365 Reflections

When life gets difficult, God goes on trial. Why is this happening? Where is God when it hurts? What is the point of this suffering? Why is life so unfair? That is the issue at stake in Ezekiel 18. During their early years in exile, the people of Israel started to question God’s fairness. If the nation sinned in the past, why should the children of that nation suffer in exile for 70 years? Chapter 18 opens with God asking them about a proverb they invented about children suffering for the sins of their fathers. Ezekiel 18:2–4 (ESV) “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 3 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die. Every generation has this sort of question. Why should I suffer because of the poor choices of ...

Judges 11:1–4 (ESV) Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. 2 And Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. And when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him. 4 After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel. Jephthah is a flawed man. He is also infamous for a terrible decision in life that he really should not be defined by. But it happened and we'll get to it, but not today. For right now I want you to look at who Jephthah was from birth to adulthood. The definition of his reality during that phrase could be described as one thing: A raw deal in life.  Consider that he is the son of a prostitute. His father's one night stand before se...

So I'm just going to take a stab at this next passage in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 25:11–16 (ESV) “When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, 12 then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity. 13 “You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. 15 A full and fair weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the LORD your God. There is a connection in this law concerning the wife who harms the genitals of a man attacking her husband and the previous law concerning levirate marriage. The aim of the previous law was to prolong the name of the decease...

"God, that's not fair!" Who first said those words? Cain. Genesis 4:11–14 (ESV) And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” 13 Cain said to the Lord , “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” You know what's interesting about Cain's complaint? First: God's punishment wasn't more than he could bear... he went on to build an entire city and have many descendants. Second: God's punishment did not fit the crime. Cain KILLED Abel. In the Old Testament, the law will be spoken from Sinai and even before through Noah; an eye for an eye, life for life. Cain should have...

The Parable of the Vineyard workers comes on the heels of Jesus' interaction with the Rich Young Man.  Jesus ends both sections with this phrase: "many who are first will be last and the last first." The dynamic reordering of the kingdom declares the laborers hired first who bore the burden in the heat of the day received what was promised.  The laborers found last and hired received the same. When the first-hired laborers got their due, they grumbled.  To me, it's a simple case of bad assumptions.  They assumed they deserved better. We do the same. We should notice, the master of the house made the first move with each set of laborers.  None of them would have a job without His initiation. But the real story is this - after just one day of working , the first-hired laborers already have in mind what the master should be doing.  Isn't that like us?  We get saved by grace, and then we unconsciously leave grace for works, thinking we have ar...