For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been convicted to seek to develop a disciplined prayer life. It is still a work in progress. Please pray for me, that the Holy Spirit may show me how to pray in a disciplined manner.

    Someone who is full will turn down the most desirable sweet, but someone who is hungry will gobble down food that they otherwise would turn their nose up at. There is great pleasure in receiving sincere advice from someone who cares about us.

    God did great things for the people of Israel, yet time after time they turned from Him to worship idols. They were not satisfied with the provisions God had made for them and demanded more. God granted their desires, but plague came with it. They rebelled against the leaders whom God had given them and suffered for it. The psalmist recounts the other ways in which they refused to obey God. How many of those same sins are we guilty of? How often have we suffered the consequences of not obeying God’s will?

    Our places of worship here on earth are mere copies of the Temple of God in heaven. Jesus is our high priest in that heavenly Temple. Just as the Temple where Jesus ministers is greater than the earthly Temple, so too is the covenant He established than the one established the high priests of the order of Aaron. Under the old covenant the priests read the law to the people and interpreted it for them so that they would know what God expected of them. Under the new covenant, God will place His law in our minds and write it on our hearts. He will send His Holy Spirit to whisper His commands into our ears. We do not need teachers because we know God and He will speak to us directly.
    The message here is not that we should not listen to those whom God has sent to teach us His ways. Rather the message here is that we should not elevate those teachers. It is important that we recognize that the Holy Spirit will speak to each and every one of us. If a teacher we respect starts teaching something which we find troublesome, we are not to just accept it, but to study what they are saying, compare it to the Scripture, and listen to what the Holy Spirit tells us about the teaching in question. We should neither hold someone as an authority who cannot be questioned, nor ask others to so hold us. We each must judge for ourselves whether a teaching is, or is not, of God.

    Ezekiel tells us that Sodom was wiped out for the sins of pride, gluttony, and laziness, all while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. The people of Sodom lived a life of wealth and did not help the poor and needy. For this sin, Ezekiel tells us, Sodom was destroyed. I am not positive that Ezekiel is referring to the Sodom of “Sodom and Gomorrah”. That is not his point. His point was that God will destroy those who indulge themselves while refusing to help those who are poor and needy. Are we looking for how we can help the poor and needy outside our “door”?

     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.

     Ezekiel lists the sins which led to the destruction of Sodom. The people of that city were proud and haughty. They were gluttonous and unconcerned by the suffering of the poor and needy. Rather than help the poor and needy, they spent their resources engaging in detestable acts. Yet, Ezekiel says that the people of Jerusalem committed even more detestable acts than Sodom or Samaria, despite seeing what happened to those cities. To what degree is our society even worse than this?
     Ezekiel then gives a condemnation of the king of Judah for breaking his oaths to the king of Babylon and seeking the support of Babylon’s enemies. The sin for which he was being condemned was for failing to keep his agreements. The king made an agreement, then when he thought he could get a better deal, broke it. I think of all of those who think it is unreasonable to expect politicians to keep their word. God will judge those who enter into a covenant to act in a certain way and then when the time comes to fulfill their side of the bargain choose to act otherwise.

     God has promised to put His laws in our minds and write them on our hearts. God will make His will known to anyone who seeks to know it. As I read this passage it is one of great hope and joy. God will make us His people. He will be our God. He will forgive our wickedness and no longer remember our sins. However, it is somewhat scary as well, because we have no excuses. We cannot say, “I did not know.” Fortunately, we have Jesus as our mediator.

     Today’s portion of this psalm tells us the key to why Israel sinned in the wilderness. “But they…did not wait for His plan to unfold.”(NIV) This is where all too often we go wrong. God has put His law in our minds and written it on our hearts, so we know what He wishes us to do, but we get impatient. We want what we think are the good things NOW. We refuse to wait to see what God has in store for us. So, we become rebellious and fail to believe that God will overcome the obstacles for us. We do not do as God has told us because we do not trust His promises.

     Those who have completely satisfied their needs and wants will turn down even a very desirable offer, but those who are desperate will take whatever they can get. Running away from those who love you because they hurt your feelings (or for any other reason) is like a fledgling bird who leaves its nest before it can fly. When a friend gives advice they are firmly convinced is in our best interest it should make us happy.