Threads from Henry's Web

Category: Bible Passages

  • Psalm 119:4 – Tough!!

    Psalm 119:4 – Tough!!

    About your precepts you commanded,
    “Keep them diligently!”

    Sometimes things are tough. You wonder what’s coming next.

    I’m meditating on these passages one at a time. I read the passage in the morning, and then I write these in the evening. During the day, I keep coming back to that verse. In deciding to do 176 daily meditations (that’s how many verses there are in this Psalm), I knew that some would be more encouraging than others.

    This one is just tough. God says to do this diligently. Don’t just pretend. Don’t follow these precepts sometimes. Seventh percent is not a passing grade.

    I’m reminded of choosing a Sudoku puzzle. How spiritual is that? Well, I like to pick the hardest level in the app I use. Sometimes I’m tempted to do an easier one. If I give in to that temptation, I’m drawn to watch the time and try to complete it as rapidly as possible. Most of the time, however, I choose the hard one.

    Is the call of the toughest “right” living just as strong for me? Do I want to take the hard, but right path whenever possible?

    The bad news, which I notice even in a sparse verse such as this, is that I don’t get there. Not ever. I have a desire, but it’s often a fairly week desire. The good news is that God is working on me, and the fact that he has such high hopes is very encouraging.

    I think the Psalmist shares some of my feelings. But that’s the next verse!

    (The featured image was generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:2 – The Blessing of Seeking

    Psalm 119:2 – The Blessing of Seeking

    Continuing with Psalm 119, which I began with Psalm 119:1 yesterday. There are some notes on this series there.

    Blessed are those who preserve [keep] his testimonies,
    who wholeheartedly seek him.

    In the translation I use “testimonies” as in the KJV, though there are a number of other possible translations. I’ll comment on these various words for “law” in Psalm 119, though I don’t think the author’s intention is to discuss different types of law and say different things about them. Rather, he is pointing us to the whole of God’s law in its various manifestations through the use of these various types of law.

    It’s interesting to compare two other passages that use the same word used here for “blessed.” One is Isaiah 30:18, which says those who wait on the Lord are happy/blessed. Deuteronomy 33:29 says Israel is blessed because the Lord is their shield.

    There is a blessing simply in being able to seek. The history of Israel at the time of the Exodus shows us a time when we are told the people don’t even know who to call on. Moses has to ask for the name he is to give when the people wonder who sent him.

    When the ten commandments are given at Mt. Sinai, they begin with the declaration, “I am YHWH your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

    This verse points us to the blessing there is in simply being able to seek God. This seeking is a result of the call of God. Those testimonies (covenant provisions) are the result of God’s choosing and opening to you the opportunity to seek.

    What does seeking God with your whole heart mean for you today?

  • Psalm 119:1 – Living According to God’s Law

    Psalm 119:1 – Living According to God’s Law

    Introductory Note

    I’ve been meditating on Psalm 119 recently after a conversation with an author regarding a forthcoming book reminded me of it. I’m going to write a few short devotionals. I’m not sure how many I’ll write, but reading this Psalm does make me think.

    For any devotional on Psalm 119, please remember that I’m commenting on no more than a few verses at a time, and thus won’t cover all, or even a substantial number of related ideas. Also, please remember that this is poetry, not a theological essay, so even within the text of the Psalm, ideas are not completed in a systematic way.

    Psalm 119:1

    Blessed are those blameless in their living
    Who act according to God’s instructions.

    Now there’s a challenging verse. We all have ways of avoiding it. But I think it pursues us through all our escape routes.

    Our escape routes often start from something very good. That’s what makes them so tempting.

    1. As Christians, we look immediately to the grace of God, given through Jesus. This is a good thing. We realize that being blameless and having all our actions fall within the range of God’s instructions (Torah), is not something we’re going to accomplish, and we are driven to a gracious God who forgives. But we can use this to avoid the issue. “Because God is gracious, I can safely ignore this,” we think. We think the only reason God talks about good actions is to let us know we can’t make it. But the Psalmist, at least, is talking about doing, hoping to do, an mourning the failure to do.
    2. We can decide that a totally blameless life is, in fact what we’re going to do, on our own and in this life. This leads us astray in two ways. It can be horribly discouraging and end up in cynicism, inevitable failure, and self loathing. On the other hand, it can lead us to imagine ourselves successful even when we aren’t and an incredible spiritual pride that falsely assumes one is blameless.
    3. We can engage in trimming the text, so as to make “blameless” less daunting. We can’t reach the goal, so we move the goal closer, or we pretend the goal is closer. This can result in complacency and also to a trust in ourselves for our salvation. The problem with aiming low is that we generally manage to reach no higher than our aim.

