Jeremiah 28
Prophet drama! If there had been a Jerry Springer Show on Israeli TV, this would certainly have been an episode. Jeremiah has already made waves by going around wearing a yoke on his neck to symbolize the enslavement of the Israelites to the Babylonians. Then, in a stunning turn of events in front of a packed house at the temple, a rival prophet sweeps the yoke from Jeremiah’s neck and breaks it to pieces:
Jeremiah 10
I’m sitting here, trying to imagine what it would be like to carve a beautiful doll out of wood, paint and decorate it, nail it to a wooden base so it won’t fall over… and then bow down in front of it and say, “Help me. Save me. You’re my god.” I know we humans can be blind to a great many things—but that just seems so obvious.
Isaiah 44
Especially as I journey through the Bible, I am finding more and more “all-time favorite” chapters, but this one certainly ranks right up there. The undercurrent of sarcasm (and sadness) is strong. In this chapter, God is decrying the fact that among the nation of people He has chosen, there are a lot of idiots:
Isaiah 29
In this chapter, God reveals what the object of His desire is when it comes to worship: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.” (vs 13-14)
Isaiah 24
If this wasn’t such serious business, there could be something almost comical about the way these doom and gloom prophecies keep escalating. First, it was doom prophesied on the average nations, then the bigger and stronger nations, and now… the whole world: “Look! The Lord is about to destroy the earth and make it a vast wasteland. He devastates the surface of the earth and scatters the people. Priests and laypeople, servants and masters, maids and mistresses, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, bankers and debtors—none will be spared. The earth will be completely emptied and looted. The Lord has spoken!” (vs 1-3)
Isaiah 12
The first verse of this chapter can take on different meanings, depending on which translation you read. I like this one: “At that time you will say, ‘I thank you, Lord! You were angry with me, but you stopped being angry and gave me comfort.’” (CEV) Many versions render the verse this way; the others add a word that isn’t in the original: though. In those translations, the worshiper says, God, I will praise you, because even though you were angry with me, you aren’t angry anymore.
Isaiah 1
In this first chapter of Isaiah, God reveals Himself as someone who has little interest in religious traditions: “‘The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.’” (vs 11-14)
Psalm 141
In the Old Testament, God instituted an elaborate system of sacrifices and offerings for the Israelites to bring to Him at the temple. If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll remember that we went over those sacrifices and offerings in detail in the book of Leviticus. There are a variety of opinions about what that sanctuary system meant and how the life and death of Jesus impacted it. Obviously, we no longer sacrifice animals as a way of worshiping God. But was that what God ever really wanted in the first place? Burnt offerings? Sacrifices? Blood?
Psalm 135
After recounting some of the amazing feats of the God of Israel, the psalmist said this: “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” (vs 15-18)
Psalm 63
In this psalm, David says, “I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.” (vs 2) For some reason, that made me think of Christmas. Isn’t this a perfect description of the Incarnation? When Christ came here in the flesh, we did indeed see Him in His “sanctuary” (His body, His temple) and witnessed His power and glory.
In the end,
what You will have of me is
all
or
nothing.
There is no in-between.
Either I will be consecrated
head to toe,
my entire being
holy ground,
or
I will be a vast, open
wasteland—
a demonic haunt.
There is no in-between.
For You
(the indwelling universe-God)
will not be relegated to
a shelf
a building or
a weekly (better-not-be-longer-than-an-hour) visit.
You will either dwell
in the midst
or
You will be completely
banished from the land.
There is no in-between.
You are uninterested
in negotiation
or compromise.
Come, then,
and take no prisoners—
except me, that is.
Captivate me
head to toe
and all that's
in-between.
Come, Divine Intruder:
Make me
holy ground.
2 Chronicles 11
Let’s face it. Rehoboam got off to an awful start as king. He alienated just about everyone that could be alienated. Then, he tried to start a war in order to get back the land and tribes that he had lost. God warned him against doing that, and at least he was smart enough to listen to that advice.
2 Chronicles 8
Although I am the one who decided on the title of this blog, I feel the need to ask you to read until the end—especially if you might take immediate offense at the title. There are a lot of ideas floating around out there about what God "requires" us to do before He will accept us. Sacrifices to be made, penance to be paid. This is not how I am using the word requires. So, if you’ll bear with me for a moment, I’d like to explain what I mean.
1 Chronicles 23
Of everything written in this chapter of 1 Chronicles, this stuck out to me the most: "[The Levites] were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same in the evening and whenever burnt offerings were presented to the Lord on the Sabbaths, at the New Moon feasts and at the appointed festivals." (vs 30-31)
1 Kings 18
At the risk of sounding like a bad flashback from the 80s or 90s, I couldn’t pass this up as the title of today’s blog. This has got to be one of my all-time favorite chapters in the Bible. It seems like I’ve been hearing this story ever since I was a little girl, and it never ceases to amaze me. So, this was a great excuse to sit back and just marvel at God.
Photo © Matthew Fisher
For ancient Egyptians
the frog was a promise
of radiant life
and fertility.
What shock! when finding
just one left alive
proved an exercise
in futility.
