For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Those that talk smack will find that it comes around to bite them. The wise tell others of their weaknesses and admit others are better than themselves.
    It is easy to keep things clean and organized if you never do anything, but you need to get things dirty and messed up if you want to get produce anything of value.

    The wicked think that God will not take notice of their evil actions, but they are mistaken. God will rescue those who call on His name. God will protect us from the wicked. Unjust leaders claim that God is on their side while they issue decrees which encourage injustice, but such decrees will not protect the wicked from God’s judgment.

    Jesus reminds the disciples of when he sent them out to preach the Good News. That time He had told them not to take any money, a traveler’s bag, nor spare clothes. Today, he tells them to make sure they have a sword. This has always bothered me. However, today I noticed that Jesus links His recommendation to buy a sword with the fulfillment of the prophecy that He would be counted among the rebels. When Jesus told His disciples to buy a sword, He was speaking rhetorically. That is why when they told Him they had two swords He said that was enough.
    When the men came to arrest Jesus, His disciples asked if they should fight. One of them even drew his sword and attacked one of the men. But Jesus told them to stop. He even healed the man who had been struck. This supports the idea that He was speaking rhetorically when He told them to buy swords.

    When Deborah was a prophet who judged Israel, God told her to call Barak, a warlord in Napthali, to lead an uprising against those oppressing Israel at the time. Barak was afraid to go to war against Israel’s enemies unless Deborah went with him. Deborah told him that she would go with him, but that as a result he would get no honor for his victory. There is a lesson here for us. We will receive more honor for accepting a commission if we take the commission than if we ask the one giving it to look over our shoulder.