Job 1:1, 2:1-10: If We Want Understanding, We Must Live It

In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.

On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. - Job 1:1, 2:1-10

 There are a few places in the Bible where God makes a choice and that choice causes pain for his children. In this case, he authorizes Satan to go and inflict sores on Job's body, contending that Job only liked God because God always gave him the good stuff in life. In the back of my mind, I am asking: what gives God the right to make that decision?

Well, for one, we do. When we decide to follow Jesus--to become his disciples--we give God the right to do whatever he deems best to achieve his--and our--ultimate goal--to become like Jesus. We would like it to be hand-holding and comforting, but God asks us to go through the same refining process that he asked his son to go through.

And part of this is that God will use how we respond to teach those that are watching. In these verses, in addition to Satan, it says that the angels were there in the throne room of God. God wanted to use how Job responded to teach the unfallen angels the truth about his humans. Were they really hopeless after they had sinned, or was their a path of redemption where, under pressure they would do the right thing. 

This wasn't just for the angels, though. We see Job's three friends and Job's wife around him while he is suffering. His experiences and the way he responded served to teach those around him about what was real and the way the world really worked. It was a painful lesson in life's classroom for Job, and his children.

It also means that justice--people getting what they deserve--is not what we think it is. Did Job get what he deserved? He certainly got what he needed--a glimpse of who God really is and what God is really doing. And that was a hard-won revelation--the kind of knowledge that can only come through experience. 

I think this is why looking back is the best way to judge our own lives. We want to know how the world works but fundamentally there is no way to know that unless we go through it--unless we live past it. We want the reward from God, but if the reward we want is understanding, then must live it first, just as Jesus did.

Psalm 19:7-14: Betting Against The Self-Serving Answer

The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm,  and all of them are righteous.

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. - Psalm 19:7-14

"But who can discern their own errors?" The ability to lie to myself and tell myself that what I did was for good and right reasons continues to trouble me even as it did in my elementary school days. To think that what I did was right and then to spend hours agonizing and then to spend days in remorse and then weeks in trying to figure out how to make up for what I did is a pattern that has been repeated many times in my life.

I have only found two ways to fight against this trend in my life. First, listen to trusted voices who question my decisions. Sometimes they are wrong, but they are right often enough that I am willing to take a second look. Second, try to proactively do the right thing the first time. Usually when I am lying to myself, there is an element of self-serving in my decision. So every decision that has a benefit to me deserves a second look to see whether I did it because it was right or because it benefited me. If there is a doubt, bet against the self-serving answer even if it costs me.

Numbers 11:4-29: God Lets Me Join In The Doing

 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.

Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”

The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.

“Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”

But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”

The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”

So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again.

However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”

But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” - Numbers 11:4-29

 Discontent is a root of evil because it turns blessings into curses--and discontent has its roots in the pride that resides in our hearts. God blessed the people of Israel at least 4 times: taking them out of Egypt, feeding them with manna, feeding them with meat, and blessing them with Spirit-led leaders. They complained when they were in the desert, they complained about the manna, Moses complained about the people, Joshua complained about the elders of Israel. In each case, they looked at where God had brought them and assumed that there must be some mistake.

They weren't who they thought they were in God's sight because if they were, God wouldn't let the things happen to them that were happening. They became blessing addicts, when the effect of the last miracle had worn off, they had miracle-withdrawals and they complained that it was God who had made them addicts and that they expected better from him.

I think that I am also a complainer some times. I become so used to the comfort in which God has allowed me to live in seasons of my life that when it goes away, assume that the situation should be better or God should be better. Why should he do this to me? Why is this happening to us? This presumes that my or our comfort should be at the center of God's agenda and that he should be fixing the world so that our comfort happens. A while back I realized that soldier is not surprised when his commander asks him to do a difficult task which relieves his comrades or protects the people back home, even if he doesn't know how that will occur. If he trusts the commander, he does it. He doesn't look around at the other members of his military division and ask, "Why didn't God ask him?" or "Why did he choose me for this task?" God picked me at this time because he had a job to do and he lets me join in the doing.  

Esther 7:1-10, 9:20-22: Changing Mindsets By Relationships

So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet, and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”

Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.”

King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?”

Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”

Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.

Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining.

The king exclaimed, “Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?”

As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.”

The king said, “Impale him on it!” So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided. - Esther 7:1-10

Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor. - Esther 9:20-22

 When you show that the relationship with the one can be extended to the many. There are many recorded instances in the Bible when the people of God are under the authority of the ungodly and the unrighteous, who really don't care about them or definitely put them in a significantly lower category where they can disposed of at a whim. But we also see that God sometimes places a person or two in the group near the authority to develop a different type of relationship--not as a member of "that" group but as someone whose hard work and dedication allows them to be trusted.  God can use this status as a "someone" rather than the status as a "one of them" to effect his rescue and accomplish his purposes. He did that here, where the King saw "Esther" as his wife and "Mordecai" as his advisor and servant rather than as a "foreigner" or "Jew".  When Esther revealed to him that Haman's plan to kill the Jews recast Haman's plan into something which threatened his wife and advisor, he was angry and it transformed his whole attitude towards God's people.

