A Sonnet for Sodom {gn19}

genesis-wickedness-sodoom-poem.png

This is the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were proud, had plenty to eat, and enjoyed peace and prosperity; but she didn't help the poor and the needy. They became haughty and did detestable things in front of me, and I turned away from them as soon as I saw it. —Ezekiel 16:49-50

Sodom was destined to go up in smoke.
Wickedness was its perpetual clime.
Evil, like tinder, was ripe for a stoke:
It would ignite in a matter of time.

Greed ripened into perversion untold.
Townsfolk adopted the tricks of the shrike,
Burning with passions and lust uncontrolled,
Raping the wallet and person alike.

Lot was not righteous, not even a lick,
But he was willing to run for his life—
Run from the evil that threatened to stick.
Will we be like him, or more like his wife?

Greed dug its claws in and caused her to halt,
Turning her into a pillar of salt.

 

Sonnet: A poem consisting of 14 lines with a particular rhyming scheme.

God takes us seriously.

God takes us seriously.

LEVITICUS 27

People who say whatever they think you want to hear. You know some of those, right? I  certainly do! And boy, do they ever get on my nerves. I’d rather people just be honest about what they think and feel instead of thinking that they have to try to manipulate my moods with their words... especially when they don’t mean what they’re saying.

God has a battle plan.

God has a battle plan.

LEVITICUS 26

I don’t know that I’ve ever had more utter respect for God than I have at this moment, after going through 26 chapters of Leviticus. There’s this image I have of Him in my mind as a strong, hulking man with bulging muscles who has encountered a rip-roaring, flooded river, and on a tiny piece of land in the middle of this rushing river is a huddled group of soaking-wet, desperate people who have no way to get out of their predicament. And with no thought for Himself, this strong God, with sleeves rolled up, strides mightily into the midst of that roaring river, dodging the debris and deflecting the uprooted trees, with every fiber of every muscle straining against the current to reach and save those people.

God is all about freedom.

God is all about freedom.

LEVITICUS 25

There is something really beautiful in this chapter of Leviticus: "Even if [an Israelite slave] is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God." (vs 54-55)

God holds all the blessings.

God holds all the blessings.

LEVITICUS 24

This is a very strange chapter, in the way it’s divided. The first part is about the oil and bread to be laid out before the Lord in the sanctuary. The middle part is about a blasphemer who was stoned to death. And the last part is the famous "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" passage. At first, I was going to try to find something inspiring to say about oil and bread (I like them as appetizers at Italian restaurants), but then I decided that would be a big, fat cop-out.

Duologue {gn18}

Photo © Unsplash/shttefan

Photo © Unsplash/shttefan

When God mentioned circumcision to his friend,
Abraham didn't think twice
or question once.
Not a single word on the tip of his tongue
about removing the tip of his—
well, you know.

Perhaps it was the finality of
bearing heaven's mark forever in his flesh
that made Abraham bold enough
to dicker with God.

After all,
you'd have to be bold to question
The Judge Of All The Earth
about his morality
and offer suggested improvements
to his strategy.

To be fair, though, it was
The Judge Of All The Earth
who invited himself over for dinner
and initiated the whole conversation.

He knew there weren't any righteous people left in Sodom,
so why even bring it up?

Maybe
The Judge Of All The Earth
wants more
than a burnt offering in his gut
and a pat on his back.

Maybe
The Judge Of All The Earth
craves
genuine
unabashed
face-to-face
friend-to-friend
toe-to-toe
duologue.

 

God is romantic.

God is romantic.

LEVITICUS 23

One of the things my husband will tell you about me is that I’m an incurable romantic. And, in my experience with the male gender, for the life of me, I can’t understand why the word man is in the middle of the word romantic. It just doesn’t seem like a task they’re up to. Every once in a while, there are flashes of brilliance, but I don’t think a man’s brain can begin to go to the romantic depths that a woman’s brain is capable of.

God is the only cure for conformity.

God is the only cure for conformity.

LEVITICUS 20

There is a clear connection between wandering away from God and losing your individuality: "You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. But I said to you, 'You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.' I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from the nations." (vs 23-24)

God doesn't change.

God doesn't change.

LEVITICUS 19

I have recently been thinking quite a bit about the "God of the Old Testament" versus the "God of the New Testament." I have seen some debates on TV where prominent Christians have basically advocated for "throwing out" the Old Testament in favor of Jesus and the New Testament. I have read blogs and forum postings from confused Christians, wondering how we can possibly "defend" the Bible when things (many of them things God supposedly said!) in the Old Testament look so awful.

Foreshadow of Faith {gn17:10-11}

genesis-circumcision-foreshadow-of-faith-poem.png

Forefather Abraham must have been filled with
such foreboding as the appointed blade drew near.

He could never have foreseen God's circumscriptive request...
nor foregone its fulfillment once it had been proposed.

After all, he was God's foremost friend on the planet.
Mostly, though, he didn't want God to foreclose on the covenant—

Ishmael had turned out to be the forerunner of the promise,
just a foretaste of the legitimate heir.

God was still forecasting Isaac's arrival,
so obedience was forefront on Abraham's mind.

He cut a deal, therefore, skin and all.

 

God wants to be included.

God wants to be included.

LEVITICUS 17

Growing up, I attended a small, private school. Each class was small — no more than 15 to 20 students — and the majority of classmates remained together through school, all the way from Kindergarten to the senior year of high school. After nine weeks of first grade, someone decided that I knew enough to be advanced into second grade, and away I went. Entering second grade in the middle of the year wasn’t easy. I was the youngest kid in the class, and — what’s worse — my older brother was already there.

God's boundaries draw us in.

God's boundaries draw us in.

LEVITICUS 15

I must admit that, as I began to read Leviticus 15, it all seemed a bit ridiculous to me. I mean, really, if the rule is that "when a man has an emission of semen... he will be unclean till evening" (vs 16), an Israelite man must not have spent many days being "clean." Furthermore, in addition to the rule for men was the law that said menstruating women were also unclean. After this type of ceremonial uncleanness, the men and women were required to bring a sacrifice to the sanctuary in order to "make atonement before the Lord." (vs 15)

God values intelligence.

God values intelligence.

LEVITICUS 14

After the description of the sacrifices cleansed lepers were to make, Leviticus 14 goes on to describe how a priest could determine whether a house was infected with mildew. These instructions sound very much like the instructions in the previous chapter for how the priests could determine whether a person had leprosy. Involved were inspection, incubation periods, diagnoses, and treatments.