For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Wisdom, good judgment, knowledge, and discernment are all found close to each other. Wisdom will always lead to knowledge, but knowledge does not lead to wisdom.

    In yesterday’s portion of this psalm the psalmist declared that God had set him in a safe place. In today’s portion he emphasizes his continued distress and isolation. Yet despite that distress and isolation, he continues to trust in God. Even though his friends and neighbors are unwilling to stand by his side, he knows that God will not forsake him. Are we willing to trust God and call on Him, even if it means that we stand alone?

    The parable of the sheep and the goats in today’s passage is one of the most powerful lessons on what it means to be a follower of Christ. I have looked and thought about this parable many times. My view of this parable is heavily influenced by the Keith Green song about it. The difference between the sheep and the goats is what they did, and didn’t, do. This is very important and something we should bear in mind as we live our lives.
    However, there is another important point in this parable. Neither group recognized Jesus in those whose suffering they encountered. The “sheep” did not care for the poor and the suffering because they recognized Jesus in them. They cared for the poor and the suffering because they were poor and/or suffering. The “goats” on the other hand, did not care for the poor and the suffering because they did not see Jesus in them. This implies that perhaps there were times they cared for the poor or the suffering in whom they saw Jesus. It is not enough to care for the poor or the suffering in whom we see Jesus. We are called to care for the poor and suffering, even if we see no sign of Jesus in them.

    This passage describes in detail the clothes which are to be worn by the priests when they conduct services in the Tabernacle. The design for these clothes contained a lot of symbolism to remind both the priests and the people of Israel about the role of the priests. The priests were to be reminded that they represented all of the people of Israel when they were in God’s presence and the people were to be reminded that the priests were holy before God.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Wisdom is not some hidden secret we have to go looking for. Instead, wisdom is not only readily available, it calls out to us, extolling what it has to offer. Will we be instructed by wisdom? Or will we choose folly? Those are our choices. All too many reject what wisdom has to offer.

    Today, this psalm will be my prayer. God is my rock and my fortress. I entrust my spirit into His hand. Read the psalm and join me in praying it.

    In yesterday’s passage Jesus spoke of being prepared for His return. Today’s passage gives us two parables He used to illustrate what it means to be prepared. The first parable is the parable of the ten bridesmaids. Five of the bridesmaids did not take any extra oil for their lamps, five of them had extra oil. The bridegroom was delayed. When word finally reached them that he was approaching, the first five discovered that their lamps were going out. They asked the others five for some oil, but the latter did not have sufficient to lend them. The first five went out to get more oil, but by the time they returned with oil, it was too late. The groom had come and gone. We too must stay alert and make sure that our light is burning when the Lord returns.
    The second parable always makes me feel inadequate. God has given me many gifts in this life and I am not convinced that I have full use of those gifts. I fear that I am the third servant who hid my Lord’s money and failed to invest it wisely. Yet, He has not yet returned. There is still time for me to take the gifts which God has given me and use them to produce gain for Him. It may be too late for me to become the first servant in this parable, but if I work hard, I believe that I can still transform myself from the third into the second.
    How have you used the gifts God has given you? Which of the three servants are you?

    God gave Moses and the people of Israel detailed instructions for building the Tabernacle and its furnishings. There was no room for misinterpretation. Yet for all of that there was room for artistic expression. The plans give detailed instructions for the structural details of the Tabernacle, but the decorative details were more vague. There were to be various curtains of specific sizes, but each of those curtains was to be decorated with embroidery. The only part of the embroidery which was described was that it was to include “cherubim”. It does not describe a “cherubim”, although I am sure that the people listening had a pretty good idea what image was meant. This means that each embroiderer could vary off of that base theme as they saw fit.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The proverb writer continues his condemnation of sexual immorality. I wonder to what degree one could take his description of the immoral woman as a warning to women not to be that woman.

    Do we recognize our success as coming from God? Or do we do as the psalmist did the first time he did well and think, “Nothing can stop me now”? It is God’s favor which makes us secure, if we turn from Him, He will turn from us. However, when we call out to Him, He will rescue us. His anger lasts only until we learn to rely on Him. His love is for eternity. God will turn our mourning into joy. Let us not be silent. Rather let us sing praises to God.