I think that we sometimes avoid contact with the "enemy" because we fear it will compromise us and our values and beliefs, or make us give away our strength uselessly, or enable them in their wicked ways. But the people in the Bible, from Joseph to Daniel and Mordecai chose to their best for people, even the people who qualify as "enemies" and by changing their thinking on a personal level they also changed their thinking about bigger issues.  I'm glad God didn't do that with me: "For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" (Romans 5:10) 

Mark 9:38-50: Wondering At God

“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”

“Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,  where “‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ Everyone will be salted with fire. “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” - Mark 9:38-50

It is possible to quench the enthusiasm of someone by pointing out how much they still do not know. Supposedly "wiser" older Christians can do this when they see or hear younger Christians enthuse about their faith, how good a sermon was, how God aided them in this or that, etc. and they shake their heads and shake "That's not correct. If they really knew what God does they wouldn't be so happy right now." That is, older Christians can be the kill joys in the faith because they (we) have lost the sense of wonder and awe at the possibilities of walking close to God and interpret enthusiasm sometimes as naiveté. 

In these verses, Jesus offers some stern words to his disciples who might be tempted to be the older sibling and "correct" the younger sibling rather than learning/relearning their sense of wonder. I wonder if is better to be "correct" about God or in awe of God. Since I tend to err on the side of "correcting" people, I think I need to hold myself back first rather than holding others back in enthusing. I want to wonder at God. 

Haiku: August 23 - September 26

Morning temple walk
Student rushes out to school
Old woman limps in

Wandering at 4
Dark hides jogging and walking
Many surprises

Try to sleep longer

Wakefulness can't be denied

The sun is rising

Strange birds call above

Asking questions back and forth

Strange topics resound

Trains trundle onwards

Carry me home and away

Each direction new

Palm trees on bay shore 

Asphalt lots, old boats, parked cars

Background of sea blue

Old couple waits for trains

That carry their children home

Enjoying the sun

My mind is racing

My heart is already speeding

As if God forgot

Turtle in a box

Hands held out to give a gift

Eyes look to the side

Wake with a tight jaw

Chat seems unspoken presence

Pray asking to ease

It is not clear why

Suddenly I am awake

Unfinished dreams lost

Shadows falling longer

Striped across the patio

Illumination

Turn your smile on me

Let me see I have your favor

At least not anger

Down into the bones

Where peace must be to be real.

Not a cup of tea.

Summer and winter

Spring and fall, cycling again

Gray hair testifies.

The frown on you face

A look of concentration

Or maybe anger.

Wind pushes shadows 

Back and forth in my windows.

Squirrel dropping nuts

Walking in the dark

Mind racing, can't go to sleep.

Time to start praying.

See flickering lights.

Wonder if house will burn down.

Or just sleepless nights.

The call of the jays. 

The hummingbirds buzz and swoop.

Silence fills the gaps.

Chicken is waiting.

Follows me to and then from.

Always suspicious.

Helen is waiting. 

Making her offer and then 

Sitting beside me.

Paying lies with lies.

A poor substitute for truth

Costs are just deferred.

The shadow has moved.

A little from other mornings.

Orioles remain.

My mind is still blank

Til the thoughts come creeping in.

Like little spiders.

Enough wind stirs leaves.

Cool breath over the valley.

So I can breathe also.

Time is marching on.

Through days and changing seasons.

And I am older too.

Blooms have five petals.

And blackberries have five leaves.

Why does this have three?

To miss God's glory--

Acts of selective blindness

To miss my neighbor.

Go plunging headlong

To the end of a sentence

And forget the start.

Dog in a backyard

Walking path between houses.

Nothing but blue sky.

He's always working

At his work until this day

I too am working.

No meeting today.

They're busy celebrating.

For the holiday.

Dreaming of resting. 

Days without worry or doubt.

Would I just be bored?

Chilly air outside.

Early morning bids me welcome.

Coffee is waiting.

Disquieting noise.

Skitterings in the attic.

Mice are not my friends.

Falling on the roof.

Squirrels scamper back and forth.

Dropping fruits on us.

A pile of feathers. 

No gold running past my eyes.

Or demands for food.

The coop is silent.

No flutter of gold is seen.

She wanders elsewhere.

Waiting for the bus.

At night is sometimes lonely.

Or even scary.

James 5:13-20: Everything, Like With Your Best Friend

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. - James 5:13-20

 Whatever is going on, talk to God about it. Part of our attempt to protect ourselves is to hide what we is going on that isn't so beautiful or try to spin the narrative so that we come out looking ok. We often do that with prayer also, as if talking to God was like posting on Facebook. Talk about the good stuff, but hide the bad stuff unless we're really angry and then we tell the whole world how angry we are. But it seems to me that these verses teach a different approach: talk to God like your best friend. The thing about best friends is that are happy when you're happy and sad when you're sad and straightening you out when you've gone off course.  Hiding is a fear response and tells a lot about what we think of God. I know that when I pray I have to stop myself and talk to myself and say, "Tim, who are you trying to kid when you said that." So I have to rewind, rewind, rewind and try saying those prayers again, not the way my press release would read abut how my conversation with my best friend would read. Honest.