For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The proverb writer uses yet another metaphor to illustrate the way in which wisdom is available to anyone who desires it. Wisdom is there for us, all we have to do is accept it. While we should seek wisdom and our life will be better if we do so, we do not have to actively look for wisdom. Wisdom will come looking for us. Fools are those people who repeatedly refuse to accept the lessons which wisdom strives to teach them.

    A nation will be successful and prosperous if, and only if, the people within it fear and worship the Lord. It is not a mighty army, nor is advanced military equipment which gives a nation security and wealth. However, the Lord will watch over those who fear and serve Him. As I read this psalm, I am reminded of those who look at the decline of the U.S., both morally and as a world power.
    They seek to cultivate the political power to change the laws in order to reverse the decline. Their attempts are futile. God does not call us to make our country powerful. He does not even call us to make our country morally pure. We are called by God to serve Him. I am not seeking to live in a powerful country. I am seeking to convince those I meet to serve the Lord.

    Despite being unable to find anything Jesus had done which deserved the death penalty, despite the entreaties of his wife to have nothing to do with Jesus, Pilate allowed the crowd to pressure him into ordering Jesus’ crucifixion. The crowd readily took responsibility for Jesus’ death, while Pilate disavowed responsibility for it.
    There is some truth in the crowd’s claim of responsibility, but there is no truth in Pilate’s disavowal. The people in that crowd shared responsibility for the death of an innocent man, but so did Pilate. We are responsible for our actions, even if we were pressured by the crowd to take them,

    God instructed the Israelites not to make any treaties or agreements with the people in the land. He explained that if they entered into such agreements, they would be drawn into the worship of those peoples’ gods.
    The same thing is true for us today. We should not enter into alliances with those who do not serve the Lord. This does not mean that we should reject when they support the causes for which we fight. However, we must be careful not to let them guide our strategy, nor join their groups fighting for causes we believe in. If we join with them we will end up worshiping their gods, perhaps without even realizing it.