I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

Isaiah 41:17-43:13

     Isaiah begins a prophecy of praise to God. He tells us that God will make the desert to blossom for the benefit of the poor and needy. Then he asks someone, anyone, to make the case for other gods. Can they tell us what happened before any of those present knew the story? Can they tell us what is going to happen in the future? In fact, he asks that they anything amazing, either good or bad. They do not, because they cannot. They are powerless. Isaiah then prophecies about the rise of Cyrus the Great. Isaiah then goes on to prophecy about the coming of the Messiah, Jesus.
     Isaiah speaks of the gentleness of the coming Messiah. He will not shout or raise His voice in public. He will not so much as crush a weak reed, but He will bring justice to those who have been wronged. He will give sight to the blind and free the captives from prison. He will provide light as He leads those who choose to follow Him out of the darkness. He warns us about seeing and recognizing what is right, but failing to act on it. He warns us against hearing but not really listening. All to often I am guilty of this. I know what I ought to do, but I do not do it. I hear God tell me the words I ought to speak, but I do not say them. Despite all of this, He has ransomed me.

“From eternity to eternity I am God.
No one can snatch anyone out of my hand.
No one can undo what I have done.”

Ephesians 2:1-22

     We were all once dead, when we lived in sin, obeying the commands of the spirit of disobedience. We were subject to God’s anger, yet God loved us so much that He gave us life when He raised Jesus from the dead. Note that in this passage the important thing is Jesus’ resurrection, not his death. Further, we cannot take any credit for our salvation. It is completely a product of God’s grace out of His love and mercy and is not a reward for any good works we may have done (which are, in fact, inconsequential when weighed against the evil we have done). There is no room for any of us to think of ourselves as better than others. Nor is there any room for any of us to think of ourselves as less than or inferior to others. We often stress the fact that in God there is no basis for any of us to consider ourselves better than others, but we often overlook the equally wrong view of considering ourselves inferior to others. In the Church, no one who has accepted Jesus as Lord should be treated as an outsider, but equally no one who has accepted Jesus as Lord should consider themselves an outsider. If you come among a new body of believers and they look down on you because you speak your mind before they have given you the “secret handshake”, they are the ones who are sinning. If, on the other hand, you come among a new body of believers and you withhold your counsel and wisdom until you feel that you have received the “secret handshake”, you are the one who is sinning. When we are part of a group, we are called by God to make newcomers feel a part of that group. When we first join a group, we are called by God to reject any attempts (intentional or unintentional) by that group to marginalize us.

Psalm 67:1-7

     What a wonderful psalm and my prayer today.

May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us—
so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
I ask for God’s blessing so that I may be a witness to others about how wonderful He is. This is the only reason to seek God’s blessing. Then when we receive that blessing, we should use it to help those in need. In all things, we should act and speak so that people to the ends of the earth will come to fear God and from that fear may come to know and accept His grace.

Proverbs 23:29-35

     This proverb tells us of the dangers of drunkenness. The Bible does not teach us to abstain from all alcohol, but it does tell us to restrain our consumption of it.