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. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     Moses tells the people of Israel that they will be blessed if they keep the commands of the Lord. If they obey the commands of the Lord, they will be solidly established in their land, they will be prosperous and want for nothing. All nations will stand in awe of them. On the other hand, Moses tells them the curses they will experience if they rebel against God’s commands. If they do not keep God’s commands they will experience confusion and frustration in everything they do. They will suffer from diseases and natural disasters. They will work hard and have little to show for it. They will be conquered by foreigners and their children made slaves. They will be terrified by everything around them. I believe that these blessings and curses are there for any society that follows God’s commands or rebels against them.

     One day Jesus drove a demon that had made a man mute out of the man. The man began to speak and the people were amazed. However, some of them claimed that He drove out demons by the power of the prince of demons. Others demanded that He give them a sign from heaven. Jesus answered by telling them that any organization that is divided against itself is bound to fall. He tells them that if Satan grants someone the power to cast out demons, Satan would be acting against his own interests. He then asks them by what power the other exorcists are casting out demons?
     Jesus concludes that whoever is not for Him is against Him. This is interesting because only a little while earlier He told the disciples that whoever is not against them is for them. I think these two comments by Jesus tell us something about how people must react to Jesus. Ultimately everyone must choose, are they for Jesus or against Him? There is no middle ground. The earlier passage tells us that we should not alienate those who have not outright rejected Jesus and His teaching. Today’s passage tells us that over time people will either start to follow Jesus or to oppose Him.
     Jesus concludes His discussion of casting out evil spirits by telling us that when an evil spirit is cast out, it will wander through desolate areas. It will then return to the person it had left and find them “swept and in order”. It will get seven other spirits even more wicked than itself and together they will reenter the person. The end result will be that the person is worse off than before. My father used to say that the point of this passage was that it was not enough for the person to have evil spirits cast out. If they were not filled with the Holy Spirit in the place of the demons, the demons would return and possess them once more. I believe that my father was correct in his interpretation.
     Jesus then addresses the issue of those demanding a sign from heaven. He tells them that the only sign they will receive will be the sign of Jonah. That just as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so Jesus would be a sign to His own generation (and those that followed). There has been a relatively recent archeological discovery which suggests that the idea that the Messiah would die and rise after three days was present in first century Jewish thought. If such is the case, it would mean that Jesus’ audience knew exactly what He was saying here. He went on to tell them that on the day of judgment the men of Nineveh would condemn the current generation because the men of Nineveh listened to Jonah and repented, but the current generation did not listen to the One who was greater than Jonah.

     The psalmist in today’s psalm is distressed because he has experienced trouble and has not heard an answer from God. When he become convinced that God had turned His back on him, the psalmist remembered all of God’s great deeds in the past. By looking back over all the things which God had done in the past, his hope was restored. He knew that God would act when the time was right. I am glad that I am reading this psalm today after reading Jesus’ teaching on prayer yesterday. The two go together. Jesus told us to be persistent in our prayers. This psalm tells us to remember what God has done in the past when He does not seem to be answering our prayers today. When I look over my life I can remember times when I was desperate for change in my life and cried out to God. He did not answer at once, but when He did answer, His plan proved to be wonderful.
     This psalm today, coupled with yesterday;s passage from Luke with its emphasis on persistence in our prayers, reminds me that God is faithful and will answer my prayers in His time according to His plans. Those answers when they come will be better than anything I could have imagined when I was praying. I will not lose faith that God will answer my prayers because I remember the great things He has done in the past.

     Today’s proverb hits home to me. There have been times when I have reveled in my ability to make stinging remarks that generated a laugh. I am not going to say that there is never a place for such exchanges. However, this proverb reminds me of something that I have recently been trying to work on. That is the quick quip which builds up the target rather than tearing them down. I have discovered that if I try I can get just as good of a laugh by cleverly worded quips about the positive aspects of a person as I can from quips which tear them down. It is harder to do, but much more satisfying. All too often I have been lazy and gone for the easy, cheap, negative laugh. I will strive going forward to do the extra work to make the quips which build others up and let them know that I think well of them.