For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Those who are wise use words sparingly. There are several reasons for this. One of which is touched on in today’s passage: even a fool will seem wise if he doesn’t say anything. Another advantage of not saying everything that comes to your mind is that you have time to think over what you thought and polish your thought so that your wording is well chosen. Yet another reason to not say what comes to your mind is that by keeping silent and listening you may learn things which show you the error in your original thought before you speak.
    There is one other point I would like to make. While it is true that a fool who keeps silent will be thought wise when they are not, a fool who keeps silent will gain wisdom by doing so (and is probably demonstrating that they have already started the process of ceasing to be a fool).

    I will praise the Lord, He provides me with stability and a safe place to stand. He gives me the talents and training I need to accomplish the tasks to which He has called me. I am but a man, a human being of little consequence is this large and varied universe. Yet God cares for me. He cares for every single person.
    I was going somewhere else with my thoughts on this psalm when I got to this point. I am not very significant when one looks at the universe, or even at the people of this earth. Despite my insignificance God cares for me. Not only does He care about me, He cares about every single person on this earth, no matter how insignificant we think they are. What does that mean for us? There is the obvious; if God cares about you (and He does), then you should not think of yourself as someone of no worth. If God cares about you, you are clearly someone of value. However, there is a more important thing for us to take from this; if we think that someone is not worth caring about, we had better re-examine our conclusion because God disagrees. He is a much better judge of a person’s value than we are.

    When Paul arrived in Athens he got into a discussion with some philosophers there. It seems that they found his philosophy appealing, but balked at the idea of resurrection from the dead. One of Paul’s key points in his discussion with the philosophers of Athens was that they were spiritual in every way they could imagine, yet they acknowledged that something was missing. Paul’s message to the people of Athens is one we need to convey to those around us. No matter how spiritual people may be, if they have not come to know Jesus, something is missing. Most of them will realize this and seek to fill that void. The Christian message is that the Gospel provides the answer about what is missing. Once one truly comprehends the Gospel message one realizes that Jesus fills the missing place in all other spirituality.

    Jehu killed Ahab’s son to become king over Israel. He killed all of Ahab’s family, fulfilling Elijah’s promise regarding Ahab. Jehu then proceeded to completely eliminate Baal worship in Israel. It is interesting that while Jehu recognized the evil in Baal worship, he did not recognize the evil in worshiping the golden calves which Jeroboam had set up.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Those who are truly wise do not have a lot to say, even a fool will seem wise if they keep silent most of the time. You can gain a reputation for intelligence and wisdom by not speaking. Learning to keep your temper will make it easier to avoid speaking up in situations that will make you seem foolish.

    As I read this psalm, I recognized it as being appropriate in my current situation. I am in a new job where there are people with whom I find myself battling as I seek to do the best job that I can. I need to remember that God will give me the skills needed to fight these battles in the proper ways. As I serve God and do as He directs, He will be my ally in the battles I face. It is not up to me to win these battles. God will win them for me. If I am careful to only fight those battles which God commands me to fight, I will find myself in a position of strength when I face those who oppose me.
    I have recently seen how true this is, and it leads me to praise God. He is indeed my rock and fortress.

    As I have been reading through Acts this year I noticed something. On multiple occasions, when opposition to Paul’s preaching arose in a town, the believers sent Paul out of town. As I read, it became more and more clear to me that Paul did not deal with disagreement well. Paul did not know when to back down, when to move on. Others had to tell him, “This is not your battle to fight.” This is not to say that Paul was wrong to fight the battles he fought, just that it appears that sometimes others had to tell him when there was nothing more to be gained from continuing the fight.
    We often forget that there is only one person in the Bible who we are supposed to imitate. That person is Jesus. The Bible accounts tell us about the good things and the bad things which people like Paul did. All too often, we see the accounts of Paul and think that his confrontational style is something we are supposed to imitate, even the parts where he got it wrong. If we are faithful to God as Paul was, we will face trials and persecutions. However, sometimes we are supposed to “leave town” when we have stirred things up through our faith. We need to listen to our fellow believers when they tell us it is time to move on.

    The family of Ahab ruled in Israel and did evil in the sight of the Lord. As a result of their evil, Ahab’s entire family was killed. We often think that their sins were about idolatry, and this is not wrong. However, it is not complete. Ahab and his descendants abused their power. They mistreated the weak and powerless in order to satisfy their own pleasures. Their failure to honour God and follow His commands led them to believe that it was their right to treat others as objects who existed purely as a means to satisfy their lusts and desires. They chose to worship “gods” who they could manipulate to get what they wanted. Ultimately they were unwilling to accept that God was sovereign over themselves. They denied that they were accountable to anyone or anything for their actions. Ultimately, that is what idolatry is, the refusal to accept that we are accountable to anyone outside of ourselves. They discovered, when it was too late, that they were wrong. Will we make the same mistake? Or will we recognize that God will hold us to account for our actions?