God will not allow us to comfortably ignore him Ceilon Aspensen, January 29, 2024February 4, 2024 Get the FREE worksheet for this program here. The most important message I picked up from today’s readings overall is God will not allow us to comfortably ignore him. My primary take-away from each of the passages was this: Exodus 7, 8 – God will not allow us to comfortably ignore him. He will find ways to trouble us until we choose to listen. Mark 1 – If we are willing Jesus can heal whatever ails us. Psalms 29 – The evidence of God is everywhere in nature, reminding us that we are subject to a mystery much greater than ourselves. Proverbs 29 – Pride and inflexibility prevent us from hearing from God. Be humble, receptive, and flexible. In today’s Exodus passages, we see Moses repeatedly asking Pharoah to let the people of Israel go and worship God, and Pharoah stubbornly refusing. God sends plagues to trouble Pharoah and make him uncomfortable enough to relent. While troubled by the various plagues, Pharoah promises to relent if Moses will convince God to remove the plagues. Over and over again we see the pattern of plagues, promises, withdrawal of the plagues, and broken promises. Moses stands firm, Pharoah grows obstinate, wash, rinse, repeat. Many people read these verses and try to figure out how these plagues happened, and try to come up with scientific explanations. However, the Bible is not a science book. The story of Moses and the plagues is one that represents a long history of storytelling traditions designed to teach a lesson. The parts of the story that are historical are the parts where Jacob’s children take refuge in Egypt and prosper there, are forgotten by the subsequent Pharoahs after a number of generations have passed and they have become enslaved over time, and then Moses comes along and becomes the leader who will finally free the nation of Israel from their captivity in Egypt. Details like the hardening of Pharoah’s heart and him becoming obstinate, alternated with moments of relenting in the face of plagues are storytelling devices that kept the listener gripped in the palm of the storyteller’s hand, much like our modern day cliff-hangers and hair’s-breadth escapes in modern day movies and literature. The repetition of the plagues is designed to draw our attention to the way in which we, ourselves, can be stubborn and obstinate, how we bargain with God when we are faced with seemingly insurmountable difficulties of our own, how we make promises (“Dear Lord, if you get me out of this I promise I’ll [fill in the blank with whatever we promise in the heat of the moment]…”), and then go straight back to business as usual once we’re out of trouble, forgetting our promises. Again, we are presented with a double-edged sword in this story: there’s the big story of the Hebrew people and their journey from Adam to Jesus, and then to us, and then there are infinite little stories contained within that point directly back to each of us and the way we are living out our own lives and faith in God. God will not let us comfortably ignore him. He will continue to trouble us in order to get our attention, and until we learn the lesson. If we continue to be seriously troubled, it is usually because we stubbornly and obstinately refuse to listen and obey his instructions. Anyone who has ever experienced this “troubling” by God will recognize the pattern. In my own case, there have been many times when I thought I had learned the lesson and cried out to God to please go work on someone else’s character for a while and give me a break. For moments like those, it’s good to remember the next passage in today’s reading. In Mark 1: 12-13 we are reminded that Jesus himself was sent out into the desert immediately after being announced by John the Baptist and baptized, and there he was tempted and tested for forty days before beginning his ministry. If Jesus is not immune from testing and trials, then neither are we. However, that is not the most important message I get out of Mark 1 (although it is another example of the “coincidences” that occur in these coordinated readings). In Mark 1 there are two things that stand out for me: how many times Jesus and the people he calls to him do things “at once,” and all the sick and tormented people Jesus healed and cured. There is a sense of urgency in this stage of Jesus’ ministry. He and his disciples act upon the situations they are presented with “at once,” without hesitation. And when people cry out to him for help and healing he gives it “at once.” There is no review process by which he decides if they are deserving. He simply does it “at once.” We could learn a lesson from that. When people ask us for help, if it is within our means to give it we should do so “at once.” If it is not within our means to help them, we should direct them to the resources that can help them, “at once.” In today’s reading in Exodus (and in previous passages in this book), we see how hesitant Moses was to take up the work God was putting before him to do. This is the opposite of what Jesus did. Moses protests and makes many excuses, and finally does what he is tasked by God to do, reluctantly. Jesus and his disciples respond to God’s call “at once.” Eventually, Moses (with God’s help) gets the job done; but I can’t help but wonder what might have happened if he had done everything God asked him to do “at once.” In today’s Psalm, we are presented with the reason we should not hesitate in the work God has for us to do: God is in control, and the evidence of that is all around us in the natural world. We are part of God’s creation, and we are the least of it. God is in the thunder and the lightning, and all the other powerful and glorious natural phenomena in the Universe. God is able to provide for and protect us, and equip us for the work he sends us out to do. He is bigger than our troubles and difficulties. Making a full circle and underscoring the lessons in Exodus, today’s Proverb underscores the pitfalls of persisting in stubbornness and obstinacy. The entire passage is a portrait of Pharoah. It is also a portrait of us when we stubbornly persist in our own resistance to whatever it is that God is urging us to do. The problem and the solution are both summed up in verse 23: “Pride brings humiliation, whoever humbles himself will win honor.” This is one of the great paradoxical teachings of Jesus: who is first shall be last, and who is last shall be first. “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35) That’s what I got out of it. What did you get out of the readings today? You can join us in our private Facebook group that I set up specifically for sharing what we take-away from the readings each day. If you haven’t gotten the FREE “Read the Bible in a Year” worksheet yet, you can Get the FREE worksheet for this program here. It is not necessary for you to start on January 1st–you can start from the beginning on whatever date you get the worksheet. Join us! Learn more about why I read the Bible all the way through every year, and feel free to share with anyone you think could benefit. 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. Please follow and like us: Read the Bible in a Year Spiritual Practice changechange for the betterchristianchristianityencounter with Godpositive changeread the biblesacrificespiritual