For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
A ruler who wishes to be safe and secure in his power must love the people he governs and demonstrate his faithfulness to their well-being. The young should glory in the strength of their bodies, while the old should be proud of their grey hair, which demonstrates their experience. Physical punishment is necessary to cleanse us of some of our evil acts. Without it we have trouble obtaining closure and accepting God’s forgiveness.
Let us exalt the Lord. He has rescued us and will do so when we face trouble in the future. All too often when things are going well for us we begin to think that our good fortune is our just desserts and the product of our own actions. We forget to give credit where it is due, to God. This results in God allowing us to face difficult times to remind us to turn to Him. If we turn to God once more in our troubles, He will turn our mourning into joy. I will give thanks to God forever.
There is a train of thought in today’s society that, as long as our conscience is clear, we should not worry about how others judge us. This is half right. We should not worry about how others judge us, but it is not enough that our conscience is clear. God will judge us. He will examine our motives and secrets, even those we hid from ourselves, and decide what judgement we are due. We cannot rest easy because our conscience is clear, we must allow the Spirit to guide us and show us where we are not living according to God’s standard.
Since we are not to trust our judgement of ourselves, how can we possibly trust our judgement of another? This mistake can be compounded if we attempt to take pride of place because we follow this leader over that leader. Let us not make the mistake that the teachings of one leader or another will be all we need to know in order to serve God faithfully. In order to faithfully serve God we need to allow His Spirit to guide us and be open to new insights which He may wish to give us. It is my goal to live my life so that I can encourage others, as Paul does here, to imitate me. Oh Lord, let me live my life so that others who imitate me are imitating You!
Some time after the Temple was finished, Ezra received a commission from Artaxerxes to travel to Jerusalem. This passage is an example how God may inspire political leaders who do not choose to worship Him to, nevertheless, aid us in carrying out the tasks which He has assigned us. In addition to contributing to Ezra’s mission, Artaxerxes sent out a call to all of those Israelites living in exile encouraging them to join Ezra in traveling to Jerusalem.
Ezra gathered those who were volunteering to join him. When he went over the list of those present he realized that no Levites had chosen to join him. Rather than travel without those who had the gifts which he felt were necessary to his mission, he sent respected men as emissaries to find Levites to join him. This is a lesson for any leader who is preparing to undertake a mission for God. First, ask for volunteers. Then evaluate the skills of those who have volunteered. If there are skills which you believe you will need to carry out God’s mission that are not present among those who have volunteered, recruit those with the needed skills.