Category Archives: Daily Bible Study

I am using this website ( http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/ ) to attempt to read through the Bible in a year. I am going to try to blog each day on the reading.

Daily Bible Study

May 9, 2013 Bible Study — Having the Courage to Intervene

May 8, 2013 AttilaDimedici

I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. 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.

1 Samuel 5-7:17

     The Philistines first took the ark of God to the city of Ashdod and put it in their temple to Dagon. When they entered the temple the following morning the idol of Dagon had fallen face down in front of the ark of God. They set the idol back up. The following morning it had once more fallen face down before the Ark, however this time the head and hands had broken off. Then the city of Ashdod and surrounding villages began to experience a plague of tumors. The people of Ashdod called on the rulers of Philistia to move the ark of God. It was decided to send it to Gath. When the Ark arrived in Gath, the plague began to break out there as well. So the people of Gath sent the Ark to Ekron. The people of Ekron by now had heard about the tumors and demanded that the rulers of Philistia send the Ark away.
     The Philistines put the Ark on a cart, along with a chest containing five gold “tumors” (golden objects made to look like the tumors caused by the plague) and five gold rats. They hitched two cows which had recently calved to the cart, while penning the calves up away from the cows. The cows went straight up the road from Philistia towards Beth Shemesh. The people of Beth Shemesh rejoiced when they saw the Ark arrive. Levites took the Ark off of the cart and set it on a large rock. They offered sacrifices and burnt offerings to God for the return of the Ark. However, seventy of the people of Beth Shemesh looked into the Ark and were struck down (the passage does not say how they were struck down, but it reads to me that they may have been struck by the same plague that had struck the Philistines). So, the people of Beth Shemesh sent and asked the people of Kiriath-jearim to come and get the Ark (which they did).
     The people of Israel heard the stories about what happened with the Ark when it was in Philistine hands and how it was returned (my interpretation) and turned back to God. Samuel told them that if they were truly turning back to God they needed to get rid of their foreign gods and Ashtoreths and worship God alone. The Israelites followed Samuel’s advice, got rid of their idols and worshiped God alone.
     Samuel then assembled the Israelites at Mizpah for a time of worship and repentance. When the Philistines learned that they had assembled at Mizpah they mustered their forces to attack them. The people of Israel were in great fear and asked Samuel to continue crying out to the Lord for them. Samuel took a lamb and offered it as a burnt offering. While Samuel was offering the Philistines prepared to launch their attack. However, as they launched their attack loud thunder came forth and threw them into confusion and panic. The Israelites rushed out in a counterattack driving the Philistines from the field. For the rest of the time that Samuel served as leader of Israel, they had the upper hand over the Philistines.
     There is a lot going on in this passage about the power of God and how He reveals Himself even to unbelievers. The thing that especially struck me on this reading was the foreshadowing of Christ’s sacrificial death in Samuel sacrificing a lamb as part of his crying out to God for the Israelites rescue from the Philistines.

John 6:1-21

     Jesus went to the far side of the Sea of Galilee and a crowd followed Him there. He was on a hill with His disciples when the crowd caught up to Him. As the crowd approached, Jesus asked Philip where they should buy bread for these people? Philip answered that it would cost about a half year’s wages to feed all of these people. Andrew pointed out a boy with five loaves and two fish, but asked what good that would do with so many people? Jesus had His disciples get the people to sit down. Then He took the food that the boy had, gave thanks for it and distributed it to the people (around 5,000). When everyone had enough to eat, Jesus had His disciples gather up the leftover bread so that it would not be wasted. They gathered twelve baskets full of bread. The people who were there began to say that Jesus must be the Prophet and were preparing to make Him king by force (the passage is not clear whether they intended to force Jesus to become king or to use force against those who opposed that idea). To prevent that Jesus withdrew by Himself to the mountain.
     As evening approached Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore of the lake, got into a boat and began to cross over to Capernaum. A strong wind came up and the waters became very rough. After they had rowed a distance of several miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water. The disciples were frightened until Jesus told them not to be afraid and said, “I am.” When He said that the disciples were willing to take Him into the boat, at which point they arrived at their destination.
     When Jesus used the phrase, “I am,” it would have been taken as a declaration of identification with God by His disciples. In Exodus 3, when Moses asked God who he should tell the Israelites had sent him, God responded, “I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” So the use of the phrase “I am” was close to declaring that one was God (depending on the context). There was something very comforting to the disciples when they heard Jesus say, “I am”. Perhaps we would all do well to remember that the phrase “I am” was used by God to identify Himself. I know that I am going to strive to think about the fact that I am made in the image of God every time I use the phrase, “I am”.

Psalm 106:13-31

Yesterday’s portion of this psalm talked about how God rescued the people of Israel from Egypt despite their sins against Him. This caused the people of Israel to believe His promises and praise His name. Today’s portion tells us that they quickly forgot what God had done for them and turned away from Him. God’s anger burned against them and He brought judgment against them for their sins. They ignored His commands about right living and each time they suffered for it. But the passage tells us something else as well. On two occasions, when God had reached His limit and was prepared to destroy Israel for their sins, when their sins had reached the point just shy of no return, righteous men stood up and intervened so that the people were saved. “But Phinehas had the courage to intervene, and the plague was stopped.” Do I have the courage to stand up and intervene? Am I willing to risk myself in order to stop the plagues among us today that come from our sin and lawlessness? Am I willing to call those around me away from sin, even though I will be called a hater and intolerant for doing so, for caring enough to point out the consequences of people’s choices?

Proverbs 14:32-33

When disaster comes the wicked will suffer, but even in death the righteous have a safe place with God. For the second proverb I prefer the NIV and other translations which stick with the Hebrew rather than using the Syriac and Septuagint to base their take on this passage. All agree that the first part says that wisdom rests in the hearts of the understanding. However, the NIV translates this as saying that even fools have access to wisdom, if only they would pay attention.

Daily Bible Study

May 8, 2013 Bible Study — Speak Lord, Your Servant Is Listening.

May 7, 2013 AttilaDimedici

Today we have the passage where God first spoke to Samuel. When Eli realized that God was calling to Samuel he instructed Samuel to answer by saying, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” Before you read the scripture passages for today, I want you to say that as a prayer. I want to make it my goal to do that each day when I read the passages for the day. But not only then, I want to make that my prayer throughout the day. Of course, it is not enough to just say that. Once we have said it, we have to actually listen (I am sure that is as hard for some of you as it is for me).
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. 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.

