For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I wish to apologize for yesterday’s blog being published late. I thought I had published Friday evening my time, but apparently I failed to actually do so.

Proverbs 23:24

    A godly child brings joy to their parents and a wise child gives them pleasure. I have for most of my life striven to bring pleasure and joy to my parents, not always successfully.

Psalm 65:1-13

    Let us praise God for His greatness. He will answer our prayers with awesome deeds. When we pray to God, let us not expect small, little answers. When we pray to God, He will answer our prayers with bold, powerful actions. After all, our God is the God who formed the mountains and quiets the storms. He inspires joy from where the sun rises to where it sets, from one end of the earth to the other. God will care for the earth and water it as it needs. The river of God has sufficient water and more to supply our needs, even if we live in the desert. God will provide for the needs of those who honour and praise Him.

Galatians 6:1-18

    Paul in this passages says two things which appear contradictory, but which actually sum up the way in which we should behave. In verse 2, he tells us that we should share on each other’s burdens. Yet in verse 5 (according to the NIV) he tells us that we should carry our own load. As I said, these appear to be contradictory. However, let us work backwards from the second of these verses to the first. Here the NLT will help us. The NLT translates verse 5 y saying that we are responsible for our own conduct. We are responsible to do our best to deal with the lot in life which we have been dealt. We have no right to blame others for not helping us, we do not have the right to demand their help. When we face difficulties and problems, it is our responsibility to seek out ways in which we can overcome those difficulties and problems. If we do not have enough money to pay our bills, it is our responsibility to seek out a way to earn that money. It is not the fault of others for not helping us.
    However, in verse 2 Paul tells us that we should help others as much as we are able. If we see someone facing a difficulty that we are able to help with, we should do so. Another way to look at how both of these verses work is that both are about individual responsibility. I am responsible to help those in need as much as I am able. My needs are my responsibility. My needs do not give me the authority to demand your help. Nor do your needs give anyone else(except for God Himself) the authority to demand that I help you. This is about individual responsibility not corporate responsibility.
    I do not believe their is any such thing as “corporate responsibility”, except insomuch as it represents the lumping together of the individual responsibility of the members of a group. If I see someone with a need I have two options open to me. I can help them myself to the best of my ability. Or, if I cannot help them sufficiently, I can ask others to help them. I cannot, however, demand that others help them. Most especially, I cannot demand that others help them in the way in which I think they should be helped. It is up to each individual to help others in the manner in which they think best. This does not mean that we do not seek guidance and counsel from others in choosing the way in which we help. As a matter of fact, I would encourage everyone to do so. What it means is that you do not have the right to tell me how and when I should help (even though it may be wise of me to ask your advice before I act), nor do I have the right to tell you how and when you should help. I will go further and say that it is fine to offer your unsolicited advice about how someone can help, as long as you are aware that they are not obligated to follow your advice (you should also do your best to make it clear to the one you are offering the advice to that you do not think they are obligated to follow your advice).

Isaiah 37-38:22

    The king of Assyria commanded to mightiest army on the face of the earth. There did not exist an army that could stand against him when he brought his full might to bear, certainly not the force commanded by Hezekiah. It was obvious to everyone on the face of the earth that when the king of Assyria turned his mind to conquering Jerusalem that it was only a matter of time, and that not very much time, until Jerusalem would fall to him. The king of Assyria was not shy about telling Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem that such was the case.
    However, there was one thing which the king of Assyria, and the pundits of the day (if there were any), underestimated in their calculations. It is something which the movers and shakers of the world still often underestimate, dismiss, or overlook when they make their plans for exercising their power. Those who believe, as the king of Assyria did, that they can accomplish their goals despite the opposition of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will discover that they are mistaken. The king of Assyria told Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem that there was nothing that could stop him from conquering Jerusalem. Looking at the situation from a purely human perspective he was correct. Yet that night, 185,000 of his soldiers died in camp (we are not told how they died) and he was forced to return to his capital, where he was killed before he could raise another army. There was nothing Hezekiah could do to stop the king of Assyria, except for the one thing he did. When faced with overwhelming odds, Hezekiah cried out to God. God answered his prayer. God will do the same for us today. When we see the evil in this world overwhelming the good, with no hope that the good can withstand it, let us cry out to God. He will answer our prayers.