    That’s my long way of getting to this: God has instructions that are worth our attention. Even in our limited ways of attempting to follow these instructions there is blessing, not just bringing us to Christ, as important as that is, but also simply as good ways to live.

    Torah, the word used here for “instruction” (your translation may read “law”), goes beyond giving us a list of rules. I’ll discuss the various rule/law/instruction words in Psalm 119 along with other verses. It also includes stories of heroes of the faith. They were blessed in following Gods law, but they were not generally “blameless.”

    One need go no further than the last version in this section. (Psalm 119 is divided into 22 sections of 8 verses each, in which each verse begins with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet.) “I remember your edicts. Don’t abandon me completely!”

    The Torah referenced here is the story of how God never abandons, even those who do forget.

    Some Definitions of Law in Scripture

  • When I Consider Your Heavens

    When I Consider Your Heavens

    Psalm 8:3-4

    When I consider
    the heavens
    the work of your fingers

    the moon and stars
    which you established

    What is a man,
    that you even think of him?

    Yet you have crowned him with glory and honor.

    Psalm 8:3-4 (my translation)

    (Note: The theme image is generated by AI. I’m interested in how applicable the image is. The photo in the post is one I took with my Samsung Galaxy S23+.)

  • Psalm 104:5-9 Short Video

    Psalm 104:5-9 Short Video

    Psalm 104 Translation
  • Beastly Attributes

    Beastly Attributes

    I’m following up on my post from yesterday, Making an Image to the Beast. I think these chapters contain quite a lot of useful information that is not primarily prediction, but is definitely prophetic, in the sense of bringing God’s Word to our situations.

    I want to talk a bit more about what kind of image we create through our actions as the Church, but first, I wanted to look at the nature of the dragon and beasts, of whom we finally get an image late in the story.

    Here are some of those attributes and the references:

    1. Tears down others – 12:4, drawing 1/3 of the stars. Beasts and dragons rarely fall alone.
    2. Consumes and destroys – 12:4
    3. Is not the greatest power – 12:8. Note that verses 8 & 9 compile a great deal of what is now Christian belief about the Devil. The imagery hear draws on a number of passages in Hebrew scripture.
    4. Persecuter – 12:13
    5. Sweeps people/things away – 12:15. It’s humorous to note here that there is a single Greek word for “carried away by a river.” There’s got to be some history for that word!
    6. Angry with those not on his side – 12:17.
    7. Speaks blasphemy – 13:1,5.
    8. Though not the geatest power (see #3), operates with great authority – 13:2.
    9. Puts anger into action in war with the “other side” – 13:7.
    10. Wants all the attention and worship – 13:13.
    11. Deceives – 13:14.
    12. Applies force to get worship – 13:16-17

    Now if you’ve read Revelation, you’re probably acquainted with these items, but I thought it useful to compile a list. I didn’t intend it to have 12 items. That’s coincidental.

    If you’re following along, an interesting mental exercise is to ask just what wisdom is involved in counting the number of the beast.

    Almost forgot! The featured image was generated from text on Adobe Express this time. Just trying things out!

  • YouVersion Verse of the Year

    YouVersion Verse of the Year

    I received an email from YouVersion (I use their app occasionally) with their 2023 “verse of the year.” This is the verse that has been shared, bookmarked, and highlighted most often through their community.

    It is Isaiah 41:10 (note that my links go to BibleGateway):

    [D]o not fear, for I am with you;
        do not be afraid, for I am your God;
    I will strengthen you; I will help you;
        I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

    Isaiah 41:10 (NRSV)

    I find this interesting as this is a verse that might be considered by some to be taken out of context. I don’t know if you’ve seen any examples, but there’s even a coffee cup that reads “I can do all things through a verse taken out of context.” This lampoons the frequent use of Philippians 4:13 as a promise that God will help you do anything, from winning in sports to success in your business, to successful family life, and beyond. More on this verse a few paragraphs down.

    In the case of Isaiah 41:10, the specific reference is to the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon, who are promised strength for the return and rebuilding. Isaiah 40 and onward, especially through 55, deals with these circumstances and is tremendously encouraging. So if you’re using it as encouragement in trying to get through your work week, you might well be taking it out of context.