1 Samuel 2:22-4:22

     Eli was olde, but he knew that his sons were doing wrong. He confronted them verbally, but did nothing more. God sent a prophet to Eli who told him that all of his descendants would die young and his family would no longer serve as priests. The prophet told him that both of his sons would die on the same day.
     Meanwhile Samuel assisted Eli and by doing so served the Lord. One night after Eli had gone to bed, Samuel, who slept in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God, heard a voice call out his name. He thought it was Eli and ran to his side. Eli said that he had not called him and sent him back to bed. Samuel heard the voice a second and third time and went to Eli’s side each time. The third time it happened Eli realized what was going on. He told Samuel that it was the voice of God and that he should tell God that he was listening. When the voice called his name once more, Samuel did as Eli had instructed and said, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” God told Samuel that he was going to carry out his threats against Eli and his sons because Eli had failed to discipline his sons. In the morning Eli insisted that Samuel tell him what God had said to him. When Samuel told Eli what God had told him, Eli responded, “It is the Lord’s will. Let Him do what He thinks best.”
     In some ways, I think that Eli in this story is a tragic character. He had failed to discipline his sons and restrain them from using the office of priesthood to blaspheme against God. Yet, he raised Samuel to love and honor God and when God sent word of judgment against him he responded, “It is the Lord’s will. Let Him do what He thinks best.” How many of us can face the Lord’s judgment for our failure with such equanimity? However, the real lesson for us is in what Eli told Samuel to say when he heard the voice call his name. “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” Do we respond to the Lord in this manner? More importantly, do we actually listen? I think that we have a tendency to say that we are listening and then keep on talking. In order to listen to what God has to say to us, we need to stop talking. That is my biggest challenge when it comes to prayer, I all too often don’t stop talking long enough to hear what God is saying.
     Shortly after the above encounter the Israelites went to war against the Philistines and lost the first battle badly. They sent for the Ark of the Covenant. They thought that if they had it with them in battle, God would have to give them victory. Eli’s sons went down to the battle with the Ark. When the Israelites went into battle again, once more they were defeated and the Ark was captured by the Philistines. Eli’s two sons were killed in the battle.
     A messenger rushed from the battle to the town where Eli resided. We are told that Eli was waiting beside the road for news of the battle, not out of concern for his sons but out of concern for the Ark of the Covenant. When the messenger told him that the Ark had been captured, Eli fell backward out of his seat and broke his neck. He died immediately because he was old and overweight.

John 5:24-47

Jesus makes a statement that gives me great joy. He says that those who listen to His message and believe in God who sent Him will have eternal life. If you listen to Jesus’ message and truly believe in the God who sent Him, you will act on that message. Jesus goes on to say something that I have never seen in quite the same light as I see it today.
Jesus said that the time has come that those who have died will hear his voice and those who listen will live. I am not sure what this means, but I will choose to interpret it according to the idea that C.S. Lewis wrote in “The Great Divorce”. In that book, C.S. Lewis suggests that those in Hell have the option to leave Hell and enter Heaven, if they would just surrender to God. He goes on to say that they will refuse. I am not completely sure about that idea. But this passage suggests that people get at least one more chance to accept God’s gift after death. If you read it that way, it also suggests that most will continue to refuse to surrender to God’s sovereignty. The original sin was the desire to usurp God’s position, unless we are willing to yield the throne to God, we cannot be saved.

Psalm 106:1-12

Today’s psalm, like so many others, calls on us to praise the Lord. It asks us, “Who can ever praise him enough?” And I answer that question, “Certainly not me.” Like my ancestors, I have sinned against God and, like my ancestors, God has nevertheless intervened in my life to save me from my just deserts. And like my ancestors, I will believe His promises and praise His name. I am undeserving of God’s grace but He has given it to me anyway, so I will praise His name.

Proverbs 14:30-31

If you want to be physically healthy, you need to start by being at peace with yourself and with God. If you indulge in jealousy of others, it will eat at you like cancer and lead to various physical symptoms (which sooner, or later, will be real physical problems).
The easiest way to honor God is to help the poor. Those who oppress the poor insult God, who made them. Helping the poor is more complicated than just giving them things or money (although it certainly at some point involves that). We cannot meet God’s call to help the poor simply by throwing money at them. We need to be personally invested in showing them how to get out of the situation they are in and then providing, to the best of our ability, the means to do so.

Daily Bible Study

May 7, 2013 Bible Study — Take Up Your Mat and Walk

May 6, 2013 AttilaDimedici

1 Samuel 1-2:21

     Hannah desperately desired to have a son. She went before God and poured out her heart to Him. She prayed so fervently that Eli, the priest, thought she was drunk. When she explained to Eli that she was praying out of deep anguish and sorrow, Eli blessed her with the wish that her prayer be fulfilled. This lifted her spirits and she was able to eat again, the passage tells us that she was no longer sad. Just this part gives us some strong guidance on how we should live. Hannah was desperately sad but she did not wallow in that sadness, nor did she turn it to anger at herself or others. She turned to God and poured out her heart to Him. Eli listened when she told him she was not drunk and gave her a blessing from God which lifted her spirits. We should follow both of their examples. We should bring our troubles and lay them before God. And we should listen to those who tell us they are suffering and let them know that we are calling God’s blessing on them.
     In due time, Hannah’s prayer was answered and she bore a son. When her son, named Samuel, was old enough they went to the Tabernacle and Hannah gave him into the service of the Lord. Samuel stayed and assisted Eli the priest. Hannah sang a song of great praise which contained a warning against boasting and arrogance and reminded us that no one succeeds by strength alone.
     The passage concludes by contrasting Eli’s sons with Samuel. Eli’s sons abused their authority and position. I am having trouble wording what the passage seems to be saying was the worst of their sin. Rather than serve as facilitators of other’s worship of the Lord they interfered with it. They did so cavalierly in the pursuit of their own desires. However, we are told that Samuel served the Lord, even though he was but a boy. We are told that each year when his family came to sacrifice his mother brought him a small coat. Samuel knew that he was loved and grew up desiring to serve the Lord.

