Monthly Archives: July 2023

Daily Bible Study

July 11, 2023 Bible Study — The Lord Hates Those Who Stir Up Trouble Between Others

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 5-8.

The writer makes two main points in today’s passage.  The one which takes up the bulk of the passage tells us that the wise person avoids adultery.  For the other point he writes that wisdom calls out loudly to any who listen, that it does not take much effort to acquire wisdom.  So, although wisdom tells us to work hard, we do not have to work hard to learn the value of doing so.  Having said that about the two main points I want to focus on something which is almost an aside.  At one point the writer tells us:

There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

Most of those things are the subject of many sermons and homilies.  But we do not often talk about how God detests those who stir up conflict between others.  This is not someone who gets into conflict with others, but someone who gets others into conflict with each other.  When someone tells you that the solution to your problems is to be mad at someone else, they are not trying to help you.  We do not help someone by telling them that they can solve their problems by attacking someone else.  Throughout the Book of Proverbs, and the rest of the Bible, we learn that wisdom teaches us that we need to take responsibility for that which we can control.  The Bible tells us repeatedly that the best thing we can do to address our problems is to put our trust in God, and do the good He guides us to do.  And the best thing we can do to help others is to give them direct aid, not try to get them to blame someone else for their problems.

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

Daily Bible Study

July 10, 2023 Bible Study — The Wicked Seek to Silence Voices So That We Do Not Hear What Wisdom Has to Say

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 1-4.

We come now to the Book of Proverbs, which was put together to provide a means for gaining wisdom and receiving instruction in prudent behavior.  The writer makes clear that wisdom teaches us to not let sinful people entice us into violent or other sinful behavior.  Those who seek ill-gotten gain ultimately harm themselves.  But wisdom will save you from the self destructive ways of the wicked and perverse.  Wisdom is not hard to find, it calls to us loudly in the public square.  In fact, the ease with which we hear wisdom and know its truth is why the wicked want to silence some voices in the public square.  Wisdom, if allowed to speak, will drown out all other voices.  Seek insight and understanding and you will find the knowledge of God, you will understand that which is right and just.  Following the straight paths which wisdom shows us will allow us to live in safety without fear of harm.

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

Daily Bible Study

July 9, 2023 Bible Study — Let Everything Which Breathes Praise the Lord

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 143-150.

When we struggle with the difficulties of life, let us remember what God has done for His people in the past.  When our enemies are too strong for us, and we seem doomed to destruction at their hands, let us meditate on God’s works.  In times of trouble cry out to God for direction, and entrust your life to Him.  Follow the guidance which God gives you and remember His love for you.  As insignificant and powerless you consider yourself, and you are not wrong, God cares for you.  God does not love us because we are mighty warriors, or powerful individuals who can accomplish great things on His behalf.  He is the Maker of all that is and does not need our help.  Rather, we need His help and should humbly rely on Him.  God takes delight in those who put their trust in Him, rather than putting their trust in powerful people, wealthy people, or politicians.  Let us fear and trust God, and gain our pleasure in praising Him.  When you meditate on God’s mighty works, you will see that all of Creation brings glory to God’s name.

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

Daily Bible Study

July 8, 2023 Bible Study — God Knows Our Inmost Being and Loves Us Anyway

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 136-142.

We should give thanks to God because He is good and His love endures forever.  The psalmist gives us some examples of things which God has done which demonstrate both His goodness and His love, but each of us should think about the good things God has done for us.  If we honestly appraise what God has done for us, we will praise Him before those who seek to take His place in our lives.  But let me get back to God’s enduring love for us.  God loves us deeply and fully.  Everyone I know struggles to one degree or another with thinking that no one will love them if they truly knew who they were.  But this is a false belief, because no one can possibly know our deepest darkest secrets as well and as thoroughly as God does, yet God loves us with a love beyond our ability to fully comprehend.  So, when the psalmist asks God to search him and know his heart, he is not asking God to learn more about him.  Rather, he is asking God to reveal to him things he has hidden from himself.  Let us ask God to reveal to us the things we do, or say, or think, which He finds offensive, and then to transform us so as to remove those things from our lives.

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

Daily Bible Study

July 7, 2023 Bible Study — God Is Building a House Where His People Will Live in Unity

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 120-135.

