DEUTERONOMY 9-10, LUKE 8

 Moses is kind but not nice - kind of like New Yorkers!  

When he talks to his people, he tells them that God is doing great stuff for them, not because of how righteous they are, but because how evil their enemies are.  At first, I'm like, "Take it easy. Why do you have to bring down the people like that?"

But then, he gives the reasons.  They complained about God leading them out of slavery.  They stopped doing what He asked them to do.  They literally made gold images of other gods to worship.  When Moses went up the hill for forty days with no food or water to get the Ten Commandments, he came down....and had to go right back up to make up for what the people had done.  

That's how, I think, God looks at us too!  He does stuff for us, but He is also knows our hearts.  He is aware when we rebel against Him and gets angry when we don't do the stuff He says.  That's when I think Jesus steps in, like Moses, to plead on our behaves.  Really, without Jesus, with the way we act and think, we'd be screwed.

Side note: The Psalms cracked me up today.  It was like two paragraphs of kill my enemies, get 'em, they are horrible people.  But, bless me!  Sounds like me sometimes.

DEUTERONOMY 7-8, LUKE 7-8

 Wow!  Both 7 and 8!  But, I'm not going there!  For the first time since I've started reading the Bible, I'm quoting a Proverb!

"but whoever hates correction is stupid." - Proverb 12:1

I know - that's not even a great proverb.  There is nothing life changing there.  It's not a great pearl of wisdom.  But, it speaks to me.

I hate correction - in any form.  A sit down meeting, an email, a snide comment, a loving rebuke, something said by a stranger - it doesn't matter.  I hate them all.  No matter how you say it to me, no matter if I am in the wrong, no matter if you are my favorite person in the whole world - I hate it.

So, I react with anger and a little side of having to prove myself right.  Maybe, after a while, I will get to the part where I look at who is saying it or if any of what they are saying is true.  But, in the moment, I am defensive, arrogant and I'll say it again, angry.

I am stupid.  It's as simple as that.

Correction makes us better.  It's true in sports, it's true in life.  We may not like it, it may take a while for it to "soak in", but it is good for us.  And it may even be that the people who are correcting us know that too.

DEUTERONOMY 5-6, LUKE 7

 Whoops missed it!  I love the Sabbath; especially when I was working at PADS after school and on Saturday.  I so looked forward to that Sunday of doing nothing.  It refreshed me, it was good for my soul.  I thought I got it.  God gave us the Sabbath to refresh us.  Makes sense.

But, then I read today about how we should do the Sabbath to honor God.  There was nothing about how it was good for our soul, how it prepared us to work hard for the next six days, nothing about refreshing us.  It was all about Him.  Honor God with the Sabbath.

Does it honor Him because we are trusting Him that if we give up that day everything will get done?  Does it honor Him because we are taking a day just to meditate and think about nothing else?  Does it honor Him because we are doing what He says?  Is it one of those God things where He says it's for Him but it's really for us - just like coveting, bearing false witness, and heck all of the commandments?  

As I read on, and as I've read for about a month now, it does seem like the best way to honor God is to do what He says.  I still love the Sabbath, and now it's not so selfishly!

DEUTERONOMY 4, LUKE 6-7

 When we pray, "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" that pretty much takes away the ability to hold a grudge doesn't it?  

See, how I usually handle confrontation is that I don't talk to the people - maybe for the rest of my life.  That doesn't work!  You are telling us that.  Forgiveness builds the Kingdom.  Heck, some may say the Kingdom is built on forgiveness!  I am an idiot.  I am constantly doing things that are bad for me and bad for the Kingdom.  Sorry about that.

Also, "God sets the lonely into families."  That got me.  I really do have a heart for the dorks, losers, people who are not accepted by others - really the lonely.  It's probably because I am one of them, and if I can do anything to help anyone in the same situation, then how could I not?

DEUTERONOMY 2-3, LUKE 6

 I've had this theory lately that it's not really how long you pray, it's more of just talking....Heck, I don't know what my theory was. But, I do know I didn't think you needed to pray for an hour at a time.  The amount of time you spent in prayer didn't matter.

My theory was that praying all day was the way to go.  But, that is just a theory.  I don't do that.  In fact, after I leave my prayer chair, it's the very rare occasion that I even think to go to You or stop and listen.  I also thought that we could just (and this is going to be borderline insane) tell You what we need, what's going on - no need to spew out hours of details or words that don't mean anything.  

What I'm really realizing is that my prayer life is messed up.  Ever since I stopped walking my brain is jumbled like Iga Swiatek's.  

That's the first step.  Then, maybe looking at what You did (prayed all night for who to pick as a disciple) and went away often to pray, would be a good second step.  

Actually, maybe I should just pray to know how to pray.

NUMBERS 36, DEUTERONOMY 1, LUKE 5-6

 The Pharisees knew that Jesus could heal people so they waited to see if He would heal someone on the Sabbath.  They knew He could heal people!  

If they knew for a fact He could heal people, did it not cross their mind that maybe He was the Messiah?  How many people were healing at that time?  Was it a common thing?  They are basically admitting that there must be something special about You, but then also wanting to catch you breaking the Sabbath?  Seems like they should have focused on the miracle and gone from there.

It's like MLB.  They admit that roboumps call balls and strikes correctly.  They literally use that to judge the umpires on the field.  So, they are saying, "We have the technology to get these calls right all them time, but we're going to keep the human element on the field."  The human element?  The most important thing is to get the call right - maybe focus on that and go from there.

I guess it's like that a lot in life.  We let what doesn't really matter distract us from what we know is true.  God loves us.  God is all powerful.  God has sent His Son for us.  He's on our side.  We know that!  Maybe we should focus on that and go from there.

NUMBERS 32-33, LUKE 4-5

​Would I be a better follower if I was afraid of God?

I was thinking about how thankful I was for Jesus and how because of Him I am able envision a loving God.  Back in Old Testament times, I don’t get the same picture.  There are a lot of people who fear God and talk about His anger.

But, then I started to wonder, “Would it be better for the kingdom if I did have more fear?”  It’s the same God.  There is still that anger, still that ability to punish and still the power to do so.

Honestly, as I typed that I was reminded of the time I’ve spent doing things out of fear (a long time!) and I may have been more “productive” but I seem to be more connected now.  

I really don’t know.