Tag: god’s commands

Listen (Jeremiah 42:18-22)

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

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be a curse and an object of horror, a curse and an object of reproach; you will never see this place again.’

“Remnant of Judah, the Lord has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be sure of this: I warn you today that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the Lord your God and said, ‘Pray to the Lord our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.’ I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the Lord your God in all he sent me to tell you. So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle.” (New International Version)

We all find ourselves in trouble at one time or another. The real issue is whether we’re in trouble for no fault of our own, or if we’re in dire straits because of our own stubbornness and stupidity.

God tends to take a lot of flack from us humans, whenever we are in the middle of trouble. Yet, much of the time, it’s our own dang fault for not listening to God in the first place.

Whenever other people are hard-hearted and unjust, we’re ready for some divine judgment to happen. But when it’s me, all I want is some mercy and grace, some understanding and acknowledgment of my predicament. We have got to realize that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

Talk can be cheap. The ancient people of Judah verbally affirmed their dedication to doing what God would tell them to do. And then, like some sort of spiritual dementia, they seemed to forget everything they said, and turned around to disobey all they heard from God.

It all came down to an issue of trust. The people looked to Egypt for their deliverance from the Babylonian army, instead of turning their faces toward God and doing exactly what the Lord wanted.

So, the Lord, an ever-present power much like the force of gravity, let the people know that if they’re going to ignore that force, they’ll end up falling and breaking their bodies.

People make mistakes. They do stupid things. And they sin against God and others. It happens. But how we respond to it all is highly important. If we don’t learn from our missteps, and choose to keep living without adjusting our lives to God’s abiding presence in the world, we can expect trouble.

A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions.
    The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. (Proverbs 27:12, NLT)

The ancient people of Judah had already suffered one Babylonian invasion. Now they were faced with yet another. The people wanted to flee. But their looking to Egypt was not a wise avoidance; it was an attempt to stick their heads in the sand, to put their fingers in their ears and shut tight their eyes. Instead, they needed to stay put and face the music.

The prophet Jeremiah reminded the people that, in this situation, there was a dual danger: It’s bad to go to Egypt, so don’t do it; and it’s really bad to disobey God, so listen and do what the Lord says.

Ignorance puts everyone in jeopardy. To follow through with plans that are diametrically opposed to what God has specifically said not to do, puts the entire community in the grip of a death sentence. After all, the Lord already knows what’s up and what’s going to happen if we foolishly amble into a hornet’s nest of trouble on top of trouble.

Whenever people are cursed, it’s typically because they refuse to listen; they don’t heed the warnings and end up doing something out of their anxiety, instead of acting with wisdom.

Unnecessary suffering comes from disobedience. Disobedience is a result of ignorance. And ignorance comes from purposefully not listening to sage advice, divine commands, and the wisdom of the ages.

It all comes down to giving focused attention so that we might hear and heed the voice of God. This is why the spiritual practices of solitude, silence, stillness, and contemplative and centering prayers are so very important. It puts us in a position to listen with open ears and receptive hearts.

The following are four guidelines of centering prayer, offered by one of the masters of this form, Father Thomas Keating, Intimacy with God: An Introduction to Centering Prayer:

  1. Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.
  2. Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly, and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within.
  3. When engaged with your thoughts, body sensations, feelings, images, and reflections, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.
  4. At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.

The best way to avoid unnecessary trouble, heed biblical warnings, and listen to the divine is by aspiring and dedicating oneself to a genuine spiritual life.

St. John of the Cross, a spiritual giant of a prayerful and listening life, wrote in the sixteenth century, “God spoke one word from all eternity and he spoke it in silence, and it is in silence that we hear it.”

The reason God is so often silent, is that silence is God’s first language; all other verbal languages are but poor translations. Centering ourselves in prayer is a needed preparation for the contemplation that enables us to hear and listen well to the language of God.

Perhaps if the people in Jeremiah’s day did so, they would not have found themselves in such a dire predicament.

Almighty and everlasting God, make me ready, when your voice is truly heard, so that I may respond with glad obedience glad and steady devotion, silent and still to follow every word. Speak, Lord, for I am listening. Amen.

