I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. In order to make that possible I read the passages and write my thoughts a day, or more. in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
This proverb reminds me of a saying I have heard and which I like. “It is easy to keep your story straight if you tell the truth.” Those who are righteous and honest will walk straight paths and avoid troubles because of their righteousness and honesty. Those who are wicked will find themselves tripped up by their own wickedness and lies.
God is my helper. He is the one who sustains me. I will praise His name. This psalm reminds us that we will be attacked by violent people who care nothing for God, but that if we turn to God for protection He will rescue us from their assaults.
When the Jewish religious leaders brought Jesus before Pilate they accused Him of many crimes. Jesus made no attempt to mount a defense to these charges, much to Pilate’s surprise. When Pilate asked Jesus if He was the King of the Jews, rather than answer Pilate, Jesus said, “You have said it.” This was neither a denial nor an affirmation. Jesus did this because different people would mean different things when they said that someone was the King of the Jews. Jesus did not deny that He was the King of the Jews, because by some meanings of that term, He was indeed the King of the Jews. On the other hand, He did not affirm that either because by other meanings of the term (especially the meaning which Pilate would have most likely understood) He was not the King of the Jews. As Pilate listened to the various accusations the Jewish religious leaders made against Jesus, he realized that there was no real substance to their accusations. This is an important lesson for us when people who hate us because of our faith accuse us of wrongdoing. There are times when we should just remain silent because it will quickly become obvious to those listening to the accusations that our accusers are making things up and/or projecting their own wrongdoing on to us. I need to learn that there are times when it is counterproductive to attempt to answer accusations. In those times, if I allow my accusers to continue to speak, they will refute themselves.
As Jesus hung on the cross, the people who passed by mocked Him. The religious leaders made reference to His miracles, acknowledging that they had failed to believe in Him as a result of those miracles, but claiming that they would believe Him if only He would perform one more and come down off the cross. How often are we like that? Just one more sign/miracle and we will believe that God is calling us to a course of action? Yet as they stood there not believing, Jesus’ message was reaching into the heart of someone. The Roman centurion who oversaw the crucifixion, when he saw how Jesus died, declared, “This man truly was the Son of God.” We sometimes forget that God’s actions are not aimed at us, sometimes they are aimed to bring God’s grace to someone unexpected. The Roman centurion is the last person any of those present would have expected to be reached by the Gospel on that day. Yet he was the one who found faith from witnessing the crucifixion.
While the Israelites were in the wilderness, one of the Levites, a man named Korah, stirred up rebellion among the Israelites against Moses and Aaron. Two prominent members of the tribe of Reuben and 250 other leaders of the people of Israel joined them in their rebellion. Moses did not gather his forces and start a civil war among the Israelites, as Korah and his followers appeared to expect. Rather Moses called on God to settle the dispute. Moses called on Korah and those Levites following him to present themselves before God with incense burners and Aaron would do the same. Then Moses said that they would see who God would accept. Many of the people came behind Korah, offering him their support in what appears to have been an attempt to prevent Moses from using military force to put down this rebellion. Moses warned the people to move away from the tents of the leaders of the rebellion. Most of the people did so and the ground opened up and swallowed the tents and those who remained near them. There are many ways we could interpret this, but the key factor is that Moses did not use military force to put down the rebellion. Rather he allowed God to show the people that he was the leader whom God had chosen for them.