July 31

Jeremiah Rebukes an Unfaithful Nation (Continued) - Jeremiah 15:10-21, 16:1-21, 17:1-18

The Lord asks such hard things of Jeremiah: Not to marry or have children. I can't imagine sacrificing such personal joy. To know and be known by your wife and to have your life continue through your children. To be robbed of such joy not because of any fault or sin of your own but because of the sin of a nation. The sin of a nation seems like such a nebulous thing. It's easy to think that one person doing the right thing doesn't matter. Because in Jeremiah's day, the whole nation would still be punished no matter King Josiah's reforms or the people's repentance. Thank heavens the stories of Esther and Moses or I would mourn the power of one individual to make a difference for a nation before God.

Surely some repented because of Josiah's leadership and Jeremiah's prophecy. But it doesn't matter. The guilt of the nation has tipped the scales too far. But always on the horizon there is still the Lord's forgiveness no matter how ultimate or complete the punishment sounds. Which makes me wonder...is hell forever? I know what it says. Look at all of the prophecy of destruction and yet the Lord saves.

"For I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers." Jeremiah 16:15 [A word of hope amid Jeremiah's prophecies of destruction.]

What prophet cried out when our country was enjoying the prosperity of the previous decade? Was the voice of a prophet ignored during those prosperous times just as Jeremiah was in his?

It's hard to hear any voice over the noise and thrill and marketplace excitement of prosperity. Punishment seems a better motivator for man than blessing. Lord knows.

July 30

Jeremiah Rebukes an Unfaithful Nation (Continued) - Jeremiah 13:1-27, 14:1-22, 15:1-9

"I can no longer show compassion.... I will make their widows more numerous than the sands of the sea." Jeremiah 15:6, 8 [The Lord pronouncing judgment on Judah.]

One of the few acts of specific service the Lord calls for again and again is taking care of the widows. He truly has a heart for this disenfranchised, humbled group. But here His punishment will add to the number of widows. How great the evil must be for the Lord to go to such extreme measures. This same chapter points specifically to the cause being: "what Mannasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.". It doesn't matter that Hezekiah before and Josiah after Manasseh will seek the Lord's will.

One evil leader can do incredible damage. A caution when we think leadership doesnt matter. It does. Even to the innocent.

Lord knows.


-- Post From My iPhone

July 29

Jeremiah Rebukes an Unfaithful Nation (Continued) - Jeremiah 10:1-25, 11:1-23, 12:1-17

"If I only had a brain...!"

"Like a scarecrow in a melon patch,
their idols cannot speak;
they must be carried
because they cannot walk."
Jeremiah 10:5

This strikes me as funny and serves to point out just how silly we are. We worship things of our own making and under our own control. We don't see the futility and pathetic nature of worshiping money or position or things. We lower ourselves to bow down to what is beneath us. We lower our sights. Instead of looking up to the maker of everything, to something bigger and beyond ourselves.

Is it because He is beyond our understanding and we aren't comfortable with anything bigger than our own mind? We really don't believe their is anything beyond and more advanced and more perfect and more capable than us? How small. How conceited we are...Lord knows.

"How long will the land lie parched
and the grass in every field be withered?
Because those who live in it are wicked,
the animals and birds have perished."
Jeremiah 12:4

Is the state of nature and the environment because of the physical polutuion we've produced? Or is it a reflection of the state of man's soul? Scripture seems to indicate in several places that the condition of the world is tied to the condition of our souls and our relationship with the Creator. Perhaps "global warming" is just a warm up act for the Hell to follow?

Lord knows.


-- Post From My iPhone

July 28

Jeremiah Rebukes an Unfaithful Nation (Continued) - Jeremiah 7:1-34, 8:1-22, 9:1-26

"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows Me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight," declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 9:23-24

This passage intrigues me given its context. Jeremiah has been describing how God will punish and destroy Judah because they have turned to other gods. Then in the midst of this tale of wailing and woe is this beautiful thought. God wants to make sure that we know that pain and punishment are not what He's all about. He wants so much better for us.

So why is it He made a creature that learns and appreciates so much more in times of need and despair rather than in times of joy and blessing?

