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. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     While Moses was up on the mountain receiving instruction from God, the people became convinced that he was not coming back. So, they approached Aaron asking him to make them an idol to follow. Aaron instructed them to bring their earrings to him. Aaron took the gold jewelry they brought him and fashioned it into a statue of a calf. The Israelites declared that this calf was the god which had brought them out of Egypt. Aaron built an altar and declared the next day a festival to worship this calf. God was furious and sent Moses back down the mountain to confront the people. When Moses confronted Aaron about his role in building the calf, Aaron attempted to deflect any blame from himself. First he blames the people and how evil they are. Then he attempts to minimize his own role by saying that he threw the jewelry into the fire and the calf just emerged, as if no further effort was required to make the calf.
     I see a few things in this passage that apply today. The first is an unwillingness to wait for God. We get impatient and start looking for some other source of guidance. Closely related to that is our tendency to worship material things. We need to constantly evaluate our lives to look for things which we have made more important to ourselves than God. Is it television? the Internet? my job? It could even be some aspect of church. Then there are Aaron’s excuses. “The people made me do it.” “It just happened.” Aaron tried to lay the blame for what happened other than where it belonged, on himself. How often do I do that? How often do I attempt to blame others for my sins? Or try to say that my sin “just happened”. There is some truth to both of those, but if we stand up to those who pressure us to sin, often times they will see the wrongness of the path they are about to go down and join us in resisting sin. As to sins that “just happen”, they only occur if we have already started down the path toward sinning.

     We come to what must have been the worst period in Peter’s life. He followed along after Jesus’ arrest. While he was in the courtyard a servant girl said that he had been with Jesus. Peter denied the charge. He then moved to another location, where another servant girl repeated the allegation. Peter once more denied it in even stronger terms. After a short interval a few people approached Peter and said that his accent gave him away, he must be a follower of Jesus. Peter even more strenuously denied this allegation, calling down curses on those who made the claim. At that moment, he heard the rooster crow and remembered what Jesus had said. Peter was heartbroken at his failure to remain faithful, not only had he not stood by Jesus side, he had denied even knowing Him. How often have I denied my faith to avoid being belittled because of it? The answer is too often. Peter at least had the excuse of fearing for his life. When I have denied my faith, it has been to avoid ridicule. When Peter realized what he had done, he withdrew and wept bitterly. Do I take my denials of Christ as seriously as Peter did his?
     In the initial phases of Jesus’ trial before Pilate, Jesus made no response to the charges against Him. When Pilate asked Him if He was the king of the Jews, Jesus replied that those were Pilate’s words. It seems to me that there is some significant theology behind Jesus’ response here, but I am not sure what it is. Jesus neither affirms nor denies that He is the king of the Jews. He tells Pilate that it is Pilate (and others) who use that term. To me this seems to suggest that Jesus is saying that it depends on what you mean by the term “king of the Jews”. That perhaps explains why Jesus does not answer any of the other charges against Him, the specifics behind the charges are true, but the way that they are presented gives them meaning which is false. He refused to engage in discussion in the terms chosen by His opponents.

     Let us sing praises unto God, using whatever devices come to our hands. God loves what is just and good. His love fills the whole earth. God’s plans will come to fruition no matter what anyone may attempt to thwart them. I will praise God for He is good to me.

     Those who listen to wise instruction and follow it find joy and a bountiful life. They will live a life pleasing to the Lord. Those who despise wisdom cause harm to themselves and are courting death.

     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. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     Today’s passage describes in great detail the clothing that the priests were to wear when they came before the Lord. They were to dress with great care, down to the underwear that they wore. Reading the description of these garments I was struck by the attention to detail that was necessary each time they put them on in order to get everything right. While getting dressed the priest would have plenty of time to purify their thinking before they came before God. I was struck by how much more effort I should put into spending time with God. There can be something therapeutic about going through a ritual of preparation. There is also great benefit in spending time analyzing my life for behaviors that I should change in order to better serve God.

     Jesus describes the day of judgment when all people will stand before God to be judged. Jesus tells us that He will divide the people into two groups, one to His right and one to His left. He will invite the ones on His right into their reward because when He was suffering they provided Him with relief. Then He tells those on His left to be cursed because they could not be bothered to help Him when He was in need. Neither group will know what He is talking about. In both cases they will deny ever encountering Him in need. Jesus tells them that whenever they have done it for the least, they have done it for Him. Jesus responds that whatever we have done, or not done, for “one of the least” we did, or did not, do for Him.
     I have heard many people comment on the fact that Jesus is telling us that the difference between the “sheep” and the “goats” in this parable is what they did and didn’t do. And that is absolutely true. There are also people who talk about how important it is for us as Christians to act to help those in need, whether it is feeding the hungry, taking in strangers, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison, caring for the sick, or whatever other need it is. And that is absolutely true. But what struck me about this passage today was that those who were rewarded did not know when they had done all of these things. Helping those in need was such an ingrained part of who they were that they could not remember doing the things Jesus praised them for as anything special. They never even noticed that they had done something for those in need. They just did it and went about their business. On the other hand, the other group never noticed those in need either. The first group helped those in need because they could not imagine acting any other way. They are the people who when someone praises them, or thanks them for something they have done respond, ‘I only did what anybody would have done.” Our goal should be to become people who, when someone tells us how special it was that we helped someone in need, we don’t understand why they even noticed what we did.
     After this parable Jesus once more tells His disciples that He will be arrested and crucified. This time telling them that it will happen during the upcoming Passover. The political and religious leaders of the Jewish people gathered to plan to have Jesus secretly arrested and killed, planning it carefully to avoid triggering riots.
     Today’s passage ends with the woman who anoints Jesus with oil. The disciples were indignant because they thought that it would have been better to have sold the oil and used it to help the poor. Their reaction makes perfect sense as this was probably only hours after they heard the above mentioned parable of the sheep and the goats. Jesus response suggests that they still did not understand. He tells them that the poor will always be there, but that He will not always be with them in the flesh. I think the point being made here is that we should try to meet the needs and soothe the cares of those we interact with without thinking about how to “earn points.” It should just be something that grows out of who we are. Just as this woman’s actions grew out of who she was.