John 5:1-23

     One time when Jesus went to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days, He passed near the pool of Bethesda. Many disabled persons would lie there because it was believed that the first to enter the water after it was stirred up would be healed (and maybe they were the passage does not tell us). There was a man there who had been crippled for thirty eight years. When Jesus learned this, He asked the man if he wanted to be healed. The man replied that whenever the water was stirred, as he was trying to get in someone would get in ahead of him. Notice that the man tried to take action to get better but was unable to accomplish it. He had not resigned himself to his condition, even after 38 years.
     Jesus saw his faith and his desire and told him to get up, pick up his mat and walk. The man was healed and did as Jesus instructed. This happened on a Sabbath day. When the Jewish leaders saw the man carrying his sleeping mat, they told him that the law forbade him carrying the mat. The man replied that the one who had healed him had told him to do so. The Jewish leaders wanted to know who had told him to do that. Am I willing to listen to what Jesus tells me to do, even when the arbiters of what is acceptable in our society tell me it is wrong? That I am a “sinner” for doing so? Will I take up my mat and walk?
     The passage ends with Jesus claiming to be the Son of God and explaining what that means. He tells us that the Son can do nothing except what He sees the Father doing. Further, the Son does whatever He sees the Father doing. He then tells us that the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. So, first He tells us that the Son does not do anything that He does not see the Father doing. Second, He tells us that the Son does everything He sees the Father do. Finally He tells us that the Father shows the Son everything that He, the Father, does. Based on other passages, I believe that this applies to us as well. We should be doing everything that we see Jesus doing and nothing that we do not see Jesus doing. I know that my problems in this life stem from my failure to keep watching Jesus to see what He is doing. At my best, all too often I am like a son who sees his father hammering nails into a board to carefully attach it to something he is building who then goes off and starts hammering nails into every board he sees. I need to watch closer and realize that the nails are only supposed to be hammered into certain boards and then only at certain places. Of course, that is at my best, all too often, I am not even watching Jesus and going off and doing my own thing without giving thought to what Jesus is doing, that I am supposed to be imitating. That results in me doing many things that are not only at the wrong time and place but are completely the wrong thing for me to do at any time or place. I pray to God that I listen to His Spirit when it reminds me to keep my eye on Jesus so that I can follow His cues as to what I should be doing.

Psalm 105:37-45

The psalm I have been reading over the last several days that has been talking about how God molds His people. It tells us the purpose of all the things which the people went through (and of all of the things that we go through).

All this happened so they would follow his decrees
and obey his instructions.
Praise the Lord!
Let us remember that everything we go through is to teach us to follow God’s decrees and obey His instructions. Therefore, I will praise Him even for the difficult times.

Proverbs 14:28-29

The first proverb tells us that a growing population brings glory to a king, while a prince with no subjects is nothing. This weekend at meetings my congregation had it was brought up that there is a passage which says that we are kings in God’s service (Revelation 5:10). When I think about this in light of what Jesus says that he who wishes to be greatest must serve others, I think that I need to ask myself, “How many people am I serving?” Is the population that I am serving growing? Or is it no one?
The second proverb tells us that a hot temper shows great foolishness, that those who are wise control their temper. I have fairly good control over my temper, but this weekend God revealed to me that I have become complacent about my anger and have recently acted in ways that are not pleasing to God when I was angry. I have been convicted that I need to turn my anger over to God. I repent of my failure to allow Him to control my life in those situations and pray that His Spirit will remind of His will the next time I am angry.

Daily Bible Study

May 6, 2013 Bible Study — God Molds His People

May 5, 2013 AttilaDimedici

Ruth 2-4:22

     After Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem, Ruth asked Naomi permission to gather grain behind the harvesters of anyone who would allow her to do so. Naomi granted her permission. By chance one day, Ruth was gathering behind Boaz’s harvesters. Boaz was a relative of Naomi’s dead husband. While she was there, Boaz came out to his field to monitor his harvesters. He asked his overseer who the young woman following his harvesters was. When he was told she was Ruth, Naomi’s daughter-in-law, he instructed his people to treat her with respect. He then approached Ruth and told her to stay with his workers and to feel free to drink from the water jars filled by his men for his workers. Ruth asked him why he was being so kind to her, to which Boaz replied that he had heard of all she had done for Naomi.
     At mealtime during the harvest day, Boaz invited Ruth to eat with him (or possible just to share in the meal he provided to his harvesters). When she returned to gathering, Boaz instructed his men to allow her to gather among the sheaves and to intentionally leave some stalks behind for her. Ruth gleaned a rather large amount for someone collecting what the “official” harvesters missed. In addition to the grain she gathered, Ruth brought home to Naomi some of the food leftover from the meal Boaz had given her during the day. Naomi immediately wanted to know whose field she had worked that day. When Ruth told her that it was Boaz’s field, Naomi told her to continue in his fields because Boaz was one of those related to her dead husband with the responsibility to watch out for them (and the corresponding right to the ancestral fields which had passed to her husband). So Ruth stayed close to the women who worked the harvest for Boaz while living with Naomi.
     When the harvest was finished, Naomi told Ruth to put on some perfume and her best outfit and go down to the threshing floor where Boaz would be threshing his grain. However, she should avoid letting him know she was there. At the end of the day when he had finished eating and drinking, Ruth was to not where he lay down. Once he fell asleep, Naomi told Ruth to uncover his feet and lay down. In the middle of the night, Boaz woke up and as startled to discover a woman lying at his feet. He immediately asked who she was. She told him who she was and asked that he take on the role of guardian-redeemer, offering herself to him. Boaz is flattered by her attention, but tells her that there is another more closely related to her father-in-law. Boaz tells her to stay the night and in the morning he will see if the other man wants to fulfill the role of guardian-redeemer. Boaz tells Ruth that if that other man does not wish to fulfill that role, than he, Boaz, will do so. In the morning Boaz had Ruth leave the threshing floor before anyone knew she was there and gave her a large amount of grain to take to Naomi.
     When Ruth told Naomi the results of her night, Naomi assured Ruth that Boaz would resolve the issue before the end of the day. Boaz brought the city elders and the guardian-redeemer to the city gates. In front of the city elders, he told the guardian-redeemer that Naomi was going to sell fields which belonged to their relative, her dead husband, and suggested that the guardian-redeemer buy them. The guardian-redeemer said that he would until Boaz told him that in order to do so he would need to marry Ruth. The guardian-redeemer told Boaz that in that case, he could not do it and Boaz should do so. Boaz made sure that the city elders took notice that he had followed the correct forms. So Boaz took Ruth as his wife and after a short time she bore him a son named Obed.

John 4:43-54

After spending two days in the Samaritan town, Jesus continued to Galilee. As He traveled through Galilee, Jesus came to Cana. There a government official from Capernaum approached Him and requested that He come and heal his son, who was desperately ill. Jesus expressed what appears to be frustration at the constant requests for healing. The man responds to this apparent rebuke by begging Jesus to come before his child dies. Jesus told the man to go, his son would live.
The man took Jesus at His word and headed home. While he was still on the way, his servants came to him and told him that his son was better. The man asked them what time the recovery began. When they told him the time, he realized it was at exactly the time Jesus had told him his son would get better. As a result of this the man, and his entire household, believed in Jesus. Do we take God at His word and go? Or do we want Him to give us more substantial signs?

Psalm 105:16-36

Today’s psalm recounts how God worked with the Israelite people to mold them into His people. Are we willing to allow God to mold us into His people? Even if it means going through the sorts of trials and tribulations that the Israelites did? The thought frightens me, but I am unwilling to accept the alternative.

"I'll just sit right here." — “I’ll just sit right here.”

