For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The proverb writer advises us to fear both God and the government. This is certainly sound advice, as is his advice to not join in rebellion against either. Both have the power to make your life miserable. However, there is a difference. while both may want what is best for you (God certainly does, and oftentimes government officials do), only God actually knows what that is.

    None can stand against God when His anger at evil bursts forth. God is slow to anger because He loves each and every one of us, but He will only allow oppression and other evils to go on for so long before He acts to bring judgment against those who are guilty. This is the reason I honor and praise His name.

    The Gospel changes lives. It has changed mine and it can change yours. In order for this change to happen you need to understand the truth about God’s grace, that we cannot earn His love, but He loves us nonetheless. When we stop doing good in order to prove our worth and instead begin doing good because we love God and others. At that point we begin to allow the Holy Spirit to enter into our lives and remove the desire to sin.
    The Holy Spirit will give us knowledge of God’s will if we open our minds and hearts to receiving it. The more we are willing to do and follow God’s will, the more He will reveal it to us. There is a feedback loop pointed out in this passage: the more we pray, the more spiritual wisdom we will gain; the more spiritual wisdom we have, the more we will pray. I am earnestly seeking that the Holy Spirit train me to pray more.

    I was struck by the first verse of this passage. Day after day I read the comments of people who are crying out, “At last we are free from God! We don’t need him anymore!” Yet, problems escalate and get worse. They seek one solution after another, but refuse to turn to God. Our society is killing the innocent and the poor, even when they were not caught breaking into their neighbors house. We have videos come out of people profiting from killing the unborn, and others respond, “Well, what’s wrong with that?” We have civilians killing each other in the streets of our cities, many times the deaths are innocent bystanders, and people are protesting about criminals killed by the police. We have a tragic incident of a man shooting up a community college and our politicians call for more laws.
    It is time, and past time, for people to stand up and declare, “Turn to God and beg His forgiveness. Repent of your sins and follow His commands.” We can seek on solution and another, but the only answer which will change us so that these tragedies stop happening is if we seek know God and follow His will.

     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.

     In the middle of prophecies condemning the people of Israel and Judah for their sins and idolatry is a passage which offers great hope. God begs for us to come back to Him. He promises that He will accept us home with open arms, if only we will acknowledge our guilt and sin. If we will come back to Him, confessing the error of our ways, He will provide us with shepherds who will guide us into wisdom and understanding. God is calling us back to Him, are we listening? More importantly, are we giving His message of forgiveness and redemption to those around us?

     Today we have yet another passage where Paul talks about his ongoing prayer for a group of people. It is clear to me that I am being challenged to improve my prayer life. Paul commends the Colossians for their love of all of God’s people, a love which he says they have shown since they first heard the Gospel. The Gospel is changing lives all over the world, just as it changed ours. Do we believe in the ability of the Gospel to change lives? Have I allowed the Gospel to change my life?
     Paul is praying that God give the believers in Colossae complete knowledge of His will and spiritual wisdom and understanding. Are we praying for this for ourselves and for our fellow believers? I desire complete knowledge of God’s will, as well as spiritual wisdom and understanding so that I can live a life worthy of Christ. I want to grow in the knowledge of God so that I can be strengthened by His power, which will give me patience and endurance. I give joyous thanks to God because He has brought me out of darkness to live in His light.

     The notes say that the word the NLT translates as Jerusalem is actually the Hebrew for Salem, which it says is another name for Jerusalem (the NIV uses Salem). The Hebrew word “Salem” is based on the Hebrew word for peace. The gist of the passage from other translations is that God places his movable shelter (tent/tabernacle) in “Salem”. When I read the whole psalm, I read that as saying that God dwells in peace. The psalmist says that God has destroyed the weapons of war and that at God’s rebuke the horse and chariot are still. None can stand against God and where He chooses to make His dwelling there will be peace.

     The proverb warns us to fear the Lord and those who rule. It advises staying away from rebels because sudden destruction is likely to come upon them and those nearby. Several translations translate the word which the NLT translates as “rebel” as “those seeking change” (or some variation on that). It made me realize that in part what the writer is warning against are those who seek change for the sake of change. All too often, when people want to change things they change good things along with bad. It is important to know why something is the way it is before advocating making changes (even when the way things are is not good).