Things of interest in the last few days of reading...
2 Kings 21 Lists a whole bunch of the Exact practices that God is Against: worship of "cosmic powers", fortune telling, seances, consulting spirits, black magic, powers of the constellations. Thought this list was pretty relevant this weekend (halloween). So many people think that astrology is just a fun little game, no big deal, but that is NOT what God says! Of course, I could rant, on and on, about the whole halloween deal and how so many Christians think it's just fun and games. Bleh! It is Quite Interesting to me; If it's not a big deal, then Why does it have to be Capitalized? (spellcheck points it out Every time!) Ok, I'm babbling..
There is a lot going on thru Kings and Chronicles but it's mostly everyone running around disobeying God and messing up. It was kinda depressing.
I did think Solomon's prayer in 2 Chron. 6 was very interesting. It was prophetic!
Ok, that's it, that's all I can think of to say for this chunk of reading. I Do have a better idea of how things went, and am amazed at just how Tolerant, forgiving and merciful our God truly is! Wow... good thing its not up to me, cause I think I would have had to wipe them out totally about the 50th time they rejected my rules!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
1 Sam.-1Kings 16
Finishing up with David.
Michal; I've always have been down on her, but reading it again, I can see why she would have been a little cranky. She was married to a guy when she got sent to David. Her hubby followed after her weeping! So she gets to be one of a dozen wives to David, leaving the husband that LOVED her. I imagine she was a little resentful of David from the start, and seeing him out there dancing and having a blast just stirred up that anger and bitterness. "How can he be all happy, having a good time, dancing like a fool out in the street! Here he is, supposed to be the King, and he looks like a commoner, a Naked commoner! I get dragged off to be His wife, I mean, ONE of his wives... bleh, he is just a common Jerk!"
One theme that kept coming up: Impatience! I think I wrote about it already, but here it is again. The people keep running off, doing what They think is good, Helping God deal with the situation, not waiting for God to work it, just rush in and kill the opposition, handle it ourselves and then thinking, "Look, won't God be pleased with me!"
Need to research but I liked this passage in the message... 2 Sam. 7:16 (approx.) I'll be a father to him, and he'll be a son to me. When he does wrong, I'll discipline him in the usual ways, the pitfalls and obstacles of this mortal life. But I'll never remove my gracious love from him .
Another one that really struck me...the last sentence especially~
ch22:17-20 But me he caught—reached all the way
from sky to sea; he pulled me out
Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos,
the void in which I was drowning.
They hit me when I was down,
but God stuck by me.
He stood me up on a wide-open field;
I stood there saved—surprised to be loved!
Also need to do some research on the harvest celebration! Seems that I have foolishly recognized that the pagan religions had a big celebration and forgot that the Hebrews did it First... duh. So, the present celebrations (helloween) really did start with God's people, was totally perverted by the pagans, tried to be rescued by the "Harvest Party" idea. Still, it's just not working for me, but it did shed some light on the origins of the harvest celebrations. Originally, in late Sept. or early Oct. but then harvest time in the middle east is probably different than in the northern hemisphere. So... Bleh! Don't know if Harvest party at church is ok, probably, but trick-or-treat? Arrgghhh
Moving on...
1 Kings 13 prophet says what's gonna happen.. but the old "God changed His mind" ploy works again.
What I am learning is that there is nothing new in the world. We still fall for all the same stupid tricks the devil has been using for the last 6000 years.
Michal; I've always have been down on her, but reading it again, I can see why she would have been a little cranky. She was married to a guy when she got sent to David. Her hubby followed after her weeping! So she gets to be one of a dozen wives to David, leaving the husband that LOVED her. I imagine she was a little resentful of David from the start, and seeing him out there dancing and having a blast just stirred up that anger and bitterness. "How can he be all happy, having a good time, dancing like a fool out in the street! Here he is, supposed to be the King, and he looks like a commoner, a Naked commoner! I get dragged off to be His wife, I mean, ONE of his wives... bleh, he is just a common Jerk!"
One theme that kept coming up: Impatience! I think I wrote about it already, but here it is again. The people keep running off, doing what They think is good, Helping God deal with the situation, not waiting for God to work it, just rush in and kill the opposition, handle it ourselves and then thinking, "Look, won't God be pleased with me!"
Need to research but I liked this passage in the message... 2 Sam. 7:16 (approx.) I'll be a father to him, and he'll be a son to me. When he does wrong, I'll discipline him in the usual ways, the pitfalls and obstacles of this mortal life. But I'll never remove my gracious love from him .