    Jesus continues His prophecies concerning the fall of Jerusalem, His second coming, and the end times. He tells His disciples, and through them, us, to pay attention because when we see the things He had just talked about happen we will know that His return is near. This tells us that we should study the Scripture and look at how events happening in the world around us match up with prophecies about the end. However, we must also be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking we have it all figured out. Jesus tells us that no one knows the day or the hour of His return.
    My father once summed up what I believe about this, a belief I am sure I got from him. He said that we should live as if Jesus will return in the next few minutes and plan as if we will live on this earth until we are one hundred years old. We do not know when Jesus will return. As a result we must be ready all of the time. We have been put in charge of carrying out God’s will here on earth, I pray that He finds me doing so when He returns.

    When I read about the three festivals here it struck me that they represent the three ways in which we should praise God. The first, the Passover, is a celebration of what God has done for us in the past, the ways in which His power has delivered us from suffering. The second, the Festival of Harvest, is to celebrate our faith that God is taking care of us in the present. The third, the Festival of the Ingathering (or Final Harvest), is to celebrate that God will take care of us in the future, that indeed, He has already provided for our future needs.
    The passage goes on to remind the Israelites, and us, that God will be with them, and us. We must not worship the gods of the nations, the society, around us. If we are loyal to God and worship only Him, He will be with us and overcome our enemies for us.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The proverb writer continues his warnings against being seduced into immorality. He tells us that only the truly naive are fooled by its empty promises.

    As I read this psalm and it talked about how God’s voice shatters cedars and makes mountains dance I thought about when God spoke to Elijah in a gentle whisper. This psalm and that passage from 1 Kings are talking about the same voice of God. It is the same God who thunders and who speaks with the still, small voice. Let us listen to what He has to say, whichever way He chooses to speak.

    When Jesus was leaving the Temple grounds He said that the Temple and all of its associated buildings would be completely torn down. As soon as they got some place away from the crowds His disciples asked Him when that would happen. However, while they thought they were asking Him a single question, they actually asked Him two or three questions. They asked Him when the destruction of the Temple would happen, what the signal for His return would be, a the sign of the coming end of the world. We generally think of these last two as being different ways of asking the same question, but His disciples thought the first was asking the same question as well. Part of the reason we have so much trouble figuring out what Jesus was saying here comes from the fact that He was answering all three of these questions at once.
    Jesus tells us that there will be wars and threats of wars, that many will come in His name claiming to be Him. Then His followers will be hated and arrested for following Him. He warns us that many will turn away from Him. Jesus warns that false prophets and false messiahs will rise up, performing signs and wonders which will deceive many. We have been warned. There is some positive news here as well. It is only after the Gospel has been preached throughout the whole earth and all peoples have had a chance to hear it that the end will come.
    This passage for me tells of one of the great differences between Muslims and Christians. Both believe they should strive to hasten the end of the world. Muslims believe they should hasten the end by preparing for and, when ready, initiating Armageddon. Christians believe that they should hasten the end of the world by seeking out those who have yet to hear the Gospel in order to tell it to them. This reminds me of the line from the song “I Love to Tell the Story”:

I love to tell the story, for some have never heard

Have you told the story today?

    The element in these laws which struck me today was how these laws were designed to hold people accountable to take responsibility for things. “If an ox gores…the owner will not be held liable…But suppose the ox had a reputation for goring and the owner had been informed.” In the latter case, the owner was to be held accountable as if himself had gored the person. You cannot avoid responsibility by claiming, “It’s not my doing. The animal got out and killed him.” If you knew your animal might do that sort of thing, it is your responsibility to make sure that it is contained so that it cannot do so. If you fail in your responsibility, you will be treated as if you did it on purpose.
    

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The proverb writer tells us that committing adultery is like scooping flame into your lap…you are going to get burned. Just like it is possible to walk on hot coals with bare feet and not get burned, you may think that you got away with it. However, unlike walking on hot coals, you will suffer negative consequences from adultery, whether or not anybody else ever knows about it.

    My heart has heard God say, “Come and talk with me.” All to often, my reply is, “Not now, I’m busy. I’ll get back with you in as soon as I finish this.” I will strive once more to change that and put talking to God at the top of my priority list. If we talk to God every day, He will teach us how to live and show us the path to follow. Our enemies may be waiting for us, but if we follow the path down which God would lead us, we will avoid the traps they have laid for us.

    The question which the Pharisee asked Jesus in an attempt to trap Him tells us a lot about how the Pharisees thought, not the question itself, but the fact that they thought it was a trap. Once you have heard Jesus’ answer, it is perfectly obvious. The two basic laws are, “Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All of the other laws, rules, and instructions from God are merely expressions of how one follows these two laws. If your understanding of any of those other laws allows (or requires) you to violate either of these two, your understanding is wrong.