Go and Serve the Lord (Genesis 24:1-9)

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

Abraham was now a very old man. The Lord had made him rich, and he was successful in everything he did. One day, Abraham called in his most trusted servant and said to him, “Solemnly promise me in the name of the Lord, who rules heaven and earth, that you won’t choose a wife for my son Isaac from the people here in the land of Canaan. Instead, go back to the land where I was born and find a wife for him from among my relatives.”

But the servant asked, “What if the young woman I choose refuses to leave home and come here with me? Should I send Isaac there to look for a wife?”

“No!” Abraham answered. “Don’t ever do that, no matter what. The Lord who rules heaven brought me here from the land where I was born and promised that he would give this land to my descendants forever. When you go back there, the Lord will send his angel ahead of you to help you find a wife for my son. If the woman refuses to come along, you don’t have to keep this promise. But don’t ever take my son back there.” So the servant gave Abraham his word that he would do everything he had been told to do. (Contemporary English Version)

The Spirit of God operates through us, God’s people. Although the Lord could do everything without us, God chooses to use us as servants doing the divine will. All of life is really and ideally a divine/human cooperative of the Lord working in and through us to accomplish good and divine purposes.

The spotlight of today’s Old Testament lesson follows Abraham’s servant – which is a picture of the Holy Spirit’s work. God has given us the responsibility and privilege of being humble servants in the world. Much like Abraham’s faithful and trusted servant, we are to fulfill God’s expectations to leave and go do the Lord’s bidding.

We have both the duty and delight of giving ourselves to the task of going out and finding the person(s) for whom the Lord sends us to find.

Jesus once said to his disciples:

“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35, NLT) 

Blessing from God happens when we leave everything and follow Jesus. God is still holding out this promise of blessing that can be realized through leaving and going. As Abraham sent out his servant, the Lord sends out so that divine promises are realized and humanity is blessed. Consider some biblical examples:

  • In order to experience marital blessing, God said in the beginning that a man must “leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife.” (Genesis 2:24) 
  • The writer of Proverbs says that if we want to see blessing, to experience God’s presence and approval, you must “leave your simple ways.” (Proverbs 9:6) 
  • Jesus said that if you have relational problems and are getting ready to worship you must “leave your gift at the altar.” Then, “first go and be reconciled to your brother.” (Matthew 5:23-24)  
  • Christ stated that, as the Great Shepherd, he will leave the ninety-nine sheep to go after one lost one. (Luke 15:4) 
  • The Lord Jesus commissioned us to do the business of leaving: “Go, and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19). 
  • Jesus also said, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.”(Matthew 19:21) 
  • The invitation has gone out concerning God’s great banquet of blessing: “Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.” (Matthew 22:9)

Being sent, leaving and blessing, go together.

I “leave” you with some thoughts on stepping out of our friendly and familiar environment to know the blessing of God:

  1. Hang around with others who want the blessing of God. Spend time with those who are eager to do God’s will and be God’s servant. Light each other’s fire, and let the Holy Spirit kindle a fresh flame in your heart by being around passionate Christian people. Don’t be a lone ranger, but instead consult and collaborate with others.
  2. Walk across the room. God may not be calling all of us to leave this country and go to an unreached people-group, but he is calling us all to leave our seats and walk across the room to encourage another person in their faith; or across the street to strike up a spiritual conversation with a lost neighbor; or across town to a lonely or hurting elderly person; or down the street to hang out at the laundry mat to meet new people who need the good news of grace. And, by all means, we are to walk across the pages of Scripture to follow Jesus in obedience to the Holy Spirit’s promptings.
  3. Step out in faith, no matter who you are. We might all consider Mother Teresa, who died in 1997, to be a super-Christian. She once stated, “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus. God still loves the world and He sends you and me to be His love and His compassion to the poor to quench His thirst for love and for souls.”  Yet, at the same time, Teresa struggled in her faith for most of her life and often felt like her own soul was desolate. She once confessed, “In my soul, I feel just the terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing.” Even in this, her dark night of the soul was still the salvation for thousands.
  4. Don’t talk it to death. There is always more research and information and counsel to obtain. At some point you need to act. We have no need to create a sub-committee to investigate the findings of that other committee in order to decide. Frederick Buechner said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Where does your passion and the world’s great need meet? Leave, and go there. 