He wants us to know His kindness and justice and righteousness in which He delights. Sort of a weird three. When we think about justice and righteousness, we tend to think about something unyielding. I don't think that's God's brand of those attributes. Because of His kindness.

He wants us to "understand" and " know" Him. Who can possibly do that? No one. Then He qualifies what He means by that. If we know the things He truly delights in - kindness, justice and righteousness - then we've come as close as man can to understanding and knowing Him.

Lord knows.


-- Post From My iPhone

July 27

Jeremiah Rebukes an Unfaithful Nation (Continued) - Jeremiah 5:14-31,6:1-30

The ancient path to Ramsey Cascade in the Great Smoky Mountains - 7/25/09

This is what the Lord says:

"Stand at the crossroads and look;

ask for the ancient paths,

ask where the good way is, and walk in it,

and you will find rest for your souls."

Jeremiah 6:16

Interesting passage after a weekend of difficult hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains with the family. Martina wanted to know who made the paths we walked. The lumber companies cut a few of them. Animals made others. But many were blazed by native Americans centuries ago. They are ancient footpaths.

Ever think about how a path evolves? You can see where people have knocked off a turn or made an alternate route that is less rocky. Like a river flow, where the water is always seeking the easiest and fastest course, a path changes to ease the way. But we want to know the ancient paths, to connect with the ancient people and to see the world as they saw it before a demand for ease settled over the land. The good way isn't always the easy way. Sometimes an incredible view or the proximity of water or wild blueberries make a more challenging path worthwhile and good. The Cherokees knew this land far better than we did. Their paths took their course for a reason. So who are we to alter them for ease. What good things are we missing along the way?

Some native American footpaths we have turned into roads. But you see far more when you walk and slowly traverse the miles than when you whisk over them in a climate controlled capsule complete with internal navigation and entertainment.

I love to walk a path I've never traveled before and see where it takes me.

Lord knows.

July 26

Jeremiah Rebukes an Unfaithful Nation (Continued) - Jeremiah 3:6-25, 4:1-31, 5:1-13

"Return,faithless people;
I will cure you of backsliding."
Jeremiah 3:22

God does more than forgive us of our sin. He cures us. I believe this. I need to take hold of it. All I need to do is return to Him for healing. Instead I try to do it on my own. It's my culture and upbringing and something that has brought me success over so many years: doing it on my own. But even this is an illusion, because God is hovering always ready to catch me and right me like a father running beside a child on a two-wheeler for the very first time. Unknown to the child, the father is holding the seat, keeping them straight and steady and upright.

Lord knows.


-- Post From My iPhone

July 25

Jeremiah the Weeping Prophet - Jeremiah 1:1-19; Jeremiah Rebukes an Unfaithful Nation - Jeremiah 2:1-37, 3:1-5

"Ah, Sovereign Lord," I said, "I do not know hoe to speak; I am only a child." Jeremiah 1:6

Ironic that Jeremiah calls God sovereign and then questions His judgement.

Once again God chooses youth. Perhaps because wisdom from the young can only be attributed to God and not their experience. He sent His son as a baby, spoke to the young Samuel rather than the high priest, selected the young David to kill Goliath, honored the righteous work of the young King Josiah and now He picks Jeremiah. Perhaps the Lord picks youth here to piqué King Josiah who would find it hard to discredit youth since he became king at six.

Another verse that caught my notice in this reading:

"I will pronouce my judgments on the people
because of their wickedness in forsaking me,
in burning incense to other gods
and in worshiping what their hands have made."
Jeremiah 1:16

Isn't this a sin we're still guilty of? Worshiping what our hands have made? Science, our careers, our successes in business, our inventions, our preminence as a country - we worship what we think we have made with our own hands. We worship the blessing instead of the giver of blessings. Lord knows.


-- Post From My iPhone

July 24

Zephaniah Prophesies about the Day of the Lord - Zephaniah 1:1-18, 2:1-15, 3:1-20; Josiah's Reforms - 2 Chronicles 34:3-7

Singing Mother sculpture

Until I began reading the Daily Bible, I don't believe I'd ever read through the whole book of Zephaniah. He makes his brief appearance here in the reign of young King Josiah.

