June 17 – Thoughts on Neh. 7-9 & Acts 3

I wish we had the spiritual fervor of the people of Nehemiah’s day.  Perhaps exile is required for us to remember the passion and excitement our faith can bring us.  I know that hardship draws us closer to God, and that God can use any difficulty and pain in our lives to draw us nearer to Him.  Perhaps an exile, spiritual or physical, is necessary to generate the kind of pain and fear that leads us truly into the arms of God.

These people gathered as one and Ezra the priest read aloud the Book of the Law, the Pentateuch, what we know as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  He read to them from sunup to noon, 6 hours, and they listened with such intensity that they wept at the power of God’s Word.  Then he did it again the next day.  And the next…

If we have a full chapter of scripture to read aloud on a Sunday morning, I get complaints that it is too long.

What will it take for us to reengage with scripture with a passion that drives us to tears in its reading, that causes us to stand in rapt attention for 6 hours as someone reads the Old Testament, that draws us to the Word like a moth to flame?  I hope not too much, for the pain necessary to snap us out of our complacency may just be more than we can bear, even with God’s help.  Lord, save us and draw us to You and Your Word.

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June 16 – Thoughts on Neh. 4-7 & Acts 2:22-47

Do you consider God’s will something that happens easily?  Or maybe a better questions is this: do you begin to doubt that you are truly doing God’s will when things get tough?  Is opposition, either by others or by circumstances, a cause of doubt for you, causing you to doubt whether you are following God correctly?

Nehemiah faced opposition throughout his entire ministry of rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem.  The surrounding kingdoms attacked him in a number of different ways, all in an attempt to stop him from doing God’s will, from rebuilding the City of God.

First, they tried a legal attack, sending a letter to Nehemiah’s “boss” telling him that Nehemiah shouldn’t be allowed to do what he was doing.  Nehemiah foiled this plan with facts, pointing out that he had permission from a previous king.  Second, they tried an emotional attack, ridiculing the Jews, mocking them and discouraging them publicly.  Nehemiah foiled this plan with prayer, asking God to take care of his enemies.  Third, they tried a physical attack, making them stop by force.  Nehemiah foiled this attack with military strategy, keeping a guard on duty day and night.  Fourth, they tried a political attack, inviting him to the bargaining table in order to capture and kill him.  This Nehemiah foiled with wisdom and political savvy.  Fifth, they tried a religious attack, hiring a prophet to bring fake news to Nehemiah about an attempt on his life.  But Nehemiah saw right through this one, too, and refused to hide away from attack and leave his people defenseless: he called doing so a sin.  With all of their different attacks foiled, Nehemiah’s enemies finally lost hope and went home.

When you next face opposition to what you believe to be God’s plan for you, think of Nehemiah and be comforted.  If you are truly in God’s will, you will face opposition, and with truth, hope, wisdom, and most of all prayer on your side, you can stand against anything.  Lean on God, and He will hold you up.

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June 15 – Thoughts on Neh. 1-3 & Acts 2:1-21

One of the most fascinating facets of the Pentecost story, with which we are pretty familiar, is it’s link to the story of the Tower of Babel.  In fact, the story of Pentecost is almost the exact opposite of the Babel story.

In the beginning, God had given one command over and over again to His people:  Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.  His call was to scatter themselves all over the earth and in so doing, make a name for God throughout the earth.  One group, however, decided against this plan and so they joined together in a metropolis and stopped their work of scattering across the earth.  They grew prosperous and proud, and in their pride, they decided to build a tower, what we today would know as a ziggurat.  This tower had a temple at it’s very top, closest to God.  This temple would act as a gateway, a place where they could access God.  Their control of this gateway also meant control of God, and if they so chose they could storm the very gates of heaven itself.  Seeing this, God knew the sin it would lead to, but in His mercy, rather than simply destroying them, He instead changed their language so they  could not understand one another, and so they disbanded, and spread across the face of the earth – God’s original plan for them.