We are servants, meant to fulfill the instructions of a God who is calling us and sending us to do good work in this world.

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace. Clothe us in your Spirit so that, reaching forth our hands in love, we may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.

Let Mercy Be Our Guide (Matthew 12:1-8)

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

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (New International Version)

I’ll just say it plainly: We people are quick to judge. All of us have been on the end of someone judging us for something we did or said; and also all of us have played the judge, telling someone they aren’t right, when we really don’t know what’s going on or don’t have the full picture.

In today’s Gospel lesson, the Pharisees take issue with Christ’s disciples doing something unlawful (that is, unbiblical). Since the Pharisees chose to respond to the situation using the ground of Scripture, Jesus responded to them on Scriptural grounds.

Jesus went back to the Bible, with three pointed biblical retorts: “Haven’t you read?” “Haven’t you read in the Law?” and “If you had known what these words mean….”

David and His Companions

The first example of Jesus, in reply to the Pharisees’ issue with the disciples picking heads of grain on the Sabbath, was to lift up David and his men. They had the audacity to waltz into the holy place, take the sacred Bread of the Presence, and proceed to eat it. And it was all done above board.

In a usual circumstance, it would be unlawful for anyone other than a priest to eat the bread. However, under unusual circumstances or extreme situations, it is very much permitted for the priest(s) to give the bread to others. This gets at the spirit and intent of the Law, not just the letter of it.

If we are unable to practice biblical injunctions with both knowledgeable skill and practical art, then we are failing to keep the Law. In other words, meeting the very real needs of people is a high priority – which is a major point of divine commands to begin with.

Priests on Sabbath Duty

The Pharisees had a problem with the disciples “working” on the Sabbath day. Rather than quibble about whether they were working by sowing and reaping, or not, Jesus went to the example and reality that the priests of God “work” on the Sabbath day – an argument which every Christian Pastor knows all too well, since we do a great deal of work on our Sunday of “rest.”

Jesus is merely making a simple observation that priestly work is done on the Sabbath without any guilt, sin, or shame behind it. In fact, it’s expected. Just as the priests are squeaky clean, then so are Christ’s disciples.

Christ brings it closer to his main point – that if the temple and all the ritual laws can validate Sabbath work – then it follows that Jesus has the freedom to “work” on the Sabbath because he is actually Lord of the Sabbath. It’s an argument from the lesser to the greater. If the temple is important, and Christ is greater than the temple, then there ought to be no constraints to Messiah’s work in this world.

If You Only Knew Your Bible

The lynchpin and hinge point of all Christ’s words hangs on the revealed biblical heart of God toward the very situation in which the disciples were in the field getting some heads of wheat. And it is the verse drawn from the prophet Hosea: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

Again, the point of the Law, the aim of the biblical commands, is not self-sacrifice. It isn’t about going without eating because you would need to work in order to prepare food. Rather, it is having a big heart directed toward the needs of humanity. Human willpower, self-discipline, and right theology don’t mean much, at all, next to the weightier matters of empathy, compassion, and relational connection.

Religious duty is just that. But spiritual care which seeks to bring heartfelt compassion, responsible love, and social justice to a community is the sort of divine work that God is looking for in God’s people. Anything less than that is only hollow legalism.

So, instead of ignoring the Law, Jesus was actually upholding and fulfilling God’s Law. Christ was keeping the spirit, heart, and intent of divine instructions – even though it may have looked otherwise to a particular group of people.

Sabbath and the Reformation

In the Protestant Reformation, John Calvin understood this meaning, that the Sabbath is made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath, and that Jesus Christ is Lord of the Sabbath. Therefore, we are to observe the Lord’s Day (Sunday) in an intentionally non-legalistic way:

“The Lord’s Day was not established for us to hallow it before all others, that is, to count it more holy. For this is the prerogative of God alone, who has honored all days equally (Romans 14:15). But it was established for the church to gather for prayers and praises of God, for hearing the Word, for the use of the sacraments.”

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Book 1, Chapter 14)

Let mercy, not judgment nor sacrifice, be our interpretive guide through the whole of Holy Scripture and the Christian life, to the glory of God. Amen.