The old never need to over emphasize their role in religious leadership. The 16-year-old Josiah is doing an incredible job bring Judah back to God. Content not just to remove the altars to Baal and Asherah poles in Jerusalem, he ventures out to other cities and removes them there, too.

Here is a passage in Zephaniah that piqued my interest:

"The Lord your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17

God singing over us? I wonder what the Lord's singing voice sounds like? I suppose He must be a bass. His deep voice rattling the stones and rolling like thunder. But what if He is an angelic tenor? His voice climbing impossibly high and clear, lifting us toward heaven? Or what if His voice is more like that of a loving mother singing to a babe in her arms to comfort and calm our fear of the dark? Or what if we hear it daily when we listen to the earth? What if the song of the birds, the sound of the wind, even the buzz of a bee or fly is the Lord's singing voice? We should certainly pay more attention.

Lord knows.


-- Post From My iPhone

July 23

From Manasseh to Josiah - 2 Chronicles 33:18-25; 2 Kings 21:17-26, 23:25-27, 22:1-2; 2 Chronicles 34:1-2

Manasseh is followed by the two-year reign of a son who follows in his evil footsteps without coming to repentence in the end:

Amon worshiped and offered sacrifices to all the idols Manasseh had made.  But unlike his father Manasseh, he did not humble himself before the Lord; Amon increased his guilt.  2 Chronicles 33:22-23

Perhaps Amon's formative years where under the evil Manasseh and he was already set in his ways before the good Manasseh came on the scene.  However, perhaps Manasseh's transformation at the end of his life was a positive influence in the character of his 8-year-old (6 years old at the time of Manasseh's death) grandson Josiah, who scripture records was incomparable.

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did -- with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.  2 Kings 23:25

Very cool that Josiah fulfilled the essence of the Law.  But Josiah's righteousness isn't enough.  The nation will pay for Manasseh's sins.  

In today's reading there is one intriguing bit of scripture that caught my attention.  The Bible mentions several texts that we don't have today.

The other events of Manasseh's reign including his prayer to his God and the words the seers spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are written in the annals of the kings of Israel.  2 Chronicles 33:18

His prayer and how God was moved by his entreaty, as well as all his sins and unfaithfulness...all are written in the records of the seers.  2 Chronicles 33:19

I wonder why we don't have the "annals of the kings" or the "records of the seers"?  I would like to read this prayer that moved God.  Those books are still out there.  Perhaps still to be uncovered.  Are there still books of the Bible yet to be discovered?  Might God raise one up to shed new light on His word?  Or would Christians and the religious elite argue over whether it should be part of the record to the point that the power of the word is lost?  Our desire to be "correct" doesn't always do the Lord service.

Lord knows.

July 22

Nahum's Prophecy against Nineveh - Nahum 1:1-15, 2:1-13, 3:1-19

Word cloud for the book of Nahum

"I am against you," declares the Lord Almighty.

I will lift your skirts over your face.

I will show the nations your nakedness

and the kingdoms your shame.

I will pelt you with filth,

I will treat you with contempt

and make you a spectacle."

Nahum 3:5-6

Look at your troops --

they are all women!

Nahum 3:13

Ok. All of this strikes me like Middle School taunting. Perhaps meant to reflect the juvenile nature of man. The Lord speaks to us in a way we can understand. Telling the Assyrian's He will lift their skirts and calling their warriors women [my apologizes to both those who wear skirts and are women] seems a less than divine metaphor for Assyria's prophesied humiliation. Our God is certainly colorful. You might say even earthy. But I have a feeling, like everything else in the Bible, this is more a reflection of our need and who we are than who He is.

Lord knows.

July 21

Isaiah's Prophecies about Restoration and the Messiah (Continued) - Isaiah 65:1-25, 66:1-24; Spiritual Renewal under Manasseh - 2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38; 2 Chronicles 32:21, 33:10-17

In his [Manasseh, having been taken captive by the Babylonians] distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to Him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God. 2 Chronicles 33:12-13

Classic behavior: When we find ourselves in trouble we turn to the Lord in prayer. You wonder if the Lord tires of this. If repentance can be sincere if it's borne of trouble and need. But isn't that the reason trouble visits us? To renew our faith and need for God in a world and culture that celebrates self-sufficiency?

