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.
In the middle of prophecies condemning the people of Israel and Judah for their sins and idolatry is a passage which offers great hope. God begs for us to come back to Him. He promises that He will accept us home with open arms, if only we will acknowledge our guilt and sin. If we will come back to Him, confessing the error of our ways, He will provide us with shepherds who will guide us into wisdom and understanding. God is calling us back to Him, are we listening? More importantly, are we giving His message of forgiveness and redemption to those around us?
Today we have yet another passage where Paul talks about his ongoing prayer for a group of people. It is clear to me that I am being challenged to improve my prayer life. Paul commends the Colossians for their love of all of God’s people, a love which he says they have shown since they first heard the Gospel. The Gospel is changing lives all over the world, just as it changed ours. Do we believe in the ability of the Gospel to change lives? Have I allowed the Gospel to change my life?
Paul is praying that God give the believers in Colossae complete knowledge of His will and spiritual wisdom and understanding. Are we praying for this for ourselves and for our fellow believers? I desire complete knowledge of God’s will, as well as spiritual wisdom and understanding so that I can live a life worthy of Christ. I want to grow in the knowledge of God so that I can be strengthened by His power, which will give me patience and endurance. I give joyous thanks to God because He has brought me out of darkness to live in His light.
The notes say that the word the NLT translates as Jerusalem is actually the Hebrew for Salem, which it says is another name for Jerusalem (the NIV uses Salem). The Hebrew word “Salem” is based on the Hebrew word for peace. The gist of the passage from other translations is that God places his movable shelter (tent/tabernacle) in “Salem”. When I read the whole psalm, I read that as saying that God dwells in peace. The psalmist says that God has destroyed the weapons of war and that at God’s rebuke the horse and chariot are still. None can stand against God and where He chooses to make His dwelling there will be peace.
The proverb warns us to fear the Lord and those who rule. It advises staying away from rebels because sudden destruction is likely to come upon them and those nearby. Several translations translate the word which the NLT translates as “rebel” as “those seeking change” (or some variation on that). It made me realize that in part what the writer is warning against are those who seek change for the sake of change. All too often, when people want to change things they change good things along with bad. It is important to know why something is the way it is before advocating making changes (even when the way things are is not good).