For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I apologize if my writing over the last few days has been below my usual standard. I have not been feeling well and if the doctor is to be believed I will feel this way for a few more. On the other hand, if my writing has not been substandard, praise God because it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that such is possible.
If you want two people to be friends, don’t mention negative things one may have said about the other. On the other hand, a good way to separate friends is to constantly repeat, out of context, something one of them said in a fit of pique.
If you are trying to decide if you have discernment or are a fool, this proverb provides a good place to start. How do you react when someone tries to get you to change your behavior? Do you listen and react to a single criticism? Or do you stubbornly refuse to change your ways after repeated punishments?
Both of these proverbs can also be used to judge others. If someone is constantly telling you about something a friend, or potential friend, of yours said that puts you in a negative light, you can be sure that they are trying to put a wedge between the two of you. On the other hand, if they are constantly minimizing to you, or justifying, the things which the other did which upset you, you can be sure that they wish the two of you to be friends. As to the second proverb, if someone immediately changes their way when you criticize something they did you can expect that they are likely to exhibit good judgement in other matters as well. The flip side is that if they insist that their way of doing things is the correct way, even after repeatedly suffering for doing things that way, you can expect that they are unlikely to exhibit good judgement in other areas.
The psalmist tells those who serve the Lord at night to praise Him. I always find this psalm inspiring, but something occurred to me today. Those who served in the Temple at night would have been rarely noticed. So, in some ways this psalm is for all of those who have the “thankless” jobs God calls on someone to do. I put the “thankless” in quotes because God will not forget to thank, and reward, those who do those jobs. However, when we find ourselves in those service jobs, let us praise the Lord. Let us lift up our hands and thank God for giving us this opportunity to serve Him.
Over the last few days we have read about Stephen and Saul, men who confronted those they disagreed with very directly. Today, we have Peter, who preached to Cornelius and his household a message of welcome. It made me think what is the difference between the men to whom Stephen, and Saul preached and those to whom Peter preached here? Stephen, at least, preached to men who claimed the knowledge and right to not only tell others how they should live, but to force them to live that way. Peter, on the other hand, preached to those seeking to learn how to live according to God’s will. This is a reminder to us, both in how we should preach to others, in-your-face to those who think they have the knowledge and right to silence those with whom they disagree, with kind acceptance to those who are seeking, and how we should treat those with whom we disagree. Before he was saved, Paul agreed with those who martyred Stephen, after he met the Lord, he was often beaten, yet he never forced his opinion on others (except by force of argument).
It is also important to make note of what Peter preached to Cornelius, because it should be the basis for what we preach. There is a little more to it than this, but the core of the Gospel is that Jesus is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. It is not me who judges your actions, it is not you who judges my actions, or anybody else’s actions. I will not try to silence you if I disagree with you, but I will try to convince you. I welcome you to do the same to me.
The various kings of Israel who succeeded Jeroboam all sinned against God, but it was not until Ahab that the kings began to openly worship the gods of the surrounding peoples. I never realized before how low-key Elijah’s appearance on the scene was. Our first encounter with Elijah is when he told Ahab that it would not until Elijah next said that it would. OK, so maybe that is not low-key, but it seems a pretty bold statement for someone who has yet to do anything of note (of course, it may be that God had done some things through Elijah before this which are not recorded).
The rest of the passage describes how God provides for those who are faithful. God provided for Elijah by a stream in the wilderness for some time by having ravens bring him food. Then when the stream finally dried up, God sent him to a non-Jewish widow. It is worth noting that when Elijah arrived the woman was about to cook the last of her food which was just enough for a final meal for herself and her son. Elijah told her to make a bit of bread for him first, and then follow her plan…except for the bit about dying. God provided her enough to feed Elijah, herself, and her son. If we put doing God’s will first, He will provide for our needs.