuel to the tabernacle; by William de Brailes, c.1230 C.E.

Elkanah and Hannah went back home to Ramah, but the boy Samuel stayed to help Eli serve the Lord.

Eli’s sons were priests, but they were dishonest and refused to obey the Lord. So, while people were boiling the meat from their sacrifices, these priests would send over a servant with a large, three-pronged fork. The servant would stick the fork into the cooking pot, and whatever meat came out on the fork was taken back to Eli’s two sons. That was how they treated every Israelite who came to offer sacrifices in Shiloh. Sometimes, when people were offering sacrifices, the servant would come over, even before the fat had been cut off and sacrificed to the Lord.

Then the servant would tell them, “The priest doesn’t want his meat boiled! Give him some raw meat that he can roast!”

Usually the people answered, “Take what you want. But first, let us sacrifice the fat to the Lord.”

“No,” the servant would reply. “If you don’t give it to me now, I’ll take it by force.”

Eli’s sons did not show any respect for the sacrifices that the people offered. This was a terrible sin, and it made the Lord very angry. (Contemporary English Version)

Stories in the Old Testament of the Bible typically have two or more contrasting characters within them. One of the characters is good and the other not so much. The narrative is set up without having to tell us who is good and who is bad because the unfolding story makes it patently obvious.

This method of contrast is meant for us to look at the narrative and say to ourselves that we don’t want to go down the bad path but to walk in the good way of helpful obedient service.

In today’s story, we clearly see that, in the case of Eli’s sons, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Old Eli the priest is a contrast to the boy priest-in-residence Samuel.

Eli had many faults, especially when it came to dealing with his sons, who were also priests. Eli seems to have continually had an issue with not listening very well – which ended in making a mess of things.

His sons took the casualness to an entirely new level of bad. They were not only worthless but also interfered in the people’s sincere worship of God. The sons were more than simply incompetent; they were also downright evil.

The Law made it clear how the priests and their portion of the sacrificial animals was to occur. There were detailed instructions on the importance of what part of the animal the priests received; and that the sacrifice needed to have the fat boiled off before it was given to the priest. (Leviticus 7:30-36)

But Eli’s sons took whatever they wanted, and did whatever they wanted, with calloused impunity. They disregarded divine instructions. If they wanted to roast their meat, they did. If they decided to have a different part of the animal, they took it from the worshiper. The sons did not care about anyone, and especially about God. They were bullies of the worst kind.

When sincere worshipers tried to stop the insanity of the priests’ blatant neglect, the servant of the priests threatened them. Although Eli himself did not do this detestable practice, we are meant to see in the narrative that he is an absent father and grossly negligent as a priest.

That entire incompetent and insensitive situation raised the ire of a holy God. It would not end well for Eli and his sons. That particular branch of the Levite priesthood was completely eradicated by the direct judgment of the Lord.

The contrast between Eli and Samuel – both serving as priests – has an unexpected twist. Whereas one would reasonably expect Eli to be the good mentor because of his age and experience, it turns out that the much younger Samuel is the actual mentor to the good and right life of priesthood. Eli needed to take his cues from a child. But, alas, he did not.

Hannah presenting Samuel to Eli, by John Flaxman, 1783

Many adults seem to think that children have nothing to teach them. We who are the big people believe we’re the teachers, leaders, and mentors. Yet, in the kingdom of God, age hasn’t got much to do with it. In fact, generally speaking, children are closer and wiser to knowing how God’s kingdom works, often better than the adults do.

In many respects, I am more like an eight year old boy than the actual father and grandfather that I am. I consider that a good thing. It serves me well in living the spiritual life. And as a boy in an adult body, I say we need to take children more seriously. How can we do that?

Listen carefully. Listen with the intent to understand and learn. The best way of talking to a child is listening to them. Hear both what they’re saying and not saying. Jesus insisted that we must become like little children before we can enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:2-5)

Since we are to become like children, there’s no reason not to do your very best in getting on a child’s level and hearing what they have to say. After all, they’re the experts on being kids. The young Samuel is our model: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:10)

Validate a child’s emotions, especially their fears. In truth, kids are some of the bravest souls on the planet. They typically have no real hang-ups on connecting with other people, whereas many adults have a lot of anxieties and fears concerning other people.

So, when a child is afraid of something, it’s wise to take notice. They have a special radar to reality that most adults lost a long time ago. I’ll bet the children of the community knew the score of Eli and his sons well before the adults caught on to it.

