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Daily Bible Study

May 9, 2012 Bible Study

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     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

1 Samuel 5-7:17

     Today’s passage deals with what happened among the Philistines while they had the Ark of the Covenant. They placed it in the temple of Dagon. Dagon was their chief deity. It is likely that they viewed Yahweh as merely being another name for Dagon and so place the Ark next to the statue of Dagon in the temple as a way of reinforcing that equivalence. The symbolism of the statue of Dagon falling on its face in front of the Ark of the Covenant would have been unmistakable to the worshipers if Dagon, especially when it happened two days in a row. After this the people of the city of Ashdod and the surrounding area begin to suffer from an illness that is likely to be the bubonic plague. They tried moving the Ark to another town, but the plague struck that town as well. When they attempted to move it to a third town, the people of that town refused to accept the Ark. The Philistines decide to return the Ark to the Israelites. They took two cows which had just given birth to calves and penned the calves up away from the cows. These cows had never been used as draft animals. They hooked the cows up to the cart in which they had placed the Ark of the Covenant. I do not have first hand experience with this, but I have been told that the normal reaction of cows in this situation is to try and get to their calves. If they do not know where the calves are, they will tend to wander in random directions attempting to locate them. In this case, the cows went straight down the road towards a town of the Israelites. When it arrived, the people of the town were over-joyed and held a celebration with many sacrifices to God. Initially, they treated the Ark properly. Men from the tribe of Levi moved the Ark from the cart to a large rock.
     However, this attitude of respect did not last. We are told that seventy of the men of this town died because they looked inside the Ark of the Covenant. We are not told how the men died, whether it was from a plague like that which struck the Philistines or from something else. The result of this was that the people of this town wanted to send the Ark elsewhere. They sent word of the Ark to another town and told them to come and get it. The second town did so and the Ark was moved to that town where it stayed for twenty years.
     What I find interesting about this is that despite the power that God displayed, the Philistines did not change their worship from Dagon to Yahweh. They merely sent the symbol of God’s presence from among them. In addition, we find in the next section of today’s reading that the Israelites continued to worship foreign gods alongside their worship of Yahweh for another twenty years after witnessing these powerful acts. It is only after Samuel reaches his full maturity some twenty years after the death of Eli that he is able to convince the Israelites to give up worship of other gods. It makes me wonder, in what ways am I guilty of worshiping other things alongside of my worship of God? What pleasures do I pursue when I should be seeking to serve God? It is not just pleasures, there are other areas/things that we can elevate above following God’s commands and leading for our lives.

John 6:1-21

     Here we have the story of the feeding of the 5000. It never struck me before, but the boy with the loaves and fishes was probably there intending to sell those in order to make some money. I think that looking at it from that perspective tells us something about how we should approach providing help to those in need. Jesus could have produced the food to feed the five thousand out of nothing, but he did not. He made use of the locally available resources in order to provide for the people. One of the things I have seen talked about over the last few years is that often times when western charities go into an area suffering a famine, they make things worse in the long run. The charities bring in food and provide it to the locals. This seems like a good thing, but it undercuts the prices for the locals who were producing food. When the crisis is over, there are even fewer people producing food in the region because they were put out of business by the inexpensive food brought from outside and distributed either for free or below cost. Jesus dealt with that issue here by purchasing all of the locally available food.
     The other thing I see in this passage is that Jesus sought out alone time away from the crowds. The story starts with Jesus going off into an isolated area with His disciples to spend some time with them away from the crowds. Before long, He sees the crowds following after looking to see another miracle. After He feeds them, they want to start the revolution against Rome that many in that day thought the Messiah would come and lead. So, Jesus slips away by Himself. Other Gospel accounts suggest that He spent this time praying. At dusk, Jesus has not returned, so the disciples get in the boat and start back to Capernaum. While they are crossing, the sea grew rough. Jesus walks out to them on the water and they are frightened. Jesus tells them not to be afraid. The various translations word it as Him saying that He is there, or “It is I.” However, the Greek is just “I am”. I am pretty certain that John used “I am” to indicate that Jesus was making a statement about God. To me, Jesus was saying two things when He said that. The first and the surface thing the disciples would have heard was, “Don’t be afraid, trust God.” The second and slightly deeper meaning would have been that Jesus was associating Himself with God.

Psalm 106:13-31

     The psalmist here refers to how the people time and again turned away from God and chose to worship other things rather than worship and serve God. He also talks about how God brought punishment upon the people because of their sinfulness. The psalmist recounts how from time to time, one righteous man intervened with God and was able to turn aside the fullness of God’s judgement. I read this and think that once again God is calling on righteous men and women to intercede for the people. I look around me and I see trying times coming to the peoples of western nations because they have chosen to follow other priorities other than those of God. I believe that He is calling on those who still honor Him to pray for revival around them. To many times I hear Christians saying, “We should vote for people who support this policy,” or, “We should pressure our elected officials to institute that law.” That is not what God wants from us. God does not desire that we pass the correct laws. God desires that we pray for our neighbors and that we witness to them, so that they may turn to Him and be saved. We as Christians are not called upon to pass laws to make sure that people live according to God’s will. We are called upon to witness to them so that they choose to live according to God’s will, regardless of what the law says.