Remember how evil Manasseh was, rubbing his faith in other gods in the Lord's face, setting up altars to them in the Temple, sacrificing his own children [2 Kings 20:21-21:9]. And still God accepted his repentance. The Lord is just waiting and ready, standing on his tip-toes, ready to forgive us all.

Lord knows.

July 20

Isaiah's Prophecies about Restoration and the Messiah (Continued) - Isaiah 60:1-22, 61:1-11, 62:1-12, 63:1-19, 64:1-12

The caption online said:  "The Eye-of-God Nebula watching us from 700 light years away."  Ahhh, don't look now, He's actually standing right behind you.

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,

     that the mountains would tremble before you!

As when fire sets twigs ablaze

     and causes water to boil,

come down to make your name known to your enemies

     and cause the nations to quake before you!

For when you did awesome things that we did not expect

     you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.

Isaiah 64:1-3

Come down Lord, come down.  And He did.  But not rending the heavens and with the mountains trembling.  He did it with a star in the night sky and a small child in a lowly manger.

Now that's understatement.  Lord knows.

July 19

Isaiah's Prophecies about Restoration and the Messiah (Continued) - Isaiah 57:1-21, 58:1-14, 59:1-21

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

     and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

     and break every yoke?"

Isaiah 58:6-12

Are we called to do without or to do?  Religion is not about the intellect it's about the heart and hands.

Lord knows.

July 18

Isaiah's Prophecies about Restoration and the Messiah (Continued) - Isaiah 54:4-17, 55:1-13, 56:1-12

"See, it is I who created the blacksmith

     who fans the coals into flame

     and forges a weapon fit for its work.

And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc;"

Isaiah 54:16

God is a great mystery to me.  He provides healing, forgiveness, salvation and love but at the same time has created the "destroyer to work havoc."  How do I hold in my head the concept of a loving God who sent His son to die as a sacrifice for all of us and a God who, at the same time, created the fallen angel that made Christ's sacrifice necessary?  It's all God's making, right?  Even though I don't understand it, I trust in His love and trust that, in the end, He will do something completely unexpected and extraordinary.  I have only to look at the Bible and His behavior to this point to make that prediction.

Lord knows.

July 17

Isaiah's Prophecies about Restoration and the Messiah (Continued) - Isaiah 51:1-23, 52:1-15, 53:1-12, 54:1-3

"Therefore my people will know my name...."

Isaiah 52:6

What does it mean to know the name of God?  There are all kinds of lengthy studies, even books, on the subject of knowing God's name.  Scholars have a field day on this one (And it's good there is something to keep the scholars busy and away from the rest of us...pardon my soapbox).  One site I looked at said there were more than 600 names for God in the Bible.  This list includes names for Christ as well since He is God the Son.  One even suggested, and I agree, that we don't know the true name of God because the names we ave are descriptions or titles.  

FYI, God isn't God's name.  It's what He is.  Like we're people.  God is God, but that's not His name.  In fact, the name He gives Moses at the burning bush when Moses asks who will he tell the Egyptians sent him, God responds simply:   I Am.  And, from this, get the name Yaweh.  But basically it means my name is the fact that I exist.  So you really have to wonder whether God's real name is ever revealed in scripture.  Or if He has a name as we understand names?

And why does He really need one?  Names are meant to help us distinguish one person from another.  Since God is totally one of a kind and the only being in His category, He doesn't need a monicker to distinguish Himself.  In fact, this lack of a name sets him apart from the other manmade and so man-named gods.

Names in the Jewish tradition were sort of shorthand for who a person was and so  Esau's name means "hairy" and Lo-Ruhamah's (Hosea's son) name means "not loved" (how would you like to grow up with that one?  Cash's Boy Named Sue has nothing on Lo-Ruhamah.).  So how do you encapsulate God in a one word name, even a first, last and middle name, the being of God?  You can't.  No name can adequately quantify or encompass a God like no other.  

