May 25

OT – 2 Samuel 7:1-8:18
Another yucky passage immediately following a grand one. Just when I am reveling in how much God loved David, I read of David hamstringing horses. Horses. What an ass. For goodness sake, my friend D, don’t tell your lovely daughter about this passage.
What, what, what am I to do with how I feel about these passages?
I get the whole ‘they were assailed’ part. Sometimes, not always, but sometimes I can even lightly read stuff like ‘the measuring off lengths, every 2 killed and the third allowed to live’ or the 100 foreskins as a bride price. After all, these were fighting men.
But when I read stuff like the women, children and babies all being killed. Or the donkeys, cows and chickens slaughtered and left to rot, I don’t buy it. I know how much WORK goes into one chicken to eat. The waste. The inhumanity of it. don’t tell me that is God’s way. I don’t believe that.
Sorry, in a blue funk here right now. Matthew leaves on Sunday for the summer.

NT – John 14:15-31
Another Bible buzz phrase that I did not know the origin of in today’s passage, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives, Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
This whole series of imagery is one sermon that he gave his disciples. Remember, they are still in the room after he has washed their feet. I imagine that they are all reclining as you do for Passover on squishy cushions and Jesus is doing his dead level best to impart one last bit of wisdom, one last set of instructions, one last thing to remember before they head out the door for his arrest.
This passage is one that is quoted most often as the reason for John, the disciple, to be the author of this gospel. If he wasn’t the author, whoever it was, used well loved and repeated stories from the disciples as a first hand narrative.

Proverbs 15:33
The fear of the Lord teaches wisdom and humility comes before honor.
Teenagers aren’t humble. I imagine most of you know this. I certainly wasn’t humble as a teenager myself so I have NO IDEA why this has come as such a surprise to me and why it continues to shock me every time I hear one of my boys spout off.
If they aren’t humble, they definitely aren’t honorable or even on the path to honor.
So, how do we get there? The very first part of the proverb is our pathlight. It is the ‘fear of the Lord’.
The word that is translated here as fear is translated elsewhere as reverence, submission, and also honor.
Back to that word again. In order to gain honor for ourselves, we first must find someone/something/some idea to honor. To emulate. To follow. And this is where the choice comes in. We can choose to honor God or we can choose something else. To follow his precepts (our on-going psalm…) or to follow the World’s. It is our choice.

May we each choose wisely.