Be brave, take heart–our lives are in God’s hands

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The most important message I picked up from today’s readings overall is be brave, take heart–our lives are in God’s hands.

My primary takeaway from each of the passages was this:

• Exodus 11-12 – People in positions of leadership should be mindful that their stubbornness will cause all the people subject to their decisions to suffer.
• Mark 3 – When we take a bold stance to do the right thing and speak the truth, people are likely to think we’re crazy.
• Psalms 31 – “Be brave. Take heart.” My life is in God’s hands.
• Proverbs 31 – Women have an important role to play in the affairs of the world.

These chapters in Exodus always resonate with me. I’m a public school teacher and subject to frequent changes in local, state, and federal education policy. With great regularity, those in authority make decisions that affect my students and myself, which I have no control over, and which often have negative or unintended consequences for all of us, without ever considering the potential fallout of those decisions. In Exodus 11 and 12, Pharoah is making big decisions out of his own pride and stubbornness that will affect all of the people in his country. We don’t know what the Egyptian citizens do to protect themselves from the negative effects of Pharoah’s decisions, but Moses tells the Hebrews how to protect themselves from the devastation to come. Although Jesus does not appear for thousands of years, this entire chapter foreshadows his emergence as the savior of humanity. The solution for the Hebrews is to paint the blood of sacrificed lamb on their door posts which will cause the Angel of Death to pass by them and all in their household. That is precisely what Jesus did for us, later.

The message of these passages is clear: when I find myself subject to circumstances beyond my control and in a negative situation created by the bad decisions of others, I am to put my faith and trust in God, and lay low until the danger passes by. I imagine there was a lot of prayer going on in those houses back in Egypt while the entire country endured the suffering of every family losing their first born child. We are to pray also when going through dark times.

That’s the life-application lesson I get out of these chapters, but it’s also from these chapters that we get the Jewish tradition of Passover and the Seder meal. To this day, Jews celebrate Passover with a meal of unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and prayer, and so do many Christian churches such as my own. It is a reminder not only of God remembering his people, providing for them, and leading them out of bondage, but also a reminder of the foreshadowing of the coming of Jesus who does that for all who call on him.

In todays reading in Mark, we see Jesus continuing to perform healing miracles for people who stubbornly refuse to believe what they see with their own eyes; and if they do believe what they see they are so stuck in their traditions and the status quo that they reject what Jesus has to offer so they can go on clinging to their old, limiting beliefs without being disturbed by the wonderful things God is doing. Instead of rejoicing in the healing of people who have been suffering but are now no longer suffering, they turn away. How often do we do that? Meanwhile, Jesus just keeps on doing what he was sent to do, and moves on. He continues to accumulate disciples, heal people, and spread the good news of God’s forgiveness.

When we choose to ignore what God is trying to do in our lives, he moves on. Then we complain that he abandoned us when we are the ones who refused to accept his healing and forgiveness. Fortunately for us, he is always ready to receive us whenever we are ready to change our minds and accept what he has to offer.

In today’s reading in Psalms, we find a prayer of refuge and protection that (had it not been written long after the events that occurred in Egypt) could have been an apt prayer for the people experiencing the first Passover. When things are dark and we find ourselves in evil times, Psalms 31 is an appropriate prayer to get us through.

The final chapter of Proverbs speaks to two things: an admonition to take heed of all the lessons that Proverbs taught us in the previous 30 chapters, and a portrait of the perfect “housewife.” I’ve heard many sermons on what the role of “Godly women” ought to be, based on the teachings of Paul in the New Testament, and they usually center on subservience and being second class citizens with no voice. However, Proverbs 31 paints an entirely different picture. The kinds of things the woman in Proverbs 31 is doing portray her as an equal partner with her husband. She is strong, wise, industrious, talented, charitable, and substantial. There is no subservience here. Any suggestions or admonitions to women to be quiet, invisible, and stay in the background always arise from cultural traditions of oppressing women and have nothing to do with God. The Bible is full of strong women who lead and provide us with great examples of what it actually means to be a Godly woman. God loves women and empowers us to be all that he made us to be, regardless of how uncomfortable it may make men in power. Jesus’ ministry was fueled by all the women who followed him and provided money, food, and other means of support. Women have a great role to play in God’s eternal plan.

That’s what I got out of it. What did you get out of the readings today?

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This post is part of the series, “Read the Bible in a Year.”

To see other posts in this series, go to the Chronological Index of Read the Bible in a Year Posts.

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