I like we have a God that has no name.  The unknown God as Paul tells the people of Athens.

Perhaps knowing God's name is simply a metaphor for being in relationship with Him.  To know God's name is to know Him so well you're on a first name basis with Him...even if He doesn't have one.  Maybe it's trying to know Him so completely and thoroughly that you would come close to having a name for Him.   And maybe...there are those to whom He has truly revealed His name, His one true name.  And words and the earth and the human heart cannot contain it.

Lord knows.

July 16

Isaiah's Prophecies about Restoration and the Messiah (Continued) - Isaiah 48:16-22, 49:1-26, 50:1-11

Sample of a tattoo over a name.  The caption to this photograph said:  "...there's the old cover up the ex-wife's name, since getting married ONE WEEK after meeting this girl is just about as smart as tattooing her name on your neck..."  I guess the ex-wife was a pain in the neck,  Sorry, couldn't help myself.

"See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands...."

Isaiah 49:16

One of the ways that people show their devotion to someone is to not only write their name on their heart but on their skin.  Mom, the wife, the kids, a girlfriend, a dead relative - they've all been tattoo fodder.  It's a serious commitment to let someone get indelibly under your skin.  In fact, there's a whole speciality area of tattooing whose soul purpose is to hid the name of a former girlfriend or ex-wife in a rose's pedals or thorns or the twist of ivy.

God has a tattoo.  He choose you as the subject of his tattoo.  That's just how serious He is about this relationship.  Lord knows.

July 15

Isaiah's Prophecies about Restoration and the Messiah (Continued) - Isaiah 45:14-25, 46:1-13, 47:1-15, 48:1-15

From a performance of Our Town

"Keep on, then, with your magic spells

     and with your many sorceries,

     which you have labored at since childhood.

Perhaps you will succeed,

    perhaps you will cause terror."

Isaiah 47:12

More humor.  You can almost hear God and Isaiah in mock fear, saying -- "Ooooooooohhhh, keep working at that magic thing...you might even succeed."  The reference to childhood in the passage makes the pursuit of power in magic and sorcery seem like a childish game.  Imagine someone trying to conjure up supernatural power in the shadow of the living God.  But then we've spent our lives trying to work our own "magic" so that we don't need God.  Financial security.  Life insurance.  Investments.  401(k)s  Keep piling up the cash until you feel good...perhaps you will succeed.

*  *  *

"I am God, and there is none like me."

Isaiah 46:9

The Lord is so totally unique and different than anything we can imagine.  His ways are a mystery to us.  We can't possibly grasp the purpose and plan of things that happen on this earth.  We must trust.  I think of my favorite line in Thornton Wilder's Our Town when Emily Webb, coming back from death to experience a day in her life, is in awe of the wonder of every moment and asks the Stage Manager:  "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?"  "No," responds the Stage Manager, "The saints and poets, maybe.  They do some."

We can't realize in this life our part and purpose and plan and the mind of God.  Well, maybe, the saints and poets do some.  

July 14

Isaiah's Prophecies about Restoration and the Messiah (Continued) - Isaiah 43:8-28, 44:1-28, 45:1-13

Ahhh, the proud and bold potsherd

"Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker,

     to him who is bout a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground.

Does the clay say to the potter, 

     'What are you making?'

     Does your work say,

      'He has no hands'?

Isaiah 45:9

There's bits of wry humor tucked throughout scripture and it's always fun and funny to see.  Imagine a pot [not even a whole pot but a piece of pottery, a potsherd] having the chutzpa to quiz the potter.  Now imagine our questioning God.  Imagine the pot saying, "Hey, the potter didn't really make me - He's got no hands!"  Just as humorous as someone thinking that God didn't create us and this wondrous world we have the privilege to live in.  I'm laughing...is God laughing?

Forgive me, Lord.  Forgive my questions and give me faith.

July 13

Isaiah's Prophecies about Restoration and the Messiah (Continued) - Isaiah 41:11-29, 42:1-25, 43:1-7

I will turn the desert into pools of water,

     and the parched ground into springs.

