I'm gonna be in the land down under (Mexico) for a week or so. I've got a few good ideas for blog when I get back. I'll try and get one posted before I leave, but don't hold out on that. More to come true believers!
(jake)
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Comfortably Dead
I have been learning guitar. My fingers hurt pretty bad while typing the last blog, but now they just don't feel at all. I kind of hate that, but I am really convicted that God wants me to play guitar, because I think it will make girls love me, and I think that God wants that for me. I also buy lotto tickets and pray over them. True story.
Bible classes now consume my life. The good news is that I love the Bible, so it's been a pretty good semester so far. One thing I have noticed in my scholarly pursuits of the Old Testament is an interesting trend with the people of Israel. See, early on in Israel's career as a nation, they were just a loose group of tribes, who were constantly harassed by other nations. God always bailed them out, and that was the system. Trust God, live well.
Eventually, Israel decided they'd had enough of that, and asked for a king. Without posting the whole verse, in the book of 1 Samuel God essentially declares that the Israelites have rejected him as their king. Then, he goes on to declare that the king would be horrible for them, and ruin them. He says that this king will turn their hearts away from God, and that he will lead them to destruction. But they want it, so he gives it.
Skip ahead. Ignore a couple centuries of history. Israel now wants a temple. Specifically, the aforementioned king wants to build a temple. Again I will leave the scripture out, but it's in the reign of Solomon that the temple is built, and during David's reign that the idea comes about, which is in 1 Kings and 2 Samuel respectively. But God's not too keen on the temple thing either. He's more than happy to live in a tent, and to dwell among his people. Still, he gives them what they want.
So where does this lead? Why exactly where God said it would! See, king after king after king continues to bring in pagan Gods, and destroy the worship of Yahweh, the true God of Israel. And as the Temple becomes more and more important, the Hebrew nation begins to forget the real purpose of the ceremonies, of the sacrifices, all of it. They eventually become comfortable in their faith, revelling in the security that their kingdom and religion have given them.
Then God gets mad.
In Isaiah, the Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.
God is ticked! God sends these nasty guys called the Babylonians to kick butt and take names. The entire nation is destroyed, eventually the temple is ransacked and trashed, the king sent into exile, and for all of her safety and comfort, Israel is reduced to a pile of rubble.
Then things get fixed.
The amazing thing about the story of Israel is that it is in exile, in suffering, in the most horrible and shameful experience of its history as a nation, the people of God rediscover just what it means to serve Yahweh. With the protection of the king gone, with the religious security of the temple gone, Israel is finally stripped down to bare bones and forced to turn back to the God who loves them enough to send them into exile.
I am not blaming God for our struggles, nor am I suggesting that church buildings and appointed leaders are evil. (Thought about it, but decided against it.) I am saying that in the end, it is not the comfortable times that I remember God from, it is the painful ones. When I look back on my life, the most precious moments shared between me and my Lord were the ones where I was hurting the most.
Sometimes it takes suffering to break us down and expose us to God's glory. In exile, we rediscover who we are, and what God intends for us. I pray that whoever may read this will be blessed with the wisdom to see through their suffering, to the glorious work that God is preparing them for.
(jake)
Bible classes now consume my life. The good news is that I love the Bible, so it's been a pretty good semester so far. One thing I have noticed in my scholarly pursuits of the Old Testament is an interesting trend with the people of Israel. See, early on in Israel's career as a nation, they were just a loose group of tribes, who were constantly harassed by other nations. God always bailed them out, and that was the system. Trust God, live well.
Eventually, Israel decided they'd had enough of that, and asked for a king. Without posting the whole verse, in the book of 1 Samuel God essentially declares that the Israelites have rejected him as their king. Then, he goes on to declare that the king would be horrible for them, and ruin them. He says that this king will turn their hearts away from God, and that he will lead them to destruction. But they want it, so he gives it.
Skip ahead. Ignore a couple centuries of history. Israel now wants a temple. Specifically, the aforementioned king wants to build a temple. Again I will leave the scripture out, but it's in the reign of Solomon that the temple is built, and during David's reign that the idea comes about, which is in 1 Kings and 2 Samuel respectively. But God's not too keen on the temple thing either. He's more than happy to live in a tent, and to dwell among his people. Still, he gives them what they want.
So where does this lead? Why exactly where God said it would! See, king after king after king continues to bring in pagan Gods, and destroy the worship of Yahweh, the true God of Israel. And as the Temple becomes more and more important, the Hebrew nation begins to forget the real purpose of the ceremonies, of the sacrifices, all of it. They eventually become comfortable in their faith, revelling in the security that their kingdom and religion have given them.
Then God gets mad.
In Isaiah, the Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.
God is ticked! God sends these nasty guys called the Babylonians to kick butt and take names. The entire nation is destroyed, eventually the temple is ransacked and trashed, the king sent into exile, and for all of her safety and comfort, Israel is reduced to a pile of rubble.
Then things get fixed.
The amazing thing about the story of Israel is that it is in exile, in suffering, in the most horrible and shameful experience of its history as a nation, the people of God rediscover just what it means to serve Yahweh. With the protection of the king gone, with the religious security of the temple gone, Israel is finally stripped down to bare bones and forced to turn back to the God who loves them enough to send them into exile.
I am not blaming God for our struggles, nor am I suggesting that church buildings and appointed leaders are evil. (Thought about it, but decided against it.) I am saying that in the end, it is not the comfortable times that I remember God from, it is the painful ones. When I look back on my life, the most precious moments shared between me and my Lord were the ones where I was hurting the most.
Sometimes it takes suffering to break us down and expose us to God's glory. In exile, we rediscover who we are, and what God intends for us. I pray that whoever may read this will be blessed with the wisdom to see through their suffering, to the glorious work that God is preparing them for.
(jake)
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