Lent
February 27, 2018
Scripture Reading: 20:1-17
Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. –Exodus 1:12-17
Rules/laws exist to bring order out of chaos. God set the standard for order when God created an orderly world. Rules/law change over time as societies progress. A good example of this is the Biblical admonition not to work on the Sabbath with some exceptions cited from the beginning. One original rule forbade starting a fire for light because building fires required a fair amount of manual labor. When light became available through the flip of a switch, Rabbis discerned that this did not constitute labor and thus was permissible.
Rules/laws are never as clear as stated. Since God carved the Ten Commandments in stone, people debate the parameters of their meaning. How does one honor parents who abuse and neglect them? What constitutes murder? Courts exist to try and address such issues. Theologians struggle with the deeper meanings as they relate to God’s meaning.
Living an ordered life and not in constant chaos requires a close, intimate relationship with God. I Iove the Bible’s inclusion of the story of Jacob wrestling with God. Jacob could dish out as much as he got and had a lot of chaos to clear but he seemed to carry God with him struggled to get right with God. We could say the same about David. Clearing chaos on a regular basis makes life a lot less complicated, and hopefully, limits major wrestling matches with God.
I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses
And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known*
Prayer: Lord, hold me close and help me to reciprocate in kind even in my stubborn resistence. Amen.
*First verse and chorus of In the Garden by C. Austin Miles see at https://www.google.com/search?q=in+the+garden+lyrics&oq=in&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i61l2j69i60j69i57j69i59.1874j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8