I will put in the desert

     the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive,

I will set pines in the wasteland,

     the fir and the cypress together,

so that people may see and know,

     may consider and understand,

     that the hand of the Lord has done this,

     that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Isaiah 41:18-20

I think the book of Isaiah is my favorite book in the Bible.  I like it's poetic nature.  I like the whole concept of being a prophet and of being the voice of God.  I like the hopeful nature of so much of the writing in this book, looking beyond captivity to redemption and the Messiah.

Water in the desert, an oasis - this is a poetic metaphor of God's comfort and love while His people suffer through captivity.  Our perspective of God is so influenced by the status of our life and the situation we find ourselves in.  We are never closer to God than when the situation demands it.  Lord knows.

Reminds me of Flannery O'Connor's short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find.  

"She'd have been a good woman," the Misfit said, "if there had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."

July 12

Isaiah's Prophecies about Restoration and the Messiah - Isaiah 40:1-31, 41:1-10

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens;

     Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one,

     and calls them each by name. 

Isaiah 40:26

The beauty of the night sky is such a powerful indicator of God's hand and continued presence.  There is something devotional in the very act of looking up at the night sky.  I remember the times Mariana and I have paused to lay on our backs to watch the night sky in hopes of seeing a falling star streak across the black.  I remember one particular time when we were very young and Martina as a baby was with us on a houseboat retreat.  Such a wonderful picture of such a wonderful and innocent time in our lives.  Life was so good.

So powerful is the night sky and the starry host that some, like King Manasseh [2 Kings 21:3], will worship it rather than the God who made it.  Sad that God's proofs become idols instead of signposts.  Like the stars, the earth, the virgin Mary.

This reading also has one of the great inspirational verses in it.  Especially inspirational since it was written during the Babylonian Captivity:

He gives strength to the weary,

     and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

     and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord

     will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

     they will run and not grow weary,

     they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:29-31

I want to know that feeling.  Lord knows.

July 11

Spiritual Decline Under Manasseh - 2 Kings 20:21, 21:1-16; 2 Chronicles 32:33, 33:1-9

A depiction of an Asherah pole.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years.  His mother's name was Hephzibah.  He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.  He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole,as Ahab king of Israel had done.  He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them.  He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, "In Jerusalem I will put my Name."  In both courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts.  He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists.  2 Kings 21:1-6

Whoa, Manasseh just rubs it all in the face of God.  More questions than answers in today's reading.  Which is often the case when reading the Bible.  So much we don't know.  Lord knows.

How and why does the Lord put up with it for 55 years?  Why is his mother's name mentioned?  Is it because he began his rule at 12 after his father died and so his mother bears some responsibility for the evil?  Why did Hezekiah who did so much good rule only 29 years and his evil son rule 55 years?  And how is it that Hezekiah who did so much good produce a son that did so much evil?  Lord knows.

Later in Isaiah we will learn that one explanation for the good dying is because they are good and God wants to "spare them from evil" [Isaiah 57:1-2].  I am amazed and a bit bothered, I admit, that He will allow evil rulers to reign for such an extended period of time.  Hitler lived far too long.  Just think how many lives would have been saved had he died even a year earlier.  And why didn't he?

Again, Lord knows.

Perhaps we get the leaders we deserve.

July 10

Last Years of Hezekiah's Reign - 2 Kings 18:13-16; Isaiah 36:1; 2 Kings 20:1-11; Isaiah 38:1-8, 38:21-22; 38:9-20; 2 Chronicles 32:25-30; 2 Kings 20:12-19; Isaiah 39:1-8; 2 Chronicles 32:1-15; 2 Kings 18:17-25; Isaiah 36:2-10; 2 Kings 18:26-37; Isaiah 36:11-22; 2 Chronicles 32:16-19; 2 Kings 19:1-36; Isaiah 37:1-37; 2 Chronicles 32:17, 20-23; 2 Kings 20:20-21; 2 Chronicles 32:32-33

These are piles of the dead at the Civil War battle of Antietam.  As horrific as this picture is, it's nothing compared to the picture of 185,000 dead Assyrians.

They spoke about the God of Jerusalem as they did about the gods of the other peoples of the world -- the work of men's hands. 