Proverbs 14:26-27

How wonderful that these proverbs come up today while the revelation of something I’ve been working on is fresh in my mind. I have often said that we as Christians do not truly fear God enough. I have long felt that to be true, but there was always something missing in my explanation of what I was getting at, the idea was incomplete. Then this weekend we had the Light of Hope Ministries team lead a series of meetings at our congregation. At one point I brought up my thoughts about how we should have fear of God and in his response Steve Lapp mentioned fearing to disrespect the Lord. I am not sure to what degree what I heard was the thought he was expressing and to what degree it was God speaking solely to me and me hearing something beyond what Steve himself was saying. But what came to me was that when the Scripture talks about fearing the Lord, it is talking about being afraid to disrespect the Lord. We should be afraid, in a hide under the table kind of way, of doing anything that might be perceived as disrespectful by God.
Which brings us to today’s proverbs. The first tells us that those who fear the Lord will be secure. Those who are careful to honor the Lord in what they do, who are careful to never show disrespect to Him, will be secure in all of their ways. The second tells us that fear of being disrespectful towards God, leads us to behave in a manner that is like a fountain of life, both for ourselves and for others.

Daily Bible Study

May 5, 2013 Bible Study — Your God Will Be My God

May 4, 2013 AttilaDimedici

Judges 21:1-25

     The people of Israel had vowed that they would not give their daughters in marriage to the men of the tribe of Benjamin because of what the men of Gibeah had done and the fact that the rest of Benjamin came to their defense. However, once they had destroyed all the Benjamites except for 600 warriors they began to regret the possible loss of one of the tribes of Israel. They sought to find wives for the remaining men of Benjamin so that the tribe might continue.
     They had also vowed that anyone from among the tribes that had refused to join the battle to punish Gibeah would be put to death. So, they took a census of those present and discovered that no one from Jabesh-gilead had attended the assembly. They sent a force to punish Jabesh-gilead and seize their unmarried women as wives for the remaining Benjamites. In this manner they found wives for 400 of the remaining 600 men of Benjamin. They told the remaining single men of Benjamin to go and capture wives from among the women of Shiloh when they went out for their dances at their annual festival to the Lord. They promised to make it right with the fathers and brothers of those so taken..
     This passage once again illustrates the dangers of hastily taken vows. That one should not make long-term commitments in haste and the heat of the moment.

Ruth 1:1-22

The book of Ruth starts by telling us that a man from Israel moved with his wife and two sons from Israel to Moab because of a famine in the land of Israel. The man died leaving his wife Naomi with her two sons in a foreign land. The two sons married local women, Orpah and Ruth. Then Naomi’s sons died leaving Naomi in a foreign land with her two daughters-in-law. About this time Naomi learned that God had once more blessed Israel with abundant crops, so she set out to return to her homeland. Her daughter-in-law accompanied her. However on the way, Naomi realized that if they went with her, they would be foreign women in her land and she had been a foreign woman in their land. So, Naomi told them to return to their mothers’ home, praying the Lord’s blessing on them for the kindness they had shown her and her sons. Both of her daughters-in-law resisted at first, bet eventually Orpah agreed to go home. That is the last we hear of Orpah and some have tried to draw lessons saying that Orpah’s choice was inferior to Ruth’s and shows a lack of faith in God. The passage, and no other in Scripture that I am aware of, supports this conclusion. There is no condemnation of Orpah’s choice.
Ruth, on the other hand, insisted on continuing with Naomi making a statement of great faith, “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” Notice that Ruth’s commitment was not just to Naomi, it was also to the God whom Naomi worshiped and served. We often praise Ruth for her decision to accompany Naomi, and rightly so. But I think it is more instructive for us to consider Naomi. Do we live the type of lives that encourages others to leave their family, and perhaps even their country, to serve the God that we serve. Do people look at the life I live, and the way I treat them, and say, “I want to serve the God that he serves?” Do they see me and say, “I want his God to be my God?” If not, what do I have to change to make that happen? Because that is the type of person I want to be. I want people to look at me and say, “Your God will be my God.”

John 4:4-42

     As Jesus was on His way with His disciples from Judea to Galilee, He passed through Samaria. When He came to the town of Sychar, He was tired and sat down beside Jacob’s well close to noontime. Meanwhile His disciples went into the village to buy food, so that He was alone at the well. A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water and Jesus asked her for a drink while she was drawing water. This surprised the woman because Jews generally would have nothing to do with Samaritans, especially a Jewish man with a Samaritan woman and she expressed this surprise to Jesus.
     Considering that He had just asked her for a drink, Jesus made an interesting reply. He tells her that if she knew the gift of God and who she was speaking with, she would have asked, and He would have given her living water. Which causes her to retort (paraphrasing), “This well is deep, how would you get any water out of it? And what makes you think you are better than the Patriarch Jacob?” Jesus told her that anyone who drank the water from Jacob’s well would thirst again and need to return for more, but anyone who drank of the water He would give them would never thirst again, that water would become a well springing up eternal life. The woman wanted that, she wanted to not have to return to the well, a place she had to come to in the middle of the day because she was unwelcome during the times when the other women came to draw water.
     Jesus sent her to get her husband. When she told Him that she had no husband, Jesus told her that she had had five husbands and now lived with a man who was not her husband. She then asked Him a question that I just noticed for the first time is phrased like many of the trap questions asked by the Pharisees (and I think it was sort of one). She prefaces her question by saying that He is obviously a prophet. Then she asks Him why the Jews, of which He is one, say that the only place of worship is Jerusalem, but the Samaritans say that it is Mount Gerizim, where their ancestors worshiped?
     Jesus answered her question by telling her that the time is coming when the place of worship will be neither on the mountain nor in Jerusalem. He further told her that the time has come when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth for that is the sort of worshipers God seeks. This leads her to tell Him that she knows the Messiah is coming. At that He tells her that He is the Messiah. At that point His disciples returned and the woman left her water jar and returned to town. She told the people that she had met a man who told her everything she ever did and suggested that He might be the Messiah. The people started to come out of the town to see Jesus.
     His disciples offered Jesus some food and He told them that He had food to eat that they did not know about. When they expressed confusion, He told them that His food was to do the will of the One who sent Him. He went on to tell them to look at the fields because the harvest was ready. It was time to harvest a crop for eternal life. Look at the world around you, God is sending the workers out to the harvest, are you willing to go?

Psalm 105:1-15

Another great psalm that lifts my spirits.

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done.
He has made me glad and given a good life. I have a wonderful wife and I live in a house where it feels like I am on vacation each morning when I go out the door. I will remember this part of the psalm as well: Search for the Lord and for his strength;
continually seek him.

Proverbs 14:25

What an important proverb to remember. Am I a faithful witness to what God has done?