Proverbs 14:32-33

     I used the English Standard Version today because I did not like how the New Living Translation chose to translate the second of these two proverbs. The first of these two proverbs points out that the undoing of the wicked is a product of their own actions. Sooner or later, wicked actions will lead to the destruction of those who take those actions. The second half of this proverb tells us that the righteous will find refuge in death. I know that many talk about how the righteous will be rewarded after death and that they find refuge in God after death. While those are true, I think that this proverb is much simpler than that. I remember many years ago I had a conversation with someone about my belief in non-resistance. He believed that we needed to be willing to fight back against those who would do evil. He used the following example. “I come along and point a gun at your head and tell you to lick the mud off of my boots or I will kill you. What will you do?”
My response was, “No.”
He then said, “Then I would shoot you.”
To which I replied, “You lost. You wanted me to lick your boots. I did not want to lick your boots. A dead man is not going to lick anyone’s boots.”
     He was baffled by my position, but he agreed that I was correct, in that scenario, he lost because he did not get what he wanted. I do not know if the response I suggested I would take in that scenario is the one that Christians should take (as a matter of fact, I am pretty sure it isn’t), but it illustrates the point of this proverb. The righteous cannot be forced to do evil, because they would rather die.
     Now we come to the second proverb and why I prefer another translation to the New Living Translation for this verse. The first half is basically the same in every translation. That is that wisdom forms a center piece in the heart of those with understanding. However, the New Living Translation has the second half read, “wisdom is not[a] found among fools.” While the English Standard Version translates the second half as, “…but it makes itself known even in the midst of fools.” I like the second much better. Wisdom can be found by any who are looking for it, no matter where they find themselves. If someone who has been living foolishly has a change of heart and starts to seek wisdom, God will reveal it to them,even if they are currently in the midst of fools. There is not circumstance you can find yourself in where God will not allow you to find wisdom if you suddenly start to seek Him and it.

Daily Bible Study

May 8, 2012 Bible Study

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

1 Samuel 2:22-4:22

     This passage tells us that Eli was very old, but nevertheless, he was aware of his sons sins. He spoke with his sons and reprimanded them for their evil actions, but took no effort to discipline them for it. The passage tells us that Eli’s sons failed to respond to Eli’s reprimand because God was already planning to put them to death. From this passage we learn that if we continue to sin, God will no longer offer us the opportunity to repent and change our ways. I believe there is a simple way to tell if there is still time to repent. That is if you feel an impulse to turn away from your sin, there is still time to do so. Once God has decided to bring about your end because of your sin, you will no longer have any thought whatsoever of ceasing your sinning.
     First, God tells Eli what He will do to his family, then He sends a message to Samuel about what it to come. When God calls out to Samuel, Samuel believes that it is Eli and goes to him. We learn from this passage that, although his sons were very sinful, Eli still respects and honors God (even though he fails to follow God’s commands and discipline his sons). Eli tells Samuel that it is God calling him and instructs Samuel in how to reply. In the morning when Samuel rises, he is afraid to tell Eli the message that God has given to him because it is such a judgement on Eli’s family. Eli insists that Samuel tell him what God had said. When Eli hears the message, Eli accepts it with an attitude of submission to God.
     We then have the story of the end of Eli’s sons and of Eli’s death. The Israelites go into battle against the Philistines and are defeated. They ask why God allowed them to be defeated by the Philistines. Rather than answer that question, they attempt to force God’s hand by bringing the Ark of the Covenant into the battle. God refuses to be coerced and once again the Israelites are defeated, but this time the Ark is captured by the Philistines and Eli’s sons are killed. When word of the capture of the Ark is brought to Eli, he falls out of his chair and dies. The children of Israel lost the Ark of the Covenant here because they attempted to force God to act according to their will rather than they acting according to God’s will.

John 5:24-47

     Here Jesus speaks of the judgement that is to come on both the living and the dead. That those who have chosen to accept God’s forgiveness and live according to God’s will will rise from death and be granted eternal life, but those who continued in evil will receive judgement. He goes on to speak of those sources of testimony about Him. He tells the Jewish leaders that John the Baptist testified of Him, that they initially were excited by John. He implies that they lost interest in John the Baptist when they found they could not turn his preaching to serve their ends. Jesus goes on to tell them that their scripture tells of Him, but that they, nevertheless refuse to accept His teachings. He tells them that even Moses, who is the basis for their hopes, testifies to His coming. Yet, they will not believe even that. We must not make the same mistake that they made, which was to twist the scripture to say what they wanted to hear rather than to learn God’s will from it.

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Psalm 106:1-12

Praise the Lord!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord?
Who can ever praise him enough?
There is joy for those who deal justly with others
and always do what is right.

     This snippet from today’s psalm contains so much truth. God’s love is faithful and it endures forever. There is no possible way that anyone could list all of God’s miracles and I do not have it within me to praise Him anywhere close to what He deserves. I have experienced the joy of doing what is right…and the loss of joy from not doing what is right. After saying this, the psalmist goes on to say:

Like our ancestors, we have sinned.
We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly!

How true this is. I know of God’s greatness and the wonders He has performed. Yet, I still sin. I, once more, cry out to God for forgiveness and ask Him to help me to grow, learn to do His will and sin no more. I live in shame and regret that I have sinned in the past, but my greatest shame is the knowledge that I shall sin again.