At Pentecost, we find a gathering of people of different languages celebrating God and seeking to make a name for Him.  When the Spirit comes upon them, it does to unite their language so they might be drawn together as a community, and sure enough, they do.

God’s plans may change depending on the group of people, the time period, or His own will.  But while God’s plans may change, God’s Plan never does.  God’s plan is that all humankind might know and follow Him.  Whether this is by separating them or uniting them through language, God’s plan remains – to share the message of His love and mercy with all humankind.

What part might you play in this grand plan?  How might God be calling you to live it out in your particular sphere of influence?

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June 14 – Thoughts on Ezra 9-10 & Acts 1

Yesterday I had a conversation about the intersection of theology and physics, asking how we blend these two disciplines in our beliefs.  For example, a former colleague once asked me this:  if God is truly outside of time and experiences all of time constantly, then could we pray for his intervention in things that have already happened?  Our prayers would reach God who would be experiencing those very moments which for us are in the past.  Might we have prayed for past events and seen God change them without knowing it?

Today I want to ask a different question.  If God is truly all-powerful and in control of the events going on around us, then what is the most efficient and quick way to discern His will?  With verbal communication from God rare these days, how might we discern God’s will in large decisions quickly?  The answer is: Urim and Thummim!

The Urim and Thummim are found throughout the Old Testament. These were two small, flat objects, probably stones, one black and one white presumably.  These were used to determine courses of action, guilt and innocence, and practically any matter where a “yes – no” answer would work.  The priest wore these things in his breastplate worn for worship.  They were used, probably by drawing one out of a small bag, to determine God’s will.  In the case of civil courts, drawing the white stone would indicate innocence, while drawing the black one would indicate guilt.  And if God were truly all-powerful, and truly wanted to give us His will, He would make us choose the right stone.

Elsewhere, the same concept is used without the stones and we call it “drawing lots”.  We see this with Jonah, with Jesus’ garments on the cross, and now here in the choosing of a disciple to replace Judas.  In modern parlance, these hugely significant decisions, sometimes with life or death consequences, were chosen by a coin toss.

Did God speak through these seemingly random short-straw methods?  What is the modern day implication of this for the church?  What happens when we have to put our theological beliefs in practice with physical consequences?

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June 13 – Thoughts on Ezra 6-8 & John 21

John’s last chapter, as we noted yesterday, is probably a late addition to the gospel, but is notably John’s writing.  It is also terribly important to the early church, for without it, we leave Peter in disgrace.  But with it, we find in Peter a leader who truly understands leadership.

No leader can be truly effective in leading others until they have failed deeply.  Without that, either pride or ignorance of the pain others feel at their own failures will make a leader ineffective.  Peter is such an effective leader primarily because he learns the lessons that only failure, repentance, and reinstatement can teach.

If we think about Peter before his betrayal of Jesus, we think of a loud, impulsive, brash, enthusiastic but naive follower.  We find him with his foot in his mouth more often than not.  We find Jesus scolding him for his wrong impulses which drive his behavior.  In short, we find a pretty ineffective leader.  In fact, while Peter sticks with Jesus longer than any disciple besides John, he cannot hold the band together once Jesus is taken.

If we think about Peter after his betrayal of Jesus, we think of a pillar of the Jerusalem church, author of 2 New Testament letters, a preacher sharing his story to great effect, and a man who can sit patiently in jail awaiting God’s plan.  Miracle maker, public speaker, patient leader.

The difference between these two Peter’s is both his and Jesus’ reaction to his betrayal.  There is no greater failure than to deny Jesus publicly and Peter does so three times.  But unlike Judas, he doesn’t give in to despair.  Instead he returns to the community and leads it.  And when Jesus appears, he goes to him as fast as possible.  And in so doing, his repentance is complete, his failure forgiven, and his status as leader reinstated.

Do you have a story of failure in your life that God used to make you a better leader?  Are you facing a failure right now and need to trust that God can use even this to make you a better follower?

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