YOUR WORD VERSES THEIRS

A message to all the agnostics out there and maybe the Christians/Catholics who don’t like reading the Old Testament: The First Installment of Kings is long and extremely repetitive. My wife said it best, “I’ll let you read it all (old testament) and then I'll just read your blog, so I won’t have to waist my time.” So that’s what it’s come down to, huh? Well in this instant, I would say she just might be right. I now understand why I know so many religious people who can’t tell me anything about the Old Testament, it sometimes does fell like a big waist of time. About 3 hours and 23 minutes. If you count, research time spent looking up unexplained words, history and places. However, like every great excavation you spend so much time in what seems like a futile search, before you make that one golden discover. And for all those who haven’t read it, I stand here as a witness to tell you that there is buried treasure within the pages of 1 Kings.

The arcing theme throughout the entire story is to use your own heart or discernment when it comes to following God. In the first few chapters of 1 Kings (1-6, 8) we read about King Solomon and how the wisdom bestowed on to him by God brought him great discernment as well as great wealth. With this wealth, he built the first temple for God, that God actually approved of and dwelled in. However, as the multitude of people from many nations flocked to seek counsel from Solomon’s great wisdom, he himself began to ignore God’s word and his covenants. Solomon began to bed women whom God warned him to stay away from, which lead him to worship other God’s and build statues in their image. And as you can guess, this pissed God off and He in turn ended the reign of Solomon’s greatness.

What is important to know about this story is that unlike many other Kings, who had only the words of their advisers or priest to tell them what God said, Solomon was able to see and speak directly to God (1 Kings 3:5 and 9:2). Therefore, Solomon unlike many Kings knew God personally and still he chose, under the influence of others, to worship false idols. 

Well, in today’s society we have so many people who claim to have a direct line with God, so many in fact that even the thought of asking, “What does God expect?” can be overwhelming.  Every preacher or “holy man” out there can have a different answer for you. You can read the Bible, Quran, Torah, and many other religious guides and still not find the perfect answer. However, what I found in this story shines a great example on where to go to find the right answer… turn inward to pray.  However, not the falsity of sitting in a dark room with a man you call father, but the true one on one connection granted to Solomon, when he was in his time of great need. I do believe that God is willing to talk to us if we are willing to listen. If we can quiet our minds and just focus on our on direct personal connection with the Creator, then we will hear the words that are right for us.

Another great example of this comes in the story of a mysterious man with no name, identified only as “A man of God” (1 Kings 13).  He comes from Judah to warn King Jeroboam against making offerings at the false alter. The “man of God” is told by God to not eat or drink anything while in the king’s kingdom, so when the king offers him refreshments he declines.  However, when one of the king’s prophets says to him “I am also a prophet and God has told me you must come and eat and drink with me”, the man of God foolishly follows him. Therefore, when he disobeys God’s word by eating the prophet’s food, a lion kills the “man of God” that very same day. 

The word of God is a tricky thing, but the message he speaks to you is clear. Hold on to that over all else and follow it. Let know man, prophet, book, movie, or website tell you something that is false to what your own heart is telling you. If God dwells inside us He must speak to us from the inside, those gut feelings, that tiny voice, or in Solomon’s case that dream. And when you hear it, hold fast to it and let know one deceive you from following your covenant with God.

Today I will pray for discernment in all that I read and all that I say. 

SCATTERED AND CHUNKED

“Scattered and Chunked” not only describes a style of hash browns you can order at a "Waffle House", it also relates to my reading methods as of lately, which leads me to today’s posting. 

I was reading 1 Kings that tells the story of Solomon, a man who was granted an unprecedented wisdom from God, when I was stunted by a question that I had. Why would God have granted Solomon this wisdom? Why is he granted the ability of having an understanding greater than any other has, before or after him, except maybe Jesus?  Which of course, lead me to the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11: 1-10. 

This is something that has always troubled me. If you read the story as it is written, is there something inherently wrong or deviant about the people building the tower?

They created a tower so that if ever they were scattered about the earth again, they would know where to return. They wanted to name the tower to make a name for themselves as people. Is that like naming a country America and calling yourself Americans?

I have read that some religious scholars interpret this story as, the people were creating a tower to glorify it in their on name, which defies the glory of God. Or maybe, the people were creating the tower so they could make it to heaven and know the ways of God. 

