For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
Those who allow themselves to be instructed by wisdom find joy and life. Those who reject the wise advice which leads to the Lord are harming themselves more than any others. By doing so, they may as well be seeking their own death.
Let us sing for joy as we praise the Lord. Use whatever musical talent that you have to glorify His name. My musical talent is limited, but I can sing loudly. If the sound of my voice offends your ears, and it will come as no surprise to me if it does, that just means that you are not singing loud enough.
The psalmist reminds us that all God had to do to bring the entire Universe into being was speak. His very words caused all that is to come into being. Just think what His words can do to whatever problems we may face!
Recently I have come to compare Judas and Peter. When Peter realized that he had betrayed Jesus by denying Him three times, he went away, crying bitterly. He knew he could never make it right. Judas, on the other hand, went to the priests and tried to get them to offer him absolution. He tried to find a way to make it right. When he realized that he could not make it right, he killed himself. Both Peter and Judas thought they knew better than Jesus how it should go. But Judas was stronger than Peter, which led to his destruction. Judas could not live with himself as dependent on God for forgiveness.
I am not quite saying this right. I need to spend some time working out this thought.
The first thing that struck me was that Aaron asked the people to bring him their earrings, which he then used to make the golden calf. When Jacob left Schechem to return to Bethel he asked all of his household to bring him their idols. They, in turn, gave him all of their idols and their earrings. I am confident that there is symbolism in this connection. I am not sure what that symbolism is, but I do not think it is about the evils of earrings (even though I am not a fan of earrings). Just another thing I need to put some thought into and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance about.