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, or more. in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

    The rewards which the wicked gain seem great, but they have no lasting value. However, righteous behavior results in righteous, lasting rewards. Righteousness provides life, wickedness leads to death and destruction.

    I will wait quietly before God because that is where my hope lies. Oh, how difficult that is to do when troubles seem to be all around. I want to place all of my trust in God, but that is hard when I do not see the way out. Yet, I do find refuge in Him. I pour my heart out to Him. I have been in similar situations and God has been faithful to guide me through. I have faith that He will do so once more. I cannot comprehend how those who do not share my faith and knowledge of God face similar difficult times. When God sees me through to the other side, I will not allow wealth to become the center of my life.

    I came across an interesting thing for those reading this who may be Star Wars fans. As some may know, Hebrew does not have a sound that is equivalent of the English “J” sound, the sound that gets transliterated as “J” in English Bibles is actually closer to the “Y” sound. I could go into the explanation of how that happened, but I don’t remember it in full and that is not important for what I am writing. What I noticed is that Luke lists one of Jesus’ ancestors as being Joda. That’s right, Yoda is an ancestor of Jesus.
    There are those for whom the study of Jesus’ ancestry brings spiritual insight. Generally I am not one of them, although it is worth mentioning that Jesus is the descendant of Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth, three women whose stories play significant roles in the Old Testament.

    There is a lot of rich symbolism in the feasts and assemblies described in today’s passage. Unfortunately, I know that I do not have a full appreciation for this symbolism. Passover occurs at the beginning of Spring with the Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost, or Shavuot) being held seven weeks later. The other three Feasts/Assemblies are held in the fall and follow the fall harvest. I think that we miss something by not practicing something like these feasts and assemblies, but I am not sure how we could implement them in our congregations in our modern societies.

    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, or more. in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

    The key to gaining long-term respect and reward is kindness and graciousness. Those who are cruel and ruthless will gain only wealth and in the long-run their cruelty will cause their downfall.

    This psalm resonates with me now. I am calling out to God for help. I am confident that He will lead me through this time of trouble to His strong fortress. I will sing His praises each day, even now as trouble surrounds me.

    According to Luke, John the Baptist called the crowds who came to hear him preach a brood of vipers and asked them who warned them to seek an escape from God’s coming wrath. Different groups asked John what they should do. John gave them answers that applied to their specific places (tax collectors, soldiers, general populace). His answer to all of them can be easily summed up, “Do what you can to help those in need.” A fiction author whom I like, Lois McMaster Bujold, put words into the mouth of one of her characters which I think applies to what John was telling these people. I am going to paraphrase what she wrote here. When the character was told that his effort would not make any difference in the long run, that the bad guys would just pick up the pieces and go back to doing what they had been doing, he replied that it made a difference for those few he helped. People make the excuse that they can’t help everybody in need, so they don’t help anyone. John’s message here is to help those you can. We may not be able to change the world for everyone, but we can change the world for someone.

    When God told Moses that his day had come and the he would die soon, Moses’ response was to ask God to appoint his successor. Moses had led the people of Israel for 40 some years and as he faced death his concern was that they should have a good strong leader after he was gone. Joshua had been Moses’ assistant for most of the last 40 years, yet Moses was concerned that he was not the man for the job. Therefore Moses gave Eleazar, Aaron’s son, a greater role in leading the people of Israel beside Joshua than either he or Aaron had held while Moses was alive. Moses had groomed a leader to replace himself. Joshua did not follow his lead on this and the people of Israel suffered for it.