The idea behind forgetting is one of those things that make you think.  Why is it that we forget almost everything the moment we walk away from it? Seriously.

Certainly in some instances, it’s a clear God-given gift.  In other places, it would be wonderful to have the ability to just remember what you just learned or read or saw so you can build off of that.  It’s like when you wake up from sleep, you’re dumb again.

Anyways, I even forgot why I wanted to write a post on forgetting. Oh well, maybe I’ll remember later. That’s weird.

I have about 5 blogs that I read.  I like the ones that write short posts.  The point of writing, for me, is that it forces me to think before speaking.  You read it in 39 seconds, it takes me longer to write, backspace, write, start over, change the title, stare into the screen to capture just the right sentence structure. Sometimes, blogging or writing in a journal really helps the writer discover truth by being able to think about it enough to put it into words.

I honestly can’t read that much before my brain explodes.  I read slow and I read a lot of different things before I finish.  I read those 5 or so blogs, I read the bible (I’m on a read through the bible in two years plan), I have about 6 books on my desk that I’ve started and 2 on my iPod.  Not to mention all the facebook and twitter updates that I’m already missing.  To be honest, the bible is the only book I read on a consistent level.  The others ones I read depending on my mood and time.

The writer of Psalm 119 talks about how he “meditates” on God’s word and the benefit he gleans by thinking over and over and over about what God says.  That’s where I want to get.  Read some, Think more.

My point is that I’ve learned that there are a lot of books I would like to read and there is a lot of wisdom to gain from these (and even a lot of Bible that I could just blaze through), but at some point I have to build in time to process what I’ve read and maybe find ways to put it into practice in order to truly gain the wisdom that the writer communicates, who, outside of God, has spent 40 times the amount it takes than for you and I to read it.

Proverbs 17:17  “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

This verse is the oddest verse in Proverbs 17.  It just doesn’t seem to fit the rest of the context.  Before and after this statement are verses describing a fool in their lifestyle, character, and dealings with money and other people.

This verse is so commonly to mean that a friend will love at all times and family is born to help in time of need.  Kinda like a “blood is thicker than water” statement.  In fact, the New English Translation puts a note at the bottom stating: “…is born for adversity.” This is not referring to sibling rivalry but to the loyalty a brother shows during times of calamity. This is not to say that a brother only shows loyalty when there is trouble, nor that he always does in these times.”

However, I tend to think that given the context of Proverbs 17 and even reading the history of families in Genesis that it isn’t too far reaching to suggest the verse means “a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born so you can have someone to fight with.”

Growing up with a twin brother (we fought when we were young a lot but always had a great relationship) and hearing of all the family issues that every family deals with, the application and understanding of the verse this way is somewhat reassuring.  And you can’t but laugh a little inside knowing that Solomon understood family feuds.  They were in every family since Adam and Eve. And if we didn’t have family to fight with, we would fight with our friends, but then we wouldn’t have any friends. Praise God for families.

It doesn’t take long to find research that shows that Christianity is on the decline since the 1990′s and that the fastest growing religions in the United States are Deism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.  Christianity (and I suppose we should really define what makes a Christian, but I won’t here) is supposedly the number one religion in America, but the percentages are in slow decline .  Christianity in the world is on the rise though. So what’s the deal?

I believe that America could find itself like England or parts of Europe that once were the headquarters for Christianity, but now find themselves as destinations for missionaries. Often times, prosperity turns people from seeing the need of a god and this has often been the case in these countries too, along with religious/political corruption that other religious people eventually stood up to fight against.

Not trying to sound gloom, but just trying to provoke a stirring in those who call Christ their Savior and God to become fully devoted followers of Him and not allow comfortability and selfishness creep in unaware. Hunger and thirst for that relationship with God as you once did when you first believed.

Deuteronomy 8:17-18 “You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth,”

Last post I mentioned how it seems like the great power of God in the bible seems gone in today’s world.  But then I highlighted similar feelings found in Psalms.  So what are we suppose to make of that?

I believe God purposefully kept these feelings inspired as Scripture for all time because He wanted to let us know that He hasn’t left us, just as much as we believe He was “there” in the biblical times.

It’s okay to have these feelings and emotions.  It’s okay to questions and ask, “Where did you go, God?!”  Because the answer also lies in the many other pages of Scripture, and during prayer and readings of those pages, the Holy Spirit can remind you of that truth in His soft comforting peace, “I AM WHOM I AM,” and so “BLESSED IS…” and “FOR A TELL YOU THE TRUTH, ON THAT DAY…”

2 Timothy 3:16-17  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,  so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Often when people think of the bible, we think of how God was there in these big ways and it certainly was evident that there was a God and that He was active in the world.  This about it: creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark, Elijah against the prophets, David and Goliath, Jericho and the walls came tumbling down, Jesus and all those miracles and dead people coming to life!

And then you seem to have today.  Preachers who become disloyal. Healers who are shown to be a fake.  And lots of personal prayers that don’t seem to get heard.  The power just doesn’t seem to be there like they were in “biblical” times.

