I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. In order to make that possible I read the passages and write my thoughts a day in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
When Hezekiah recovered from his illness, the king of Babylon sent emissaries with a gift to wish him well. In his pleasure at the kind gesture, Hezekiah proudly showed the emissaries all the treasures of Jerusalem. Isaiah came to Hezekiah after they left and prophesied that all of the treasures in Hezekiah’s palace would be carried off by the Babylonians and Hezekiah’s own sons would be taken into captivity there. Hezekiah responded that this prophecy was good because it said that he would have peace for the rest of his life.
Next is a transition from an historical account back to purely prophetic writings. Here is the passage that John the Baptist said spoke of his coming, but in a way it is also instruction for us. We are to clear the way for God, getting rid of the rubble and debris in our lives that obstruct Him acting through us. We are to be messengers for God, telling the people around us that God is coming. Indeed, He is already here among us.
What, or who, can we compare God to? He is so much greater than all we can see, that there is nothing that can possibly be an adequate representation of what God is like. The entire world and everything in it is insignificant compared to God and His magnificence. Even if we were capable of gifting the entire Earth to God, it would amount to nothing compared to what He is and has. God will strengthen the weak and powerless. Then at the end of chapter 40 is the basis of one of my favorite hymns.
they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.(KJV)
Unfortunately the song is still under copyright or I would post the lyrics here. It was written by Stuart Hamblen and I will echo a piece from the refrain: Teach me, Lord to wait
Down on my knees
Till in your own good time
You will answer my pleas.
If we learn to do this, God will say to us, “You are my servant. I have called you from the ends of the earth. Do no be afraid for I am with you.” I will wait.
In today’s passage Paul gives a primer on the Christian faith. Paul wrote that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing because we are united with Christ. God loved and chose us to be holy and blameless in his eyes even before He created the universe. At that time He determined to adopt us as heirs through Jesus Christ. He did this because it was what He desired and it gave Him pleasure to do so. We are redeemed, and our sins are forgiven, through the blood of Christ. God made known to us His plan by giving us the wisdom and understanding to comprehend it. This plan is to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ in due time.
God’s purpose was that those who first came to know His message through Christ would bring praise and glory to God. Now that we who were not there at the start have heard the Gospel message, we have been included in those same blessings and purpose. When we believed we were marked with the seal that is the Holy Spirit. God did all of this so that we could and would praise and glorify Him.
From the first moment that he heard about the Ephesian believers faith and love for God’s people, Paul had been praying for them. He asked that God give them wisdom and revelation through the Holy Spirit so that they might fully know the hope to which God has called us and His great power.
There are some wonderful things in Paul’s teachings here. He tells us that God chose us to follow Him before He even created the universe. The universe was designed to bring us into a relationship with Him. We did not end up where we are by accident or chance. Every detail was planned to bring us to where we are today. He knew the bad choices we would make and designed the universe to give us every opportunity to love and surrender to Him. This same plan will, in due time, bring all aspects of this universe into unity in submission to Christ. When we accept God’s grace, He gives us the Holy Spirit as a seal to mark us as His. I just realized that this is like a king’s seal which he gives to favored individuals to allow them to speak on his behalf. That is a great and frightening honor, to know that with the Holy Spirit within me, I speak on God’s behalf. Does what I say bring honor to God?
I am challenged by what Paul writes about praying for the Ephesian believers. In several of his letters, Paul speaks of praying constantly for those he is writing to. When I think about that, I realize how much time Paul must have spent in prayer. I do not come close to that. I struggle to spend even a few moments each day, let alone the hours which Paul must have spent. Lord God, please help me to spend more time praying to you. There are so many in my life that I need to be praying for: my friends who do not, yet, know Christ, my co-workers (both those who know Christ and those who do not. Which reminds me that I want to bring praise for the co-worker whose faith has recently been revealed to me), my friends who do know Christ, and others.
I will call on all the earth to praise God. He has done wonderful things. I cannot begin to summarize this psalm, but reading it brings me great joy. I confessed my sins and God listened to my prayers and answered my cry. He has done wonderful things for me. He will do wonderful things to you, if you turn from your sins and go to Him.
Yesterday’s proverb stated that a godly child gives his father joy and a wise child is a source of pleasure. Today’s proverbs start by telling us that that we should make our parents happy by being godly and wise. Then the writer tells us that a promiscuous woman promises pleasure but delivers only danger. The same is true in the other direction as well (a promiscuous man promises pleasure, but delivers danger). The short term pleasure is less than the long term harm being involved with such people brings.