Readings:  Psalm 6 (NRSV, The Message);  Job 30:16-31 (NRSV, The Message); John 4:46-54 (NRSV, The Message)

But when I looked for good, evil came;
and when I waited for light, darkness came.  Job 30:26 (NRSV)

My first response is that these passages, the Psalm of complaint we have been reading for the past three days and now Job’s complaint from Job 30, sound a little whiny. Then I remind myself of what Job has just been through. He has just lost everything, his kids, his home, his livelihood. I have never experienced loss like that. The loss I have experienced has by in large been the result of my own foolish actions and behaviors. So even though I know people who have endured significant loss, there is this little part of me that cries out that all loss is the consequence of one’s own behaviors, actions, or thoughts – or the thoughts, behaviors, and actions of others.

Maybe I need to come back to scriptures like these more often, along with tending to the “scriptures” of people’s stories and experiences to remind myself that there are times when we must cry out ” when I looked for good, evil came.”

Readings:  Psalm 6 (NRSV, The Message);  2 Chronicles 26:1-21 (NRSV, The Message); Acts 3:1-10 (NRSV, The Message)

Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper…..But when he had become strong he grew proud, to his destruction.  2 Chronicles 26:3-5, 16 (NRSV)

But then the strength and success went to his head. Arrogant and proud, he fell. One day, contemptuous of God, he walked into The Temple of God like he owned it and took over, burning incense on the Incense Altar.   2 Chronicles 26:16-17 (The Message)

But Peter said, ‘I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.’            Acts 3:6 (NRSV)

So it appears the lectionary is going to go with the leprosy theme for a few days. Interesting choice. Being the good American Protestant boy that I am, I am a bit put off by this story about Uzziah. Here is one who honored God and was blessed for it. When he went into the temple to burn incense, he was turned back by an army of priests and was struck with leprosy. It sounds like a turf war to me, with the priests defending their jobs.

Peterson fills it out a bit in his translation, having Uzziah walk into the temple as if he owned the place. There is a fine line between confidence and pride. I think it has to do with how we view God. Keeping one’s attention on God and not ourselves may keep us from crossing the line from confidence to pride. That is the confidence expressed by Peter and John – “…but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.”

Readings: Psalm 86 (NRSV, The Message); Genesis 16:1-14 (NRSV, The Message); Luke 18:15-17 (NRSV, The Message)

Train me, God, to walk straight; 
      then I’ll follow your true path. 
   Put me together, one heart and mind; 
      then, undivided, I’ll worship in joyful fear.      (Psalm 86:11, The Message)

Straight walking is hard. It has been my experience that I need something other than me to “put me together.”

Readings: Psalm 86 (NRSV, The Message); 1 Samuel 15:10-31 (NRSV, The Message); Acts 5:1-11 (NRSV, The Message)

Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, and Samuel was told, ‘Saul went to Carmel, where he set up a monument for himself…                                            1 Samuel 15:12 (NRSV)

Peter responded, “What’s going on here that you connived to conspire against the Spirit of the Master? The men who buried your husband are at the door, and you’re next.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than she also fell down, dead. When the young men returned they found her body. They carried her out and buried her beside her husband. By this time the whole church and, in fact, everyone who heard of these things had a healthy respect for God. They knew God was not to be trifled with.                                                                        Acts 5:9-11 (The Message)

Any story that begins with the protagonist building a monument to himself cannot end well!

In the passage from Samuel, Saul has been told by God to completely destroy another people and keep no spoils. Everything is to be destroyed. Saul, however, keeps some prime livestock to sacrifice to God. God tells Saul, through Samuel, that because he disobeyed God, he will no longer be king of Israel.

In the passage from Acts, Ananias sells a piece of property and gives a part of it to the movement, but “secretly” keeping a portion for themselves. Ananias is struck dead, his wife comes in, sticking to the story they came up with, and she is struck dead as well. My sense of humor may be morbid, but the picture in my head of this scene is comical.

Here’s the thing. The God described in these passages don’t square with the God I have come to experience. If this is what God was like, I would be dead many times over by now. So what are these passages saying to me? What I hear God reminding me about is the importance of integrity and single-mindedness. As much as possible I need to adhere to what God is calling me to do and how God is calling me to do it. I must follow my convictions.

How do these passages speak to you? How do you handle passages such as this which are a bit shocking in nature?

Readings: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 (NRSV, The Message); Judges 2:16-23 (NRSV, The Message); Acts 13:16-25 (NRSV, The Message)

In your book were written
   all the days that were formed for me,
   when none of them as yet existed.               Psalm 139:16b (NRSV)

They lost no time leaving the road walked by their parents, the road of obedience to God’s commands. They refused to have anything to do with it.                                       Judges 2:17 (The Message)

That’s why God let those nations remain. He didn’t drive them out or let Joshua get rid of them.                                               Judges 2:23 (The Message)

All my days? Already written for me? I’m not sure what to hink about that. Actually, yes I do. I don’t agree with it. Call me a heretic. I believe that I have so many choices. I believe that as I avail myself to God’s love and power in my life, that relationship will blossom and my days, present and future, can be transformed. Or maybe that was already written?

The description of the unfolding generations in Judges 2 is instructive for me. A relationship with God is active and dynamic. In successive generations, and even in my own life, we cannot just start well and let it go from there. That is when we lose sight of God working in our life and we walk away or, and I believe this is worse, end up with dogma and tradition but no active relationship with God, the creator of the universe. It has been my experience that relationship has to be tended and nurtured in each of us on a consistent basis.

The end of the passage of Judges is an excellent reminder that we have to rout the enemies in our life. NOT – mind you, the enemies outside, the enemies inside. If we let anything stay that we know is destructive: sin, negative thoughts, judgmentalism, etc., we always run the risk that it will grow at some point and attack.