Another one that really struck me...the last sentence especially~
ch22:17-20 But me he caught—reached all the way
from sky to sea; he pulled me out
Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos,
the void in which I was drowning.
They hit me when I was down,
but God stuck by me.
He stood me up on a wide-open field;
I stood there saved—surprised to be loved!
Also need to do some research on the harvest celebration! Seems that I have foolishly recognized that the pagan religions had a big celebration and forgot that the Hebrews did it First... duh. So, the present celebrations (helloween) really did start with God's people, was totally perverted by the pagans, tried to be rescued by the "Harvest Party" idea. Still, it's just not working for me, but it did shed some light on the origins of the harvest celebrations. Originally, in late Sept. or early Oct. but then harvest time in the middle east is probably different than in the northern hemisphere. So... Bleh! Don't know if Harvest party at church is ok, probably, but trick-or-treat? Arrgghhh
Moving on...
1 Kings 13 prophet says what's gonna happen.. but the old "God changed His mind" ploy works again.
What I am learning is that there is nothing new in the world. We still fall for all the same stupid tricks the devil has been using for the last 6000 years.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Samson, Dagon, Saul and David
Judges 13:6 refers to the angel of the Lord as looking like "terror laced with glory" I Loved that! Then in verse 18 they asked his name and he said "you wouldn't understand,it. It's sheer wonder." Then, the really cool part, they lit up the sacrifice and he ascended in the altar flames... hmmm so was that just an ordinary angel? I don't think so (smacks of foreshadowing to me)
Samson was such a goose! I think that if my wife intentionally did Everything I'd told her would hurt me, "just checking", I'd be a Little suspicious. I think he felt he was untouchable, was playing with living on the edge, because he was so sure it wasn't going to catch up to him. I love the line where he says that they wouldn't have known if they hadn't been "plowing with my heifer" not sure I would have liked being called that! I had forgotten that they Killed his wife!
Ruth is so coo,l but there has been so much said, written about that book, I don't feel that I have anything to add.
On to Samuel. In ch 3 I noticed the Philistines Knew the stories about God and Egypt and were worried. Why would the Philistines put so much stock in the old stories about the Israelite God, but the Israelites Didn't?
Ch 5 always cracks me up. They steal the Ark, go and put it by their god Dagon, and in the morning Dagon had tumbled from his pedestal! They put him back, and the next morning, not only did he fall over, but he broke into pieces. Looks like a Pretty clear sign there!
Saul ... what to say... He was going along just fine, but he got impatient (ch 13) All he had to do was Wait for Sam to show up, but he thought he was just as capable of making the sacrifice. Besides, everyone was waiting, and well, he just didn't know that Sam was gonna show, so he thought he better go on ahead and take care of it. "Yeah, yeah, I know I'm not a priest, and I'm not supposed to do it, but I'm the King! So it will be ok. We can't wait around all day for the old man to show. What will everyone think if I just hang out and Wait? Yeah I better just go ahead..." Poof...fire starts.. Oops, here's Sam now. "Well, I didn't know if you were coming, so I just went ahead..."
I can totally see how that could happen. God isn't taking care of business on OUR time, so we will just go ahead. "Maybe that's what He would want me to do. I'll just take care of this part, God won't mind if I don't wait for Him." "He won't mind if I just go ahead and do whatever I can to help this situation along." "It's not like I'm really Trying to do His job or anything, I'm just in a hurry here!"
Ch 15:22-23 one of my favorite passages. God isn't really so concerned about the rituals and sacrifices, He just wants us to Obey! And 16:7 I didn't realize the part about God looking on the Heart, not the outside, was way back here in the OT!
The story moves on about David. I'm really enjoying reading about him, but again, so much has been said before I don't think I have much to add.
It was interesting to watch Saul, after he messed up, it wasn't like God cursed him with boils or leprosy or anything, just said he wasn't gonna stay King. He got more and more upset as he focused on that, more angry and bitter and Sick. This version uses the work Fixated (on killing David). Got paranoid, self absorbed and sicker and angrier. I can't help but wonder, what would have happened if he had just confessed, accepted the fact that he wasn't gonna stay king, and worked on furthering God's people by working With and training David? He and his family would have been blessed, And, bonus, he wouldn't have had to be so Ticked off all the time!
So David takes off and becomes Robin Hood! His band of misfits, outcasts etc. Funny, cause I could picture him, (we have the whole OLD black and white series of Robin Hood) hiding and doing sneaky stuff and fighting the philistines. He cuts off the edge of the robe while Saul is going potty! But then says..."Look, I could have killed you, but I just want to be friends!" I bet Saul about came Unglued! But he did see, for the moment, that he was wrong and left Dave alone.