     The psalmist expresses that despite the distress that he is in that he will trust the Lord. He is confident that God will deliver him from the hands of his enemies, even though his health is failing and even his closest friends avoid being seen with him. I will not be ashamed to call out to the Lord.

     Wisdom cannot readily be separated from good judgment. Those who employ wisdom will seek out knowledge and discernment. Those with wisdom hate pride, arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. It is worth noting how the writer here links pride, arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. These things all reflect the same basic lack of wisdom. The failure to control the words we use will lead us to make other unwise choices.

     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. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     God laid out three festivals of worship for the people of Israel to keep each year. Every man of Israel was to present himself before God at least these three times a year. Three times of year they were to set aside their daily lives and come together and celebrate what God had done for them. This is certainly a model that we should consider for ourselves. Is it too much for us to set aside three times a year to set aside our daily lives and gather with our fellow believers?
     God goes on to tell the people of Israel that He will go ahead of them into the land He has promised them. He will drive those living there out of the land, but the Israelites must not worship their gods or imitate their practices. They were to make no treaties with the people living in the land or their gods. There are many who disagree with me, but I believe that this is sound advice for Christians, we should not make common cause with non-Christians to accomplish our goals. This does not mean we have to work against them when they are striving to accomplish similar goals to ours, just that we have to recognize that, even when we are working towards common goals, they have a different agenda than we do and are focused on other ends than we are. This is definitely a difficult position to clearly define, but we as Christians must be very careful about lending our support to groups who are ultimately promoting a message that opposes the message of Christianity.
      Moses went down to the people and reported the instructions that God had given him. Moses wrote carefully wrote all of these instructions down. Early one morning Moses set up an altar and some pillars. He had some young men make an offering to God. Moses then read the book that he had written of God’s instructions to the people. The people listened to these instructions, including the command to worship no other gods, and enthusiastically agreed to keep them. Moses then returned to the mountain to speak with God, accompanied by Joshua. He remained on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. (This is the second occurrence of forty days and forty nights as a significant time. The first being when the rains fell during the Flood.)

     Jesus continues His prophecy about the destruction of the Temple and the end times. Today’s passage starts with Jesus explaining why we should not be fooled by the false prophets and false messiahs. He tells us that when He returns everyone will know and His angels will gather His chosen ones from the ends of the earth.
     Jesus goes on to tell us that no one knows the day or hour of His return, except the Father. He tells us that it will be as in the days of Noah. People will be going about their business when suddenly those who have been chosen will be taken. We need to keep watch because we will not know in advance when Jesus is going to return.

     I will praise the Lord with the psalmist. When I cry to the Lord for help, He cares for me. He turns my mourning into gladness. I will give the Lord thanks forever.

     Another passage warning against getting sexually involved with someone married to someone else. Such relationships lead to ruin and even death.

     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. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     On the third day, God descended onto the mountain top and called Moses up to Him. God then sent Moses back down to warn the people not to cross the boundaries around the mountain and to bring Aaron back up with him. Moses went down the mountain and gave the people the message God had given him. While Moses was at the base of the mountain, God gave the people the Ten Commandments (at least that is how I read the passage, there is some ambiguity in the passage). The people’s reaction to this was fear. They asked Moses to speak to God for them and pass God’s words onto them. They asked that God not speak to them directly. This is a human tendency. We are constantly trying to place someone as an intermediary between ourselves and God.
     The passage goes on to describe the rules God gave the people for how they would treat their slaves and in cases of personal injury. Seen from the light of the way we treat people today, these rules often seem horrendous. Yet when seen in light of the way slaves were treated by the societies around them (and even in many societies today) one sees a very different picture. Perhaps at some point I will do a study of slavery as implemented by Old Testament law. I am sure that many have done a more thorough and comprehensive study than I would do. However, it is a subject that, every now and again, I get curious about and think about doing a detailed study (and if I write it as a blog post, I am more likely to actually do it at some point).

     Jesus follows up His previous teaching by expounding on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He points out how they create rules of behavior that they insist must be followed but that focus on superficial good behaviors while excusing more significant bad behaviors. Jesus condemns them for creating rules that give the appearance of righteousness without actually leading one to behave righteously. Jesus tells us that it is more important to behave righteously than to appear to behave righteously.

     The psalmist cries out to the Lord, requesting to be heard. However, he asks more than just to be heard, he asks for God to speak. How often do I listen when I pray? When I pray do I spend time silent waiting for God to reply? Do I expect God to reply? At the end of today’s psalm the psalmist praises God because He has heard him. How would the psalmist know that God has heard him unless he has heard God’s reply? Perhaps the reason we so often feel that God does not listen to our prayers is because we do not pause to listen to His answers.

     I had never noticed before how much space the writer of Proverbs dedicates to advising against sexual immorality. Once again today’s passage is about the value of wisdom and insight in keeping one from sexually immoral behavior. If the writer of Proverbs spent so much time advising on keeping proper sexual morals, perhaps we would do well to spend more time teaching on the issue.