Maybe The Message Is Deeper And Broader

I have listened to others, as well as myself, trying to understand and reconcile God’s instructions as recorded in various parts of the Bible. For example, I have attempted to reconcile the sixth commandment, i.e., “Thou shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13) with Joshua’s understanding that they were to kill every living thing in Jericho, (Joshua 6:21). The killing of one’s enemies, as frequently recorded in the scripture, seems to contradict not only the Commandments but also Jesus’ teaching to “love our enemies” (Matthew 5:21-26). I wish I knew how to reconcile all of this, but I don’t. I do, however, have a thought. What if our Old Testament heroes got it wrong about what God was saying to them? I wonder if the good news of their stories is that in spite of misunderstanding God and doing things that are not God-like, God continues to love, care for and ‘grow them up’ toward maturity? The good news of the Bible may not be what they did, but that God was faithful to them in spite of their misunderstanding God’s messages, directions and what they did. That message of God’s faithfulness is good news to me because I continually misunderstand what and how God is guiding me. I do dumb stuff even when I think it is God who is guiding me. The message of God’s unfailing and steadfast care for me means that I don’t have to be perfect—in fact I don’t seemed to be programmed for perfection. Nevertheless, it is God who is faithful and that’s good and hopeful news.