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.
Jeremiah has been given a prophecy of coming destruction for Jerusalem, but now he is given a message of hope for the future. God promised to make a new covenant. One in which He would put His instructions within His people and write His laws on their hearts. Those who wish to follow God will not need to be taught to know the Lord. Any who wish to know the Lord will be able to come to Him and know Him without anyone teaching them because God will make Himself known to them. God has done this great thing, if we look within ourselves we will see what He desires.
Earlier in this book, Jeremiah recorded several illustrations which God had told him to carry out to illustrate the coming judgment. Now, when the fall of Jerusalem was imminent, God told him to give an illustration of His promise to bring the people back from exile. God instructed Jeremiah to buy a plot of land. Jeremiah had been preaching and prophesying that Jerusalem would fall to Nebuchadnezzar. Now, when it was clear that this was about to happen, Jeremiah was telling the people that they would be restored to the land. To show that he believed what he said, Jeremiah bought a piece of land and sealed the deed in a pottery jar. Jeremiah reminds us that nothing is too hard for God. Just as God had brought about the calamities which He promised, so too would He bring about the good things which He had promised. Let us remember that we may face troubled and difficult times, but God has promised to care for us and bring us through them to better times as well.
Paul here lays out the requirements that someone must meet in order to be selected as an elder and as a deacon. There has been much debate about the importance of these instructions and the meaning of Paul’s statement that an elder must be faithful to his wife. However, what struck me today is that these standards are those which I should strive to meet, whether I am called to be an elder (or other leadership role in the Church) or not. These are things which an elder is called to be so that they can be a model to others in the Church. However, we are all called to be above reproach, faithful to our wives (spouse), temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. The only one of the requirements which Paul lists for an elder that is, perhaps, not one all Christians should aspire to is being able to teach (well, those who God calls to lead a single life do not need to be faithful to the spouse they do not have). In addition, we should seek to have a good reputation among those outside of the Church so as to be good witnesses for Christ.
Sometimes we get so caught up in discussing the meaning of this passage in deciding who should be a leader in the Church that we forget why our leaders are to have these characteristics. They are to have these characteristics so as to model them for us. Which means that those of us who are not called to leadership positions are to strive to have these same behaviors and characteristics.
The psalmist cries out to God from deepest despair. Even when overwhelmed by depression, he calls out to God. This psalm is a model for us. When we are troubled, no matter how severe our depression, we need to call out to God. We may not see God’s answer to our prayers, but we need to come before him with persistence. When this world’s trouble threaten to overwhelm me I will do as the psalmist:
O Lord, I cry out to you.
I will keep on pleading day by day.
This proverb suggests that the best way to respond to those who are your enemies is by being kind and caring to them. There are two benefits to this. The first is that you will make them look bad when they attack you. The second is that God will reward you for your kindness.