Daily Bible Study

May 4, 2013 Bible Study — He Must Become Greater, I Must Become Less

May 3, 2013 AttilaDimedici

Judges 19-20:48

     Today’s passage contains a tragic story. A Levite was traveling from Bethlehem to the remote hill country of Ephraim with a servant and his concubine. He stopped for the night in Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin. Initially, no one took them in, but as it was getting late a man who was originally from the hill country of Ephraim invited them to stay at his house. Actually, the man insisted that they do so rather than staying in the town square. The Levite and those traveling with him went to stay with the man. While they were eating the men of the town started pounding on the door of the house demanding that the Levite be brought out to them so that they could rape him. The man the Levite was staying with offered the men of the town his daughter and the Levite’s concubine, but the men of the town did not listen to him. The Levite finally forced his concubine out the door. The men of the town raped her throughout the night and let her go at daybreak. She returned to the house the Levite was staying at and died on the doorstep.
     This story has many elements that are wrong. First, the men of this town demanding to be given the visiting man so that they could rape him. This is especially significant because the Levite chose to travel later in the day to stay in a town of the Israelites rather than in a town of non-Israelites. Then we have the Levite’s host offering the men his daughter and the Levite’s concubine. Finally, we have the Levite forcing his concubine out to the men to be raped to death. All in all a tragic story with no real good guys (although the man who took the Levite and his family in for the night comes close).
     When the Levite got home, he sent messages to all of the tribes of Israel calling for something to be done. The tribes gathered and vowed to punish the city of Gibeah for its crime. It is worth noting that the crime was not just the rape and murder of the Levite’s concubine and the attempt to rape the Levite. It is clear from the story that the men of Gibeah routinely preyed upon travelers. Once they had assembled their army the Israelites sent word to the tribe of Benjamin requesting that they turn the men of Gibeah over for punishment. Rather than doing so, the Benjamites gathered to defend Gibeah. The Israelites gathered their army and vastly outnumbered the Benjamites. On the first two days of battle the Benjamites inflicted heavy casualties on the rest of the Israelites. On each of those days, the Benjamites killed almost as many of the Israelite army as there were Benjamite fighting men. On the third day, the Israelites withdrew for a day of prayer and fasting. After the day of fasting, the Israelites returned to attack Gibeah. This time they set an ambush. When the Benjamites came out to fight them, the main army retreated as if being defeated like the first two days of battle. The Benjamites pursued them. Once the Benjamites had been drawn away from the city the force set in ambush entered the city and sacked the city. At the moment the Benjamites realized that the city was being sacked, the main army counterattacked. The overwhelming majority of the Benjamite army was killed that day, but a small force of about 600 fled to a stronghold. When the remnant of the Benjamite army withdrew to a stronghold, the Israelite army destroyed all of the Benjamite cities and towns, putting everyone to the sword.

John 3:22-4:3

Jesus left Jerusalem and spent some time in the Judean countryside where He preached and His disciples baptized people. John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing not far from where Jesus was (at least that is how the passage reads to me). John’s disciples got into an argument with “a certain Jew” over ceremonial washing. This argument led them to return to John and ask him about Jesus. They were apparently concerned because Jesus was gaining honor that they thought should be going to John the Baptist. John the Baptist replied to them that this was as it should be. His purpose was to prepare people for Jesus’ coming and to point the way to Him. John finishes his words to the disciples with something we should all take to heart and live by, “He must become greater, I must become less.”
While John the Baptist was speaking in terms of a ministry that had become a big deal before Jesus was on the scene, nevertheless we also should approach life like that. I strive to live my life so that any glory that comes from my actions goes to Christ, not to myself. I just realized that I need to work on that mindset for my approach to this blog. I have been disappointed in the number of hits I have been getting. However, my disappointment was because I was not gaining a following. I need to remind myself that I do not truly want a following. I want more people to follow Jesus Christ. If people come to follow Jesus through reading my blog, or become better followers of Him that way, then God be praised. If people are reading my blog because they want to follow my writings, I have failed.

Psalm 104:24-35

Today’s psalm is a continuation of yesterday’s and continues the theme of “Let all that I am praise the Lord.” There is much in this to raise my spirits and lead me to praise the Lord.

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.
I will praise my God to my last breath!
May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,
That last phrase shall be my prayer for today. I will pray to God that He guide my thoughts this and every day so that every last one of them may be pleasing to Him.

Proverbs 14:22-24

There are three proverbs in today’s passage. The first tells us that those who plan to do evil will be lost, while those plan to do good find faithfulness and love. This explains why so often evil plans fail. IF you study history, you will see time and again evil people who make plans to do great evil (and they often do do great evil) but their plans fail because of some action which was an obviously bad idea.
The second and third are linked. The path to profit is hard work applied with wisdom. Those who are all talk end in poverty and the work of fools yields nothing of value.

Daily Bible Study

May 3, 2013 Bible Study — You Must Be Born Again

May 2, 2013 AttilaDimedici

Judges 17-18:31

     Today’s passage tells us of a man named Micah whose mother made an idol for him. He set the idol up in his house and worshiped it. One day a young Levite who was traveling looking for a new place to live came through the area. Micah hired him to be his priest. Some time after this a group of five men from the tribe of Dan were scouting out land for the tribe to claim as its own (the tribe had not yet claimed the land assigned to it by God through Joshua). They spent the night at Micah’s house. They recognized that the Levite by his accent and asked what he was doing there. He told them of Micah’s idol and that Micah had hired him to be his priest. The five men asked the Levite for God’s blessing on their journey and the Levite told them God would be with them. The five men of Dan found a likely town for their tribe to conquer and returned to report.
     The tribe of Dan sent 600 warriors to conquer the town which the scouts had found. When they passed near Micah’s house the five scouts went in and stole Micah’s idol and the other items in his household temple. When the Levite confronted them, they convinced him that becoming the priest for the entire tribe of Dan was better than being priest for a single household. After the men from the tribe of Dan had moved on some distance, Micah and his neighbors came chasing after them. The men of Dan asked Micah why he had chased after them and Micah replied by accusing them of stealing his household idols and his priest. The men of Dan threatened Micah and continued on their way. When Micah realized that there were too many of them for his group of neighbors to defeat, he left them alone and returned home.
     This story contains several sad elements. First we have Micah turning to idol worship and successfully recruiting a Levite to give it a veneer of respectability. Then we have the tribe of Dan stealing from their fellow Israelite and when confronted over their theft threatening to kill the man and his family. Basically, they behave as a bunch of thugs. Finally, we have the entire tribe of Dan adopt idolatry.

