Still reading, lax on blogging

Right now I'm in Psalms and today I had to put it down because I just wasn't getting that much out of it. I mean some passages really resonated with me because I recognize them in the songs I sing or have sung.

Other passages where David is asking God to annihilate his enemies, well I'm having a hard time understanding that.

So I finally picked up a book I have by Philip Yancy called The Bible Jesus Read. Perhaps I've had the wrong idea about Psalms. Yancy says the Psalms are prayers to God. And they are prayers from various people famous (like David) and otherwise (just regular Israelites) that are recorded for our benefit. It is like reading someones prayer journal that they write to God. They teach, but not in the way that Paul teaches in his letters. Mostly they help us relate. They validate how we feel.

One other note, the Bible isn't just for Americans. I sometimes forget that. Someone in the Sudan may more identify with some of the Psalms that call down wrath upon the writer's enemies. All the emotions are there and maybe the lesson is that God's people bring their requests, whatever they may be, to the Lord. Even in prayers where they call for annihilation of their enemies they are recognizing that such actions, if they are to come, must come from God.

Job

Job is a book that I will go back and study. It reminds me of the play Everyman in some regards. One thing I realized that I'd not before is that Elihu is not one of the three friends. He is a young man that waits, out of respect, until the three friends have finished and then he speaks. He says that there are other reasons besides punishment that cause God to allow things to happen to righteous people.

In the end though, this book raises more questions and provides one answer: God is God. In the end that is the only answer Job needs.