Examine Yourself

2 Corinth 13:5

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you-unless, of course you fail the test.

Does anyone have any idea what this looks like? I think i constantly am examining myself and, in fear, am always concluding that I am failing. My hope is that somehow, God's examination of me reveals Christ, whereas my examination of myself often only reveals failure and shortcoming.

-camel

Pentateuch Chiasm

Hey Guys- I hope everyone is well! I'm sorry to say that with the move and all the other transitions this summer, I have fallen seriously behind on the readings. However, I really enjoy reading the posts of others and love that we have this forum to share what we're learning. I was in an IV training session the other day, and the instructor showed us a giant chaism from Genesis through Deuteronomy that I thought you might find interesting since you're coming towards the end of those readings. If you're unfamiliar with what a chaism is, its basically a literary structure that involves at series of points that mirror each other thematically, with the central point being the main point of the whole piece. For example, in a five point chaism the first point mirrors the last point, the second point mirrors the second to last, and the third or middle point is the main point. So here is the big Pentateuch Chiasm for you:

1. Heaven and earth; origin of all nations, starting with God’s true humanity in garden land: Gen.1 – 11

2. Covenant inaugurated with Abraham, Blessings and Curses: Gen.12:1 – 8

3. God’s Faithfulness to the Patriarchs: Gen.12:9 – 50:26

4. Enslavement and Deliverance from Egypt, Arrival at Sinai: Ex.1 – 18

5. Covenant Inaugurated, Broken, Re-Asserted: Ex.19:1 – 24:11

a. God calls Israel to meet Him on the mountain on the third day: Ex.19:1 – 15

b. Israel’s failure – to come up the mountain: Ex.19:16 – 23

c. God resumes with Moses and Aaron: Ex.19:24 – 25

d. God gives Israel the Ten Commandments: Ex.20:1 – 27

e. Israel’s failure – Israel afraid of God’s voice: Ex.20:18 – 20

f. God gives all Israel 49 laws (7x7): Ex.20:21 – 23:19

g. God and Israel agree to a covenant, and Moses, Aaron, and 70 elders see God, and eat and drink in His presence: Ex.23:2 – 24:11

6. Tabernacle instructions given to house the veiled presence of God: Ex.24:12 – 31:11

7. God commands Israel to observe the Sabbath and the Covenant is documented on stone tablets: Ex.31:12 – 18

8. Covenant broken; Israel worships Aaron’s golden calves: Ex.32:1 – 29

9. Moses mediates for Israel, restores the covenant: Ex.32:30 – 33:23

8’. Covenant affirmed: Ex.34:1 – 17

7’. God commands Israel to observe three annual feasts and the Covenant is documented on stone tablets again; Moses veils his face as a sign of judgment, hiding God’s glory from the nation: Ex.34:18 – 28

6’. Tabernacle built to instructions; presence of God comes veiled: Ex.35 – 40

5’. Covenant Mediation Inaugurated, Covenant Broken, Re-Asserted: Lev.1:1 – 27:34

a. God calls Israel to approach Him, gives priests a Code for sacrifices: Lev.1:1 – 9:24

b. Priests’ failure – two of Aaron’s sons offer strange fire, are consumed: Lev.10:1 – 7

c. God resumes with Aaron’s two others sons: Lev.10:8 – 20

d. God gives Israel’s priests a Priestly Code for the community: Lev.11 – 16

e. Israel’s failure – God addresses worship of goat idols: Lev.17:1 – 9 (Acts 7:42 – 43)

f. God gives all Israel a Holiness Code: Lev.17:10 – 25:55

g. God and Israel agree to a covenant: Lev.26:1 – 27:34

4’. Departure from Sinai, Punishment and Deliverance from Wilderness: Num.1 – 36

3’. God’s Faithfulness forms the basis for Moses’ Exhortation: Dt.1 – 26

2’. Covenant offered to Israel, Blessings and Curses: Dt.27 – 30

1’. ‘Heaven’ and ‘earth’ (Dt.32:1) witness destiny of Israel and nations; God’s Spirit ‘hovers’ (Dt.32:11) over Israel as they enter garden land: Dt.31 – 34

Pretty cool right? I love how the central theme of the pentateuch is the mediation by Moses to restore God's covenant with them. Naturally Moses is forshadowing the true mediation of Christ for the sake of the covenant with all of God's people, the central theme of the Gospel message and our faith. I think its just awesome to see the grandness of the Biblical narrative, and once again be reminded that this is something no man could have come up with. I hope it encourages you in your reading!

