For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Using our skills and resources to help the poor is lending to God. God will repay all of His debts in full…of course, I already owe God more than I can possibly pay. God will more than repay any effort we expend in helping the poor and He will more than compensate for any resources we give them.

    Reading this psalm today reinforces the lessons from the last few days in Romans. First, it tells us that one must be a fool to believe that there is no God. The psalmist goes on to tell us that when God looks down on the earth He sees that everyone has done wrong. Not one of us has a basis to brag about our good works.

    Abraham had faith in God’s promise, even when it seemed impossible. Abraham reached 100 years of age before Isaac was conceived. Nevertheless, he was willing to sacrifice Isaac to God, believing that God was able to provide him with a son even so. When things seem hopeless for us, let us remember what God has already done. Is our situation really any more hopeless than the idea that Abraham and Sara would have a son when Abraham was already 100 and Sara was 90?
    God’s promise was not given to Abraham on the basis of Abraham obeying the law, and it was not fulfilled because Abraham did so. Rather God’s promise and its fulfillment were given on the basis of Abraham’s faith. Abraham is the father of all who believe. We are not capable of following God’s law closely enough to earn God’s promise. As a matter of fact, we have already failed to do so. Let us have faith in God and trust Him to transform us into someone worthy of receiving the gift He is freely offering us.

    The passage today continues to discuss the assignment of Levites to tasks relating to the Temple. Once more it makes a point about avoiding favoritism in who got assigned to which task and location. In addition, this passage points out how the David’s standing army served on a rotating basis.