The psalmist has some great points for us in today’s psalms.  When we ask ourselves where our help will come from, let us join the psalmist in saying that our help comes from the Maker of heaven and earth.  If we place our trust in Him, we will have Someone watching over us who never sleeps, not even a short nap.  He will watch over our coming and going forevermore.  Then we can join with those who rejoice at the thought of going to God’s house, and by that I do not mean the building where we gather to worship.  No, when the psalmist talks of going to the house of the Lord, he is speaking of going to the place where God dwells.  And God lives within those who trust in Him.  So, when we go to God’s house, we are going to where God’s people live in unity.  We cannot build that “house” through our own effort, not even working with the most skilled people.  If we strive to build a “house” where God’s people live together in unity without God Himself being the architect and builder, our striving will be in vain.  So, when the psalmist rejoices with those who say, “Let us go to the house of the Lord,” he is rejoicing with those rely on God to build a place of unity for His people to dwell.

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

Daily Bible Study

July 6, 2023 Bible Study — Knowing the Joy of Reading Scripture

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 119.

This is the longest chapter in the Bible and an acrostic poem, with each verse of the poem (not each Bible verse) starting with a letter from the Hebrew alphabet.  Throughout this entire long psalm, the psalmist directs us to seek God with all of our heart and follow His commands, laws, and statutes.  And he does not just tell us to strive with our own might to do so, he instructs us to beg God to turn us to Him, and to cause us to obey His commands.  We can choose to turn our hearts and desires towards God, or we can turn towards selfish gain.  If we look to God’s laws they will provide light so that we can see where we are going and avoid stumbling.  We have a choice.  We can choose to meditate on God’s laws, and walk with a clear light.  Or we can follow the schemes of the wicked, and stumble in the darkness, far from God’s salvation.  Meditate on God’s law and hide His word in your heart by reading and memorizing Scripture.  This will bring you joy.

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

Daily Bible Study

July 5, 2023 Bible Study — Fear of the Lord Means That You Need Fear Nothing Else

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 117-118.

One of the recurring themes throughout Psalms is that God’s love endures forever.  The psalmist begins by telling us that God loves us, and that the “us” to which he is referring encompasses all people.  Rather than trust in people, even those with great wealth and power, put your trust in God.  If God is with you, what can any mortal, or group of mortals, do to you?  And if you fear the Lord, He will be with you.  Every time I write about fear of the Lord, I think about what that means.  If we fear the Lord, we will do as He commands because we fear making Him angry, and we fear disappointing Him.  As a child, and even as a young man, I feared disappointing my parents.  That fear kept me from many acts which would have destroyed my life.  In the same way, I fear disappointing God…although I know that I have and do.  Yet, that fear of disappointing God inspires me to strive to change.  More importantly, it inspires me to allow Him to change me.  I fear the Lord, therefore I need fear no one and nothing else.

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

Daily Bible Study

July 4, 2023 Bible Study — Live Our Lives So That Others See God

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 108-116.

The psalmist declares that he will praise God before the whole world.  He will not allow fear of what others think to keep him quiet, because he knows that God’s love and faithfulness exceed the animosity of God’s enemies.  Praise God and depend on His aid against those who declare themselves our enemies as a result.  Do not make the mistake of pandering for human help.  For without God’s aid, human help is worthless.  God will not remain silent when people repay us with evil for good and hatred for our friendship.  The psalmist then calls on God to do something interesting: he asked God to appoint an evil person to oppose his enemy.  The psalmist did so because he wanted his enemy’s suffering to equal his wickedness.  A good person would not do, not even to the wicked, that which the truly wicked deserve.  Even the psalmist was unwilling to do that which he felt his enemy deserved.  Let us avoid the actions which led the psalmist to call on God to deliver such misfortune, and let us not be the ones to visit such misfortune on others, even those who deserve it.

The psalmist contrasts himself with his arrogant enemy by calling himself poor and needy.  The psalmist refers to himself that way multiple times throughout the psalms, not because he lacked material wealth.  Rather, he recognized that before God we are all broken, poor, and needy: we need God, God does not need us.  Let us come before God with this same attitude, recognizing that we need God to save us, that we cannot save ourselves.  We must come before God with fear because we have no power before Him.  Once we humbly recognize that we can do nothing against Him, we begin to learn wisdom.  We gain understanding as we learn to follow His directions and commands.  As we follow His commands out of fear of Him, we learn of His love because of the delight doing so brings us.