John 3:1-21

     Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council, came to see Jesus one night. I have heard it said that Nicodemus came at night so as to avoid anyone knowing he came to see Jesus. However, I think there is another possible explanation. During the day, there would have been crowds around Jesus and it would have been impossible to have a quiet, personal conversation with Him about spiritual matters. I think that Nicodemus came at night so that he could have a more in depth conversation than was possible during the day.
     Nicodemus started by acknowledging that Jesus was clearly sent by God. Jesus responds to this by telling him that in order to see the Kingdom of God one must be born again. I had never seen this before, but I believe that in his first question, Nicodemus is asking if Jesus is talking about some kind of reincarnation. Jesus’ reply is that He is not talking about a physical rebirth, but about a spiritual rebirth. He tells Nicodemus that just as the wind blows where it wills but cannot be seen and there is no way to really know where it came from, so it is with the Holy Spirit. We cannot tell how the Holy Spirit will move in people, nor can we tell who it will move in. We cannot predict how the Holy Spirit will move so as to bring someone to a new life in Christ.
     When Nicodemus expressed confusion about this concept Jesus questioned how it could be so hard for such a prominent teacher to understand this concept. Jesus goes on to suggest that if Nicodemus cannot get his head around this basic concept, how will he understand more elevated thinking (this is a direct comment on Nicodemus’ hubris in coming to Jesus apart from the crowds for “special” teaching). Jesus goes on to say that the “Son of Man” must be lifted up so that everyone who believed in Him could have eternal life (once more the author presents the idea that Jesus preached of His death and resurrection from very early in His ministry).
     The author then gives us that classic summation of Christian theology, John 3:16. John goes on to tell us that Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but rather to save it. Once more he returns to using the metaphor of light to refer to Jesus (a metaphor I really like). John tells us that those who choose to do evil avoid the light because the light will reveal their sins for what they are, for everyone to see. On the other hand those who are striving to do right get as close to the light as possible in order that everyone can see that they have done right. I think there is another reason that those who are striving to do right attempt to move close to the light. That reason is that they want the things they do wrong to be apparent so that they can be confronted and change their ways. When you are trying to fix something, in order to see all the fine details that need to be corrected you need a very good source of light.

Psalm 104:1-23

Another psalm of praise. “Let all that I am praise the Lord.” A reminder once more to make God the focus of my thoughts. Overall the psalm tells us how great God is and all the reasons we should praise Him. I will encourage you once more to read the psalm for yourself and meditate upon it. I will end my thoughts with this quote from the psalm about God’s greatness:

The winds are your messengers;
flames of fire are your servants.

Proverbs 14:20-21

These two proverbs come together with an important message for us. The first tell us that no one wants to be friends with the poor and everyone wants to be the friend of the rich. The second one tells us that we should not fall into this trap. That it is a sin to belittle one’s neighbor and that those who help the poor will be blessed by God. Let me never forget that God loves even those whom man despises.

Daily Bible Study

May 2, 2013 Bible Study — Let All That I Am Praise The Lord

May 1, 2013 AttilaDimedici

Judges 15-16:31

     After a couple of months, Samson went to return to his wife. However, when he got there her father told him that he thought Samson hated her and had given her in marriage to the best man. In anger, Samson went out and captured 300 foxes. He tied their tails together in pairs and attached a torch to the tails of each pair. He then lit the torches and released the foxes in the Philistine grain fields. In addition, he destroyed vineyards and olive fields. When the Philistines learned that he had done this because the father of the woman he had married had given her in marriage to the best man, they took the woman and her father and burned them to death. In retaliation for this Samson went a killed a large number of Philistines. He then went and lived in a cave.
     The Philistines then sent a force into Judah looking for Samson. The Philistines made a nuisance of themselves looking for Samson. The men of Judah went to capture Samson. When they found Samson, he made them promise that they would not kill him themselves. Then he let them tie him up and take him to turn him over to the Philistines. When the Philistines saw the men of Judah bringing Samson bound, they rushed them shouting in joy. Samson snapped the ropes, found the jawbone of a recently killed donkey and began killing the Philistines. He struck down a thousand men before the Philistines retreated. Samson led the Israelites for twenty years.
     On day, Samson went down to Gaza to a prostitute to spend the night. When the Philistines heard he was there, they gathered and laid in wait for him, planning to take him when he came out in the morning. However, Samson got up at midnight to leave. When he got to the city gates, they were closed. So, he took the door of the town gate and the posts on either side of them and lifted them up and carried them to the top of the hill.
     Some time later, Samson once again showed poor judgment in his love life and fell in love with Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines went to Delilah and asked her to entice Samson to tell her the secret of his great strength and how it could be neutralized so that they could capture him. They promised her a large sum of money if she was successful. She asked him the secret and he told her that if he was tied up with fresh bowstrings, strength would be gone. She hid Philistines in the room and when he fell asleep she tied him up with fresh bowstrings. Once he was tied she called out that the Philistines had arrived. Samson awoke and snapped the bowstrings. She begged him again to tell her the secret and once again when he gave her an answer, she used it to bind him. She did this third time as well. Finally he told her that the secret was to cut his hair. This time when she woke him, his strength was gone and the Philistines captured him. Notice that despite the fact that Delilah had demonstrated on three occasions that she was going to use his secret against him if he told her, he eventually told her.
     The Philistines gouged out his eyes and put him to work grinding grain. Over time his hair began to grow back in. After some time the rulers of the Philistines assembled and brought forth Samson to celebrate their victory over him. They began to praise their god for giving them victory over Samson. As Samson stood in their temple, he asked the servant who had led him in to put his hands against the pillars so that he could rest against it. Samson then called on God to give him strength one last time. He then cried out, “Let me die with the Philistines.” As soon as he said that he pushed against the pillars and collapsed the roof of the temple, killing a large number of Philistines.
     Samson was a man of great might and a great warrior, but he repeatedly showed poor judgment when it came to the women he chose to associate with.

John 2:1-25

     After returning to Galilee Jesus went to a wedding in Cana. The wedding hosts ran out of wine and Jesus’ mother came to Him and told Him they were out of wine. Jesus asked His mother in terms that sound to me like a son whose mother frustrates him and is struggling to remain respectful why she was involving Him. He further told her that His time had not yet come. Jesus’ mother then told the servants to do whatever He told them. Jesus told the servants to fill six jugs, which each held 20-30 gallons, with water. Once they had done so, He told them to draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. After tasting the wine the master of the banquet commented that this was the best wine at the wedding. It is interesting that according to the writer, this was the first miracle that Jesus performed. Not only did He make wine out of water, but it was better than the other wine at the wedding (in my understanding of the way people of the period thought of wine, better would have primarily meant stronger, although I believe it probably also tasted better). This passage (combined with others that speak of Him being invited to numerous parties) tells us that Jesus was a lot of fun to be around.
     As Passover approached, Jesus returned to Judea and went to Jerusalem. When He entered the Temple, He became furious at all of the merchants and money changers doing business there. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased the merchants and money changers out of the Temple. He drove off the sheep and cattle and overturned the money changers’ tables. He went to those selling doves and demanded that they leave. He condemned them for making God’s House a market.
     The religious leaders demanded that He show them a sign that He had the authority to do what He had just done. Jesus responded by telling them that if they tore down the Temple, He would raise it back up in three days. The Jewish leaders belittled His claim by saying that it had taken 46 years to build the Temple in the first place. After Jesus was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered what He had said and realized that the Temple He was talking about was His body.

