Without Form, Void and Darkness

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. - Gen. 1:2-4

It seems like there was a cold dark end to the year 2012.  Darkness hovered over the slayings of children and policemen, darkness hovered over the fiscal cliff. Darkness hovered in the wake of all the storms of the year:  political, physical and spiritual.  But, this is nothing new for God, the God who created light out of darkness and the earth from nothing.  So there's hope, hope where it has always been.  Not in the hands of the politicians, the government, the money managers, media, or soothsayers, but in the hands of the creator.

For me, I will enter this new year, willing to be re-created once more, willing to be reformed into what I was originally destined to be.  Resolutions are not enough to bring about change.  Change comes from the realization of who we cam become on the potter's wheel.

1 Kings 9: Nothing Compares to His Promise

   
The Lord said to him:

“I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 1 Kings 9:3 NIV


I have tried to figure out why I have neglected the blog this year and have come up with several explanations, none of them completely satisfactory.  I have been busy, but no busier than normal and most of that busyness is of my own creation.  I have only worked three or four weeks since February, so work is not an excuse.  My mother is becoming more needy and demanding which is to be expected at ninety-three, but that is not an excuse either.  It is a long hot summer, after an equally hot spring, but that is not a justifiable explanation.  I have a couple of thoughts that I might write about at a later date as to why I have been so neglectful, but the simple fact remains I have not been as faithful as I intended.


Just as God consecrated the temple that Solomon built, he has consecrated us.  He has planted his name on us and his eyes and heart will always be on us, even when our eyes and heart are elsewhere.  He knew that we were prone to wander, yet his promise remains, in fact, nothing compares to the promise we have in Him.

1 Samuel 16-20: There is None As Faithful

David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 1 Sam. 17:45-47 NIV

The battle is the Lord's.  Who would know this more than David.  This thought must have served him well throughout his life.It was not just the battle with the giant Goliath, or with the troublesome Philistines.  David faced many battles through his life and God was always faithful.  God was faithful when Saul repeatedly tried to kill him.  God was faithful when his son Absalom tried to kill him.  God was faithful in all of the situations that came against David.  He was even faithful when David's heart temporarily abandoned God and reached for a woman instead.  God was always faithful. That is how he will always be.  There is no other option, or as the old hymn says, "There is no shadow of turning" with him.  

God's faithfulness is an amazing thing to contemplate, but often we can only see it in looking back on our lives.   He always brings his children through.  When we're going through trials and tribulations, it may be difficult to see, but his hand is always there, guiding our circumstances.  If we would look at the past whenever we feel life closing in on us, we would see nothing but promise, we would see nothing but God's faithfulness.  Even when we are less than faithful ourselves he remains unchanged  There is no one as faithful as our God.

1 Samuel 11-15: Obedience is Better

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
    as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
    and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
    and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,    he has rejected you as king.

Sometimes I think that very few of us get the truth; God is looking for obedience, not sacrifice. We all find ways to sacrifice even if we don't admit it.  Most of our rituals and taboos are based on sacrifice:  don't do that, don't go there, don't associate with those people.  Meanwhile, we find it hard to do the one thing asked by God:  Love him with all our heart and our neighbor as our self.  That's a lot harder than obeying a lot of self-imposed rules about what constitutes godly behavior. 

We do have an example, however, of what obedience really looks like.  It's manifest in Jesus, the one whose friends were tax collectors, prostitutes and other forms of low life.  You don't see Jesus subjecting his disciples to a lot of the rules of the time.  He healed and even condoned them picking grain and eating it on the Sabbath.  Something the religious people of the day would never be found doing.  His only comment to the woman found in adultery was "Go and sin no more."  You could say that he made the ultimate sacrifice and he did, but it was because that was what the Father asked him to do.  He would have done whatever the Father asked.  Sometimes God asks us for sacrifice, but most of the time, he just asks for obedience.  - 1 Sam. 15:22-23 NIV

1 Samuel 5-10: The Bigger Picture

When Samuel had all Israel come forward by tribes, the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan, and Matri’s clan was taken. Finally Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. So they inquired further of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?”

