To What Avail Scripture?

In spite of what many people think, I have a liberal dose of St. Thomas’s genes deposited within me. Likely for that reason and no other, I tend to be skeptical when it comes to asking God to point me to specific scripture. Yet, on many occasions, when I have done that – or when I have been pointed to specific passages without even asking – what I end up reading is so pertinent that it could not be an accident. Last night’s reading left no doubt.

In the late evening, I posted the Pray for Ray button, which Edie had sent me. Then, I quickly answered the question in a comment left by Anne (Imprisoned in My Bones - Releasing My Inner Jeremiah) on the original post about Ray’s heart attack as to how I could maintain strong faith in spite of experiencing challenge after challenge. My response was that the blessings and miracles that have been associated with challenges in the past lead me to welcome challenges as positive, not negative. I find them intriguing. Each time I wonder what the resultant blessings and miracles will look like since I know for sure that they will come.

Right after that and before going to bed, I picked up the Bible for a nightly scripture reading, and it fell open to Job, Chapter 2. Now, I have limited patience for re-reading that which I know well. (Yes, I know; I do need to develop more patience in that respect and many other respects.) I read Job five times a few years back when God told me to do that in order to understand why my children were born with birth defects, and I wrote about my interpretation after each reading in my book, Blest Atheist. So, I was pretty certain that I had Job nearly memorized and was not really in the mood to read Chapter 2 in particular again (not that I remembered specifically what was in Chapter 2). So, I prayed for help in finding a proper passage for my evening reading.

Then, perhaps a little less confident than I should have been that I would indeed find an interesting and useful passage, I rifled the pages with both thumbs, which is not how I opened the Bible the first time – the first time it fell open by itself when I picked it up. Where the thumbs met, I opened the Bible.

I was stunned! I had opened to Job, Chapter 2, the very same page where the Bible had fallen open! So, now, having once again been divinely hit on the head after exhibiting a great deal of denseness, I read Chapter 2. In reading it, I came across this verse (Job 2:10), which was Job’s response to the painful boils with which God had allowed Satan to inflict him: “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”

Now that should have been the answer to Anne’s question. I have indeed accepted good from God: the amazing appearance of a doctor from outside our geographic region who knew a new method for curing bone infections that has allowed our daughter Noelle to escape an amputation, our granddaughter Nikolina’s extraordinary growth from a disassembled infant to a pretty and happy 8-month-old interested in the whole world and right on target for all developmental milestones (Stanford University Hospital is calling her their miracle baby of 2009), our grandson Nathaniel’s development as a perfectly healthy and extremely bright school child following five surgeries for hydronephrosis as an infant, the myriad of miracles we experienced with Shura, my being pulled out of danger upon multiple occasions, and on and on and on, including Ray’s awakening from an 8-month coma two years ago. Yes, indeed, given all the remarkable good that has come the way of the Mahlou clan, who are we to complain about accompanying adversity. More important than any balance between good and bad, which I am not sure I could calculate, anyway, since God always turns the bad into good is the fact that both the good and the bad have given us the skills to help other people in ways that have, in some cases, been very important and in other cases have changed professional practices.

So, in conclusion, I am forced (how sad that God so often has to “force” me) to conclude that God does have a hand in what scripture we end up reading when we consciously or unconsciously allow Him that hand.

Monday Morning Meditation #9: Give Me Proof!

I may well be the slowest Bible reader in the world. Another week, another chapter. So many thoughts and images come to mind that I do not want to speed through anything. In chapter 4 of Exodus, which is where I have been living this week, there is much to think about. This is the story of Moses's encounter with God and God's request of him to go to the Pharaoh of Egypt and demand that the people of Israel be released. Quite a tasking, and Moses is a bit overwhelmed by it, as I assume anyone would be!

Reading: Exodus 4

Meditation: Reading this passage, I could not but notice Moses's concern that he had no proof that he had spoken with God. He feared that no one would believe him. Let's face it, if someone today were to relate a similar experience, there would be immense skepticism. No wonder those who have had an extraordinary spiritual experience become a little reluctant over time to relate it. (I have met people who have been favored in this way, but the skepticism with which they meet numbs their tongue, much in the way Moses's tongue was numbed such that Aaron had to speak for him.)

I, too, find myself cautious at moments about the experience I had in being overwhelmed by God's presence, but with God's support, I plunge into the story anyway. Some people believe me; some don't. It truly does not matter since I don't have to lead anyone across the Red Sea. I know what happened. God knows what happened. I share, and the rest is up to the listener/reader -- and God.

I find it interesting that people are more willing to suspend their disbelief (to use Aristotle's terminology) when it comes to all kinds of far-fetched tales related to psychic events, horror stories, fairy tales, and faulty journalism, but if the story is about God, they want proof. This statement is, of course, the pot calling the kettle black since I did test God (unfairly and with far greater temerity than I would now have) when I demanded that if He existed I wanted to feel His presence. (Whew! I have learned over time that His presence can be so overwhelming that it pins me to the spot, but you know, naivete will take you in directions that even angels fear to tread.) And then of course there were the two miracles I asked for as "proof." It only took one to chase me into church; however, God in his great kindness granted both, much as He gave Moses signs to give to the Pharaoh, has given me many miracles since, and has led me to see ones that He had blessed me with earlier but to which I had been blind. I no longer ask for proof, and I am embarrassed that I ever did -- but I guess God has run into that attitude more often not.

And that is far as I can go with you on this Monday morning. I must retire to prayer to ask God to increase the depth of my "willing suspension of disbelief," to express my regret for the times in the past that I demanded proof and, before then, when I failed to see even when I had proof right in front of my eyes, to give thanks for His great kindnesses to me in spite of not deserving them, and to offer praise for the depth of His patience and love even in the face of my disbelief and the disbelief of so many who have ultimately followed and obeyed Him.

After that, I will spend some time in contemplation, hoping and trusting that this great God will continue to infuse me with that which is difficult to believe -- and I will try to become better at believing.

I will now leave you to your prayer and contemplation.

If you pick this up as a weekly devotional activity, please share with me and others your own thoughts about the message of Exodus 4 or any other scripture that you choose for meditation. Feel free to export the image of the mission church; maybe some time in the near future my Internet-inept self will be able to figure out how to use the Mr. Linky buttons. In the interim, you are welcome to use the image and share the meme of Monday Morning Meditation for starting out the work week closer to God.

Have a good day and a blessed week, filled with all good things -- and may God increase your trust so that you do not need proof anymore (if indeed you ever did).