Psalm 103

Today’s psalm is a great reminder to me.

Let all that I am praise the Lord;
with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
Let all that I am praise the Lord;
may I never forget the good things he does for me.
All too often I forget the things this psalm reminds me of. The best way to say what this psalm means to me is to quote it. So, rather than try to find another way to phrase it, I will just ask that you read it.

Proverbs 14:17-19

If you allow your temper to gain control, you will do foolish things. Those who are constantly scheming are hated. I am not quite sure that I understand the point of the rest of today’s proverb. However, I will take a stab at it based on my experience. Evil-doers recognize the goodness of those who are godly and respect them for it.

Daily Bible Study

May 1, 2013 Bible Study — Advice for Couples

April 30, 2013 AttilaDimedici

Judges 13-14:20

     Today’s passage tells us that the Israelites once more did evil in God’s sight and He turned them over to the Philistines. The Philistines oppressed the Israelites for forty years. In those days there was a man named Manoah whose wife was unable to become pregnant and they had no children. God sent a messenger to his wife to tell her that she must avoid alcoholic beverages and forbidden foods because she was about to become pregnant. The messenger told her that she would bear a son who should never have his hair cut because he would be dedicated to God from birth as a Nazirite. God would use him to rescue Israel from the Philistines.
     When she told her husband, Manoah, what the messenger had said, he prayed to God that He send the messenger to them once more to give them more detailed instructions on how they should raise their son. Once again the messenger from God appeared to Manoah’s wife. This time she ran and got Manoah. He returned and asked for further instructions. When Manoah asked him what rules should govern the way they raised the son the messenger prophecied, the messenger told him once more that his wife should not consume any alcoholic beverages nor any forbidden foods. Manoah offered the messenger a meal, but the messenger declined. Instead stating that he would stay while Manoah prepared a burnt offering. Manoah prepared the offering and laid it out on a stone. While the flames shot up from the offering towards the sky, the messenger ascended to heaven in the fire. Manoah and his wife fell on their faces and worshiped God. In due time Manoah’s wife gave birth and named her son Samson.
     When Samson was a young man, he demanded that his father get him a particular Philistine woman as his wife. His father tried to convince Samson to chose an Israelite girl, but Samson insisted. While Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, the city where she lived, a young lion attacked Samson. He tore the lion apart with his bare hands, apparently quickly and without being injured since the passage tells us that he did not tell his parents. Once the marriage was arranged, Samson returned for the wedding. On the way he went aside to look at the carcass of the lion. He discovered that some bees had made their hive in the carcass. Samson removed some honey from the carcass and ate some of it as he went on. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some of the honey as well, but he did not tell them where the honey came from.
     According to the traditions of the time, Samson threw a feast. The people of Timnah chose thirty young men to be his companions. Samson made a bet with these young men that they would not be able to solve his riddle. The young men agreed that if they failed to solve Samson’s riddle, they would each give him an outfit. Samson agreed that if they did solve it, he would give each of them an outfit. Samson gave them a riddle about finding honey in the carcass of the lion he killed. Since no one aside from Samson knew about the lion and that he got honey from it, the young men were unable to solve the riddle. After three days of being unable to solve the riddle, they approached Samson’s new bride and asked her to coax Samson to tell her the answer, threatening to kill her and her father’s family if she did not get the answer for them.
     She went to Samson and begged him to tell her the answer, accusing him of not loving her for not telling her the answer already. Samson responded that he had not told anyone the answer, not even his parents. However, she started to cry when he would not tell her and continued crying for the rest of the wedding feast. Finally on the seventh day of the wedding feast, Samson gave in and told her the answer. She promptly went and told the young men who had made the bet with Samson. Samson knew where they had learned the answer and was furious. He promptly went and killed thirty other Philistines in another city and gave their clothes to his companions. He then went home to his parents house.
     This passage shows several personality and relationship flaws that can get people into trouble. The first is that Samson was impulsive. He saw this young woman and decided that she had to be his wife and would take no advice to that suggested this would be a bad decision. Then when he felt betrayed by his new wife, he threw a temper tantrum and killed a bunch of people who were only peripherally involved with the situation and abandoned his wife for a period of time. Samson should have talked to his wife and found out why she had “betrayed” him. Which brings us to her, when the young men that her father had chosen as companions to Samson for the wedding feast threatened her father and his family if she did not get information from her new husband, she did not confide in him and request his help. He could then have decided to either defend her father’s family or give her the answer. Once again this problem occurred because she did not trust her husband. There are other lessons to be learned from this passage, but the two I see today are the importance of choosing a marriage partner wisely, something Samson failed to do, and communicating with and trusting one’s spouse, something both Samson and his wife failed to do.

John 1:29-51

     The day after he responded to questions about who he was by saying that one greater than himself would follow him, John the Baptist pointed out Jesus coming towards him and said that He was the Lamb of God and the one he had referred to. John told those around him that he would testify that Jesus was the Chosen One of God. On the day after that, John was walking with two of his disciples when he saw Jesus. He told his disciples that Jesus was the Lamb of God. The two disciples started to follow Jesus.
     When Jesus noticed them following Him, He asked them what they wanted. They replied by asking Him where He was staying. He invited them to come and see. They spent the rest of the day with Him. One of them, Andrew, went and got his brother Simon. When Simon met Jesus, Jesus promptly named him Peter (or Rock). The following day when Jesus decided to return to Galilee He found Philip and asked him to follow Him. Philip went and found Nathanael. When Philip told Nathanael that they had found the Messiah and that He was Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael responded by asking if anything good could come out of Nazareth. Philip invited him to come and see for himself. When Nathanael approached Jesus, Jesus said that he was a true and honest Israelite. Nathanael thought he was being flattered dishonestly, but when Jesus told him what he was doing when Philip found him, he believed.
     Nathanael gives us an important lesson. When Jesus said something flattering about him that he almost certainly wanted to believe about himself, he did not just accept it. Nathanael challenged Jesus. We should not accept someone as a teacher to be respected just because they say things about us that we like to hear.