And the Lord said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.” - 1 Samuel 20-22 NIV

Sometimes I think that King Saul was schizophrenic.  One moment he is telling Samuel that he cannot be king because he comes from the smallest of the tribes, Benjamin, the tribe that was almost completely decimated because of their sin.  The next moment he is boldly prophesying with the prophets.  Then, when Samuel has rounded up all of the people to choose the king, Saul is no where to be found.  He has hidden himself among the supplies.

These characteristics marked his reign.  One moment he loved David, the next he wanted to kill him.  All this from the man chosen by God to be the king over Israel.  Did God make a mistake in choosing this flawed creature to lead Israel? God's ways are not our ways, he is patient and long-suffering, he knows men's hearts and he creates the timeline of history.  Just as he hardened Pharaoh's heart, he knew what Saul's reign was going to be like. There is always a bigger picture than the one we see.  The whole cosmic universe was created by and for God and he controls it as he sees fit.  I'm pretty sure if the universe was under my control, I would only want good things to happen all of the time.  But that doesn't take into consideration man's fallen nature and the consequences of sin.  God knows it all, our tendencies, our failures and whatever hint of goodness we may possess.  He knows it all and uses it to paint the broader picture for his and our benefit.  

1 Samuel 1-3: A Sacrifice That Can Not Be Exploited

Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’” - 1 Samuel 3:14 NIV


How frightening to think of committing a sin that could never be atoned for.  Such was the case with Eli the priest's sons who blasphemed God.  They were priests themselves, descended from the priestly lineage, but they thumbed their noses at the requirements set down for those who were supposed to serve the Lord.  They treated the offerings that the Israelites brought before the Lord as if it was solely for their own benefit.  The sins of Eli's sons were apparent to the people, they saw how they caroused with prostitutes, but they could not see the depth of the contempt with which they treated the offerings designated for the Lord.  Their most grievous sins may have been hidden from the people, but they were not hidden from God.  It was not the people who would have to deal with the priests, God would do that himself. 


I wonder if that is not often the case with us.  We are aware of and will even admit to the obvious sins in our lives.  But those that are just between us and God we keep hidden.  No one needs to know how we grieve God by being self-centered, self-absorbed, trusting in anything but God to supply our needs.  For, in essence, that was what Eli's sons were most guilty of.  They didn't trust God enough to supply their needs.  They thought they had to take matters into their own hands, when God had already made provision for them and had assured them they would always be taken care of.  That was the sin that could not be atoned for.  That was the sin that would strip them of their priesthood and their lives.


I know that Christ's blood became the atonement for our sins, but do we treat that too lightly?  It's a serious sacrifice that was made, the death of the Son of God as a sacrifice for our sins.  A sacrifice that cannot be exploited for our own benefit.  

Judges 17-21: Self-Indulgence meets a Gruesome End

The story of the Levite and his concubine and the subsequent near annihilation of the tribe of Benjamin is one of the more gruesome stories in the Bible.  How did the Children of Israel, those born of such promise, the promise to Abraham, come to this ignoble end.  It was not just because they had no king as these chapters keep mentioning.  A king would not have kept the people from the wrong choices.  It was because the people lost sight of their God and their inheritance.  It had all become a here and now philosophy.  See the stranger in the square?  Let's take him and abuse him for our own pleasure.  If we can't do that, then let's take his concubine instead.  There were few who would stand up to prevent everything that was evil from taking place. 
When the results of this madness ran it's course, and the Levite sent the concubine's body parts to the remaining tribes, the people of Israel were incensed.  How could this have happened?  How did it get to this point?  We must have revenge.  Madness upon madness ensued with the tribe of Benjamin being almost completely obliterated.  Did these events all take place because there was no king or was there a self-righteous, every man for himself mentality, that had never been dealt with?  Self-indulgence always meets a gruesome end.