momentary stuggles achieve eternal glory

"to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you."

some of my favorite words in the whole bible - so that

God, who by no means owes us a reason for doing what he does, chooses to give us insight into his purposes.

amazing

Exodus Thoughts

So I'm catching up after all my moving and general slacking. I finished the Prince of Egypt, I mean Exodus, tonight. Condensing all of my quick Exodus notes into one post:

• Exodus 4:24-26: This was a shock to read. For whatever reason, I had never read this before. God "sought to kill him" (Moses) presumably because of uncircumcision. But the way it is interjected into the overall story is a bit of cold water. My Bible talks about comparisons to Jacob's brush with death in Genesis.
• One thing I've always struggled to answer is the punishment of all of Egypt for one man's (Pharaoh's) refusal to comply. One time the reader even notices Pharaoh's advisers saying that it is truly the work of God, yet they are still punished for Pharaoh's sin. One possible exception may be Ex. 9:20, where "those of Pharaoh's servants who feared the word of the LORD hurried to bring their servants and livestock into the houses." Even so, Ex. 12:30 says that "there was no house in which there was not someone dead." This is something that has always bothered me.
• Reading the plagues in succession made for a neat, albeit imperfect, picture of God's forgiveness. No matter how many times Pharaoh said that Moses' people could be let go then reneged, Moses still gave him a chance. Rather, I guess God gave him a chance through Moses.
• Ex. 12:38 - a "mixed multitude" left with the Israelites. Interesting to think that maybe these were Egyptians that believed after what they had seen. Is that even possible -- were non-Israelites allowed to go to the promised land?
• I particularly like how God describes himself as a "jealous" God. I think this happens twice. It gives a cool picture of how much God really cares about our direction in life.
• Don't you wish you got as specific instructions for your life as Moses got for the temple?
• I love God's description of himself in Ex. 34:6-7: "The compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, keeping loyal love for thousands [of generations], forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgressions of fathers by dealing with children and children's children." It is almost like a self-defense on how a loving God can punish people. The single period in there is a perfect logical break, and his way of speaking turns. It actually reminds me of a way C.S. Lewis would describe Aslan.
  

How holy are these guys, really?

I haven't been able to escape this feeling reading through Genesis that most of these revered forefathers of our faith are generally kind of jerks. Does anyone else feel that way? They play favorites (Abraham with Sarah/Isaac, Jacob with Rachel/Joseph), they deceive each other (Abraham & Isaac with all the lying about their wives being their sisters; Jacob with Esau x2; Jacob & Laban's sheep), they mistreat women (lots of examples, but most notably Judah in Gen 38; I know this was the "culture" or whatever, but still...), and there are very few references to any of them actually practicing their faith - worshipping, repenting, praying, even the vague "walking with God" isn't there. How are we supposed to understand this? Is it enough to say that God had made promises to them, so they were used by Him in spite of their blatant, public, unrepented sin? Or are their stories in there for the reason pastors sometimes like to say, so that we can be encouraged that they were sinners too and we don't have to be perfect? Something about that doesn't sit right with me...

Lifespans in Genesis & a Timeline

While reading about Abraham recently, I started thinking "where did all these people come from?" Not only does Abraham keep running into new people, but cities have also been founded.

Turns out Abraham is born 1,948 years after creation, judging purely on the accounts of lifespans. It's interesting how large that distance is, especially when they feel so connected and close in Genesis.

Full link & timeline here.

What do you think? Is it fair to do things like this? Are the lifespans meant to be taken literally? And -- of course -- what enabled them to live so long? Are the years solar years?

If you want to see an interesting discussion on Google Answers (I don't know if I endorse any particular opinion), check this out. Spoiler alerts though -- maybe you want to form your own opinion first?

For future reference:
Timeline URL: http://www.practicalchristianliving.org/timeline.htm
Google discussion on lifespans: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/538112.html

Catching Up on a couple missed days

So I did a little cramming today, doing tuesday and Wednesdays readings this morning. I was most struck by one of Petie's fav passages.

John 6:63 - The Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

I pray that verse resonates in my heart for a few weeks to come, and that God reveals the truth about it. I get caught up sometimes in the flesh. I pray I can be convinced that the flesh counts for nothing.

love you all,

-camel

Final Job Thoughts

I've read pieces of Job before, but never read it straight through like this. I really enjoyed it; it was very much like reading a drama. I could definitely picture people performing this as a means of passing the story down (especially if it is as old as our chronology puts it).