Proverbs 14:30-31

A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body;
jealousy is like cancer in the bones.

     We have a tendency to view this proverb as symbolic. This is a mistake, because while there is truth to the symbolism we give this, modern medical science is discovering that it is, also, literally true. Those who have a peaceful heart are healthier than those who are constantly worrying and fretting, while those who harbor jealousy suffer from many variations of ill-health.

Daily Bible Study

May 7, 2012 Bible Study

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

1 Samuel 1-2:21

     Here we have the story of how Samuel was born and how he came to be raised to serve God. Hannah, his mother, was desperate to have a child. She prayed to God and poured her whole heart into it, with no consideration of how she might appear to those witnessing her actions. She promises God that if he gives her a son, she will give him back to the Lord and dedicate him to God. In due time, God grants her request. The passage makes little reference to Samuel’s father, except to make clear that he loved his wife, Hannah. After Samuel is born, Hannah, with her husband’s assent, turns Samuel over to Eli to raise him as a servant of God. The scripture is clear that Eli had done a poor job in raising his own sons, that they had grown to be men who held God in contempt. The story tells us what a difference a mother who is dedicated to serving God and to raising a son dedicated to serving God can make. After bearing Samuel and dedicating him to God, God blessed Hannah with more children.
     Hannah’s prayer of praise contains an important lesson for us. It says that we should not hold the good things we have over those who do not have them, because those good things are a gift from God. It tells us that “no one will succeed by strength alone.” Whether we are rich or poor, it is as God has willed. We should take our lot in life and seek how we can use that to bring glory to God. If we faithfully seek to use what is in our life to bring glory to God, God will give us that which will bring us happiness. In part that is because as we seek to use what is in our life to bring glory to God, more and more that which brings the most glory to God becomes that which brings us the most happiness. But, nevertheless, as we seek to bring glory to God, God will bless us.

John 5:1-23

     In this story, Jesus tells the lame man to stand up, pick up his mat and walk. This is despite the fact that carrying his mat was a violation of Jewish rules against carrying a sleeping mat on the Sabbath. One thing this passage points out is that helping people is about empowering them to act independently. When Jesus asked this man if he wanted to be healed, he responded by saying that he had no one to help him get into the pool when it bubbled up and someone always beat him into the water when it had healing properties. Jesus’ answer is to tell him to get up and “get to work”(pick up his mat). This is not the heartless yelling at a beggar, “Get a job.” But rather it is the giving of a hand up and then encouraging the person to stand on their own and move forward.
     When confronted by the Jewish leaders over telling this man to “work” on the Sabbath, Jesus tells them that “Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” We are called on to be imitators of Christ, so we should strive to do whatever the Son does. In America, many Christians are afraid to ask God for miracles (I know that at times I am), we should work to overcome this fear and fully trust in the power of God. Jesus routinely performed miracles during His ministry on this earth, we should expect them to be a routine part of ours.

Psalm 105:37-45

     This psalm tells us that God takes care of His people and remembers His promises. The people of Israel did not come out of Egypt on the basis of their own power, but because of the power of God. God brought them into the promised land and gave it to them so that they would obey His instructions. When we are blessed, it is for the same reason.

Proverbs 14:28-29

     The first of these two proverbs is one that those who favor zero population growth should consider. The second is the one that all of us must remember. Anger is not bad in and of itself, but when it is allowed to control us, rather than us controlling it, it leads to foolish actions.
     

Daily Bible Study

May 6, 2012 Bible Study

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Ruth 2-4:22

     The story tells us that Ruth “found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz.” This is how God often works in our lives. We find ourselves in a situation where, if we behave according to God’s laws, good things will happen to us. Ruth comes into this field and works hard gathering from the grain missed by the harvesters. Boaz takes note of her and offers her kindness over and above that required by law. When Ruth asks after the reason for his kindness, he tells her that he has heard how she has looked after her mother-in-law. This story works out because Ruth was faithful in the small things and worked hard at the things that came her way. Boaz, also, had good things happen for him because he was faithful in small things, being kind and generous, doing more than the letter of the law called for.
     King David, and through him Jesus, is a descendant of this union. It is interesting to note that Boaz is a descendant of Rahab and going further back, Tamar. Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho who helped the Israelite spies escape that city before its conquest. Tamar was the daughter-in-law to Judah, who played the prostitute with Judah after her husband dies and Judah failed to marry another of his sons to her. The importance of these women in the narrative of God’s plan to bring the Messiah is indicative of how God works in ways other than what man would do. If humans were making up a mythology about the ancestry of King David (and through him of the Messiah), they might have included one of these women (Ruth being the most likely candidate), but not all three. A human made up story would have made these women more virtuous and more heroic.

John 4:43-54

     Jesus returns to Galilee and is welcomed because many had seen what He did in Jerusalem. A government official comes to Jesus because his son was sick. Jesus expresses frustration with the people constantly seeking signs and wonders. The official responds with the plea of every parent, “Please don’t let my child die.” Jesus takes pity on him and sends him home telling him his son is healed. The man believes Jesus, but when he discovers that his son started showing signs immediately after Jesus said that he would live, he, and his entire household, believed in Jesus. It was one thing to believe Jesus when he said that the boy would live. It is yet another to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. Do we today as Americans believe in God’s miraculous power? Why do we not see more miracles? Certainly part of it is that our society does not believe in miracles, so there are very few non-believers who would come to believe because of miracles. But part of it is, also, that many of us as Christians do not really believe in miracles and we are afraid to ask for miracles from God because we are afraid that they won’t happen. I am as guilty of this as most. I pray that God will overcome my fear to ask for miracles.