Delight in God’s Word (Psalm 119:41-48)

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

Lord, give me your unfailing love,
    the salvation that you promised me.
Then I can answer those who taunt me,
    for I trust in your word.
Do not snatch your word of truth from me,
    for your regulations are my only hope.
I will keep on obeying your instructions
    forever and ever.
I will walk in freedom,
    for I have devoted myself to your commandments.
I will speak to kings about your laws,
    and I will not be ashamed.
How I delight in your commands!
    How I love them!
I honor and love your commands.
    I meditate on your decrees. (New Living Translation)

Christians often refer to the Bible as “God’s Word.” By that reference is meant that God has graciously given a self-revelation to us through the Holy Scriptures. 

The Jewish people refer to the first five books of the Old Testament as the Law of the Lord or the Torah. They understand God as a great, high and holy Being, who graciously accommodates and communicates to us on our level by giving the Law. 

Just as a parent coos and babbles and speaks in a very different way to a baby in a crib, so God speaks to us in a manner that we can understand divine care, concern, and love for us. Just as an infant cannot understand an adult conversation taking place, so God is a divine being well above our comprehension. We have no ability to understand anything God says unless the Lord graciously and lovingly bends down to speak to us on our level.

God’s Law, the Torah, was the curriculum for Israel’s religious instruction. The Law of the Lord is meant to be a behavior pattern, to be embodied in the lives of God’s people through both teachers and parents who learn God’s Word and, in turn, pass it along to others. Both those within the faith, such as children, and those outside of the faith, such as aliens or immigrants, can have a guide for how to live in the world.

God’s Law is an extension of God’s grace. And we can gratefully accept the grace of God expressed in God’s Word. We have the opportunity to ingest it, eat it, reflect on it, and dwell with it, in order to know God and be the sort of people God who can bless the world.

There are several Hebrew language words that come from the root word of Law, or Torah.  A teacher is a “moreh.” A parent is a “horeh.” Parents and teachers are to be living guides in the way of God’s Word. What’s more, the Hebrew word for teaching is “yarah.” 

So, in other words, the moreh’s and the horeh’s are to yarah the Torah. Parents and teachers are to point and lead others into the ways of the Lord. And how do they do this?…

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, NIV)

God’s Law (God’s Word) is to be as familiar to us as our back door; it is to be in front of us all the time. We might put a modern spin on the Deuteronomy passage to help us understand our privilege when it comes to God’s Word:

Attention, Church! God, our God! God the one and only! Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love God with all that is in you; love God with all you’ve got! 

Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. 

In order to do this, talk about God’s Word at home when you are eating supper together, and when you are working or playing with each other. 

Start your day with God’s Word when you get up, and end your day with God’s Word when you go to bed at night. Put God’s Word on your refrigerator, and your car’s dashboard; have it on your smartphones, and let it be available to you anywhere, anytime. Use every opportunity you have to incessantly chatter about God’s Holy Word.

Someone may say, “That’s pretty radical – I don’t need to do all that!” Then I would say you are missing out on living a blessed life, because people are blessed when they walk according to God’s Word and keep God’s Law in front of them, seeking God with all their heart. 

Eleanor Turnbull, a veteran missionary to Haiti, collected and translated some simple but powerful prayers of the Christians who live in the Haitian mountains. Here are four prayers that they pray every day – and take note of their high view of God, and their longing to know God’s Word: 

  1. “Our Great Physician, Your word is like alcohol. When poured on an infected wound, it burns and stings, but only then can it kill germs. If it doesn’t burn, it doesn’t do any good.” 
  2. “Father, we are all hungry baby birds this morning. Our heart-mouths are gaping wide, waiting for you to fill us.” 
  3. “Father, a cold wind seems to have chilled us. Wrap us in the blanket of your Word and warm us up.” 
  4. “Lord, we find your Word like cabbage. As we pull down the leaves, we get closer to the heart. And as we get closer to the heart, it is sweeter.”

Let’s not be so busy, pre-occupied, or worried that we push God’s Word to the margins of our lives as only something for our discretionary time. 

Instead, let’s commit ourselves, like the psalmist, to learning and loving God’s commands and decrees.

Let’s be intentional about connecting with the God who has so graciously given us a guide for grateful living. 

Let’s lay solid plans to catechize people into the basics of faith and holy living. 

May your efforts both honor God and build up Christ’s Church. Amen.