For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Even though the wicked have established a permanent residence while the righteous are still living in transient housing (house vs tent), The righteous will flourish and remain while the wicked will be forced to move on. The second part of this proverb is an important warning, a path may seem like the right way to go, but lead to death. We must choose our paths carefully.

    This psalm fills me with joy this morning. I am the Lord’s. I belong to Him and am glad to reside in His everlasting love.

    Luke tells us about the two disciples walking to Emmaus because it gives us an insight into the thinking of all of the disciples on the first Easter. They had been sure that Jesus was the Messiah, but then things did not go the way they expected. He was arrested and crucified. That wasn’t the way it was supposed to work. He was supposed to emerge victorious over the Romans. They did not know what to think about the report from the women that Jesus had risen from the dead, after all, they were women. How often are we guilty of the same thing? We get a glimpse of God’s working and think we understand where He is going, then when it doesn’t work out that way, we think our initial insight must have been wrong. We rarely consider that maybe the insight was right, it was just our understanding of where things went from there that was wrong.

    The people of Shechem realized their mistake in supporting someone just because he sounded good and rebelled against Abimelech. Abimelech heard of their rebellion and brought his army to Shechem, where he destroyed the city and killed the people. Apparently by then the rebellion had spread, so Abimelech took his army to the next town and attacked it. However, just as he appeared to have won the battle, he was struck down and died. The story of Abimelech reminds us of the importance of choosing our leaders with care. It also warns those of us who aspire to positions of leadership that we will pay a price for misusing the authority we are given.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    There are two ways to deal with our feelings of guilt. Fools dismiss guilt as being silly. The wise and godly acknowledge their guilt and do what they can to make amends. Only you can know the depths of your hurt, but you are also the only one who can experience the heights of your joy. No one can ever fully know what someone else feels.

    Let us exalt the Lord our God and bow before Him. Let us remember how our forefathers in faith cried out to God when they were in trouble and He answered them. He will do the same for us. He is a forgiving God, but He will discipline us for our sins. He will discipline us in order to teach us how to live according to our best interests.

    When the women heard the message delivered to them at the tomb, they remembered what Jesus had said about dying and rising again on the third day. So they rushed back to tell the rest of the disciples what they had seen and heard. But the men did not believe them because it sounded to them like nonsense. Peter, at least, went to check out their story. When we hear stories about how God is working that sound incredible, do we check it out for ourselves? Or do we dismiss it as nonsense?

    Gideon had many sons by many wives and made no provision for who would lead the people of Israel after his death (whether one of his sons, or someone else). As a result one of his sons, Abimelech, turned to his mother’s relatives, who were prominent in the city of Shechem, to gain power. They gave him money which he used to hire some “rough customers” to follow him. He led his band of troublemakers to his father’s house to kill his brothers. One of his brothers escaped and cursed both Abimelech and the people of Shechem who had supported his power grab. The people of Shechem backed Abimelech because they thought he would serve their interests. They gave no thought as to whether he would be a good ruler. They supported him despite the fact that he started his rule with an evil act.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Truly honest witnesses do not shape their testimony in order to deceive their listeners. On the other hand, once you realize that someone has distorted the truth in order to mislead you, you should expect that everything they say is similarly deceptively worded. Those who mock the beliefs of others may seek for wisdom, but they will not be able to find it. We see this around us all the time in people who mock Christianity as “superstitious nonsense” who then, in their search for meaning, fall prey to things that are truly superstitious nonsense.

    Let us praise God today, let us sing to Him with thanksgiving. Let us kneel, surrendering completely to God’s authority, and worship Him. He will watch over us and care for us, if only we listen to His voice and follow His instructions. Let us not harden our hearts and determine to follow our own will rather than God’s. He desires what is best for us and if we follow His instructions they will bring us joy. I will listen to His voice today (and every day)!
    Sing a song to the Lord and rejoice! Let us call on all of the earth to honour God, because that is the path to prosperity and happiness for all. The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. If people would only do as He commands, misery and misfortune would be no more.

    Whenever I read of Peter’s denial of Christ, I sympathize with him and it gives me renewed hope for myself. I know there have been times when I have denied Christ because of social pressure just as Peter did here. It gives me great hope to realize that Peter was forgiven for his denial. However, the passage also reminds me that Peter suffered great grief from his denial. It gives me great grief that I have at times denied my faith in Christ to avoid ridicule. I will continue to ask God’s Spirit to move within me to keep me from doing it again.