Psalm 105:16-36

     This psalm tells of how God sent hardship on His people, yet made provision for them to weather the hardship. But it does more than merely tell of the hardship and God’s provision. It tells us that God used the hardship to guide and shape His people so that they would learn to be faithful and follow His commands. We must learn to recognize how God is guiding and shaping us through the hardships He sends our way.

Courtesy of Christian Graphics

Proverbs 14:26-27

     When we have appropriate fear of God, nothing else can inspire fear. I don’t know if you have ever experienced it, but when you are afraid of a major threat, you will easily ignore lesser fears. If you think you are being chased by a bear, you are not going to go out of your way to avoid a stinging insect. The same thing applies here. If we truly understand God’s magnitude and thus have an appropriate fear of Him, nothing else can frighten us because we will perceive them as being a lesser threat than failing God. Beyond that if we have an appropriate fear of God, we will follow His commands, which will result in our being secure. By fearing the Lord and obeying His commands, we will avoid those actions which bring us harm.

Daily Bible Study

May 5, 2012 Bible Study

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. In the interest of making this more useful to others, I have decided to start doing my Bible Study blog on the next day’s reading as listed at One Year Bible Online. I am doing this blog because it is a way for me to do a more meaningful daily devotion myself. I hope that, perhaps, some others may benefit from this and I welcome their comments.

Judges 21:1-25

     In the previous chapter, we are told that the Israelites had gathered and wiped out all of the tribe of Benjamin except for 600 men who had taken refuge at a highly defensible location. This was done in response to members of the tribe of Benjamin who had committed atrocities and the willingness of the rest of the tribe to defend them. Here we are told that before going into battle the gathered Israelites had entered into two oaths. The first was that they would not give their daughters in marriage to a man of Benjamin. The second was that anyone from the tribe of Israel who did not join them in punishing Benjamin would be put to death. Now that they have sated their lust for vengeance, the Israelites regret the loss of one of the tribes, so they seek a way to find wives for the remaining men of Benjamin.
     Upon taking a census of those present, they discover that the town of Jabesh-gilead had sent no one to the assembly. They decide to carry out their second oath, keeping any unmarried women as brides for the remaining men of Benjamin. In this way they find wives for 400 of the men of Benjamin. They then suggest that the remaining unmarried men kidnap women from the festival held at Shiloh, promising to make it right with the women’s fathers and brothers. I find today’s and yesterday’s passages troubling. The only thing I take away from today’s is a reaffirmation of the proverb, “Act in haste, repent at leisure.” I am sure that there will be times when I will read this passage and the Spirit will reveal other things to me, but not today.

Ruth 1:1-22

     Now we begin the story of Ruth. Elimelech and his wife Naomi leave the land of Judah in a time of economic hardship and go to live among the Moabites. They have two sons who marry local girls. In time, Elimelech and his two sons die leaving Naomi and her two daughters-in-law widows. Naomi hears that in the meantime things have improved in Judah and decides to return. Initially, her daughters-in-law accompany her. Before they get very far, Naomi thinks of the hardship her daughters-in-law will face being widows in a foreign land and tells them to return to their mother’s homes. One of the two, sees the wisdom in Naomi’s advice and, with deep regret, returns to her mother’s home. Ruth, on the other hand, is not willing to leave Naomi alone in the world and insists that she will stay with Naomi as long as they both shall live.
     I think there are some important things here. Orpah did not do wrong by following Naomi’s advice and returning to her mother’s house. However, Ruth did better by staying with her mother-in-law. Thinking about the situation, if Orpah had joined them, it would not have significantly eased Naomi’s life any further than just Ruth accompanying her and it would have added another person to feed and find shelter for. Ruth, on the other hand, willingly allowed her entire life to uprooted and moved to live among complete strangers who followed different practices from those she had grown up with. She did this out of love and concern for her mother-in-law.

John 4:4-42

     This is the passage of the Samaritan woman at the well. There are many lessons to be taken from this story, but today what strikes me is that Jesus refused to be bound my societal norms. Here we have Jesus, a Jew, making a request of a Samaritan woman, not just a Samaritan woman (as if that wasn’t bad enough), but one of questionable morals. She had been married five times and was living with a man she was not married to. I was reading this thinking that there must have been more to the conversation in order for her to believe he was the Messiah than what is recorded here, and I think there probably was. But, I think that what is recorded here is key. The woman was impressed with Jesus because he did not treat her as one who was incapable of understanding the Word of God. He spoke to her as if she was someone who could understand, if only someone would take the time to teach her, not as an inferior who needed to be carefully guided and was incapable of understanding the weighty points of theology. There was something about what He told her that she relayed to the people of the village that led them to believe. At the end, her fellow villagers tell her, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us,” implying that they initially believed because of what she told them. This is a story about the power of treating people with dignity and respect.

Psalm 105:1-15

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done.
Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.
Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.

