Lately, Karen Kingsbury has been my favorite author. As she develops her books, she focuses on one character at a time to show what they are thinking and feeling about the situation. I love the way she ties the different perspectives into the continuous story.
Last week during my devotions I read Psalm 22. It starts out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?” Immediately I recognized that this was very similar to what Jesus cried out to God as He was dying on the cross–only it was written a LONG time before that. I read on. Verses 16-18 say, “Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” Then I knew for sure this must be a prophecy of the death of Jesus.
You’re probably wondering what this has to do with Karen Kingsbury. Well, don’t worry. I do have a point here. I decided to write the references from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John of where Jesus says this in the margin next to Psalm 22. So I looked them up.
In Matthew I found it in chapter 27 verse 46: “About the ninth hour Jesus cried in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?‘–which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”
The same thing was in Mark 15:34: “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?‘–which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”
But when I got to Luke, I noticed that something different was recorded. Luke 23:46 says, “Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’”
There was also a different account in John, chapter 19 verse 30: “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’”
These differences definitely do NOT mean that there are errors in the Bible. It is only showing different people’s perspectives in the situation. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were all present at Jesus’ death, but they each remember slightly different things. Just like if you hear several different people tell the same story, they focus on different aspects. The fact that Jesus was being forsaken by His Father stuck out to Matthew and Mark; Luke noticed that Jesus gave up Himself for His Father’s purpose; and John remembered Jesus sigh three words–it is finished–as His huge task of saving the world was over.
Lately the elders in our church have cautioned about reading Christian romance. It is not, of course, the “Christian” aspect that concerns them. Rather, they are concerned that the women, old and young alike, will expect their lives to be perfect and when things aren’t “just like the book” they will think things are wrong.
I have tried to be careful of what I read and so have diverted more to Christian adventure or commentary. In other words, there are not always “happily ever after” scenarios. I guess, ultimately, we all decide what we read and if we are aware of how it affects us then we can judge if it is beneficial or not. Some of my favorite Christian “novles” were historical fiction. Not always pretty, but gave me some ideas of the past and what Christians had to deal with in their lives hundreds or more years ago.
Recently I started to reread a book called “Safely Home.” The two main characters are former college roommates. One has become a rich business man, but lost his family. The other is a poor Chinese man, but is rich in faith. THe phrase “Is this the day I die?” is very important to the book and is used by the characters in the story.It is quite a story. I read it before traveling to China and thought I would read it again as it spoke to me of what is important in this life.
Anyway, all that to say if you are being built up for the service of God, good. If not, put the book down. (And yes, I have read Karen Kingsbury books also and enjoyed a number of them.)
Hugs, Aunt Kim