It really is a literary work, and I like that the Bible shows itself not only as a book of wisdom, but one of literary acumen as well.

1. What's the deal with Elihu? This read through, his entrace was pretty dramatic and this reader thought "ah-ha -- here comes the real wisdom and correction." Turns out he said some pretty wrong stuff (example below), and furthermore, he's never even acknowledged by God. In the epilogue, God addresses Job and his three friends, but says nothing to or about Elihu.
2. Previously, I asked about this line of thinking seen again in Job 35:8 ... Elihu speaking -- "Your [Job] wickedness affects only a person like yourself, and your righteousness only other people." Before, I was unsure of the logic of this. Is it true that our acts don't affect God at all? This didn't sit with me, and I wanted to share my Bible's note.. I highlighted the part important to me: "According to Strahan, Elihu exalts God's greatness at the cost of His grace, His transcendence at the expense of His immanence. He sets up a material instead of a spiritual stand of profit and loss. He does not realize that God does gain what He desires most by the goodness of men, and loses what He most loves by their evil."
3. Behemoth & Leviathan: As a kid, I re-read this part so much (because I was in love with dinosaurs). My Bible (which focuses on the process of translation - rather than a devotional Bible) says that these two parts don't fit with any of the present material and are likely a later addition. I wonder why? What are the animals described? Often people say the Behemoth is a hippo, but it's funny to describe a hippo as ranking "first among the works of God." I've also heard they could be mythological animals -- mythologized by pagan writers or receivers?
4. God's entrance: So cool -- so dramatic. God is often accompanied by a storm in the OT, yes?
   

Question and Answer on Works

As I was reading John 5, Jesus talks about being the ultimate Judge.  He says, "a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned."

To me, that sounded an awful lot like judgement is based on works, which doesn't jive with other Scripture indicating faith as the basis of salvation.  Why did Jesus state it this way?

Then, I think my question was answered in Luke 6: "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.  Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. ... The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart."

Faith will produce works.  

This also raises the issue of works of nonbelievers seeming "good," but ultimately not being altruistic.  I'll leave that for another day.

Kingdom of God

A word on the "kingdom of God" that Jesus often refers to. For a long, long time, my mind just equated "kingdom of God" with "heaven." In the last several years, I have since come to have the opinion that it is an already-present kingdom.

Luke 6:20
"The kingdom of heaven BELONGS to you." (present tense)
6:21
"You WILL BE satisfied." (future tense)

It seems to be a kingdom that has already begun, one that has not yet come to complete fruition, but will. Thoughts?

Jesus & Centurion

I am struck at Jesus' response to the centurion. The centurion shows some considerable faith, and Jesus acknowledges this. The next part, thought, seems a touch out of place:

I tell you, many will come from the east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Then Jesus heals the man's servant.

Does that seem out of place to anyone else? Any thoughts on the "sons of the kingdom?" Another one of my bible's translates it "subjects of the kingdom." I feel like the cliche response would be to ascribe this noun to the uber-law-abiding Jewish leaders?

Also, this isn't in Luke.

I like Matthew's emphasis on the universal message of Christ.

Job Thoughts

1. Job 7:20: If I have sinned - what have I (Job) done to you (God), O watcher of men? - Is this rhetorical? Is Job really saying that sin has no consequence to God?
   
2. Who are we supposed to listen to in Job? When Bildad says "He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with gladness," is that an indirect promise from God, or is it simply a man's opinion?
3. I was talking with Evan last night about Job, and he mentioned 2:13, where Job's friends come and sit with him for 7 days and nights without saying a word. Evan said this is an incredible example of friendship... don't know how I missed that on my first read-through. (Then I read in ch. 16 "what miserable comforters are you all!")
   
4. Is anyone else a bit uncomfortable reading some of things Job says to God?
5. How cool is this to read?
   Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high
   My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God
   and he contends with God on behalf of man as a man pleads for his friend
   
6. Job as a Greek tragedy -- any takers?

Qualified?

This isn't new, but it's been sort of newly convicting for me. I started paying attention to what we know from Scripture about the people God calls to something. There have been a lot of them in just the first few days of reading - Noah, Abraham, Zach & Elizabeth, Mary & Joseph, Simon, Andrew, James, John, Levi, the other 7 apostles whose names I'm too lazy to look up. We're told so little about most of them in terms of why God chose them or what qualified them for the things he asked them to do. It says that Noah was "righteous" and "walked with God" (but as Jake asked in his post, what does that really mean?) and Mary also "found favor with God," but the rest of them were introduced for the first time when they were being called by God to do something. Which tells me that the only thing we can know that they had in common was that they were able to hear and were willing to respond to God's voice. No other qualifications.