     This psalm calls on us to give thanks to God and to tell others of what He has done. We need to praise God and let everyone know what we believe about Him and His greatness. Further in the psalm tells us to continually seek God. As I read these psalms each day as part of my daily devotion, they lift up my spirit and lead me to praise His name. It is rather interesting because I started reading a Psalm each morning at the beginning of the year (and still do as part of my morning routine, separate from this daily devotion), yet they did not have the same impact on me until I started writing these studies. Even now, when I read the Psalm as part of this daily devotion it has more impact than when I read it a few days earlier as part of my morning routine.

Proverbs 14:25

     This proverb needs little explanation. Telling the truth will save lives, while lying is a betrayal of trust. Our society no longer views honesty as a particularly valuable virtue, nor does it view dishonesty as a terrible mark against a person. Lying is considered just part of doing business. In some circles it has even become reversed, where the honest person is the one who is looked down upon.

Daily Bible Study

May 4, 2012 Bible Study

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Judges 19-20:48

     This passage tells a sorry story. We have a Levite who is traveling with his concubine and a servant. He chooses to press on late in the day rather than stop among non-Israelites. He proceeds to a town of Benjamin, where at first no one offered to take them in, even though all they needed was shelter (they had sufficient supplies to feed themselves and their beasts of burden). Then when an old man does offer them shelter, the town troublemakers show up and demand that the old man send the traveler out so that they can rape him. It is clear that this behavior is not unanticipated because the old man had insisted that the travelers not spend the night in the town square. The old man offers his daughter and the traveler’s concubine to these hooligans (this sounds, and is, horrible, but we must remember that the code of hospitality of that day called for defending one’s guests at all cost), but they refuse the offer. Finally the traveler (who nothing in this tale reflects well on) shoves his concubine out the door. The hooligans rape her all night long. At daybreak, they let her go and she manages to return to the house where her husband was staying where she dies. He comes out and discovers that she is dead when she does not respond to his command to get up so that they can travel on. When he gets home, he cuts up her body and sends the parts throughout Israel (apparently with a message as to what happened).
     The men of Israel gather and decide that this crime must not go unpunished. They send word to the tribe of Benjamin demanding that the troublemakers who did this be surrendered for execution. Rather than surrender these men, the tribe of Benjamin rallies to their defense. The men of the rest of Israel go up against the men of Benjamin and fight a three day battle. For the first two days, the men of Benjamin inflict heavy losses on the rest of the Israelites. On the third day, the Israelites set a trap for the men of Benjamin and slaughter them.
     When I read this passage today, I noticed something I had not noticed before. These troublemakers had been causing problems for some time and no one had done anything about it. The old man was afraid for a stranger to stay the night in the town square. This indicates that he knew that the town troublemakers would have harmed the man if he was left without shelter. While it is possible that no one in the town of Gibeah was able to stand up to these troublemakers and no one outside was aware of their crimes, it seems likely that the neighboring towns were aware of it and let it go since their targets were primarily outsiders. This story points up an important lesson. When a community allows troublemakers to get away with their actions, those troublemakers will get more and more brazen until their actions lead to the destruction of that community. There are groups today that defend bad behavior by members of their community. What they fail to understand is that by doing so, they encourage that bad behavior to get worse. In addition, at some point, that bad behavior will get so bad that those outside of the group will feel the need to take action. When the outsiders take action, they will target not only the troublemakers but the entire group.

John 3:22-4:3

     In this passage Jesus and John the Baptist are conducting their ministries not far from each other. John’s disciples approach John concerned because more people are going to Jesus than are coming to John. John is not concerned. He tells his disciples that this is as it should be, that he had told them that he was not the Messiah. While this situation is unique (after all, Jesus was the Messiah), it provides a lesson for all of us. We should all be happy when another eclipses us in the public eye when they do so by bringing glory to God.

Psalm 104:24-35

     I just discovered that yesterday’s Psalm was only verses 1-23 of this psalm, not the entire psalm as I blogged. Still there is a lot in this psalm. Everything on earth is dependent on God. God supplies food for all of the creatures of this earth. God takes pleasure in all that He has made and as a result, we should be good stewards of His creation. And it contains what I am striving to make my prayer each day:

May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
…
Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Proverbs 14:22-24

     These proverbs today are so telling about the world. They are such complete, “No? Duh!” comments that they almost seem silly to put into the Book of Proverbs. Yet, there are many people who do the opposite of what they say. Those who plan to do evil come to bad ends, while those who plan to do good are praised. Then we have to advice that work brings profit, but merely talking leads to poverty. Many people have great ideas but they only talk about them and never do them. It does not matter how great your idea is, if you don’t put in the work, nothing will come of it.

Daily Bible Study

May 3, 2012 Bible Study

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Judges 17-18:31

     This is an account of how a man of Israel set up for himself an idol and hired a Levite to be his priest. Some time after he had done so, members of the tribe of Dan came through the area he was living and stole away his idol and his priest. I really have no idea of what the point of this story is except that it says “the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.”

