Reading the Hard Parts...

For some folks, God speaks to them in scriptures. Either the verse itself or the place in the Bible it is located usually. Perhaps it is His way of engaging with folks who enjoy discovering things to give a person the thought, "Read Zephaniah 1-3" and have them read the chapters; (a) not knowing where Zephaniah is in the Bible and (b) not knowing how long it was.

I am one of those people God speaks to in that way. Some times. There have been many a day, I have been led to read the genealogies. Huh???? Or, many times I have been led to read Colossians 6:3, only to get there to find out Colossians has only three sections. In that case, I read 3:6 and it made sense. In context with what I had been reading the past few days.

I write this entry now to say this, that God has been leading me to read a lot of the hard stuff in the Bible. The sections where he talks about wiping out all mankind and killing this person or that person. Psalms has those verses. Zephaniah was filled with them. Usually I cringe and can't keep reading. I don't like this part of the story....I don't understand God in these places. Perhaps it is because I worry for all the faces I see around me each day, who might be at the end of the sword that zephaniah talks about.

Sticking with it though, the book did wrap up quite nicely. He talks about bringing the lame and blind and hurting together after the end. He does look kindly on those who are hurt in some way.

In summation, it dawned on me that the pain I feel for all those known and unknown faces and the worry about what might happen to any one of us really, is a pain that God feels for all His children. Some days, I wish that He chooses everyone and no one dies apart from God and I realize He wants that too.