    Having disposed of their arguments, Jesus condemns the religious leaders of His day (and many since). He tells us not to act so as to “look” righteous. We should do the things we do because they are the right thing to do, not because they cause others to think we are righteous. We are not to call anyone “Master”, or “Father”, or “Teacher”, or any other title which implies that they are somehow closer to God than we are. Just as importantly, we should not let anyone call us by such titles. People read this and think that because they are not using one of the titles Jesus explicitly mentioned that it is OK to call someone “Reverend Jack”, or “Pastor Jack”. Doing the latter is the same as calling someone “Father Jack”. Using such honorifics is an attempt to make someone an intermediary between ourselves and God. We already have such an intermediary in Jesus.

    This passage reminds us of how important it is for a leader to delegate tasks to others. One person cannot do it all. First we have the story of the battle against the Amalekites. Moses sent Joshua out to lead the troops, while he went up to the top of a nearby hill to direct troop movements. While Moses was able to keep his arms up, he was able to direct the troops to greatest advantage. When his arms got tired they lost the advantage which Moses’ direction gave them. When Aaron and Hur noticed this, they helped Moses by holding his arms in the air. The Israelites won the battle because Moses was assisted by three able assistants.
    Later, when Moses’ father-in-law came to visit he saw that Moses was spending all of his time making decisions about every minor dispute among the Israelites. Jethro observed that this served neither Moses nor the Israelites. Moses was ill-served because he had to spend an inordinate amount of time listening to each case. The Israelites were ill-served because they needed to wait for Moses to go through each of the cases that had been brought up before theirs. Jethro told Moses to appoint some honest, God fearing men to hear the majority of the cases, especially the cases which merely needed an impartial witness to judge the facts.
    This is how all leaders need to work. They need to delegate decisions about how to implement policy to others, reserving for themselves only the decisions which determine the overall direction the group will take.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    I feel great sorrow for those for whom these proverbs do not apply; those who do not have a father and a mother; those whose parents, while technically being in their life, have chosen to be their “friends” rather than their parents. For all the rest of us, this is indispensable advice.

    If we have truly turned to God for our salvation and trust in Him to provide it, whom shall we fear? If we trust in God and turn our lives completely over to Him, it is our enemies who will stumble and fall. We need not muster our forces and deal them a defeat in battle. God will cause them to trip over their own feet.
    However, let us always remember in this life the question is not, “Is God on our side?” Rather the question is, “Am I on God’s side?” Let us strive, in every situation, to be on God’s side. If we succeed in that effort, we will always emerge on the victorious side.

    Jesus tells continues His theme about those who have been religious, yet reject God’s will. The several parables He tells on this theme are important because we can make too much of the images He uses in one or another of them. One of the key points in all of them is that the religious leaders of His day were invited by God, more than invited, perhaps chosen would be a better word, to do God’s work and enter into heaven. The other key point is that when those religious leaders refuse to act according to God’s will, God will extend the invitation to, will choose, those whom the religious leaders believer, not without cause, to be unsuitable to replace them. The message here is that what God wants done, will be done. God will find those willing to do His will.
    There is an interesting side story in Jesus’ parable about the wedding feast. Once the feast is in progress, the King is circulating among the guests and notices one who is not wearing wedding clothes. God invites us as we are, dirty, sinful people, but we cannot get into Heaven if we stay as we are. We need to allow Him to change us.

    The passage begins with the Israelites praising God for rescuing them from the Egyptian army. However, the rest of the passage is story after story of the Israelites complaining because they are facing troubles. First they complain when the water at Marah is too bitter to drink. God showed Moses how to make the water drinkable, supplying the Israelites with water. Then they complain because their food is running out and they are afraid that they are going to starve. God provided them with quail and with manna to eat. The final story in the passage tells us that they came to camp at a place where there was no water. Once more the Israelites complained.
    Time after time God demonstrated His power and His ability to care for their needs. Yet, time after time the Israelites complained and rebelled. Are we any different? Have we learned to trust God to provide for our needs and our safety? The Israelites mistake was not in crying out to God when they ran into troubles. Their mistake was crying out to God demanding that He meet their needs, rather than crying out to God asking Him what He wanted them to do now. When we find ourselves at the end of our rope, with needs that we have no idea how to meet, let us cry out to God, “What do You want me to do now?” Actually, let us start each day that way, “Oh Lord, what do you want me to do today?”