Readings: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 (NRSV, The Message); Judges 2:6-15 (NRSV, The Message); 2 Corinthians 10:1-11 (NRSV, The Message)

How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
   How vast is the sum of them! 
I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
   I come to the end—I am still with you.            Psalm 139:17,18 (NRSV)

They abandoned the Lord, and worshipped Baal and the Astartes. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the power of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them to bring misfortune, as the Lord had warned them and sworn to them; and they were in great distress.            Judges 6:13-15 (NRSV)

Another new passage for me today. I do not remember reading 2 Corinthians 10 before. Paul is defending his ministry, how he acts and how he writes. It is interesting to me as a pastor.

I would like to thank the writer of Judges for providing this passage and for the extra work this causes all of us who re trying to facilitate a connection between God and humanity. My first reaction is to jump in and explain this passage away. However, I think it is important to sit with it. Why did the writer feel this way? Why do we so often feel like “the hand of the Lord is against us to bring us misfortune?

And when you are weary from pondering that, rest for a bit in Psalm 139, revel in the knowledge that you are created by God, inside and out! Invite God to search you, be present to you in your inward most being. Find out for yourself if that God’s hand could ever be against you!

Readings: Psalm 69:1-5, 30-36 (NRSV, The Message); Isaiah 41:14-20 (NRSV, The Message); John 1:29-34 (NRSV, The Message)

God, God, save me! I’m in over my head, 
Quicksand under me, swamp water over me; 
   I’m going down for the third time.       Psalm 69:1-2 (The Message)

When the poor and needy seek water,
   and there is none,
   and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them,
   I the God of Israel will not forsake them.           Isaiah 41:17 (NRSV)

The voice of desperation that The Message translation exposes in Psalm 69 is powerful. “I’m going down for the third time.”  ”My voice is hoarse from crying out.” And God hears. This passage from Isaiah 41 is new to me. God answers those that are crying out. How does God answer those that are crying out? Through others.

The first part of the passage speaks of Israel, who as The Message communicates much more effectively, God is turning “from worm to harrow, from insect to iron.” While the language of the NRSV is judgmental, I think The Message translation opens up more nuances: “You’ll open the rough ground to the weather, to the blasts of sun and wind and rain.” That is not necessarily a bad thing to be opened up to the weather, especially if you are soil!

In the passages the past couple of days, I hear God speaking to the church: it’s blessing, power and responsibility.

How Has god answered your cry from the deep? Has it ever been through the help of others? Do you feel that you have ever been God’s answer to the cries of someone else?

Readings:  Psalm 69:1-5, 30-36 (NRSV, The Message); Exodus 30:22-38 (NRSV, The Message); Acts 22:2-16 (NRSV, The Message)

You shall say to the Israelites, ‘This shall be my holy anointing-oil throughout your generations. It shall not be used in any ordinary anointing of the body, and you shall make no other like it in composition; it is holy, and it shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an unqualified person shall be cut off from the people.’               Exodus 30:30-32 (NRSV)

Consecrate them so they’ll be soaked in holiness, so that anyone who so much as touches them will become holy.               Exodus 30:29 (The Message)

“As I arrived on the outskirts of Damascus about noon, a blinding light blazed out of the skies and I fell to the ground, dazed. I heard a voice: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?’          Acts 22:6-7 (The Message)

When I first read the passage from Exodus, I scratched my head. I wasn’t sure where all the talk about tabernacle oils and incenses fit into the rest of the readings of late. And, honestly, I don’t know if I do now. However, I started to imagine that when the voice of God penetrates each of us, when we begin to allow God to work in us, we each have a discernible, unique, scent, if you will. We exude something which is noticeable even if not discernible. My goal, my desire is to be “soaked in holiness” to use Eugene Peterson’s imaginative paraphrase.

The passage from Acts reminds us that the voice of God isn’t always as a gentle dove floating from heaven. Sometimes it is a blinding light that knocks us right off our ass, as happened with S/Paul. And that leaves a mark, as is apparent in Paul’s testimony as shared in Acts 22.

How has God been speaking to you recently?

Readings: Psalm 69:1-5, 30-36 (NRSV, The Message); Genesis 17:1-13 (NRSV, The Message); Romans 4:1-12 (NRSV, The Message)

 Let me shout God’s name with a praising song, 
   Let me tell his greatness in a prayer of thanks. 
For God, this is better than oxen on the altar, 
   Far better than blue-ribbon bulls. 
The poor in spirit see and are glad— 
   Oh, you God-seekers, take heart!                 Psalm 69:30-32 (The Message)

So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.”     Romans 4:1-3 (The Message)

The way that Eugene Peterson translates this passage from Romans is helpful. “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point.” Indeed. It is not what Abraham did. This is a God-story not an Abraham-story. Abraham, however, did have to enter into it. He had to accept and participate in the covenant.

Have you had an experience of “entering into” something God was already doing for you?

Readings: Psalm 29 (NRSV, The Message); 1 Kings 2:1-4, 10-12 (NRSV, The Message); Luke 5:1-11 (NRSV, The Message)

Then the Lord will establish his word that he spoke concerning me: “If your heirs take heed to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel.”                       1 Kings 2:4 (NRSV)

Jesus said to Simon, “There is nothing to fear. From now on you’ll be fishing for men and women.” They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed him.                                                                      Luke 5:10-11 (The Message)

As Samuel called David, David called Solomon. As God called Jesus, Jesus calls the disciples who would, in turn, fish for men and women. A pattern is emerging. We are called, it seems, to call. “Who am I,” one may ask, “to call?” Yet, we call all of the time, either with our words or our actions, for people to follow. Maybe these verses may help us become conscious of that.

By whom have you been called? Who have you called?