I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
Here we have the story of Samson’s parents and God’s messenger appearing to them to tell them that his mother would conceive. The first thing that struck me was that the angel instructed Samson’s mother to not drink any wine or other alcoholic beverage or to eat any forbidden food. What struck me about this is that it seemed a lot like the instructions given pregnant women today, especially those who have difficult pregnancies. Another thing that struck me was the response of Samson’s father. When he asked the messenger what kind of rules should govern their raising of the boy he said, “When your words come true…”. Most of us (certainly that is my inclination) would say, “If your words come true…”. How can I learn to react to God’s direction with that kind of faith?
This story is followed by a story showing Samson’s poor judgment in women. Samson falls for a Philistine woman and asks his parents to arrange for him to marry her. Samson poses a riddle for the men who have been chosen by his wife’s parents to be part of his wedding party as a bet. When they were unable to solve the riddle, they turned to Samson’s bride for the answer. They threatened to to burn down her father’s house with her in it if she did not get the answer for them (a threat that later actions suggest was not an idle one). She then cajoles Samson for the answer. She does not tell him about the threat. She nags him for the answer, crying each time he refuses to answer, until he finally gives in and tells her. When the men of his wedding party answer his riddle, Samson is furious because he knows where they got the answer and feels betrayed by his wife, with some justification. If she had told him why she was so desperate to know the answer, things would have turned out differently, but probably not much better for those Philistines responsible for oppressing the Israelites.
Here we have John’s account of Jesus calling His first disciples. As John the Baptist is standing with two of his disciples, Jesus walks by. John the Baptist declares, “Look! There is the Lamb of God.” The two disciples approach Jesus and ask where He is staying. He invites them back with Him and they spend the rest of the day with Him. We don’t know what they talked about, but they were obviously impressed. One of the two, Andrew, goes and gets his brother, Simon. Andrew tells Simon that they have found the Messiah and brings Simon to meet Jesus. Jesus looks at Simon, tells him his name and that he will be called “Rock” (Cephas in Aramaic, Peter in Greek).
The next day, Jesus decides to go to Galilee. He finds Philip, who is from the same town as Andrew and Peter, and tells him to follow Him. The passage does not say, but I infer from this that Philip was the second of John’s two disciples who had approached Jesus the previous day. Philip goes and finds Nathaniel and tells him that they had found the Messiah and that He was from Nazareth. Nathaniel is skeptical, but Philip tells him to check it out for himself. Jesus tells Nathaniel that he is a man of integrity. We might be tempted to think that Nathaniel was convinced because Jesus flattered him by calling him a “man of integrity”, but Nathaniel remains skeptical. It is only when Jesus reveals that He knows where Nathaniel was when Philip found him that he is convinced. Jesus tells him that he will see greater wonders than that.
I would love to know what Jesus and the two disciples talked about that first afternoon. It obviously impressed both of them intensely because they each sought out someone close to them to tell that they had found the Messiah. Are we that impressed with Jesus that we seek out those closest to us to tell them that we have found the Messiah, the anointed one of God? This question changes for those of us raised by Christian parents because it is likely that we came to know Jesus those closest to us already knew Him. But what about when we become close to others throughout our lives? Do we make sure that they know we view Jesus as central? Are we brave enough to risk this new relationship with the revelation that we are “one of those”?
Today’s psalm is one where the psalmist is crying out in desperation to the Lord. He pours out his problems before the Lord and speaks from utter depression about himself. Yet even so, the psalmist praises the Lord and speaks of His faithfulness and power. Can I so the same? Can I praise the Lord, even as my life appears to be collapsing around me? I hope so, but, I also hope to never find out. My greatest fear is that I will be tested as Job was tested.
The two proverbs today are very closely related. Simpletons believe everything they are told, fools rush ahead. While the prudent carefully consider their actions and the wise are cautious and avoid danger. I have learned to apply two rules when evaluating what someone tells me. The first thing I consider is this, does my source have first hand knowledge of the subject and are they a good judge of what actually happened? The second is related to that, if they do not have first hand knowledge, do they use good judgment in evaluating their sources as I do? I have learned that some people are very reliable when telling about something they experienced themselves, but too readily accept the judgment of others about situations they have not experienced themselves.