We don’t know exactly why the Lord destroyed the nations of the promised land as the Israelites entered. Apparently their extreme cruelty exhausted the Lord’s patience. Nowadays, based on a cursory reading of these narratives, many describe God as angry, judgmental, and capricious.

But what if this God in the Old Testament is the same God who wants all to come to repentance? What if God—in his love—sent prophet after prophet to win them back?

What if people wholeheartedly devoted themselves to demonic gods, even zealously offering their children as sacrifices? How would we feel if forced to watch babies slaughtered by priests, and burned alive to appease the spirits?

What if people not only scorned Jehovah, but killed his messengers and refused even a taste of water to those in thirst? How much evil would you be comfortable with before deciding to clean out the whole lot?

The Lord described these nations clearly: You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

God can defend himself—he doesn’t need me. But I am wondering what types of abominable behavior pushes the gracious God I read about all through the scriptures to such extremes? Torturing babies screams social order beyond repair.

Which gets me thinking about societies today. How far is too far? God waits and waits and waits for folks to turn to him. However, the fate of those in the past who totally rejected the Lord and his ways reminds us that patience eventually runs dry.

Deuteronomy 12 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by AJITH S

The crypts at Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini top the list of creepiest places I’ve ever visited.

Over several hundred years, Capuchin friars buried 3,700 of their brothers in this Roman church. Carefully dismembering each body, the bones remained stacked in place for many years. Then one brother, serving penance for past sins, organized them into “artful” designs.

The Crypt of the Pelvis features arrangements on the walls and ceilings using hundreds of pelvic bones. The Crypt of the Skulls comes next, stacked floor to ceiling with skulls. Room after room of skeletal compositions greet the visitor. Dried corpses recline under arches of femurs.

As bizarre as the arrangements strike the eye, the grottos also convey a sense of rest. The Catholic order who oversees these tombs insists that the display is not meant to be gruesome, but a silent reminder of the swift passage of life on earth and our own mortality.

God’s words to Adam, for dust you are and to dust you shall return, ran through my mind as I paused in each crypt. The exhibition drove home the sense of finality to life and remarkably, the hope of a brighter future in eternity.

If ever in Rome, visit these crypts. Bones of friars who served the poor in life now encourage us to consider our way of living, and our hope in something better to come.

Genesis 3 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo thanks to Walking Tours of Rome

I hedge my bets when I pray, approaching the Lord circumspectly with my requests. Lord, if it’s not too much of a bother, may I have…?

No such reticence from David the King. Here’s how he starts one of his prayers: Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me. Take up shield and armor; arise and come to my aid. Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me. Say to me, “I am your salvation.”

Brandish spear and javelin? That’s not polite. David prays for what he wants, what he needs from the Lord. He goes in with unsparing words for his enemies, and clearly articulates how he hopes the Lord will treat them. David prayed with imprudence.

David lifts his eyes to the Lord like the fighter we read about in the stories of his life. We’re told in the scriptures that we live our entire lives in the midst of a great spiritual conflict, a war for the souls of every person in the world. Should we not pray like a warrior?

These bold, audacious prayers exist for me to emulate. Why not begin to pray in the same way—holding nothing back from the Lord?

David laid everything bare before the Lord, which encourages me to express the yearnings welling up in my heart, no matter how strong or unconventional.

Psalm 35 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography

When a person turns toward Jesus, practices his words and molds their ways accordingly, their foundation of life settles more and more on bedrock. Floods break against such a secure position.

Jesus quietly pointed out the problem of turning the opposite direction: but the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and the ruin of that house was great.

Did Jesus have the challenges of this world in mind when speaking of such floods? Certainly. But in light of earlier teachings I also believe Jesus pointed to his return, a coming day of judgement. Is my foundation settled enough to handle that deluge?

Great edifices of religious splendor appear throughout the world. As I write from Italy I’m surrounded by all manner of churches and statues and paintings associated with religion. How many will stand against the rising waters of Jesus’s return?

With every generation religious power exists in some form, much of it overwrought and focused little on Jesus and a lot on self. On the day Jesus comes in the clouds we’ll be impressed by how much is swept away.

Check your foundation. Don’t invest in unstable houses, as beautiful as they appear.

The rainy season arrives soon.

Luke 6 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by John Middelkoop