Monthly Archives: June 2017

Daily Bible Study

June 21, 2017 Bible Study — If We Trust The Lord, He Will Protect Us

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 23-31.

    There is a common theme running through most of these psalms: trust in the Lord and He will protect you. Today’s passage starts with Psalms 23, which is familiar to anyone who knows the Bible even a little bit. It is familiar to so many because it offers great comfort. Yet that familiarity may lead us to miss its great meaning, meaning which is echoed and amplified in the other psalms in today’s passage. These psalms tell us that God will look after us, protect us, and guide our paths. He will honor us in front of our enemies so that they will know that He will not allow them to destroy us. However, we often miss that a condition of that protection is that we follow God’s guidance. Again and again throughout these psalms the psalmist tells us that God guides us along the paths which we should take.

    So, the psalmist tells us that God will protect those who trust Him. If we truly trust God we will walk down the paths which He guides us along. When the psalmist says in Psalm 23, “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid,” the subtext is that he is in that valley because God guided him there. The psalmist is seeking to inspire us to walk down the path which God guides us no matter where that path leads us. He assures us that God will direct us to the correct path. No matter how dark and frightening the path may appear, we can trust that God has chosen it for us and will protect us as we walk along it.

Daily Bible Study

June 20, 2017 Bible Study — Faith In God Turns the Horror Movie Into An Action Adventure

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 18-22.

    I love the imagery in Psalms 18 and 19. The psalmist declares that he was at his end, completely overwhelmed by the troubles which had wrapped him up. His words evoke an image from a horror movie, ropes coming up from a grave, wrapping him up, and pulling him down into the earth of the grave. There was nothing he could do but cry out to God, so he did. God heard his cry and the earth shook. I can just picture the scene in a movie (it kind of reminds me of a 50s B Horror movie). There our hero is in the graveyard. Suddenly, animated ropes come out of a grave and wrap him up completely. The ropes are dragging him back into the grave. Our hero is grasping, reaching for anything to hold onto, but failing to obtain a grip. He cries out, “God save me!” The whole scene shakes, in the distance we see smoke rising up as if out of the nostrils of a dragon. The dark clouds in the sky part, the sun shines through, and a figure rides down to earth on storm clouds. Thunder booms forth and hail strikes all around. Then in the midst of all this noise and violence the figure stretches forth its hand and gently raises our hero up from where the ropes have fallen away. The wounds the hero suffered are healed and he is sent in pursuit of his enemies. They fall before him. Now it is their turn to cry out to the Lord, but He does not answer them.
    And why did the Lord not answer the cries of our hero’s enemies? Because they did not do right. They were not faithful and did not show integrity. They were crooked and proud.

    Then Psalms 19 tells us, again with great imagery how can know what is right so that we can do it. The very world around us proclaims God’s greatness. His will and instructions are revealed in the sky above us and the world around us. God’s instructions are both a warning and a reward. They give insight into living and are sweeter than honey. The psalmist cries out to God to reveal the sins which he does not even know he is committing and to cleanse him of them. He asks God to keep his deliberate sins from controlling him. This psalm resonates with me because I know that it is only if the power of the Holy Spirit acts within me that I will be able to resist the temptation of sins. And it is only by the revealing light that I will recognize the sins which hide deep within my heart.

Daily Bible Study

June 19, 2017 Bible Study — The Wicked Will Be Held To Account

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 10-17.

    There is a common thread which goes through the psalms in today’s passage: the wicked believe that they will not be held accountable for their actions. Actually, there is a second theme as well: God will hold the wicked accountable for their actions, they will suffer the consequences of their evil. The wicked brag about their desire to do evil. They praise the greedy. They think that God is either dead, or not watching. They prey upon those who cannot protect themselves and think no one can stop them. However, God will bring justice for the weak and oppressed.

