Bryan Richardson

Risk

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 16. (day three)

“How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me.”

When the king lives in fear, no one is safe. The man who lives in fear will use every ounce of energy to stave off the dread until there’s no strength left to seek the welfare of the weak and the small. Fear is the soul’s Dead Sea. Energy flows in but nothing flows out. And nothing can live in or near a life like that. No wonder Samuel kept his distance from Saul. The whole nation was increasingly at risk of descending into anarchic madness because of the ruler’s rising fear. In those dark days, Samuel braved Saul’s deadly wrath to shepherd the David’s ascension to the throne. The hard work of courage is the only answer to the influence of fear. Pray. And rise.

Master

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 15 (day three)

“I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them.”

It takes Saul three iterations of the narrative for him to speak the truth. First, Saul does his best to convince himself that the plunder is purely for noble purposes. Second, Saul attempts to redirect: The main thing got done, didn’t it? Finally, Saul arrives at the real story: “I acted out of fear.” Herein lies the reign-defining difference between David and Saul. David says, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” Saul says, “What time I am afraid, I will do fear’s bidding.” It is not a sin to be afraid. It is a sin to serve fear as one’s master. Of course you’re afraid. But what are you going to do from that point?

Shift

Easter Re:Verse reading–John 20:1-18 (day three)

“He saw and believed”

He believed…what? That the tomb was indeed empty? That the body had been moved? The text says in the very next verse that neither Peter nor John—nor by extension any of the disciples—understood that a resurrection had occurred. Far from being ignorant and backward yahoos, as those in ancient—and particularly biblical—times are often regarded, the disciples understood that dead people stay dead. They were not pre-disposed to believe fables and tales of the fantastic. Even though they had seen the Lord’s miracles, including the raising of dead people, the fact remained that the very one who had done these marvelous things had himself been killed. It remained for Peter and the other witnesses to
learn that Jesus Christ had fundamentally altered the future of the human race.

What do you believe?

Re:Verse reading – 1 Samuel 13:1-14

Feign

Re: Verse reading—1 Samuel 9 & 10 (day three)

Is not my clan the least of all the clans?

Self-abasement is not the same thing as humility. The former stems from a deep-seated despair that one’s inner defectiveness relegates him to a status of low regard in the eyes of others. The latter comes from a wisdom that knows that one’s inner beauty will arouse impulses in him to use that beauty as a manipulative tool or an excuse for self-seeking, and that those impulses will be checked only by a regard for the welfare of others. Self-abasement masquerades as humility for a while. But humility will always welcome others. Self-abasement will eventually blame others for one’s own despair. The more power a person has, the deadlier the blame becomes. Witness the life of the son of Kish. There is no substitute for humility.

Priest

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 7 (day three)

“Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us.”

Samuel stood in a place of agency on behalf of the Lord and in behalf of the people. This is the essence of priesthood. When people are weak, they seek out another who is stronger. In the fellowship of disciples of Jesus Christ, we will each take our turn in the weak seat. And we become like priests for one another, announcing God’s provision, proclaiming God’s forgiveness, telling the truth when it’s hard, pointing out his presence. When one who is weak approaches you for help in seeking God, will you rise to the occasion?

Lamp

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 3 (day three)

“The lamp of God had not yet gone out.” These words refer to an actual lamp with an actual flame—the lampstand at the curtain on the other side of which sat the ark of the covenant. It was to be kept burning from evening till morning. This detail of dimly burning fire serves to mark the time as the wee hours. But it marks something else, too. It signals to us that God has not given up on saving the human race. We know that these words indicate God’s intention because we can look at the entire witness of scripture in a way that the people living it at the moment could not. In every night dimly-lit, in every church persecuted, in every incident of God’s supposed slowness, there rises the providence of God.

Say

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 1 (day three)

“O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me…” Is it wrong to haggle with God? Would we even consider an “if-you-do-this-I’ll-do-that” arrangement? Have we decided to place ourselves above such dealings? Do we believe it would even make any difference? It’s interesting to consider that from the Old Testament to the New Testament, from people to demons and back to people, such conversations with the Lord have been common: Abraham, Moses, Hannah, David, Legion (!), Peter, Paul. Maybe we would see the power of God more if we would tell him what we want. That’s not the same as demanding what we want. Even the demons knew that. God will take care of his own responses to us. Just speak to him.

Believe

Re:Verse reading- Luke 24:1-12, 33-49 (day three)

“They did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.” Did people back in the (ancient) day more readily believe claims of supernatural occurrences than people now? Is the Bible full of the accounts of gullible people? Thank God for the doubters. Peter and his peers-and later the wider Greek culture-had to burrow their way through doubt and skepticism in order to arrive at a faith strong enough to face suffering death. If you’re using your energy running away from doubts rather than facing the questions that doubt raises, how will you grow strong enough to stand?

ACT

Re:Verse reading–Luke 23:1-27, 32-49 (day three)

“If men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” It’s never the right moment, is it? You’ll wait till things settle down, till your courage wells up, till your money runs out, till your ship comes in. Are you allergic to now? You’re not going to trust him now, you won’t go with him into the unknown at this moment, you’re not ready to re-orient your confidence from the temporal to the eternal at once. That is your decision. But the present has a short shelf life. Your heart’s not getting any softer. Jesus is near now, not then; here, not there; to you, not to that other person you’re competing with. When this moment passes, hearts get hard, and doors close.

Perseverance

Re: Verse reading–Luke 16:19-31 (day three)

“Send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them.” If we’ve gotten it into our heads that one’s post-death circumstances after a life of selfish disregard for God and others will result in regret for a life poorly lived, this story Jesus tells should disabuse us of that notion. The narrative clearly shows us a man who is just as self-centered and self-important now as he ever was before: “Grant me a favor; send Lazarus to serve me; accord my family special status,” etc. Privilege is his only language. But that was a way of thinking and living he had learned long before now. All the years of his mortal existence had steadily formed his character, and so the way he lived life was now the way he lived death. Is it somehow different for you?