For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
There are two ways to deal with our feelings of guilt. Fools dismiss guilt as being silly. The wise and godly acknowledge their guilt and do what they can to make amends. Only you can know the depths of your hurt, but you are also the only one who can experience the heights of your joy. No one can ever fully know what someone else feels.
Let us exalt the Lord our God and bow before Him. Let us remember how our forefathers in faith cried out to God when they were in trouble and He answered them. He will do the same for us. He is a forgiving God, but He will discipline us for our sins. He will discipline us in order to teach us how to live according to our best interests.
When the women heard the message delivered to them at the tomb, they remembered what Jesus had said about dying and rising again on the third day. So they rushed back to tell the rest of the disciples what they had seen and heard. But the men did not believe them because it sounded to them like nonsense. Peter, at least, went to check out their story. When we hear stories about how God is working that sound incredible, do we check it out for ourselves? Or do we dismiss it as nonsense?
Gideon had many sons by many wives and made no provision for who would lead the people of Israel after his death (whether one of his sons, or someone else). As a result one of his sons, Abimelech, turned to his mother’s relatives, who were prominent in the city of Shechem, to gain power. They gave him money which he used to hire some “rough customers” to follow him. He led his band of troublemakers to his father’s house to kill his brothers. One of his brothers escaped and cursed both Abimelech and the people of Shechem who had supported his power grab. The people of Shechem backed Abimelech because they thought he would serve their interests. They gave no thought as to whether he would be a good ruler. They supported him despite the fact that he started his rule with an evil act.