I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. 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. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
After evading another attempt by King Saul to kill him, David went to see Jonathan. He asked Jonathan why Saul was trying to kill him. Jonathan assured David that his father was not trying to kill David by telling him that his father told him everything and had not said anything about that. David reminded Jonathan that Saul knew that they were close friends and that Jonathan would have warned David. Jonathan and David agree to a plan for Jonathan to discover if his father is indeed planning to kill David and for Jonathan to secretly warn, or assure, David based on what Jonathan learns.
Jonathan made a pact calling on God to be with David as He had once been with his father, Saul. In addition, Jonathan called on God to destroy all of David’s enemies. David, for his part, reaffirmed his vow of friendship with Jonathan and to protect Jonathan’s family should Jonathan die. Jonathan then went and discovered that his father was indeed planning to kill David. Jonathan gave the warning to David that they had agreed upon and the two men parted for the last time after reaffirming their everlasting friendship. Every time I read the book of Samuel, I mourn for Jonathan, who would have happily served David in the same manner which David served his father, Saul.
This passage is a great story of two men who have a great friendship for each other. even though Jonathan’s father was attempting to kill David. Neither allowed the politics of the situation, which should have made them opponents, come between them. Jonathan did not storm off in anger when David insisted that he was mistaken about his father not being out to kill David. Rather, Jonathan agreed to a plan to test his father’s mind on this matter. Jonathan was clearly upset that the two people closest to him, his father and David, were at odds. He did not blame David for his father’s hostility towards him, yet he also remained loyal to his father and stood at his side in all of his father’s other battles.
Today’s passage is one of my favorite stories from the New Testament. It is the story of the man born blind. After Jesus had healed the man who was born blind he was brought before the Pharisees. They questioned him closely because he had been healed on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were divided over the issue of whether Jesus was a sinner, because He had “worked” on the Sabbath, or from God because He had healed the man. It becomes clear that the former position was the dominant one. The Pharisees attempted to convince the man that he should give glory to God and leave Jesus out of the story. How many times do we face the temptation to water down what we believe to make it more generic and palatable to the powers that be? I will always strive to answer with this man, “I don’t know about that. But I know this, I was blind and now I see.” When the Pharisees tried to find contradictions in his story, he asked them if they wanted to be Jesus disciples too? The Pharisees responded that they followed Moses because God had spoken to Moses but they did not know where Jesus had come from. The man responded, “I this man was not from God, He couldn’t have done it.” At that point the Pharisees threw the man born blind out.
Jesus later taught that he had come to restore sight to the blind and reveal that those who thought they could see were blind. If we think we can see without Jesus, we are fooling ourselves. It is only through the light of Jesus that we can see the truth of this world and God’s will. You can spend all the time you want arguing about why Christianity is false but I will answer(from the KJV), “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”
What a great psalm of praise.
the name of the Lord is to be praised.(NIV)
And then further:
the One who sits enthroned on high,…?(NIV)
I will praise His name as long as I have breath!
Thank you God for this reminder today. These three proverbs are so true. I will try to meditate on them whenever my life seems difficult.