This is the one time in history, which we know of, were all of mankind spoke one language and got along in peace. That is assuming you believe in or except biblical history. Note I don't count Adam and Eve because Eve schemed Adam into the suffering of man, so that doesn't count as getting along in peace… and of course, they're offspring Cain and Abel also don’t count, because they were the first Hatfields and McCoy's, so no peace there either. 

For me the toughest thing to accept is, why would God scatter the people and their ability to communicate. It says God came down, saw they were building the tower and said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other”, and then he scattered the people about the earth. However, it never says why?

What was their crime, higher intelligence (no pun intended)? Wanting to know God? Arrogance? Pride? Unification? Being malicious to clouds? What is the crime that caused such a punishment? Discovering man's ability to accomplish great things? 

This makes me wonder more about Jesus’ mission. It is said, that we can do great things. "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.” However, looking at the story of Babel combined with the teachings of Jesus, the thing that stands out the most to me, is that the people did achieve something great without praising God. They just got to work and started working. Is that their sin? 

Does this mean if you are doing many great things: curing cancer, saving children, building homes for the homeless, etc and you don't praise God or Jesus for giving you the ability to do it, that it becomes a sin. Does God come down and smash the homes you have built? Is that the message, we are to take away from this story. 

If so, then today's society is definitely disobeying God: shooting rockets to the moon, speaking English, printing Bibles in English and forcing societies around the world to speak in one tongue, forcing a one world view on people, making smart-phones and connecting people through facebook.

I can’t help but wonder, what God's plan or purpose was when he scattered the towers, which makes me question if we are messing with his plans now? Does God really want unification? Does He really want us to be able to accomplish all of our hearts desires? (OK, this one I can probably answer with a resounding, NO... let's be honest some people's hearts have bad intentions). In addition, does God want humanity to live in peace? 

There are many stories in the bible that show that God supports division amongst people. Maybe He has a grand design for division and separatism in society. Which makes me wonder if unification is simply a made up dream of humans, who desire a feeling of universality that may be triggered by a desire to know God or a universal "creator" being?

On the other hand, maybe the people were simply scattered and divided because God, didn't want them to be unified until he sent Jesus to do so. This would mean the people of Babel were not punished for sinning but they were simply scattered because God wanted humanity to wait until He sent Jesus. 

I walk away from this experience feeling a bit puzzled, a bit relieved and somewhat concerned about my own intellect and curiosity. Am I like the people building the tower of Babel, whenever I pose questions about God or to God? Does my thinking out of the box of religion and what I've been told offend? Will my desire to search for the truth and to reach a better understanding/connection with God cause me to be scattered? 

All I know is my strong curiosity is molded from the words of Luke, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." 

This is a way of life, I can truly believe in. Therefore, I guess my questioning is all right. But then again it never says what is on the other side of the door that opens, or what you will receive.  

Today, I have more questions then answers. So, my lesson today is to learn to live with not knowing. Maybe, that's the message of the Babel story. That we aren't meant to know everything, and we can not always be right. 

Ok, I feel better closing this out now. Sorry I had to drag you all along with me through this arduous up hill battle. But I think I finally get it. 

Thanks.

SOLOMON'S WISDOM

It is said that Solomon as a child prayed to the LORD and asked for wisdom. And God granted him a wisdom and understanding of dealing with people that only the Lord knew and that no man before or after him would have.

Now, it is important to note the first case that is brought to Solomon, after his prayer, is a maternal dispute by two prostitutes over a baby. Solomon remedy is to tell the women he “will cut the living baby in half and divide him in halves to each of you”. Wow!!! That's a little crazy right? But then, the woman who had stolen the child reveals her lack of love for the baby by agreeing to let the child be sliced in half. Until the true mother to pleads that Solomon allow the baby to live and gives the baby up to the other prostitute so that he may live. SOLOMON had to use swift, tough, and yes cruel tactics to get to the truth and to see into the hearts of the women. Now if Solomon has the wisdom of God, then I assume God agreed with this line of judgment and ruling. This makes sense in the world, when you apply it to the present day world we live in today, where even the innocent can endure hardship in order for the truth to be revealed.

When we lose a job promotion, a friend, or even a Loved one it is hard to look at life as a half full glass. However, we must train ourselves to accept the hard decisions that are sometimes made for us (or that GOD delivers to us) and believe that the right thing will be done in the end. I think that is what Solomon’s judgment did… it looked passed what is good; to arrive at what is right.