    If you take the Bible as a series of data points, this is fairly accurate. This is not, in its context, a promise for all times and places. You will still get tired. Bad things may happen to you, as they happened to Job and as they have happened to many of God’s servants through time.

    So maybe it shouldn’t be used in the way that it is, likely the very usage that got it “verse of the year” from YouVersion.

    I’d say, not so fast.

    First, let me note, that many of those same servants of God who have grown weary and suffered through history have been sustained by verses like this. We might ask ourselves why that is. I haven’t run into that many Christians who really believe a Christian will never get tired. I don’t. Yet I appreciate this verse. I appreciate it even more when I’m bone weary and wondering whether I can take the next step.

    Crazy man, eh? (Well, yes, I am crazy, but that’s not relevant!)

    I recall C. S. Lewis’s image in The Magician’s Nephew, which I will always see as book 6 in the series however much publishers change it!) of a “deep magic from before the dawn of time” that overrides the rules that are known generally. Similarly, there’s context, and then there’s context.

    If my intent is to answer the question, “What is Isaiah saying about God?” Then I’m going to answer in terms of the return from exile, and also note that the audience is Israel. On this basis, I could find ways to remove the majority of scripture from relevance to me today. God isn’t talking to me here. That promise doesn’t apply to me.

    Scholars, and those who aim to appear scholarly, tend to wander about the landscape of scripture, informing the poor mortals who have been getting comfort from various passages that they are wrong, and that the scripture doesn’t mean what they think it means.

    Very often, that is quite correct. Sometimes people can be dangerously wrong in what they’re getting from scripture.

    But the problem is this: As scholars pull up the markers people have used to guide their lives, what do they hand out instead? With what do they replace these markers that have guided Bible readers’ relationship with God for decades, centuries, even millennia?

    Oh, did I say the problem? There’s a second one. Are those who criticize sure they’re right when they say a passage does not apply?

    I think very often they’re wrong, and I think many non-scholarly Christians living day-by-day relatively ordinary Christian lives instinctively get it more right. This is based on both a deeper and a broader context.

    In the case of Isaiah 40, the exiles are promised strength. Now remember that these exiles were in no danger of thinking God was promising that no matter what happened, they would never get tired. They weren’t in danger of thinking that everything was going to be easy. No, they were headed out on a hard task, and they and their immediate ancestors had lived through the exile.

    What was important was that God was with them and was now rescuing them and would be with them through all that came. In the broadest (and I think deepest) context of scripture, this is the story of the God who saves, built on the original story of the Exodus from Egypt. What do you suppose those Israelites thought about the idea that those who worship God would never suffer harm? They had even experienced some of the plagues right along with the Egyptians! They wandered through the wilderness. That experience was reinforced by the exile and restoration and became a foundation for the ultimate core story of Christianity, the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

    As such, Christians should be very willing to take up the promises of these events just as they are taken up in the story of redemption. We serve a God who redeems. We serve a God who is with us through all our suffering, who is there when we are weary. We know these things happen to us. But we also know they happened to people in the past because we’ve read their stories (testimonies) and we know that God’s promises to them, always tempered by understanding the broad and deep context, and even the immediate literary context, do, in fact, apply to us.

    I recall when a relative ripped one such verse from my mother, surely with good scholarly intent to maintain the accuracy of biblical interpretation. She had a favorite verse, Isaiah 49:25:

    But thus says the Lord:
    Even the captives of the mighty will be taken,
        and the prey of the tyrant will be rescued,
    for I will contend with those who contend with you,
        and I will save your children.

    Isaiah 49:25 (NRSV)

    This relative pointed out to her the context, very much like the one in Isaiah 41, and part of the same sequence of materials (Isaiah 40-55 form a coherent block) did not involve making sure everyone’s children were saved, but simply that the children of those who had gone into exile would be saved and brought back to their land. She used this as encouragement about her children, which, he told her, was to use the passage out of context.

    In the immediate context, that’s absolutely true. But in the broader and deeper context, this becomes part of the underlying story of redemption and of God’s intention for God’s people in all times and places. Readers should be encouraged by this, not because it was somehow specifically directed at them, but because it formed a formidable piece of the foundation of the story of a saving God, one who was and is with us in trouble, one who knows the pain, and yet one who takes us through to triumph.

    I had an opportunity to discuss this with my mother many years ago, and when I had given my explanation, she simply said, “Then I’m taking my verse back!” And she did!

