For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The rich think that their wealth will protect them from troubled times. They believe that they will be able to depend on it, even when civilization collapses around them. As a result, they are often arrogant and haughty. Such arrogance keeps them from recognizing the dangers which threaten them until it is too late. Arrogance leads people to make mistakes which bring about their downfall. It is those who humbly acknowledge their vulnerability who are prepared to act when disaster strikes. They will be honoured for their foresight.

    The book of Psalms begins with a wonderful statement of how to live a faithful life. First we have the things we should not do:

1. Do not follow the advice of the wicked
2. Do not spend all of your time with sinners
3. Do not join in mocking others

Then we have the the things we should do:

1. Delight in God’s law
2. Meditate on that law day and night

I would like to say that the latter is more important than the former, but the fact of the matter is that if we do the latter we will find we do not have time to do the former. Of course, the inverse of that is also true, actually the inverse is more than true; if we do the former we will have neither the time, nor the desire, to do the latter.

    After he had been arrested, Paul addressed the commander of the Roman soldiers in Greek. By doing so, he revealed to the officer that he was not who the officer thought he was. There is an important lesson for us here. Paul knew that the officer arresting him did not share the biases of the mob, so he politely addressed the officer in order to make it clear that he was not the one making trouble. Paul then convinced the officer to allow him to address the crowd.
    It immediately became apparent that most of those in the crowd which had just rioted had no idea who Paul was. They were surprised into silence when he began speaking to them in Aramaic. Paul used this opportunity to tell the people in the crowd who he was, and his background. He started by giving his credentials as a good Jew, pointing out that he even went so far as to persecute the Church. He goes on to explain how and why he changed. This is also an important lesson for us. When we preach the Gospel we need to tell people about our sinful past. Then we tell them what God did to make us receptive to change and how He transformed us.

    In today’s passage, Judah once more has a leader, a king, who serves God. When Josiah reached his majority, his first act was to order the Temple to be cleaned and repaired. In the process of cleaning the Temple, the high priest, Hilkiah found a copy of the Book of the Law (I believe it was the first five books of the Bible, but the passage does not say that). When it was read to Josiah, he was mortified at how badly the people of Judah had failed to keep God’s law. Josiah immediately sought God’s forgiveness and guidance. Josiah was not satisfied with living a personally holy life, he led the people of Judah in a revival. He used his position to get rid of the idols, pagan shrines, and evil worship practices throughout the land. I believe that in many ways Josiah’s revival prepared the Israelites to survive the coming Exile.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The wealthy believe that their riches will protect them. While there is some truth to that, riches provide less protection than they imagine. The only true security is trusting in God.
    Haughtiness and arrogance will lead to destruction. Those who are arrogant will, sooner or later, overlook a threat because they believe they are too important, or special, to be threatened by it. On the other hand people will be eager to honour those who are humble in their actions and do not seek to be seen as better than others.

    This psalm tells us how to live prosperous and happy lives. The first part of tells us what not to do. Do not follow the advice of the wicked. Do not spend all of your time hanging out with sinners. Do not join in mocking the righteous. The corollary to these is that we should seek the advice of the righteous, we should hang out with the godly (this means those who seek to do God’s will, not those who just attempt to appear godly), we should seek to learn the true facts about those being mocked.
    Then the psalmist tells us what to do. If we wish to live prosperous, happy lives we should delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on His words. Let us seek to be guided in all of our actions, even the most minor, by God’s word. Study scripture and make it an integral part of how we see the world.

    This passage shows us something that is often the case when a mob is roused against someone. Paul had been arrested by the Roman soldiers as the cause of the riot they had deployed to quell. The Roman commander was surprised when Paul spoke to him in Greek because he had thought Paul was an Egyptian revolutionary (based on what he had understood the people in the crowd say about Paul). Then when Paul began speaking to the crowd in the local language (the Greek is ambiguous as to whether he was speaking Hebrew or Aramaic), the members of the crowd were surprised. In both cases, people had formed a false impression about who Paul was and what he stood for. Paul realized this and made the effort to correct the misunderstandings.
    We will often run into similar situations in our lives, where the few people who are angry with us for what we have actually done have distorted our actions so as to cause others to be angry with us. We should seek out opportunities to correct the understanding of those who view us negatively on the basis of a false understanding of what we believe.

    I think that this account is among my favorites. Josiah began by working to restore the Temple. When the workmen found a copy of the Law of Moses as they were repairing the Temple, the priests brought it to Josiah. When Josiah heard what it contained, he was mortified by how badly the people of Judah had failed to keep God’s commands. When God responded to his inquiry about what the scroll said, he did not become complacent. Even though God told him that the disaster was unavoidable but that it would not come in his lifetime Josiah did not become complacent. Instead Josiah became even more determined to follow God’s commands. He led the people to renew their covenant with God. He actively sought out all of the ways in which the people of Judah had incorporated pagan practices into their worship. He sought out the shrines in the high places and destroyed them. He brought the priests who had sacrificed to God at those shrines to Jerusalem. Josiah was systematic and thorough in wiping out pagan practices among the people of Judah.
    Josiah thoroughly destroyed everything that might distract the people from worshiping God and following His commands. Then he called on all of the people to celebrate the Passover in the manner prescribed by the Law. Josiah turned to the Lord with all of his heart, soul, and strength. Let us dedicate ourselves to serving God with a similar effort, destroying anything in our lives that may distract us from God and turning to God with all of our heart, soul, and strength.