And the thing that convicted me the most about these people was how little information they were given about what saying yes was going to mean for them. I am kind of obsessed with needing to figure things out. I analyze stuff and overthink everything and more often than not talk myself out of decisions because I don't have enough information. But Abraham - God didn't even tell him which direction to walk! He just said "Go to the land I will show you." What the heck does that mean? When will you show me? How far's it gonna be? Should I take a camel or just a backpack? Mary - she was asked to do something completely terrifying that could have easily gotten her stoned. And ended up having this crazy life with a son who could do awesome stuff but people thought he was crazy and wanted to kill him. The apostles that got up in the middle of the workday - they didn't get anything. Not even like "yeah, you might want to tell your dad you're not gonna help him fish tomorrow." No information. All any of them had was some word that they somehow knew was from God, and because they knew it was him, they just did what he said. What's keeping me from having that kind of confidence in God's voice? Do I even completely believe he speaks like this?

Never Read this before...

After a chapter long rant about his guilt, job concludes the following.

³³ If only there were someone to arbitrate between us,
to lay his hand upon us both,

³⁴ someone to remove God's rod from me,
so that his terror would frighten me no more.

³⁵ Then I would speak up without fear of him,
but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

Ive never read this and am encouraged by it. I love thinking of Jesus as my/our advocate. To think that Jesus as an attorney pleading on our behalf to God the Judge is really beautiful. For as bad a wrap that defense attorneys get, it is cool to think about their role. Pleading on behalf of those who have little to no plea. If we think about it in a human sense, defense attorneys are offensive in a lot of cases. In cases where the defendant is clearly guilty, defense attorneys try to get them off on some sort of technicallity, insanity plea, or at least try to minimize the sentence (reducing what we consider justice).

Our situation is no different. We are guilty before God and really have no plea. But Jesus took it a step further than trying to get us off on a technicality, insanity plea, or minimized sentence. He (as our advocate/attorney) has told the judge that yes, the defendant is guilty, but rather than have him/her serve their sentence, I would like to serve their sentence for them. Pretty cool.

I think it is quite amazing that Job realized his need for this advocate. Especially at a time when he seemed to have done nothing wrong and was the offended party.

-camel

Thanks for the invite

First post, pleasure to join you all, I've been catching up with the readings and am glad to be able to take part in this. Commenting on what Raine said, I feel like I can relate to Job and am trying to learn to trust God through the hard times. I have definitely had some struggles in the past few months, nothing compared to Job but nonetheless feeling like God took something away from me that was/is so important to me. (I have been suffering from a severely herniated disc in my back that has left me hobbling around for the past 3 months or so and hopefully will soon be operated on). To not be able to even kick a soccer ball or jump a few inches off the ground, or even lift my leg very well has been a frustrating experience and so many times I have cried out to God to take away the pain and felt like I am speaking to a deaf ear. I continue to move forward and keep walking through the pain (literally and metaphorically) but it is definitely a struggle. I think about how many things I usually use as a crutch: money, power, nationality, health, education, etc. I realize that often it is so easy to worship/trust God with your mouth but your actions say something different and your heart knows differently. I liked Job 5:18 that says "For he wounds, but he also binds up: he injures, but his hands also heal." I think I am starting to learn to just give it all up to God and trust that he knows what he is doing, that his timing is better than mine and his plan superior to mine. This is hard to do, I feel like I need to have more power in my life, or at least feel like I have it, but this experience has been a humbling one, just one little insignificant disc in my back is out of place and all my power, speed, athleticism, everything is gone and I am rendered weak. It has really just shown me the fragility of my strength and I was drawn to what John the Baptist said in John 3 "You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegrooms voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater, I must become less." How true that is, its a painful lesson of being broken, one that is a long and sometimes painful journey, one I still haven't learned, but am fighting through. I just want to be the hero of the story, but am learning to recognize that that can never be my role, but in that there is freedom to be used by God.

Challenged

I am always challenged when I read the first part of Job. "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord". I wish that I could say that and mean it. Obviously it is easy to bless the Lord when everything is going well, and by and large, I don't run across a whole lot of adversity. But even still, I think that most of the time, I trust God or praise Him for what He does or has done for me, rather than who He is.