Observe children’s artworks. For those interested in learning from a child, their drawings with crayons say a lot; their sand sculptures and garbage art speak loads to us if we observe and take notice. Kids are communicating their worldview and how they make sense of things.

Art is about understanding life and the human spirit, connecting to the past and other cultures, and expressing emotions. Becoming open to what children create is a pathway to the divine and to what is important in this world. Eli’s sons removed the art and craft of priesthood; they made it a mere exchange of goods and services. And God was not happy with this arrangement. It took away something significant about connecting with the Lord.

By contrasting the way of Samuel with the way of Eli and his sons, we begin to see the wide chasm between a one-dimensional bullying approach to being a priest, with a multi-dimensional, beautiful, and authentic expression of priesthood that embodies the conduit between heaven and earth.

How will you go about living your life? What does the way you do things say about God?

Holy God, infuse in us your ability to remain present to your people. Help us to be there for the people who need us – for the young, the old, the needy, and the brokenhearted. Enflame our hearts with a spirit of service and obedience. And enable us to be open and ready to love. Amen.

Donkey Talk (Numbers 22:22-28)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The angel of the Lord meets Balaam with a sword, from “Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us” by Charles Foster, 1897

Balaam was riding his donkey to Moab, and two of his servants were with him. But God was angry that Balaam had gone, so one of the Lord’s angels stood in the road to stop him. When Balaam’s donkey saw the angel standing here with a sword, it walked off the road and into an open field. Balaam had to beat the donkey to get it back on the road.

Then the angel stood between two vineyards, in a narrow path with a stone wall on each side. When the donkey saw the angel, it walked so close to one of the walls that Balaam’s foot scraped against the wall. Balaam beat the donkey again.

The angel moved once more and stood in a spot so narrow that there was no room for the donkey to go around. So it just lay down. Balaam lost his temper, then picked up a stick and whacked the donkey.

When that happened, the Lord told the donkey to speak, and it asked Balaam, “What have I done that made you beat me three times?” (Contemporary English Version)

This is one of those stories which speaks for itself. It’s clear to see that the diviner Balaam made a jackass of himself. A dumb donkey could see things better than a famous seer.

The nation of Moab was afraid of Israel. Balak the Moabite got in touch with Balaam the diviner in order for him to put a curse on Israel. Even though Balaam had the sense to know that he could only speak what God told him, he was influenced by Balak through vanity, and enticed with a small fortune. So, off he went to Moab.

But God was angry with Balaam. Three times the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose Balaam. The donkey knew what was up, but Balaam was too dense – stubborn as a jackass – to what was going on. It took God talking through the donkey before Balaam could finally see the angel.

When God wants to speak and accomplish a divine purpose, the Lord can use anything or anybody to achieve it – even by means of a talking donkey.

In fact, throughout Holy Scripture, God oftentimes uses the weak to further the divine agenda. Whenever God determines something, it will happen, usually by means nobody ever expects.

Look at your situation when you were called, brothers and sisters! By ordinary human standards not many were wise, not many were powerful, not many were from the upper class. But God chose what the world considers foolish to shame the wise. God chose what the world considers weak to shame the strong. And God chose what the world considers low-class and low-life—what is considered to be nothing—to reduce what is considered to be something to nothing. (1 Corinthians 1:26-28, CEB)

If God can use a donkey as a teacher, then none of us need ever be discouraged. The Lord can and will use us to make a difference in this world. God takes special delight in choosing and using the nobodies of this world to fulfill divine purposes and to communicate important messages.

This is why we can always bank of the promises of God – because nothing and nobody can ever stand in the way of the Lord’s will. God is creative and determined, using whatever means and whomever God wants, in order to bring about the good and the right and the just, in this old fallen world.

Most of us don’t have to worry about having a big head or a vain spirit or being a famous prophet like Balaam. The majority of us struggle more with having a lower view of ourselves than we actually are.

God created us according to the divine will and in divine wisdom. The Lord has equipped you with your particular DNA both biologically and spiritually. And, most of all, each one of us has been stamped with the divine image and likeness of God. We carry within our very being the stuff of our Creator.

So, I hope it won’t take some donkey talk to help you see and understand who you are and what your purpose on this earth is for. And there is no need to consult a dubious diviner to try and obtain something that you already possess. Not even a jackass does that.

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
    as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
    Yes. Yes. Yes. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13, MSG)