    Put your trust in the Lord and there is no need to flee for safety. It may appear that the righteous and faithful are disappearing from the face of the earth, that the foundations of law and order have collapsed, but there is no need to flee to remote areas for safety. God will protect and reward those who remain faithful to Him in the face of the wicked. Evil may be praised by our society, but God will continue to protect the oppressed and to bring judgement on the oppressor. Even when it seems that God has forgotten us, let us continue to trust in Him and praise His name. When life is a struggle I will praise God for rescuing me, because I know that He will do so. I do not need to wait for God to act to praise Him, because I have experienced His deliverance in the past and know that I will experience it again.

    The psalmist tells us that, ultimately, those who believe that there is no God are fools. He tells us that they tell themselves that because of their wickedness and evil actions. Further, he tells us that all of us have done wrong, have committed evil at some point. However, those who know there is a God will turn to Him for forgiveness. He then tells us what we should strive for in order to stop doing evil. He gives us a list of things to avoid to move away from doing evil, and advice on how to do so. If we do what is right, we will not do what is wrong. The psalmist list of things to avoid is an active list. It is not enough to desire to not gossip, we must actively refuse to gossip. The same is true of harming our neighbors and speaking evil of others. These are things we must actively refuse to do, or we will find ourselves doing it without intending. We must reserve our admiration and praise for those who perform godly acts.

Daily Bible Study

June 18, 2017 Bible Study — Those Who Delight In The Lord Will Find Joy

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 1-9.

    I do not think that there is one theme which ties all of these psalms together. However, each of these psalms presents us with a starting point to worshiping the Lord. The first one starts us off by reminding us that joy comes to those who delight in God’s commands, seeking to understand them ever more fully. You will not find joy by following the advice of the wicked, nor by spending your time hanging out with them. The second psalm tells us that most of the people of this earth seek freedom from God’s rules, a futile pursuit. Then we have several psalms which emphasize the importance of turning to God for protection and deliverance. If we faithfully obey God we will always be outnumbered by our enemies, but their plots and attacks against us will fail…even when they think they have succeeded. Our enemies will use lies and deception in their attempts to bring us down, but God will use their own deception against them. The psalmist expresses the truth that we are not strong enough to stand against our many enemies, but that God has more than sufficient strength to defeat them. Let us perform the tasks which God has given us and call on Him to defend us and take the fight to our enemies.

    The final two psalms in today’s reading focus on praising the Lord. Psalm 8 tells us to look at the majesty of the Universe and realize how big, powerful, and amazing God is. In comparison to the Universe which God created, we are small and insignificant. Yet God cares deeply for each and every one of us. Compared to the expanse and wonder of the Universe in which God has placed us the gap between the poorest, least powerful among us and the richest billionaire, most powerful President, or most eminent Poobah is nothing. I will praise the Lord with all my heart, for He hears, and answers, the cries of those who suffer.

Daily Bible Study

June 17, 2017 Bible Study — We Have No Basis To Question God, But Questioning Is Better Than Blind Faith

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 38-42.

    Now we come to the conclusion of the Book of Job. God grants Job his request and allows Job to make his case directly to Him. Job had been critical of God’s decisions. God points out that Job does not know enough and is not powerful enough to understand why God did what He did. God asks Job some questions which the writer presumed that no human could answer. Mankind has researched and found answers to many of those questions, but the key question still stands, “Were you there when the Universe was created? Did you see how God established the rules which it follows?” Those questions are key because Job was not there, and neither were any of us. All that we can know of that is what we can figure out from the clues which God has left us. There are many people in the world who question and challenge God the way Job did. And yet, it was Job whom God commended at the end, not his friends who defended God with blind faith.

Daily Bible Study

June 16, 2017 Bible Study — I Have Sinned, But I Will Sin No More…If Only It Were That Easy

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 34-37.