John 3:1-21

     In this passage, Nicodemus, a religious leader and apparently a learned man, comes to Jesus at night. Perhaps he came at night because he did not want anyone to know he was coming to talk to Jesus. Or, perhaps he came at night because he wanted to have a discussion without crowds around so that they could have a more in depth discussion. We cannot tell from the passage which if these motivated Nicodemus, or even if perhaps there was some other reason. The story begins with Nicodemus telling Jesus that he believes that Jesus’ miracles are a sign from God that Jesus was sent to teach people God’s way. Jesus responds by telling Nicodemus that he must be born again in order to see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus takes Jesus to mean a physical birth and asks how that is possible. Jesus explains that He was talking about a spiritual birth using an analogy where He compares the Holy Spirit to the wind. Nicodemus again asks how this is possible. I think that Nicodemus was still caught up in the idea of a physical rebirth and did not understand that Jesus meant something different.
     There is a lot packed into this passage. It contains Jesus’ first reference to the crucifixion when He says that the “Son of Man must be lifted up” just as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole. Then we have that classic summary of Christian doctrine, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Finally we have Jesus talking about how those who do evil avoid the light because they are afraid that it will reveal their sins. While those who do right revel in the light because they want people to see what they are doing. I think this is something that we need to pay close attention to when thinking about the appropriateness of our actions. When we feel compelled to hide our actions from others, we should be concerned whether or not what we are doing is Godly. I find that most of the time, actions which I want to keep from the view of others are actions I should not be undertaking. Most of the time when I am doing something that is Godly and righteous, I do not mind who sees me doing it. On the other hand, when I am doing something that I feel compelled to hide from the view of others, it is almost always something that I should not be doing.

Psalm 104

     This psalm talks about how magnificent God is and how magnificent His creation is. It praises God for how all of creation is designed to fit together so that everything works. One of the interesting things that modern science has learned is how feedback loops work in the world around us. In many aspects of nature, we have discovered that when something gets out of balance, something changes somewhere else to bring it back into balance. All of the pieces of the world act to maintain the equilibrium that is necessary for life to continue. This psalm credits God with creating the world to work that way.

O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!
In wisdom you have made them all.
The earth is full of your creatures
…
They all depend on you
to give them food as they need it.
When you supply it, they gather it.
You open your hand to feed them,
and they are richly satisfied.
But if you turn away from them, they panic.
When you take away their breath,
they die and turn again to dust.
When you give them your breath,[d] life is created,
and you renew the face of the earth.

     Certainly there are those who will claim that this all happened by random chance, but I will give praise to God for creating the world this way. I think that this psalm tells us part of the reason that Christians should not get caught up in any of the various scare mongering about the environment that comes along, such as the current theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming. God has designed the world with feedback loops to keep things in equilibrium up until the day that He has decided to end the world. Keeping this in mind, we should still be good stewards and care for this world that God has put into our charge. It is God’s world and we should do our best to maintain its beauty. On the other hand, we should not get caught up with those who try to tell us that we are destroying this world, God has set things up to keep it all in balance, and He has accounted for our actions, even when we are not willingly following His will. We should choose our actions with care and consideration, not rushing into things based on poorly understood ideas.

Proverbs 14:20-21

     Today we have two proverbs that are in a way mirror images of each other. One is a proverb about the way things are. The second is a proverb about how we should behave. People look down on those who are poor and seek to be friends with those with wealth. This is human nature. This passage tells us that it is a sin to look down on our neighbor and that God will bless those who help the poor. This is a theme throughout the Bible. In April I read the passage in Luke where Jesus held up the widow, who gave all of what little she had, as one to be more admired than the wealthy who gave a lot, but only out of their surplus.

Daily Bible Study

May 2, 2012 Bible Study

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Judges 15-16:31

     The stories of Samson do not reflect well on his character. After his wife betrayed him in the story from yesterday, he went off in a funk. His funk was understandable, but his reaction shows a lack of maturity. Today’s reading starts off with him returning to his wife, only to discover that his father-in-law had given her to another man in marriage because he thought that Samson did not want her anymore. Her father offers Samson another of his daughters, but Samson throws a temper tantrum and destroyed a large portion of Philistine crops. In response, the Philistines demonstrate that the threat that the men of Samson’s wedding party made against his bride was not an idle one. They take his former bride and her father and burn them to death. This proves to be no wiser an action than that of Samson, as Samson’s response is to go out and kill a large number of Philistines. The Philistines decide that since they cannot capture Samson themselves, they will get his own people to do so. Samson agrees to surrender himself to his countrymen, as long as they promise to turn him over alive to the Philistines. They do so. When they turn him over to the Philistines, Samson breaks his bonds and, once again, kills a large number of Philistines.
     Then we have the story of Samson with Delilah, and once again Samson demonstrates his poor judgment when it comes to women. The Philistines convince Delilah to find out the secret of Samson’s strength. So, she pesters him until he tells her. Except that he lies to her about it. She finds out his lie because she tries to use the “secret” he told her to bind him and it does not work. So, she pesters him some more and he tells her another lie. She tries this one and it does not work. This repeated yet again. Finally, he tells her the truth. I would ask what would lead him to do this after she has demonstrated three times that she will use his secret against him as soon as he tells her, except that I know the answer. Men often suffer lapses in judgment when it comes to women. I am no exception to this. We men must be aware of this weakness and avoid women who will use it to get us to make bad decisions. I do not know if all men suffer this weakness, but most do. There are good women, who being aware of this weakness in their men, are careful to test his reasons before trying to change his mind about things. Unfortunately, there are also women who, like Delilah, will use this weakness against the men in their lives.