    Philippians 4:13 can be used in many questionable ways, but it is not questionable to think that God will help you get through whatever situation you’re in. Many point out how this is about being able to carry out one’s mission despite hardships. And it is precisely that. But as a Christian, your life should be mission. I don’t think God is promising you that you’ll win all your games. Bluntly, most people, even those I’ve heard mocked about taking this out of context, don’t think it means that either.

    But if you’re reading it that God is with you as you carry out whatever call God has put on your life, if you believe from this that God will be with you and strengthen you for God’s own purposes, then I think you’re reading the verse in the deeper context.

    I want to end with one warning. Seeing this deeper context can help us connect with God through the story of scripture. We learn about relationship to God through reading about those who have been in such relationships over the centuries and millennia. When we read such a passage as giving us permission and power to carry out our own will wherever and whenever we want, we’re missing both the immediate context of scripture and also the broader and deeper context.

    Suggestion: When you want to apply one of these promises, read the immediate context. Then ask yourself how those who first heard it might have experienced it. Try to join the story as you see it in their lives and find your courage there.

  • Signs That You Won’t Know!

    Signs That You Won’t Know!

    It is critical to note that the signs Jesus’ gives his disciples are general and vague and always contemporary. War and suffering, famine and earthquakes, persecutions and false Messiahs have not only been prevalent throughout history; they are the also to be witnessed and experienced in the present, and they will be encountered in the future. Thus, the posture that Jesus is encouraging his disciples to take is not one where such signs signal the imminent end of history, but rather that such events remind them of the necessity to be ready for the end because they cannot know from these signs when it will take place.

    Allan R. Bevere, Keeping Up WIth Jesus, p. 52 (forthcoming)

    This was too good not tomention. I’m doing a final editorial read on this book which will be available shortly. Allan calls it a “narrative devotional commentary” which is a good description of what it accomplishes. I’ll post more here when the book is available.

  • What Is the Bible For?

    What Is the Bible For?

    No, this is not a long dissertation on scripture and its various uses, though I love to talk about that.

    For many, the purpose of scripture is to keep us on a doctrinally correct path. It tells us the things we are supposed to believe. Simply believing correctly is what’s important.

    For me, however, a frequent value in scripture is the encounter with God guided by the Spirit, from which I get needed power for the moment. I’m not talking about obviously supernatural extra energy to do extraordinary things. I’m talking about the simple encouragement to help me move forward.

    Today I was looking at this blog, and I noticed the theme text I placed on the sidebar. It has been there for three or four years, I think, but I saw it again today. It’s in Greek on the sidebar, but I’ll be nice and post it in English.

    16 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17 For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 18 because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

    2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NRSVue, via BibleGateway).

    Now I’ve been struggling a bit with the state of my work and my efforts to get things caught up, something it seems I’m never going to do. No, I don’t find a promise there to tell me I’ll get things done by a certain time or that it’s all OK. I just got a lift. Keep going. Don’t let the temporary stop you.

    It’s what I needed this morning.

  • On Teaching from Ezekiel 24

    On Teaching from Ezekiel 24

    I’ve been working my way through Ezekiel with my Sunday School class, at their request, since I have frequently said that Leviticus, Ezekiel, and Hebrews are the books most formative of my own theology. When this is done, I will have been through all three books with this group.

    One major difficulty in teaching through Ezekiel is that it is a rather dismal book. There are long passages promising and explaining judgment. There are various passages about the hardships Ezekiel endures as a prophet. At the same time, there are brief looks ahead toward a time of redemption, that the judgment is not intended to destroy and put an end to God’s people, but rather to restore and rebuild after a cleanup.

    One temptation in interpreting Ezekiel and many other books of Hebrew Scripture (which I refer to as the Old Testament when understood as part of Christian scripture) is to see the failures of Israel as theological and ritual. Theological in the sense that they are believing wrong stuff. Ritual in the sense that worship is going astray. This meets a frequent Christian assumption that the Israelite religion was largely about ritual.

    This is a mischaracterization of Israelite religion. Ritual was intended to teach. What is condemned by the prophets is not ritual as such, but rather the performance of ritual while failing to learn from the moral, ethical, and indeed spiritual lessons of such ritual. In modern terms, this is much like the Christian who goes to church and carries out whatever rituals are expected, but then heads out to be something quite different from what those rituals represent.