    Elihu says some things to which we should pay attention, but much of his argument against Job is against a strawman. Elihu quotes Job as saying, ‘Why waste time trying to please God?’ Which Job did indeed say, but Job’s statement was more a rhetorical question spoken out of frustration than a suggestion that there was no value in pleasing God. Elihu is guilty of doing what Job’s other friends did. He assumes that Job must be guilty of some sin because he is suffering. He claims that Job associated with the evil and the wicked solely on the basis of the fact that Job was afflicted. Despite these flaws in his reasoning, Elihu tells us some things of value. It is not possible for God to do wrong. God will not twist justice. Most importantly, Elihu reminds us that God is no respecter of persons, He does not care how great we may by, nor how great others many think that we are.

    Elihu gives us two prayers which should form the basis for our life. The first is, “I have sinned, but I will sin no more.” This is for those times when we know we have sinned and what sin we have committed. I will add that it is not that easy, at least not for me. I need to make that prayer, “I have sinned, but with Your help I will sin no more.” It is only by the Spirit directing my steps that I am able to stop sinning.
    The second may be even more important. It is for when we do not know of any sins we have committed. ‘I don’t know what evil I have done—tell me. If I have done wrong, I will stop at once.’ Each and every day, let us ask God to show us how we have sinned so that we can repent of our mistakes and change our ways. All too often we are unaware that certain of our actions are sin. We think that we were perfectly justified for doing something which God wants us to never do again. We must ask His Spirit to scour our hearts and reveal these sins to us. we must be receptive to acknowledging the areas in our lives where we need to change. That change will never be easy, but it will certainly be worth it.

Daily Bible Study

June 15, 2017 Bible Study — Job’s Ideas About What Constitutes Sin

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 29-33.

    In his final protestation of innocence Job lists the most heinous sins he can think of, while stating that he is not guilty of them:

  • he did not lust after a woman not his wife
  • he did not lie or deceive
  • he did not lust after his neighbor’s wife
  • he was not unfair to his servants
  • he did not refuse to help the poor, the widow, or the orphan
  • he did not oppress the powerless
  • he was not greedy, he did not worship money
  • he did not worship the sun, the moon, or the starts
  • he did not rejoice when disaster struck his enemies

The thing that struck me about that list is that the only sexual sin which makes the list is lust, but Job felt the need to mention it twice. The only other sin mentioned with similar emphasis is failure to aid widows and orphans. Although the latter is only mentioned once, Job goes on longer and in more detail than on any of the other sins. It is also worth noting that the other sins are active sins. It is the failure to act which is the sin here (the failure to aid the poor, widows, or orphans).

    I am hesitant to take much in the way of lessons on proper behavior from Job’s friends. However, Elihu makes a point which I think is worth noting. God speaks to people again and again. When we say that God is silent, it means that we are not listening. God is constantly speaking to us and giving us direction. One of the most common reasons that we do not hear God is because we do not like what He is telling us. If we want to hear God’s voice we must overcome our reluctance to follow His instructions and our fear of where He will send us.

Daily Bible Study

June 14, 2017 Bible Study — God Is the Source of True Wisdom

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 22-28.

    Eliphaz starts today’s passage with a great statement. God does not need us and if we are righteous it does not benefit God anymore than if we are not. However, he immediately goes downhill from there. Job had asked his friends, since they were convinced he was a terrible sinner, to tell him what sin he had committed. So, Eliphaz begins postulating terrible sins that Job had committed. There is only one problem with Eliphaz’s accusations. The only evidence for them is that Job is suffering. Eliphaz goes on to preach a form of prosperity gospel…which is not good news at all. He says that only the wicked suffer and that things always go well for the righteous. In fact, he essentially says that those who are suffering are wicked and those who are wealthy and “living the good life” are righteous. This is a heresy which people fall for time and again, that having wealth and a good life is evidence that one is righteous. This is not true and has never been true.

    Job responds to Eliphaz by complaining that he cannot find God. He acknowledges that God knows where we are going and will test us to show our metal. God controls our destiny and will guide us to where we can best serve His purpose. If that is in suffering, we will suffer. If that is in comfort, we will be comfortable. Then Job says something for which God later chides him. Job questions God’s justice. He admits that the wicked will face God’s judgment, but questions why it is so slow.

