Author: Dave Dishman (Page 256 of 475)

In the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, a secret team of Nazis sets out to discover the ancient ark of the covenant and use the power within to make their armies invincible. If you’ve seen the movie, you know it didn’t work out so good for them (faces melting and all that). Those Nazis should have known better—no one manipulates the Lord.

Ancient Israelites held similar views. They felt as long as the temple stood in the middle of Jerusalem, God protected them. But the Lord clarified the situation:

Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come stand before me in this house, which bears my Name and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?

Religion as talisman, of power or luck, appeals to our sense of control and safety. If God is in the house, I can run there when I need him. When I’m finished I close the door and leave. My therapeutic god available 24/7.

But does God live in a house made of stone? Does God reside in religious traditions or a cross around my neck? Does God salve my wounds while turning away from my heart of theft and murder and adultery and lying and chasing after the gods of today’s world?

Annie Dillard in her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek describes God as a maniac. Unpredictable, far beyond any of our control, unknowable in so many ways. This is a better idea of the Lord to wrestle with than much I hear today. And it takes wrestling. No one goes deep in the Lord merely with surface beliefs in a benevolent god.

Go deeper. Seek the Lord. Maybe your face won’t get melted off when you do so—but it just might.

Jeremiah 7 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

I read an interesting combination of passages this morning. First, from Psalm 130:

If you Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

The Lord shows his generosity towards us by failing to record our sins for posterity.

Then I flipped to 2 Corinthians where Paul instructs the young church on giving:

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for the Lord loves a cheerful giver.

A cheerful giver. I know a number of people in this category and each delights those in the path of their generosity. The Lord is generous to us, allowing us to be generous to others. We mirror the Creator when we practice generosity.

What’s amazing is that if we give in this spirit, we won’t run out. Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.

The old adage—you can’t outgive God—rings true. A virtuous cycle kicks in. God gives to us, we give to others (our time, talents, and resources), the Lord gives more, we give more.

Good after good after good in a world where good is hard to come by. Others notice and the gospel of Christ spreads.

Stay generous and the Lord stays with you.

Psalm 130 & 2 Corinthians 9 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Jovis Aloor

I use the expression “knock on wood,” without thinking about it. As in, “I’m sure we have enough gas to make it to the next exit, knock on wood.” Unfortunately, rapping the plastic wood on the dashboard never seems to overcome my poor planning.

The phrase actually derives from the Celts, who lived in ancient Europe, painted their bodies blue and worshipped trees (much like present day Boulder). Knocking on wood woke up the spirits to come to their aid. Funny how this expression persists in our lexicon.

The Jews of ancient Jerusalem persisted in a habit adopted from their neighbors, who avoided stepping on the threshold when entering a place of worship. This derived from an incident long past where the Lord showed his power over the Philistine god Dagon, by miraculously busting up the idol and laying its head and hands on the threshold. No serious Dagon-worshipper ever stepped on a threshold again.

To the shame of many in Israel, they adopted the habit of stepping over the threshold when they appallingly embraced the worship of Dagon.

The prophet Zephaniah points out their error: On (the day of the Lord’s sacrifice) I will punish all who avoid stepping on the threshold, who fill the temple of their gods with violence and deceit.

The Lord proved the hollowness of such worship again and again, but people persisted in turning away from the Lord towards safer, shinier gods.

My heart is no different. Safer, shinier gods pop up all around. These gods I can manipulate and control, pulling my hope and trust. But like Dagon, they exist as a hollow shell.

Today—as an act of worship—I’ll step on every threshold and I won’t knock on any wood. I don’t need the spirits of the trees when the Spirit of the Living God lives within me.

Zephaniah 1 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by veeterzy

Ever been around a refreshing group of people? Folks who lean in and ask questions, who encourage and want your best? Connecting with such people is truly a gift.

Paul sent his emissary Titus to the Corinthians and wrote of the reception, his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. Part of this refreshing came with an easing of mind for Titus. The Corinthian church dealt with lots of junk, Paul laid the wood to them more than once, and Titus served as messenger.

How did these yo-yoing church members become so refreshing? At least one part of their conversion from self-centered to other-focused involved wrestling with their issues. Paul wrote them a difficult letter—which to their great credit they took to heart.

For you became sorrowful as God intended…Godly sorrow bring repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret…See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done.

Rather than complaining about Paul’s lack of understanding, the folks in Corinth leaned into his painful letter. With the Lord’s help, they moved from VDP status (Very Draining People) to ones who surprisingly gave lift to a delighted and relieved Titus.

I hope I’m a refreshing person to be around. To do so, I have to wrestle with the junk the Lord points out—my self-centeredness mostly. But if the cantankerous Corinthians can get there, then hope exists for me as well.

2 Corinthians 7 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Gaelle Marcel