John 2:1-25

     Here we have the story of Jesus at the wedding in Cana. This story carries a couple of meanings to me. The first is that Jesus respected the institution of marriage because He celebrated it with this couple. The second is that He honored His mother. He did not see it as something that involved Him and He felt that it was not yet time for Him to begin His ministry of miracles. Yet, when His mother told the servants to follow His instructions, with the implication that He would do something about the problem, He took action to resolve it. The final thing in the story is that Jesus had no problem with the use of alcohol (although other New Testament scripture tells us that we should only do so in moderation). How do I come to this conclusion? Because not only does Jesus make wine out of water, according to the master of ceremonies it was better than the wine originally served. Now from what I know of wine from that time, which is admittedly limited, and, also, of people in general, when the master of ceremonies said the wine was “better” he was likely saying that it was stronger. So, not only did Jesus make wine, but he made better, probably stronger, wine.
     Here John recounts Jesus clearing the Temple of merchants. In an earlier study I discussed Luke’s account of Jesus clearing the Temple shortly before His crucifixion. In addition to the corruption and abuse that the practices Jesus disrupted represented they, also, were a distraction from worshiping God. While it is likely that the merchant stalls originated as a convenience for those coming to worship who needed the items available there for their sacrifices and offerings, they had gone beyond that and become a major source of distraction. It is interesting that although He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and drove the sheep and the cattle out of the Temple, he merely went to the dove merchants and told them to get their doves out of the Temple. If you think about it, the moneychangers could gather their coins off of the ground and the livestock merchants could easily round up their livestock once it was outside of the Temple but if Jesus had released the doves they would have flown off and the merchants would have been unable to retrieve them (or at least most of them). This shows that Jesus had respect for their property rights. I don’t think you can build an entire economic philosophy from this, but it contributes to understanding Jesus view of economics.

Psalm 103:1-22

     This is a psalm of praise. It reminds us that God does not punish us to the extent that our sin deserves. That God loves us and cares for us as a good father loves and cares for his children. “Let all that I am praise the Lord.” Lord, let this be my prayer today and every day.

Proverbs 14:17-19

     This proverb reminds us that if we do things in the heat of anger, we will often later regret our actions. It, also, tells us that those who scheme will be hated.

Daily Bible Study

May 1, 2012 Bible Study

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Judges 13-14:20

     Here we have the story of Samson’s parents and God’s messenger appearing to them to tell them that his mother would conceive. The first thing that struck me was that the angel instructed Samson’s mother to not drink any wine or other alcoholic beverage or to eat any forbidden food. What struck me about this is that it seemed a lot like the instructions given pregnant women today, especially those who have difficult pregnancies. Another thing that struck me was the response of Samson’s father. When he asked the messenger what kind of rules should govern their raising of the boy he said, “When your words come true…”. Most of us (certainly that is my inclination) would say, “If your words come true…”. How can I learn to react to God’s direction with that kind of faith?
     This story is followed by a story showing Samson’s poor judgment in women. Samson falls for a Philistine woman and asks his parents to arrange for him to marry her. Samson poses a riddle for the men who have been chosen by his wife’s parents to be part of his wedding party as a bet. When they were unable to solve the riddle, they turned to Samson’s bride for the answer. They threatened to to burn down her father’s house with her in it if she did not get the answer for them (a threat that later actions suggest was not an idle one). She then cajoles Samson for the answer. She does not tell him about the threat. She nags him for the answer, crying each time he refuses to answer, until he finally gives in and tells her. When the men of his wedding party answer his riddle, Samson is furious because he knows where they got the answer and feels betrayed by his wife, with some justification. If she had told him why she was so desperate to know the answer, things would have turned out differently, but probably not much better for those Philistines responsible for oppressing the Israelites.

John 1:29-51

     Here we have John’s account of Jesus calling His first disciples. As John the Baptist is standing with two of his disciples, Jesus walks by. John the Baptist declares, “Look! There is the Lamb of God.” The two disciples approach Jesus and ask where He is staying. He invites them back with Him and they spend the rest of the day with Him. We don’t know what they talked about, but they were obviously impressed. One of the two, Andrew, goes and gets his brother, Simon. Andrew tells Simon that they have found the Messiah and brings Simon to meet Jesus. Jesus looks at Simon, tells him his name and that he will be called “Rock” (Cephas in Aramaic, Peter in Greek).
     The next day, Jesus decides to go to Galilee. He finds Philip, who is from the same town as Andrew and Peter, and tells him to follow Him. The passage does not say, but I infer from this that Philip was the second of John’s two disciples who had approached Jesus the previous day. Philip goes and finds Nathaniel and tells him that they had found the Messiah and that He was from Nazareth. Nathaniel is skeptical, but Philip tells him to check it out for himself. Jesus tells Nathaniel that he is a man of integrity. We might be tempted to think that Nathaniel was convinced because Jesus flattered him by calling him a “man of integrity”, but Nathaniel remains skeptical. It is only when Jesus reveals that He knows where Nathaniel was when Philip found him that he is convinced. Jesus tells him that he will see greater wonders than that.
     I would love to know what Jesus and the two disciples talked about that first afternoon. It obviously impressed both of them intensely because they each sought out someone close to them to tell that they had found the Messiah. Are we that impressed with Jesus that we seek out those closest to us to tell them that we have found the Messiah, the anointed one of God? This question changes for those of us raised by Christian parents because it is likely that we came to know Jesus those closest to us already knew Him. But what about when we become close to others throughout our lives? Do we make sure that they know we view Jesus as central? Are we brave enough to risk this new relationship with the revelation that we are “one of those”?