    Once more Bildad questions Job’s innocence. He points out that no one can be innocent when compared to God. We have all sinned in some way which is exposed by God’s great righteousness. As true as Bildad’s point is, it is useless to comfort someone who is suffering as Job was suffering. It failed in any way to ease that suffering. Job uses the failure of his friends’ wisdom to offer him any comfort to highlight something important. Mankind has learned how to extract treasures and resources from the depths of the earth, getting ever better at obtaining and using such treasures as time goes by. We have learned how to find ever more hidden treasures as the years pass. Yet there is one treasure which no one can find, wisdom. For all of man’s great learning and developing new techniques to obtain treasures and resources, he has failed to find any new ways to obtain wisdom. Only God knows where to find true wisdom. Only God can direct us there. It is only by asking God for it that we can obtain true wisdom.

Daily Bible Study

June 13, 2017 Bible Study — I Know That My Redeemer Lives

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 16-21.

    Job once more points out that his friends’ accusations that he is a sinner offer him no comfort. It only makes his suffering worse. Anybody could say the things which they say, but those things offer no comfort to those who are suffering. Instead of criticism for past mistakes we should seek to offer encouragement to those who are suffering. When we encounter those who are suffering, let us not condemn them for the actions which we believe led them to their suffering. Instead, let us seek to comfort them. Let us intercede with God in prayer for them and seek His guidance on how to bring them comfort and encouragement.

    Despite the fact that in yesterday’s passage Job asked the rhetorical question, “Can the dead live again?” for which the answer was, “No,” today he makes one of the great declarations about God’s salvation. One which has brought great comfort to many Christians throughout history.

But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and he will stand upon the earth at last.
And after my body has decayed,
yet in my body I will see God!
I will see him for myself.
Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
I am overwhelmed at the thought!


What a great statement of faith! Yes, I know that my Redeemer lives and though I may die, I will see Him face to face. I am humbled by those I know who suffered and died relying on this truth and am honored that I too shall see my Redeemer, who was their Redeemer as well. I am humbled to know that He redeemed me along with those whose faith so vastly outshines my own.

Daily Bible Study

June 12, 2017 Bible Study — Offer Comfort To Those Who Suffer, Not Condemnation

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 11-15.

    Job’s friends continue to tell him that he must have committed some heinous sin that explains his suffering. If only he would confess his sin and seek God’s forgiveness his suffering would end and his life would be wonderful once more. The ongoing theme of the Book of Job is that it is wrong to use suffering as evidence that someone has sinned. Actually the theme is more than that. Our answer to the suffering of others should not be to tell them that if only they confessed their sins they would stop suffering…even if we know that their suffering results from sin. We should offer comfort to those who suffer, acknowledging that we deserve to suffer just as much as they for our sins. We should do our best to relieve the pain experienced by those suffering, not add to it by accusing them of sin.

    In his response to his friends, says some things which stand out as important. He reminds us of the time tested truth that wisdom and understanding come with age, but he points out that God possesses wisdom and power far beyond that which we acquire with age. If we need counsel and understanding we can obtain it by turning to God. He also warns us against lying to defend God, or to convince others to turn to Him. It will go badly for us if we attempt to use lies and deception to lead others to God. God does not need, nor does He want us to use lies and deception to defend Him against accusations, nor to convince people to trust Him. Lies and deception may work in the short term, but God is only interested in the long term where they are sure to fail. We should fear to make the case for God with things we know to be false and/or misleading.

    Then Job asks the rhetorical question which God answered anyway in Jesus Christ. When Job asked the question, “Can the dead live again?” he thought he knew the answer and that the answer was “No.” From his position of not realizing that God has provided that the dead can live again, Job tells us what it means to believe that. It means that we have hope through all of our years of struggle, whether those years be many or few. If we believe that the dead will rise again, we should view death as a release and eagerly await it. God has indeed sealed our sins in a pouch and watches over our steps. The fact that we will rise from the dead with Christ means that we should seek and strive and struggle to find and do God’s will for all of our lives.