2 Chronicles 32:19

The attacking Assyrian's chide and ridicule Hezekiah and the people for believing their god will save them when no god has saved any of the other nations they've conquered.  Ironically it's the God they mock that has made it possible for the Assyrian's to be as successful as they have been.  

God blesses the whole world.  Some acknowledge it and others choose to ridicule it and write books like The God Delusion.  Yikes.  

The Assyrians are made believers when the Angel of the Lord kills 185,000 in the night.  Imagine waking up in the middle of 185,000 corpses? 

Will it take even more for us to believe?  I pray not.  

Lord knows.  

July 9

Judah After Israel's Fall - Isaiah Warns about Egypt and Ethiopia - Isaiah 18:1-7, 19:1-25, 20:1-6, 30:1-33, 31:1-9

The Lord will strike Egypt with a plague; He will strike them and heal them.  They will turn to the Lord, and He will respond to their pleas and heal them.

Isaiah 19:22

This reminds me of the scene in Peace Like a River where the father in the book who works as a janitor slaps a pock-faced principal who has just fired him and the slap heals his face.  Peace Like a River is a book filled with miracles and I thought at the time this holy slap was an interesting translation of spitting in someone's eye or having someone tip in a muddy bit of water [some of Jesus' techniques].

We need a slap or a good kick in the pants, I'm afraid and I am afraid of it.  And we focus on that slap - the pain of it, the justice of it, whether one is slapped harder than another and the fairness in that, and why a loving God would slap us to begin with.  We fixate on the slap but ignore the healing.  I know this is easy to write while not in the midst of a slap [that I'm aware of].  Terrible things befall good people and it's not always because they need a good slap.

Then I think of the slaps with hands and reeds and whips that Christ received.  And we received the healing.

Lord knows.

July 8

The Fall of Israel - 2 Kings 17:3-5, 18:9-12, 17:6-41, 18:7-8

When they first lived there, they [foreign inhabitants of Samaria] did not worship the Lord; so He sent lions among them and they killed some of the people.  ...So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the Lord.  

2 Kings 17:25-28

Interesting that God is so tied to a place here that those who inhabit that place are "encouraged" to follow God or fall to the lions.  Interesting, too, that He is always concerned with others coming to know Him.  We make the Old Testament so Hebrew-centric.  And, yes, it's the story of the Jews.  But think about the story of the invaders.  What transpires during the invasion and captivity both reminds the Jews of the God they've walked away from but also brings the invaders in contact with the Lord.  

There isn't just the chosen and then the rest of the world.  Nineveh, Babylonians, invader and invaded, He seeks us all.  The truth doesn't belong to just church-going believers.  It's there for everyone, whether we deliver it or not.  

I'm just glad God sent us His son rather than a lion.  Sadly, a lion might have been more effective.

July 7

Isaiah Warns against Relapse (Continued) - Isaiah 29:22-24, 27:2-13, 32:12-20, 33:2-24, 22:15-25

Doesn't matter how fancy your tent is...it's still a tent.

Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals;

     your eyes will see Jerusalem,

     a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved;

its stakes will never be pulled up,

     nor any of its ropes broken.

Isaiah 33:20

Live in a tent for a week on a backpack trip sometime and you'll have a better understanding of what our walk in this life is truly about.  A tent gives you minimal shelter and privacy.  Everyone knows what's going on instead a tent so there are far less secrets from those who pitch their tents around you.  You are more subject to the elements.  You're not insulated from what's going on, removed, separated.  You are totally aware of the heat, the wind, the rain, the morning light that comes flooding through the fabric of a tent.  Unlike a house, a tent doesn't allow you to store much stuff, just the stuff you really need for sleeping, eating and clothing.  

But beyond the temporary and fragile nature of most tents, Jerusalem offers a bit more permanence and comfort in the knowledge that is tied down and will not be moved.  There is a constant to Jerusalem that reflects the city to come in the next life when we leave our earthly tents and move into a mansion across the river.  

Those who live in a mansion in this life fool themselves into thinking it can't possibly get better than this.  Those who live in tents, long for what is yet to come.

Lord knows.  To know God is to need God.