    As an example, we can participate in the ritual of the Eucharist, or communion as many protestants prefer to call it, and then fail completely to put the unity that this illustrates into practice. “The body of Christ broken for you and for many” is shared because we are all in Christ, and Christ is in all of us. To go out and be denominationally competitive after receiving the body of Christ is to miss the point of the “one body.” To go out and abuse those less fortunate than we are, no matter what our reason is for looking down on them, is to miss the lesson of that broken body. Just before his body was broken, Jesus said to “love one another as I have loved you.” Then he went and died for us. Skip all the arguments about the reason for this. He died. For us.

    The problem that Ezekiel is busy proclaiming is often expressed as idolatry, but then is brought home in the failure to care for those in need. In fact, when accusing Judah of sharing in the sins of Sodom, the lead point is: “She and her daughters had the pride that goes with food in plenty, comfort, and ease, yet she never helped the poor in their need” (Ezekiel 16:49 REB).

    The problem with idolatry is not that you walk the wrong way or go to the wrong place, or that the ritual is performed incorrectly. Rather, it is a matter of lowered standards. I like to use a definition of idolatry cribbed from Paul Tillich: “Making something ultimate that is not ultimate.” As soon as you start worshiping something less than God, you start looking lower. When the potential goal is lowered, less is done.

    This is the problem with using grace to deny law. The standard still needs to be there. I am a publisher. I am quite certain I have never produced the perfect book. But as soon as I dismiss the idea of a perfect book from my mind, knowing that I will not attain it, I will start working toward a lesser standard, and will, in turn, fail to meet that. Having failed, I lower the standard again, and fail to meet that.

    One of the key points in Ezekiel 24 is blood guilt. If we go back to Deuteronomy 21:1-9, we’ll see the extreme importance the Torah places on life, and on the unlawful and unjustified taking of life. There the people are given a ritual for dealing with someone who is killed, but without witnesses, there is no way to assign guilt. The nearest community takes on the task of atoning. Ezekiel is addressing this blood guilt. The people are not dealing simply with erroneous theology. They are killing one another. They have not just worshiped other gods. They have destroyed other people.

    Let me add a side-note here. I really, really don’t like the line “good in theory but bad in practice.” It is not that all theories work, but rather that a theory that cannot be put into practice is not a good theory. Similarly, I dislike having theology and doctrine lined up in opposition to how we treat people. “If you’re putting your doctrine above people, forget doctrine.” Rather, if your doctrine is one that justifies you in mistreating other people, reexamine your doctrine, because it has problems. Jesus says that all the law and the prophets hangs on the two laws, loving God and loving your neighbor. If it won’t hang there, it’s not a good doctrine.

    But it is not the idea of “doctrine” that is bad. The idea that loving one’s neighbor is central is itself doctrine, and I believe good doctrine. Replace your bad doctrine with a good doctrine, one that fits with what Jesus made central.

    Again, back to Ezekiel 24. I tend to jump around a bit. We don’t always go straight from the passage we’re studying to the way in which we will live for the following week.

    Here are some key points:

    1. The reason the passage is dismal is that the situation is dismal. On the bright side, Judah returned from exile. Many cultures effectively disappeared after the sort of events that had happened to Judah. Failing to recognize what it is that one needs to be rescued from likely means failure to rescue at all.
    2. Ezekiel loses his wife and is instructed not to mourn, illustrating in his own actions what was happening to people back in Jerusalem, which was under siege at the time. We like to think of prophetic voices speaking from on high and informing the dismally flawed lesser mortals below of the error of their ways. The true prophetic voice operates differently. It lives in a community. It shares with the community. It is God’s voice inside, not outside.
    3. The prophet, when called by God doesn’t get to have an easy life. So many today think that if God has called them to some activity or another, they must have an easy, obstruction-free journey. We look for leaders whose lives are better than ours. As Christians, we should recognize that we serve a leader who was not recognized as such by the society in which he lived. Ezekiel exemplified this with the people. He suffered among them and with them. Silently.
    4. Finally, we should be tremendously encouraged by these facts. Easy, positive, glowing platitudes don’t provide comfort to the person who is suffering deeply. Such things may actually instead suggest that the sufferer is despised by God and make things even more difficult. That was the message of Job’s friends, whose speeches God refers to as “darkening wisdom by words without knowledge” (Job 38:2). One who can suffer with, who knows what the bad side of life is like, is also one who can rescue. God made “the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10).

    I’ll close with a short quote from Bruce Epperly’s book, Walking with Whitehead, in which he builds on a well-known quote from Whitehead:

    God is the fellow sufferer who understands and the intimate companion who celebrates.

    Bruce G. Epperly, Walking with Whitehead, p. 39
    Featured picture credit: Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay