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.
Today’s passage begins with a prophecy that the day will come when Israel will exist with a government that is just and fair. In that day, whoever attacks them will go down in defeat. I am hesitant to say that this applies today, but there is a remarkable resemblance between the modern state of Israel and this prophecy.
God invites everyone to come to Him to receive His salvation. If we come to Him and follow His will, He will give us good things. There are several verses here which touch me dearly. The first is a call to come to God now, tomorrow may be too late:
Seek the Lord while you can find him.
Call on him now while he is near.
Let us truly listen to what God has to say to us, not only hearing what we want to hear. Then there are verses 8-11:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.(NIV)
Let us not make the mistake of thinking that what we know better than God. God has His own plans and we need to adjust ourselves to what He wants. When we get into conflict with others, we need to remember that God is not on our side, we need to make sure that we are on God’s side. In addition this passage reminds us of the power of God’s word to change the world. It is not up to us to employ the power of persuasion, or lofty rhetoric, to convince others to follow Christ. All we are asked to do is tell them God’s words. His Spirit will do the rest.
On the theme of submitting to one another, Paul tells us that children should obey their parents and fathers should avoid provoking their children to anger. He points out that if we honour our parents, God has promised that things will go well for us. The corollary to the command that children honour their parents is that parents are obligated to look out for the well-being of their children. A society where parents do not look out for the well-being of their children will be a society where children do not honour their parents. A society where children do not honour their parents will be a society that has no future.
Next Paul extends the theme to slaves and masters. He tells slaves that they should work for their master as if the work was being done for the Lord. In addition, he tells masters that they should not threaten their slaves, remembering that both they and the slaves have the same master in heaven. The same principles apply to our modern working relationships. We should do our work for our employers as if the work we are doing is for Christ. In fact, we should do our jobs in service to Christ. In the same way, if we are employers, we should treat our employees as our fellow servants of Christ.
Paul tells us to be strong in the Lord and to put on God’s armor. I have seen various descriptions of how Paul’s image of God’s armor was based on the armor worn by Roman legionnaires and I am sure that such is the case. In that vein, I am going to look at this passage and see what it tells me. There were several forms of body armor worn by Roman soldiers, but the point of all of it was that it protected the body from blows struck in hand to hand combat. It is God’s righteousness that will protect us from the attacks we face as we deal with people on a day to day basis. Paul mentions the belt of truth. The Roman soldier wore a belt whose primary purpose was to carry his sword, which we will get to shortly. So, if we hope to be able to carry the battle to God’s enemies, we must make sure that we stick to the truth. In order to stand firm in battle, we must be firmly planted in the peace that comes from fully embracing God’s Gospel.
Paul goes on to talk about the shield of faith which will allow us to withstand attacks that come from a distance. The thing about the shield carried by Roman soldiers at the time of Paul is that it gained most of its effectiveness from the soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder. The same thing is true for us as believers, if we want to serve God effectively, we need to stand shoulder to shoulder with each other.
I will follow the example of the psalmist and call on God for help. I am “poor and needy”. I do not have the ability to get myself out of the trouble I get myself into. I will rely on God, because only He can be counted on to save me from the problems I face as I go through life.
Those who plot evil will soon develop a reputation for doing so. It will not take long for people to notice if you plot to do others wrong.