Rambling OT Thoughts

Being a history lover, it can be tough for me to distance myself from wanting to fit everything in Genesis into a historical timeline. I just had some thoughts that I'd love to hear input from you on if anyone has time... I know these are rambling and maybe even unanswerable. Still, I'd very much enjoy hearing your collective thoughts.

1. How come the OT seems to skip in huge leaps? We go from Noah, with no one left on the Earth, to Babel, where it seems we have a million people together building a tower. Then, we flash to Abram, and it seems as though we are in some part of the zenith of Egypt while a big city has been built in Sodom.
   
2. Local flood vs. global flood? Does it matter?
3. Was Noah's time the absolute peak of sin? How did everything devolve so quickly? Were they necessarily more wicked than modern day people? Were they given an opportunity to repent? Is that what the time period around the building of the ark was?
4. How did the author of Genesis know the lifespan of everyone?
5. What were the logistics of being a person of faith in the early OT? Did it involve simply "being" righteous? Is that salvation through works? (What have I opened here...)

I don't know. I used to be a super-militant 6,000 year old Earth creationist in high school and have since mellowed out a ton. As a reader, the transition seems so blurry between this (completely factual) myth and quite precise genealogies.

Always abundant

I'm always struck by this picture of abundance when I read the creation story. The word "good" is used like a billion times (ok, actually just 11) in reference to the things God made. He provided all this crazy goodness in such an extravagant way for Adam & Eve to enjoy, and gave them access to and dominion over all of it, with the exception of that one tree. Sometimes I think "wow, that was kind of mean of God to create this cool tree and then not let them eat from it" but He had given them SO much other cool stuff to name and caretake and eat from and enjoy. It reminds me of the part at the end of the Prodigal Son story where the father says to the older son "you are always with me and EVERYTHING I have is yours." If we are really God's children, then we have access to all this crazy abundance. But how often do we take advantage of that access, or even recognize it? I was talking about this with one of my roommates this week, how so often we act like orphans - like we are on our own to make decisions and provide for ourselves and figure out our lives - or like beggars - that we have this scarcity mentality that there isn't enough _______ (money, love, affirmation, success, etc.) to go around, so we need to fight for our piece of it. The creation story reminds me that I'm not an orphan or a beggar. I have a Father who, when He got to choose the way He went about provision in the very beginning, chose to do it in an abundant, extravagant way, so that the things He provided were good. Not just good for Him, but good for the people He gave them to. Reading the story again today in this light, I think the thing that saddened me the most about the consequences of Adam & Eve's sin was that they were banished from the garden. They no longer got to experience abundance the same way because they had demanded more than what had already been provided for them. I guess that's maybe the irony of sin - wanting something you think is attractive actually takes you farther away from the abundance that the Father knows is best for you.

Jesus, help me appreciate your abundance more and be attracted to empty pleasures less.

Maybe my favorite part of the Bible...

Well, it would be a bummer to have my favorite part be over with already, but I love the very beginning of Genesis and the creation stories. (That chapter camp was by far my favorite).

For those that took the class, you may remember the book "At the Start," which is a really fresh translation of Genesis. For example, here is a part of what we read today... pure poetry:

At the start Elohim created the skies and the earth

--the earth was tohu-bohu
darkness on the face of the deep
and the breath of Elohim
hovering on the face of the waters--

Elohim said
Let light be
Light was
Elohim saw the light How good!
Elohim separated the light from the darkness
Elohim called to the light "Day"
To the darkness he called "Night"
It was evening, it was morning
One day

First Day Reading

Well, it was a challenge for me to get around to reading today, which doesnt bode well for the other 364 days. But, I am glad that I did. As I type, I am procrastinating working on my Final Project for my grad class. I just finished reading the passeges in Luke and John and was encouraged. It seems like no matter how many times I read the line Mary says, I am stunned by it.

"I am the Lord's servant, may it be to me as you have said"

Its simple and beautiful and really difficult for me to say. Why do I always fight to posture myself as His servant? Why does that seem uncomfortable and why do I immediately cringe at the thought of having it "be unto me" as He determines. Gotta believe its a trust thing. I want to trust Him with everything I am. I think I am more owned by fear and "logic" than I want to admit. Mary was awesome to hear what she had just heard (which was something out of left field) and simply respond with "I am the Lord's servant, may it be unto me..."

-camel, aspiring servant