My favorite part of everything so far this week has been Jon and David.
Samson was such a goose! I think that if my wife intentionally did Everything I'd told her would hurt me, "just checking", I'd be a Little suspicious. I think he felt he was untouchable, was playing with living on the edge, because he was so sure it wasn't going to catch up to him. I love the line where he says that they wouldn't have known if they hadn't been "plowing with my heifer" not sure I would have liked being called that! I had forgotten that they Killed his wife!
Ruth is so coo,l but there has been so much said, written about that book, I don't feel that I have anything to add.
On to Samuel. In ch 3 I noticed the Philistines Knew the stories about God and Egypt and were worried. Why would the Philistines put so much stock in the old stories about the Israelite God, but the Israelites Didn't?
Ch 5 always cracks me up. They steal the Ark, go and put it by their god Dagon, and in the morning Dagon had tumbled from his pedestal! They put him back, and the next morning, not only did he fall over, but he broke into pieces. Looks like a Pretty clear sign there!
Saul ... what to say... He was going along just fine, but he got impatient (ch 13) All he had to do was Wait for Sam to show up, but he thought he was just as capable of making the sacrifice. Besides, everyone was waiting, and well, he just didn't know that Sam was gonna show, so he thought he better go on ahead and take care of it. "Yeah, yeah, I know I'm not a priest, and I'm not supposed to do it, but I'm the King! So it will be ok. We can't wait around all day for the old man to show. What will everyone think if I just hang out and Wait? Yeah I better just go ahead..." Poof...fire starts.. Oops, here's Sam now. "Well, I didn't know if you were coming, so I just went ahead..."
I can totally see how that could happen. God isn't taking care of business on OUR time, so we will just go ahead. "Maybe that's what He would want me to do. I'll just take care of this part, God won't mind if I don't wait for Him." "He won't mind if I just go ahead and do whatever I can to help this situation along." "It's not like I'm really Trying to do His job or anything, I'm just in a hurry here!"
Ch 15:22-23 one of my favorite passages. God isn't really so concerned about the rituals and sacrifices, He just wants us to Obey! And 16:7 I didn't realize the part about God looking on the Heart, not the outside, was way back here in the OT!
The story moves on about David. I'm really enjoying reading about him, but again, so much has been said before I don't think I have much to add.
It was interesting to watch Saul, after he messed up, it wasn't like God cursed him with boils or leprosy or anything, just said he wasn't gonna stay King. He got more and more upset as he focused on that, more angry and bitter and Sick. This version uses the work Fixated (on killing David). Got paranoid, self absorbed and sicker and angrier. I can't help but wonder, what would have happened if he had just confessed, accepted the fact that he wasn't gonna stay king, and worked on furthering God's people by working With and training David? He and his family would have been blessed, And, bonus, he wouldn't have had to be so Ticked off all the time!
So David takes off and becomes Robin Hood! His band of misfits, outcasts etc. Funny, cause I could picture him, (we have the whole OLD black and white series of Robin Hood) hiding and doing sneaky stuff and fighting the philistines. He cuts off the edge of the robe while Saul is going potty! But then says..."Look, I could have killed you, but I just want to be friends!" I bet Saul about came Unglued! But he did see, for the moment, that he was wrong and left Dave alone.
My favorite part of everything so far this week has been Jon and David.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Joshua 1-21 I think
I was having a little trouble with the wholesale killing of everyone and everything in the land but there was a passage that stated the reason. Guess I wasn't paying attention the first time... God wanted to clean it all out. These people were totally completely Sinful... had been getting worse and worse since the time of Sodom! So every time they come to a place and Obey what God tells them to do, they win. Mess up and the bad guys chase 'em off..running for the hills and whipped bad!
The parts about who got what land..boring. Seriously boring! I have no idea about the geography, so it was way out of my realm of interest.
There, how is that for interesting insights? Sorry! Although I don't really have any wise words of spiritual wisdom for this blog, I have to say that just sitting and reading what God was doing, how Forgiving He is... its uplifting and encouraging!!
The parts about who got what land..boring. Seriously boring! I have no idea about the geography, so it was way out of my realm of interest.
There, how is that for interesting insights? Sorry! Although I don't really have any wise words of spiritual wisdom for this blog, I have to say that just sitting and reading what God was doing, how Forgiving He is... its uplifting and encouraging!!
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