Psalm 102:1-28

Today’s psalm is a heartfelt cry to God for assistance. The psalmist tells us that he is in great distress, yet nevertheless he has faith in God and praises God above all others. When times are bad (and when they are good), I will call out with the psalmist:

Lord, hear my prayer!
Listen to my plea!
But even in the worst of my trials I will also proclaim: He will listen to the prayers of the destitute.
He will not reject their pleas.

Proverbs 14:15-16

Well today’s proverb is as relevant today as the day it was written. “Only simpletons believe everything they’re told!” Let us carefully consider the source when we hear something, even if it is something that supports what we already believe. Let us follow the advice of the second proverb and be cautious. Let us be careful what we believe and not rush ahead to spread a story that supports the arguments we make. IF later the story turns out to be false, we will be shown to be a fool and others will ignore our arguments, even if they are good.

Daily Bible Study

April 30, 2013 Bible Study — Living a Life of Integrity So That God’s Light May Shine Through

April 29, 2013 AttilaDimedici

Judges 11-12:15

Today’s passage tells us how Jephthah became judge over Israel. He was the son of a prostitute. When his half-brothers grew up, they chased him off of their father’s land because they did not want to share their inheritance with the son of a prostitute. Jephthah gathered a band of troublemakers as followers. When the Ammonites attacked Gilead, the elders of Gilead sent for Jephthah to be their commander. They promised to make him their ruler if he would come and lead them against the Ammonites. Jephthah attempted to negotiate a peaceful settlement with the Ammonite king, but was rebuffed.
Jephthah gathered an army to fight the Ammonites and the spirit of God was with him. However, as he prepared for battle, Jephthah made a foolish oath. He promised to sacrifice whatever first came out of his house to greet him when he returned if God gave him victory. He went into battle against the Ammonites and was victorious. When he returned from battle, his daughter, his only child, came out to meet him first. When he told her of the vow he had made, she insisted that he must keep it, but asked for two months to roam the hills with her friends. When she returned, Jephthah fulfilled his vow. Every time I read this passage I wonder at the point of the passage and the only thing that comes to mind is that it is an example of making a foolish vow. One should think through the possible consequences before one makes a promise.

John 1:1-28

The beginning of the Gospel of John gives some basic theology for Christians. It tells us that “The Word” (Greek “Logos” which is the root of our word “logic”) was from the beginning and was both with God and was God. Everything was made through the Word of God and nothing was made without Him. It is very interesting, and it carried intentional meaning, that the writer uses the word for “him” rather than the word for “it”. The writer is telling us that the Word is a person, although not necessarily a human. The writer goes on to tell us that the Word contains life and that life is light.
Life comes forth from Christ the way that light comes forth from the sun, but there is more to it than that. That light that comes forth from Christ is like life in that just as one living being can give birth to another, so this life/light can enter into us and shine forth from us. Jesus is a beacon of life just like the sun is a beacon of light. When the life from Jesus enters into us, giving us this true life as children of God, we become beacons of life to others. The life that we received from Jesus shines forth from us and can enter into others. We are not the source of that life. One could say that we are mirrors of that life, except that unlike a mirror when that life shines on another, they can bring accept it into themselves and shine forth with life from the source not just a reflection of a reflection. When the life from God shines forth from us, it can enter into others giving them life and causing them to shine forth that same life, not in reflection of the life that is in us, but in reflection of the life from God Himself.

Psalm 101:1-8

This is a wonderful song which calls us to praise the Lord, but also challenges us (or at least, challenges me!). After declaring that he will praise the Lord, the psalmist declares that he will lead a blameless life with God’s help (that may not be how the psalmist meant it, but I know that is the only way I will ever come close to leading a blameless life). He proclaims that he will lead a life of integrity in his own home. That can serve as good advice, because integrity starts in our private life. If we do not have integrity in our own homes, we will not truly have integrity anywhere else.
The psalmist then promises not to look at anything vile and vulgar (I would have phrased it “vile or vulgar”, but the psalmist is probably correct, because anything that is vile is also vulgar and anything that is vulgar is also vile). He goes on to list behaviors that we should not tolerate in ourselves. However, not only should we not tolerate these behaviors in ourselves, we should have no parts in these behaviors as exercised by others. The psalmist’s list is as follows: crooked dealings, perverse ideas, slandering neighbors, conceit and pride, and every evil. This last is by no means comprehensive (although the “every evil” sort of sums up the rest of the behaviors we should avoid). It is the first part of this I find challenging. Can I really avoid looking at anything vile and vulgar? I don’t mean because it is thrust in front of me, because I don’t think that is what the psalmist meant. But can I choose not to look at anything vile and vulgar and keep to it? That means not watching entertaining TV shows that have vile and vulgar content, or movies. It means not going to websites that contain the same sorts of things. It means not reading books and magazines with such content. What about news stories that contain more vile and vulgar details than necessary to communicate what happened? But I will start with the easy stuff. The stuff that I know that the vulgar and vile is really why I am looking at it, no matter what “redeeming value” it may or may not have. I can work on the things which I genuinely believe that I consume for those “redeeming values”. I am sure that the Spirit will convict me of those in due time as well.
There is one more important part to this psalm. The psalmist tells us that he will search for companions who are faithful and above reproach. He will not employ those who are deceivers and liars in any capacity, especially not as advisers. If we wish to accomplish the first part, live with integrity and avoid anything vile and vulgar, then we need to spend our time with those who are striving to do likewise. However, there is more to it than that. We must also strictly limit the time we spend with those who do not strive to live lives of integrity and to avoid the vile and vulgar. The choices and behaviors of those we spend time with will rub off on us and lead us to behave in a similar manner, whether that be to the good or the bad.

Proverbs 14:13-14

Laughter can ease the burden of grief, but we must remember that the grief will still be there for those around us who are suffering when the laughter ends. It is not enough to lift the spirits of those we know who are grieving, we must be there for them when the laughter ends.
I prefer the NIV translation of the second proverb today. It dovetails nicely with today’s psalm. It tells us that those who consistently fail to live with integrity will suffer for their ways, while those who do live with integrity will be rewarded for theirs.

Fact and Fantasy

Category Archives: Daily Bible Study

May 9, 2013 Bible Study — Having the Courage to Intervene

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May 8, 2013 Bible Study — Speak Lord, Your Servant Is Listening.

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May 7, 2013 Bible Study — Take Up Your Mat and Walk

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May 6, 2013 Bible Study — God Molds His People

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May 5, 2013 Bible Study — Your God Will Be My God

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May 4, 2013 Bible Study — He Must Become Greater, I Must Become Less

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May 3, 2013 Bible Study — You Must Be Born Again

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May 2, 2013 Bible Study — Let All That I Am Praise The Lord

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May 1, 2013 Bible Study — Advice for Couples

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April 30, 2013 Bible Study — Living a Life of Integrity So That God’s Light May Shine Through

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