Monthly Archives: March 2016

Daily Bible Study

March 22, 2016 Bible Study — Not By Force, Nor By Strength, But By God’s Spirit

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 7-8.

    When Gideon called together an army of men from among his clan and tribe (Manasseh), and from the tribes of Asher, Zebulon, and Naphtali. The army which mustered was 32,000 men strong. God told him that he had too many men. So, Gideon reduced the army to 300 men. I could spend time discussing Gideon’s strategy, but the key point of this story is that God often times calls us to go into “battle” with forces which are badly under-powered for the task at hand. God wants it to be clear to us that it was His power which won the day. In Zechariah 4:6 this is spelled out even more clearly:

It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

    It is by God’s Spirit that we will have the victory. That is true when it comes to accomplishing tasks which God has given to us, when it comes to overcoming the trials and challenges we face in our lives, and it is true when it comes to overcoming temptation to sin in our lives. I know that I often think that I will overcome the challenges I face by buckling down and working harder. While sometimes I need to work harder, it is still only by God’s providential power and love that I have overcome the challenges I have faced. I need to remember this as I struggle to find a new place to live. In the same way, I often seek to overcome temptation by exerting my willpower. I do not know why I do so, since it has never worked for me in the past. I have only ever succeeded in resisting temptation by the grace of God. To be perfectly honest, those temptations which I can defeat by application of my willpower are not really temptations at all.

Daily Bible Study

March 21, 2016 Bible Study — Deborah, Barak, and Gideon

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 4-6.

    This passage shows us that the Judges of Israel were not always military leaders. Deborah was a prophet and judge of Israel. When declared to her that it was time to overthrow the forces oppressing the Israelites, she sent word to Barak, a military leader of the people. It seems likely that if Barak had not been afraid to go into battle without the prophetess along that we would not have heard of Deborah (that, by the way, does not mean that her significance would have been any less). I would also like to point out that I am not suggesting that Barak was a coward. One thing that I want to make clear, Barak did not do anything wrong in this story. However, because he insisted on having Deborah with him when he went into battle, he did not get credit for the victory.

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    NExt we have the story of the call of Gideon. I am convinced that Gideon had been among those calling on the Lord for help. It strikes me that he was likely troubled by the way in which his fellow Israelites worshiped idols. As I have been reading the Bible more and more, I have become convinced that the average Israelite did not see a distinction between God and Baal. They believed that the people worshiping Baal were worshiping the same God as they were. They understood that the methods of worship were different and that some of the practices which were followed were different, but they believed they were all worshiping the same god. They even recognized that some of the practices which the Baal worshipers followed were wrong, but even then they believed them to be merely misguided, not serving a different god. From time to time, a leader would rise up who would call the Israelites to a purer worship of God. A leader who would show them the distinction between Baal and Yahweh. Gideon was one such leader. He did not start out as a military leader doing battle against the oppressors of Israel. He started out as a religious leader calling for a rejection of idolatry and faithful worship of God. This is an important reminder for us. Reclaiming our land for God starts with being more faithful in worshiping Him.

Daily Bible Study

March 20, 2016 Bible Study

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Judges 1-3.

    The Israelites has failed to drive the people out of the land which God had given them. With the death of Joshua they stopped trying and began to enter into treaties and co-existence with those peoples. Many of them began to worship the gods of the people around them. This is always a temptation for God’s people. It is easy to become complacent and adopt the practices of those around us. Doing so allows us to avoid conflict. In addition, we have a desire as human beings to not be different.

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    Time and again the people turned from God and suffered the consequences. Time and again they cried out to God and He sent a judge to rescue them. The first of those judges was Caleb’s nephew, Othniel. While Othniel was judge the Israelites had peace for forty years. When he died the Israelites once more turned to worshiping other gods and following the practices of the people around them. Once more they suffered as a result. When they called out to God for rescue, he called Ehud. Ehud killed their oppressor and led them to victory over the Moabites. The circumstances which occurred here remind us of that groups of people need a strong leader to direct them to follow God. We, also, see that each generation needs to learn to follow God for themselves. Those who have not experienced God’s mighty works often believe that they have no need for God.

Daily Bible Study

March 19, 2016 Bible Study — Choose Today Whom You Will Serve

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 23-24.

    This passage is Joshua’s farewell speech to the people of Israel. He tells the Israelites that they are not to associate with the people living in the land, to not intermarry with them, adopt their customs, or worship their gods. They are not to even mention the names of their gods. Instead they were to cling tightly to God Himself. The point here is that our focus should not be on what those around us do wrong, or that is not right. Our focus should be on doing what God tells us is right.

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    This passage also contains a great quote from Joshua, one which I love: “As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” However, that quote comes after Joshua gives them a command. He told them to choose whom they would serve. Joshua laid before them their choices, the gods whom their ancestors worshiped in Sumeria, the gods of Egypt, the gods of the people in whose land they now lived, or God. The people resoundingly chose to worship and serve God. Yet, when they had done so, Joshua found it necessary to tell them to destroy their idols. If we have chosen to worship and serve God, what idols do we have that we need to destroy?

