For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been away on business the last few days. I hope that my writing has not suffered from this. I am writing today’s before I catch my flight home. Thank you for all of your prayers during this time.

    Just as one iron tool can be used to sharpen another one, so too can our friends help us become better at serving God. We are God’s tools to accomplish His purposes. Let us spend out time with others who are also serving God so that we can make each other better tools for God’s use.

    Yesterday, the psalmist told us that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Today, he tells us that it is a source of joy. It seems counter intuitive to us to think that fear can be a source of joy. Most of the time, fear is the opposite of joy. However, fear of the Lord will inspire us to obey God’s commands and following God’s commands will bring us joy. If we fear the Lord we need fear nothing else. Not only need we fear nothing else, if our fear of the Lord is as great as it ought to be, we will fear nothing else.
    As our fear of the Lord leads us to obey Him, good things will come to us and evil will find no foothold to bring us down. Let us infuriate the wicked by doing what is right, no matter what they may do to discourage us.

    The writer goes on to point out that many people did great things as a result of their faith, but not all of those whom we should admire for their faith did things which the people of this world would desire to emulate. Some people suffered mocking, torture, and some even painful death. They were destitute, mistreated, and persecuted because of their faith. Yet despite this they maintained their faith in Christ.
    Here the writer puts in something which has always touched me deeply, the KJV translates it as “Of whom the world was not worthy.” I can barely begin to communicate what that phrase means to me. Growing up there was a book in our house called the “Martyrs Mirror” which contained accounts of those who suffered death for their faith in Christ. It contained stories of how the authorities committed ever greater atrocities against such people because they would not stop joyously praising God in the face of horrible suffering. The world was not worthy to have such people in it. Yet they counted it as joy to suffer for the name of Christ. My greatest fear is that I would not be able to emulate those people if faced with even a fraction of what they suffered.

    Ezekiel prophesied against Egypt.Egypt’s fall came about for two reasons. The first was that the Pharaoh and the people of Egypt believed that the blessings they gained from the Nile were the result of their own actions. The second was that they had made promises to the nation of Judah to defend it against Babylon, but when the time came to do so, Egypt offered no support at all.
    Let us never forget to give thanks to God for the blessings He has given us. And let us remember the dangers of making promises that we will be unable, or unwilling, to fulfill, even if we think we will never be called upon to do so.