Thomas a’ Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ has good words for me and other bibliophiles: ”Certainly, when Judgment Day comes we shall not be asked what books we have read, but what deeds we have done; we shall not be asked how well we have debated, but how devoutly we have lived.” (1.3.5)
Hmmm…a good word for the day.
I was doing some reading and came across some helpful words from a Puritan, Lewis Bayly. One of the chapers in his book, “The Practice of Piety” is called: “BRIEF DIRECTIONS HOW TO READ THE HOLY SCRIPTURES ONCE EVERY YEAR OVER, WITH EASE, PROFIT, AND REVERENCE.” He outlines six guidelines for profitable Bible reading. Although they seem profitable, I’m not sure they make reading the Bible in a year “easy” as he claims. Regardless, I offer them as suggestions for reflective Bible reading.
I’ve taken the liberty to “”modernize” and paraphrase what Bayly wrote.
“Just as faith is the soul of Bible reading, so reading and meditating on the Word of God are the parents of prayer, therefore, before you pray in the morning read a chapter in the Word of God, then meditate on all the excellent things there are in that passage. The following is a guide for meditation:
First: How is the passage challenging you to live a holy life filled with good works?
Second: Are there any warnings of God’s judgment on particular sins that you need to hear?
Third: What blessings does God promise to those who demonstrate patience, chastity, mercy, gift-giving, zealous service, love, faith and trust in God, and other Christian virtues?
Fourth: How is God the gracious deliverer and gift-giver to his faithful people in this passage?
Fifth: Apply these things to your own heart; don’t read the passage merely as history, but as God’s letter sent from heaven to you.
Sixth: Receive God’s Word with reverence as if God stood by your side speaking His word directly to you. Apply all that you read in Scripture to yourself and respond appropriately – either growing in faith or in genuine repentance.”
I loved the section: “reading and meditating on God’s Word are the parents of prayer…”; what a great metaphor!
This week has been a monumental week. Anyone paying attention to the news, even remotely, would have noticed all the beautiful panoramas of our nation’s monuments and government buildings. All of the footage of Washington D.C. makes me want to get back there and take a stroll down the mall and peruse our nation’s museum storehouses. The symmetrical design of our capitol is telling of our desire for order and beauty. Besides being taken back by our nation’s monuments, this week of course has been monumental in a different way: the swearing in of the first African-American president. That’s monumental.
Although most commentators that I’ve read have stated that Obama’s speech was far from being monumental, another speech given, not too long ago (in terms of histories of nations are concerned), by Martin Luther King, Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln monument was indeed monumental. His famous words echoed out across the nation’s mall:
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” …
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. …”
King’s words were prophetic words in 1963. People had become accustomed to a segregated society, not just in the United States but throughout the world. We are a post-Babel society where, because of our human hubris, God confused the languages of the people (Gen. 11). But that’s not to say that diversity (such a “buzz” word these days) itself is a result of our human pride and sin.
Right before Genesis 11 recounts the confusion of the languages, chapter 10 tells of the diversity of Noah’s descendants:
v.2-5 “The sons of Japtheth … From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language , by their clans, in their nations.”
v.6-20 “These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.”
v.21-31 “These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.”
How odd, then, that Genesis 11:1 begins with, “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.” What? I thought that the previous verses stated that the sons of Noah were divided by their own clan and their own language. Perhaps, and this is a perhaps, although the languages were divided, although there was diversity, there was a sense of understanding and unity despite their differences. In this way, when God confuse the languages because of human sin he didn’t create diversity as a curse but rather put an end to the unity in the midst of diversity.
Fast-forward to the New Testament, where I think we get a Babel-reversing and world-shaking picture of God’s church, diverse yet united. The disciples had hunkered down following Jesus’ ascension, waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit when “suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. … And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues [languages] as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. … And they were amazed …” (Acts 2:1-7).
Here the great reversal of Babel occurs. Before Babel, there were diverse languages yet understanding and unity. After Babel, diverse languages and division. After Pentecost, by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit God’s people, men and women “from every nation under heaven” again are brought together despite their diverse clans, languages, lands, and nations” to praise and honor, not themselves as they did at Babel, but the living God.
