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 in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
The prophet laments the terrible times which have befallen the people of Jerusalem, but he points out that there troubles have come upon them because they had chosen to follow sinful leaders. It was not just their political leaders who were sinful, but even worse, they had chosen to follow sinful religious leaders. Those who were supposed to guide them towards righteousness instead committed heinous crimes and shed innocent blood. Time and again, a people become prosperous through following God’s commands then turn from God to follow those who tell them they can remain prosperous while indulging their sinful desires. Every time this happens, tragedy strikes these once prosperous nations.
Once trouble begins, the only hope for that people is to turn to God. God does not change and when people turn back to Him, He will restore them. As bad as things may look, God will restore us if we turn to Him and follow His commands.
We must pay careful attention to the Gospel message which brought our salvation. It is all too easy to drift away from God if we stop listening to His word. In the first chapter the writer made the point that Jesus was God’s Son and on an equal footing with God, an actual part of God. Today the writer makes the point that Jesus was a man, that He was fully human. It was as a human that He was able to experience the suffering, trials, and temptation that are common to all humans. It is because of this experience that He is able to test us as we go through those same things. More than that, it is because of our experiences dealing with suffering, trials, and temptation that we are able to help our brothers and sisters who are dealing with those things now.
Jesus calls us His brothers and sisters. He suffered and died to free us from death and fear of death. We need to be willing to suffer and die to show to those around us that they too need not fear suffering and death.
This psalm reaches out to me. It calls on me to praise God with all my ability and with every aspect of my being.
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.
It goes on from there to itemize some of the good God has done for all who trust in Him, but that sums up what the psalm is about. Yes, I will praise the Lord with all that I am.
Fiery speeches are often made to cover up the evil intentions of the speaker. We should give extra scrutiny to the motives and actions of those whose speech rouses us to anger against others.