This post will make very little sense to anyone

Name: Chad
Scripture: A whole mess of them
OAP: Today I had one of those prayer time when I heard clear words and felt stupid and as though I was talking to myself. What should I read? James. What chapter? 3. Way to go Chad, you can name a book of the bible and pull out a random number, does James even have three chapters? Turns out this is the most convicting chapter in the bible for me...But I don't want to work with that tonight. Tonight I want to go on a Dr. Dalton induced bible study with justice. Here are some highlights. I find the one concerning sandals most interesting, James 5 is up there too.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that
I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you
and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and
holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days…”

Psalm 9:7-9 “But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne
for judgment. He judges the world with righteousness; he judges people with
equity. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of
trouble.”

Isaiah 10:1-2 “Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and who write oppressive
decrees, depriving the needy of judgment and robbing my people’s poor of their
rights, making widows their plunder, and orphans their prey!”

Jeremiah 22:13-17 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and
his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbors work for nothing, and
does not give them their wages; who says, ‘I will build myself a spacious house
with large upper rooms’, and who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar,
and painting it vermilion. Are you a king because you compete in cedar? Did not
your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with
him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to
know me? says the Lord. But your eyes and heart are only on your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.”

Ezekiel 22:23-31 “The word of the Lord came to me…You are a land that is not
cleansed, not rained upon in the day of indignation. Its princes within it are like a
roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken
treasure and precious things; they have made many widows within it. Its priests
have done violence to my teaching and have profaned my holy things; they have
made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught
the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my
Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Its officials within it are like wolves
tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. Its
prophets have smeared whitewash on their behalf, seeing false visions and
divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God’, when the Lord has not
spoken. The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery;
they have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the alien without
redress. And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and
stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it;
but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them; I have
consumed them with the fire of my wrath; I have returned their conduct upon their
heads, says the Lord God.”

Amos 2:6-7 “Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four,
I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and
the needy for a pair of sandals—they who trample the head of the poor into the
dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way…”

Amos 5:21-24 “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your
solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted
animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will
not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and
righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Micah 6:8 “…and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love
kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

James 5:1-4 “Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are
coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. You
gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will
eat up your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The
wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry
out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You
have lived on the earth in luxury and pleasure…”


Colossians 3:12-14 “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves
with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one
another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as
the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves
with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

Romans 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is…righteousness and peace and joy in
the Holy Spirit.”

Galatians 5:22 “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

Galatians 3:28 “…for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 2:5-11 “Let the same mind by in you that was in Christ Jesus, who
though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something
to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in
human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and
became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. Therefore God also
highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the
name of Jesus, every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father.”


God, I do this as homework, reading your Word as if it were Zinn, skimming for information. I don't want intimacy tonight with you. Somehow I doubt that this is going to be the end of it tonight. I come to you reluctantly, even bitterly. Everything you have given me and done for me today/ever has been ridiculously amazing. I know that. Yet one thing can frustrate me to the point of ignoring that. I don't remember getting moody like this ever before. I think that it is the break in apathy. I know you warned me, hard, about this and yet I continued my constant petition. God, I will rejoice in this now. I am angry because I care. Now I care. At alot of levels this really sucks, I am not as effective right now, I probably won't be. I am giving up an ability to deal with anything so that I can understand passion at least a little bit. I think I am more breakable here, more vulnerable, more able to mess up. More human. Crap. Have I been trying to fix my own humanity? I don't think so, I have been living as you have allowed me. But I take pride in the apathy, it made me "better". What now? Don't waste this experience, It shall be interesting if nothing else. I don't want to hurt anyone, I used to be very good at that, now I am not so sure. Is it selfishness, is it passion? Is hurting people the result of passion? How cynical is that. This is new for me and I am scared. I want you, that is the goal. But as we are getting there in this experience, I am scared.