As I’m reading through Genesis, I’m struck by how often the Bible refers to us as being not at home – a wandering people. Later in Scripture this gets picked up with the idea of exile, but already in the first few chapters we are no longer at home with God; we are a pilgrim people.
Genesis 3:23,24: ”…the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim…”
Genesis 4:12,16: “You [Cain] shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. … Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”
Genesis 12:1: “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”
Genesis 12:10: ”Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there…”
In Genesis (and later in Exodus), God’s people were physically wandering. Today that wandering continues until we return to God. Jesus, too, tells a story the wandering son (the Prodigal Son) who left his loving father and wandered to a distant land only to squander his wealth and life. Finally the prodigal wanderer remembered his Father and returned home. St. Augustine nailed it when he wrote in his Confessions, “My heart is restless until it rests in Thee.”
Tucked away and often skipped are a few verses from the opening chapters of Genesis that give an early indication of how the cultural mandate (Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it…) was being fulfilled. Notice all the italicized sections (emphasis added):
Gen. 4:17-22 (ESV) Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron.
Already, only a few chapters into Genesis and we see the birth of culture (albeit from a murdering brother). Cain the city-builder, Jabal the farmer, Jubal the musician, and Tubal-cain the metal-worker.
Okay, so it’s a stretch, but it’s cute. Genesis is about beginnings and within a span of a few short verses the building blocks of Scripture are laid. It has been said that all good theology starts with Genesis (don’t ask me who said it or where – but I think someone said it – if not, I still think it is true).
‘A’ is for Im(A)ge
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen. 1:26-27 ESV)
Of course there is much to ponder here. What is meant by image and likeness? Are they the same or are they to be seen as two different aspects of our createdness like the Eastern church teaches? Do the words “Let us make…” give glimpses already to the Triune nature of God?
There are some uncertainties to the passage, but what seems to be clear is that being made in the image of God has at least two characteristics that are mentioned here: having dominion and being relational. On the first pages of Scripture God sets out how he intends life to work. First, we are given charge of God’s good creation – what a responsibility! Nathan Bierma has pointed out that we are to serve as lieutenants (tending God’s garden in lieu of the Master). We are to run things and care for things just as he would. Oh, how sin has twisted things! Rather than tending to God’s creation with him in mind, we seek to DOMINATE creation for our own purposes and for our own pleasures. Secondly, male and female, we are created in the image of God. Just as God exists in perfect community in the Godhead, so we need community. It is only in community that we find true communion with God.
‘B’ is for (B)lessing
“And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves of the earth.’ … And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Gen. 1:28,31 ESV)
I’ve read these words a lot, but this time I was surprised! In the past, for whatever reason, I mentally separated “And God blessed them” and the later so called cultural mandate. This time, however, when I read these words it made sense that the blessing IS the cultural mandate. It’s as if God’s work of creation is done and now He raises his words and gives Adam and Eve a concluding benediction: “Go, work, make culture in my Name!” What a radically different view of work than the image ingrained in our modern minds (“Thank God it’s Friday” and “I’m working for the weekend).
‘C’ is for (C)easing
“And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (Gen 2:2,3 ESV)
There seems to be a repetition here that is interesting: ‘Done’ = 3x; ’seventh day’ = 3x; ‘work’ = 3x. God has created us to have dominion, blessed us to do the work, and then gave us a pattern of REST. Eugene Peterson has pointed out that in the Christian order of events, the Sabbath is the first day of the week – Sunday. We begin our work-weeks in restful worship and then join God in his work on Monday morning. In fact, says Peterson, from a Jewish perspective a day begins at sunset rather than at sunrise. Thus, we begin our days by going to sleep, by resting. What a profound act of trust! There’s so much work to be done and yet God invites us to rest, to go to sleep and trust that he is still at work!
On the first pages of Scripture, we have our biblical ABC primer – we are created in God’s im(A)ge to have dominion and to be in community, we are blessed to “Go, work, and make culture”, and we are invited to rest and trust in God.