    I have read the story of Gideon many times. When the angel came to Gideon and told him that God was with him, Gideon asked why all the bad things had happened to God’s people. The angel’s answer to Gideon is one for all of us who see injustice and people suffering in this world. The angel told Gideon, “I am sending you!” If you want to know why there is wrong and suffering in this world, it is because you (and I) have not done what God has called us to do. Rather than ask God why there is suffering in this world, let us ask God what He wants us to do about it.
    Gideon’s reply is all too often ours, “I am too insignificant to help.” But God has an answer for that as well. God tells us, “I will be with you.” Gideon asked for a sign that this message was indeed from God. Let us not be afraid to ask God to confirm what He is telling us. He will do so, but once He has confirmed the message, let us act on it.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    I like the NIV translation better here. Lashing out at others because your pride has been hurt is foolish. The wise choose their words carefully; using them to build a defense of their actions rather than to attack those who have offended their pride. If your first priority is keeping everything neat and orderly, you will never accomplish anything productive.

    The psalmist asks how long it will be until God brings justice to the wicked and the proud. Then he reminds the wicked who oppress the weak and powerless that God is indeed watching and keeping track of their deeds. God will exact justice from those who kill widows, orphans, and foreigners for their own benefit. Those who do evil may think that God can not, or will not, call them to account for their evil, but they are mistaken. It may seem that His judgement falls more frequently on those who only do minor wrongs. However, that is not His judgement, rather it is discipline to offer the chance to return to Him. Let us learn from God’s discipline and listen closely to His instructions. Then we will receive relief from troubled times and not fall subject to His coming judgement. God will turn the sins of those who do evil against them, but He will be a fortress protecting those who accept His discipline. Oh Lord, let me always respond to your discipline!

    Jesus reminds His disciples that when He sent them out to preach the Good News, they took nothing with them except the clothes on their backs and they wanted for nothing. Now He tells them to gather all the supplies for a trip that they can and to sell their cloak to get a sword if they don’t have one. Then when they tell Him that they have two swords among them, He tells them that that is sufficient. It seems to me that the message Jesus was conveying here is that there are times when we should go out on faith, fully relying on God to provide for our needs and there are other times when we should plan for trouble and gather what supplies we will need to get through the hard times ahead. It seems that His instruction about buying swords was to emphasize the importance of preparing for all eventualities, rather than an instruction to take up arms to do violence.

    When Deborah was judge over the people of Israel, they were oppressed because they had not kept God’s commands. However, God had Deborah call Barak, the war leader of the tribe of Naphtali, to raise warriors. Barak accepted her commission, but insisted that he would only go out to battle if she accompanied him. Because Barak did not trust Deborah’s prophecy enough to act on it without her at his side, the glory for the final victory went to someone else. Barak was the battle commander, but it was Deborah who told him when it was the time and place to attack. And it was Jael, the wife of a Kenite, who killed the general of the opposing forces. It was Jael who ended the war, because if Sisera had escaped he would have been able to raise another army and return to raid the Israelites. Barak and his warriors would have needed to disband so that they could return to their land to raise their crops.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    If you fear God, it will cause you to follow a straight path of righteousness. If you despise God, you will follow a crooked, devious path as a result.

    Yes, it is good to give thanks and praise to God morning, noon, and night. There is a certain joy and fulfillment that comes from singing God’s praises, even with a singing voice as limited as mine. God has made me glad with all that He has done. He has done great things for me, but even greater things to bring justice to evildoers. The wicked may seem to flourish, but they will utterly destroyed. The godly will flourish because God’s goodness is forever.

    Once again in this passage Jesus’ disciples began to argue among themselves which one of them would be the greatest. Jesus pointed out to them that the kings of this world lord it over their people, ordering them about for the benefit of the king. And that men who call themselves Benefactor order others to serve themselves. Yet that is not how God measures greatness. If I want to be considered great in God’s eyes, I need to put aside my desires and serve the needs and desires of others. A truly great leader will strive to meet the needs and desires of those whom they wish to lead.

    After Joshua’s death, those who had known his leadership died off. Once that generation had died off, the people began worshiping the gods of the people around them. As a result God stopped protecting them from raiders and other enemies. However, God still loved His people. So, He raised up judges to lead them and guide them back to Him. The people would follow such judges while those judges lived. While the judge lived the people would prosper as they followed God’s commands. But when each judge died, the people quickly returned to their sins. This is the story of human history. God raises up men to call His people to Him. They answer His call and follow God’s leading. This leads to prosperity for those who obey God, but once prosperity has come, people lose sight of God and worship things other than God.