Psalm 102

     Today’s psalm is one where the psalmist is crying out in desperation to the Lord. He pours out his problems before the Lord and speaks from utter depression about himself. Yet even so, the psalmist praises the Lord and speaks of His faithfulness and power. Can I so the same? Can I praise the Lord, even as my life appears to be collapsing around me? I hope so, but, I also hope to never find out. My greatest fear is that I will be tested as Job was tested.

Proverbs 14:15-16

     The two proverbs today are very closely related. Simpletons believe everything they are told, fools rush ahead. While the prudent carefully consider their actions and the wise are cautious and avoid danger. I have learned to apply two rules when evaluating what someone tells me. The first thing I consider is this, does my source have first hand knowledge of the subject and are they a good judge of what actually happened? The second is related to that, if they do not have first hand knowledge, do they use good judgment in evaluating their sources as I do? I have learned that some people are very reliable when telling about something they experienced themselves, but too readily accept the judgment of others about situations they have not experienced themselves.

Daily Bible Study

April 30, 2012 Bible Study

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Judges 11-12:15

     This passage is the story of Jephthah. There are two things I take away from this story today. The first is that Jephthah’s half-brothers chased Jephthah off of their father’s land because he was not “good enough” to share it with them. He was cast out by his family for something that was not his fault. It appears from the context of the passage that the community supported his half-brothers in rejecting Jephthah. Yet in their time of need, they call on him to lead them. The time that Jephthah spent as an outcast taught him the skills of a warrior and a general. As in the story of Joseph, God uses the sin of people to forge the tool that He will use to save them. Things worked out well, but we should always consider that everybody is a child of God that He wants us to love, no matter how unlovely their origins.
     The second thing I took away from this story is the danger of ill-considered promises. Jephthah vows to the Lord that if He gives him victory over the Ammonites, he will sacrifice as a burnt offering the first thing to come out of his house when he returns in triumph. I do not know what he was thinking in making this promise, but the first thing to come out of his house upon his return was his only child, his daughter. He kept his vow and the account does not condemn him for it, but neither does it praise him. The account does record his sorrow. This story reminds us that making a promise where we have not truly thought out the possible ramifications may lead us to great sorrow.
John 1:1-28

     This is the core Biblical passage for adopting the doctrine of the Trinity and perhaps for understanding what the Trinity is (as best we can do so with our finite minds). This passage clearly says that Jesus is “The Word”. It, also, says that the Word was with God and that the Word was God. There is no easy way to wrap our heads around how a “person” can be with another “person” and, also, be that other “person”. Once you add in other passages that tell us that the Holy Spirit is, also, separate from God, yet part of God, you have the Trinity.
     We further have a passage where John the Baptist denies being the Messiah, or the return of Elijah that was expected for before the coming of the Messiah, or even the prophet “like Moses” that they were expecting to announce the Messiah. Right after telling them that he is not the one they are expecting to come and announce the coming of the Messiah, he tells them that he is one shouting in the wilderness to clear a path for the coming of the Lord. This passage as used by John is clearly a reference to announcing the coming of the Messiah. So, why does John deny being the prophet they were expecting to come and announce the coming of the Messiah, when he then says that he is someone coming to announce the coming of the Messiah? Perhaps he was trying to tell them that their expectations of the Messiah were wrong. That the Deliverer God was sending was going to be completely different from their expectations. To what degree do we need to have our expectations of what God’s will is altered so that we can serve His desires in this world? I do not know the answer, but we need to be alert to substituting our own desires for God’s will.


Psalm 101:1-8

     This psalm contains something that I am working on:
I will lead a life of integrity
in my own home.
I will refuse to look at
anything vile and vulgar.

     Just because no one else knows what we are doing does not mean that it is Ok. Things we look at in privacy effects the way we interact with others, even if they know nothing about it. The advent of the Internet has made possible the ability to look at stuff that we would never do if there was a risk of someone witnessing us doing is. It doesn’t have to be porn, there are other things on the Internet, and elsewhere in the world, that qualify as “vile and vulgar”. The psalmist lists other things that those who wish to be righteous should avoid. Then he tells us how to accomplish this:
I will search for faithful people
to be my companions.

If we seek out others striving to be righteous to spend time with, we will find we have less time, and opportunity, to look at the vile and vulgar. We will, also, have less desire to do so. It is well known that you tend to spend time with people who share your interests. What is less well understood is that you tend to acquire an interest in the things that the people you spend time with are interested in (and lose interest in those things they are not interested in). I must seek out more faithful people to be my companions, so that I will be more faithful.


Proverbs 14:13-14

     Today’s proverb reminds us that the comedian may be hiding sorrow and that when they stop telling jokes for the audience, the grief will still be there. Although, that is not the whole of its message. It, also, tells us that while we can break someone out of a funk by getting them to laugh, if their funk was because of some sad occurrence the grief will return when the laughter ends. We need to be aware of this and sensitive to the sorrows of others. We must remember that just because someone who suffered loss is laughing now, it does not mean that they will not be crying later.