Finally, I want to touch specifically on Psalm 115.  Here the psalmist declares that whatever good we do should not reflect glory onto us.  Instead, others should praise and honor God for whatever good they see in us.  The credit for whatever good you see in me does not belong to me. It belongs to God, because without Him, and His grace, I would be a poor excuse for a human being.  The psalmist goes on to point out something about the meaning of Genesis 1:27, where we are told that God created mankind in His own image, which I never thought of before.  We become a reflection of that which we worship.  The psalmist tells us that idols have eyes, but cannot see, ears, but cannot hear, hands, but cannot feel, and feet, but cannot walk.  He then tells us that those who worship them become like them.  We have been made in God’s image, and if we worship Him we will be transformed into His likeness.  Let us worship God so deeply and sincerely that others see Him when they look at us.  Then, no one will ask, “Where is their God?”  

Not to us, Lord, not to us
    but to your name be the glory,
    because of your love and faithfulness.

2 Why do the nations say,
    “Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven;
    he does whatever pleases him.

Those who make them will be like them,
    and so will all who trust in them.

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
    he heard my cry for mercy.
2 Because he turned his ear to me,
    I will call on him as long as I live.

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

Daily Bible Study

July 3, 2023 Bible Study — Let the Redeemed of the Lord Tell Their Stories

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 105-107.

The psalmist tells us to praise the Lord and proclaim His name.  Let us make known what He has done.  That theme permeates these three psalms.  First the psalmist gives examples of what God has done to redeem His people in the past, and encourages us, no, commands us, to relay these stories to those we meet.  He talks about how those who rebelled against God were punished, although those who repented and cried out to God were delivered.  He reminds us how God’s people forgot Him again and again, only to turn back to Him when troubles arose.  The psalmist speaks of those who stood in the breach before God so that He would not destroy those who had rebelled against Him.  Those individuals both begged God to be merciful and heroically called people to turn to and obey God.  Finally, the psalmist calls on us to tell the stories of how God has redeemed us.  He gives examples of those who  suffered for their sin, then cried out to God and were delivered.  Let  us continue to tell the stories which have been passed down to us from those who served the Lord in the past.   The stories of how God worked through acts of nature and how He worked through those who stood up to others.  Let us tell the stories of how God redeemed us.  And let us be inspired to stand up like the heroes of God from the past.

 

He sent darkness and made the land dark—
    for had they not rebelled against his words?

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.

Blessed are those who act justly,
    who always do what is right.

Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
    to make his mighty power known.

But they soon forgot what he had done
    and did not wait for his plan to unfold.

So he said he would destroy them—
    had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him
    to keep his wrath from destroying them.

But Phinehas stood up and intervened,
    and the plague was checked.

Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—
    those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
3 those he gathered from the lands,
    from east and west, from north and south.[e]

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress.

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

Daily Bible Study

July 2, 2023 Bible Study — For Those Who Fear the Lord, His Judgement Is Cause for Joy

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Psalms 98-104.

The psalmist calls on us to sing to the Lord because of the marvelous things He has done.  In fact, he calls on all creation to sing and praise the Lord because He comes in judgement.  Now here’s an interesting thing.  Reading other parts of the Old Testament we see them prophesying God’s terrible, and terrifying, judgement upon our society for its many sins.  Yet, the psalmist writes that we, and all the earth, should joyfully praise God because His judgement is coming.  The psalmist sings of God’s love and His justice.  God is good and His love for those who fear Him endures forever.  God reigns and He has established equity.

This was not the first time the psalmist referred to God establishing equity, and since that word is used a lot in today’s world I wanted to look at what the psalmist means.  Most people today who use the word equity mean “equality of outcomes” when they use the word, but that is not what it means.  Equity means things being just and fair.  Which makes it hard to see how God has established equity, because the world around us often seems unfair.  So, let us look at some of the other things the psalmist says in today’s psalms.  He said that he would conduct the affairs of his house with a blameless heart, and would not look with approval on anything vile.  How many of us can truly say that we have lived up to that standard?  Do we even aspire to doing so?  He also said that he would have no part in what faithless people do, and have nothing to do with what is evil.  Do we do business with people we know do evil because they offer us the cheapest product?  Do we follow the psalmist’s advice to look for the faithful in the land and spend our time, and money, with them?  God will respond to the prayer of the destitute, and will bring about equity.  If we strive to do the things which I just pointed out, then we too will rejoice to see God’s judgement coming.

 

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