This kind of thinking is all in the bible too.  I’d like to talk about why that is later, but I just want to point out for now that it is.  I mean Solomon in Proverbs 1 makes it seem pretty clear that good things happen to the righteous and the wicked get what they deserve, so pursue righteousness in God.  Then you have the Psalms. Psalms are filled with these raw emotions of these enigmas that you and I ask and hear people ask everyday.  Just check out the first part of Psalm 10 for example.  Finish reading the rest of it later and I’ll let you know it doesn’t get any better: ”

Why, LORD, do you stand far off?
Why do you pay no attention during times of trouble?
10:2 The wicked arrogantly chase the oppressed;
the oppressed are trapped by the schemes the wicked have dreamed up.
10:3 Yes, the wicked man boasts because he gets what he wants;
the one who robs others curses and rejects the LORD.
10:4 The wicked man is so arrogant he always thinks,
“God won’t hold me accountable; he doesn’t care.”

Ever think or say that before? I have. So what does that leave us? Is God not here? Was He not there? Is it all made up? I believe that God was there, He is here, and that God gives us insight into His power through these parts of the bible as well.

Again, my mind goes crazy from reading these stories in the Old Testament.  I kinda laugh out loud a lot.  Jacob in Genesis is just a riot to read about.  His mother loved him more than his older twin, Esau, and devised a plan with Jacob at his father’s death bed to dress up and pretend that Jacob was Esau in order to steal the older brother’s blessings and inheritance. Well it worked and Jacob was the one blessed by Isaac.  God confirms Jacob’s blessings to become a great nation later on.  I have to wonder whether Esau would have had the blessings of God if Isaac had blessed him as he was suppose to?

Later, after Jacob was married to both Leah and Rachel (see previous post for that sort of crazy sex life), Jacob negotiated with his father-in-law to keep all the spotted and non-perfect sheep.  Laban agreed to the deal and then Jacob devised this plan to have the strong sheep mate in front of this peeled branch of poplar, which caused the sheep to develop spots and streaks on them.  Jacob kept all the strong sheep and Laban had all the weak ones!

Stories like this are all in Genesis.  Like Abraham lying about Sarah being his sister instead of his wife (and not on only one occasion) to the kings because he was afraid they would kill him.  In return, God warns these kings in dreams and the kings get scared and give Abraham lots of loot for the misunderstanding?!

I understand that we can’t just sit back and let God baby us and the saying goes that “God blesses those who help themselves,” meaning that God blesses hard work, but this sounds a little odd that God would bless these guys who deliberately lie, cheat and trick to get ahead. I wonder if God just saw these occasions as having to come in and clean up the mess of his dumbfounded family? If so, I wonder how many times God has done that for me.

I’m always amazed when I read the Old Testament at the stories in which the Holy Spirit inspired to be recorded throughout history.  I’m also amazed at how God uses really messed up families as His “chosen” people.  We don’t really get to see whether God is upset with multiple marriages and extra-marital sex especially from these early stories in Genesis.

Just think about the 12 tribes of Israel.  These 12 tribes of Israel become the reference to this God of the Old Testament and His faithful covenant with them for all time.  The names of these tribes are scribed on the gates in heaven (Revelation 21:12).

So the story goes like this. Jacob (who stole by trickery the birthright of his older brother Esau and was now blessed by his father Isaac, Abraham’s son) wanted to marry Rachel. Her father gave Leah, Rachel’s older sister, to Jacob at the wedding (which he didn’t come to find out until after he had sex with her).  He finally gets to marry Rachel a week later.  Jacob loves Rachel more, but is still married to Leah.  God gives Leah the ability to bear children because she is unloved by Jacob.  Leah ends up giving him 6 of the 12 sons of Israel, one of which was after Rachel sold Jacob’s sex to Leah for some aphrodisiac!  Rachel eventually gives him 2 of the 12 sons only after this servant-sex war.  Both Leah and Rachel make Jacob have sex with their female servants to give Jacob more sons!  Rachel’s servant, Bilhah, had 2 of the 12 sons and Zilpah, Leah’s servant, had 2 of the 12 sons of Israel.

Obviously this family is not perfect and a lot of changes happened to the lineage of blessings and privelages by the time we get to Jesus.  Even Jesus said “Matthew 19:28  “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”  So why does God not seem to come down and let them know that sex and marriage is to be with one man-one woman that modern Christianity so strongly believes and holds onto as God’s way since the beginning of time? Were they ignoring the truths of God that they knew?  Did God accept it then because of culture? Is culture ever justify living differently than from God’s perfect moral/marital/sexual plan? Or do they have an excuse because the Law was not yet given?

“What is God’s will or plan for my life?” That a question any good Christian asks themselves often in life, especially at tipping points of transitions or during tough times.  We somewhat believe that there is this perfect plan A for us and we don’t want to be on plan B.  This concept is completely false as well as true.

Certainly God has a plan A for our lives as we strive to live a moral and godly way, and there’s plenty of guidance in these areas in the Bible.  And when we tend to drift away from this plan, we find ourselves on that other path, or “plan.”  In this case, plan A has certain rewards/consequences and plan B comes with its own rewards/consequences.  Proverbs 1 is pretty clear on what a person can expect as results from either plan.  Jesus says it like this in Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

However, this becomes the real hard part in practice as we try to make decisions about life in the area of career or where we’re going to live or even who were are going to marriage/divorce/remarry.  Can we make decisions while living in a moral plan B? Yes. Do these decisions made in moral plan B have consequences? Yes.  Did we ruin our lives from living in God’s perfect plan A for our life? I don’t think so.

One crazy verse that confounds this whole thing is Proverbs 20:24.  And the New Living Translation puts it this way: “The LORD directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?”

So how do you think about all this?