Daily Bible Study

March 18, 2016 Bible Study — No One Has the Exclusive Right to Worship God

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 21-22.

    When the tribes which had land east of the Jordan River returned to their land, they built an altar before crossing over the Jordan. The rest of the tribes prepared to go to war against them for doing so. They believed that the tribes east of the Jordan were setting up a second place of worship to compete with the one at Shiloh, where the Tabernacle was residing at the time. Fortunately, before they went to war, they sent a delegation to the tribes east of the Jordan.
    Despite the harsh rhetoric of the delegation, the tribes east of the Jordan acknowledged that the other tribes would be right to be angry and hostile if they had done as they supposed. However, they informed the delegation that they had not set up the altar in order to make offerings upon it. They had merely set it up as a memorial and a reminder that they had an equal claim to worshiping God as those living west of the Jordan. I had been going elsewhere with this, but I just realized that this passage is an important reminder that we belong to God, not the other way around. We do not have exclusive right to worship God. Let us welcome all who want to join us in worshiping God.

Daily Bible Study

March 17, 2016 Bible Study — Taking Action to Receive God’s Blessings

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 18-20.

    It becomes clear in this passage that the tribal allotments were in part based on the land which the tribes carved out for themselves, although there was clearly more to it than that. The remaining seven tribes had failed to claim land for themselves and Joshua challenges them to do so. The land designated for each of the first five tribes was more than they were able to conquer, but this passage makes it clear that the tribes took initiative in obtaining their land allotment. It works the same way for us, we must put faith in God and trust in Him to provide for us, but we must take action ourselves as well.

Daily Bible Study

March 16, 2016 Bible Study — Do We Trust God’s Promises?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 15-17.

    The passage describes the territory which Joshua gave to each of the tribes, laying out the boundaries for each tribe. All of these descriptions have one common element. We are told that the tribe could not, or, at least, did not, drive out all of the people living in the land. A rather telling part of the passage is what the people of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh said to Joshua when they asked him to allot them more land because there were so many of them. Joshua told them that if they needed more land they should clear out some of the people living in the lowlands in the area allotted to them. Their response was that those people were too strong for them. They failed to trust God’s promise to clear the land for them.

Daily Bible Study

March 15, 2016 Bible Study — So, You Think You’re Too Old?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 12-14.

    Today’s passage contains a list of the kings the Israelites defeated and the land they took control over under Joshua’s leadership (although Moses was still alive when they conquered the lands east of the Jordan). Despite the large number of kings whom they had defeated there was still a significant amount of land in the area God had promised them which the Israelites had not yet taken control over. God once more promised to drive the people living on the land still to be conquered out of that land, giving it to the Israelites. He instructed Joshua to include that land in the land designated for the various tribes as he divided the land among them.

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    The most interesting part of this passage is that Caleb came to Joshua and requested his grant of land. What is interesting is that this happened at a point where the passage had just told us a few verses back that Joshua was an old man. Further, Caleb states in his request that he is 85 years old. If Caleb, at 85 years old, was prepared to battle for control over the land which God had promised him, how can you, at whatever age you are, say that you are too old to fight the battle to which God is calling you?

Daily Bible Study

March 14, 2016 Bible Study

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 10-11.

    This passage is a bloodthirsty account of the Israelites conquest of the land. The passage tells us that, under Joshua, the people of Israel defeated and killed all of the people in the land, as God had commanded them. Except for the Gibeonites. As I read this, it initially struck me as somewhat cruel and sad. However, there is a sentence in the middle of the passage which puts it in a different light: “For the Lord hardened their hearts and caused them to fight the Israelites.” Aside from the Gibeonites, all of the people in the land chose to make war against the Israelites. None of them chose to attempt to make peace with them. It is still sad, but living peaceably requires that the other person be willing to live in peace with you as well.

Daily Bible Study

March 13, 2016 Bible Study — Allowing Ourselves to Be Deceived

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Joshua 8-9.

    There are two stories here that reflect the successes and failures of the Israelites. When the Israelites first attacked Ai they were overconfident and cocky. They sent only a portion of their army against Ai and were soundly defeated. This was described in yesterday’s passage, which also told us that the overconfidence was a result of Achan’s sin. When they went up against Ai with God’s blessing, the full force of their army, and sound tactics, they were victorious. A short time later, another group of people in the land, the Gibeonites, deceived them into a treaty. This was in violation of God’s command to not make a treaty with any of the people in the land. The Gibeonites were clever and supplied their delegation to make it seem that they had traveled a long distance to meet with the Israelites. The Israelites failed to consult God, or to put conditions into the treaty to guard against such deception. The Israelites were deceived because they relied on their own ability to detect the deception. No matter how cunning we are at sniffing out deception, it is only by trusting in God, and seeking His advice that we can avoid being deceived.