     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.

Isaiah 37-38:22

     After receiving a detailed report from his emissaries regarding what the Assyrian field commander had said Hezekiah expressed deep sadness and sent them to the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah told the king’s emissaries that God had heard what the Assyrian had said and would act. Isaiah told them that Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, would receive word that he was needed at home. He would return home, where he would be killed by the sword.
     Soon afterwards Sennacherib received word that the king of Cush(essentially modern-day Ethiopia) was leading an army out to engage him. Before marching to meet the Cushite army, Sennacherib sent a letter to Hezekiah. In the letter he told Hezekiah that God was no more able to protect Jerusalem from him than the gods of other nations had been able to protect them. Hezekiah took the letter to the Temple and spread it out. Hezekiah prayed to God, asking Him to deliver Jerusalem. Hezekiah acknowledged to inability of the other gods to save their peoples, but called on God to demonstrate that He was more than those other gods made of mere stone and wood.
     Isaiah came to Hezekiah with a message from God. Isaiah told Hezekiah that because he had prayed about Sennacherib God had spoken against him. Sennacherib thought he was something because he had conquered many nations, but God told him that this was merely according to the plan God had decided long before. Those peoples had so little power against Sennacherib because that was according to God’s plan, not because Sennacherib was such a powerful man. Then Isaiah wrote one of the great passages about those who defy God:

But I know you well—
where you stay
and when you come and go.
I know the way you have raged against me.
And because of your raging against me
and your arrogance, which I have heard for myself,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth.
I will make you return
by the same road on which you came.

God went on to tell Hezekiah that the Assyrians would not do enter Jerusalem, they would not even besiege it. Instead, the Assyrians would return to their capital by the road they had come.
     That night, 185,000 Assyrian soldiers died in their camp. In the morning when the survivors got up they found the bodies. Sennacherib broke camp and returned to Nineveh, his capital. While he was there, he went to worship his god in his temple. Two of his sons attacked him there and killed him with swords.

Galatians 6:1-18

     Paul wrote that if a fellow believer is caught in sin, we should work to restore them. We should do so gently, cautiously, and humbly, being careful not to fall into the same temptation. We are to bear one another’s burdens. We need to avoid thinking that we are better than the sinner we are trying to help. It is wrong to compare ourselves to others, either to think we are better than they, or to think that they are better than ourselves. We need to carry our own burdens, not expect others to do it for us. We will reap what we saw. If we plant in order to satisfy our sinful desires, we will harvest the destruction that comes from such actions. On the other hand, if we plant good in due time we will harvest the reward of good behavior. Therefore we should do good to all people, especially our fellow believers.

***
     Paul makes two apparently contradictory points here. First, he says that we are to bear one another’s burdens. Then a few sentences later he says that everyone must carry their own load. These are not actually contradictory. We are to help each other as much as we can, but we cannot prevent someone else from suffering the consequences of their own actions. In addition, Paul is saying that I am to help you as part of my Christian duty, but I have no right to demand that you help me. This does not mean that I should reject your help, if you offer it. It merely means that I should not expect others to take up the burdens I have in this life.
     In some ways Paul’s teaching about harvesting what we plant is related to this. He is saying that actions have consequences and we should do those things that have consequences we desire. Lois McMaster Bujold(a fiction author) expressed what I believe Paul is saying here in one of the best ways I have ever seen. One of her characters said the following (my paraphrase), “Actions have consequences. So, if you desire something, choose those actions which have that something as a consequence.” This seems to me what Paul is saying here.
***
     Paul then concludes his letter by telling the Galatians that those who are trying to convince them to be circumcised are only doing so in order to avoid persecution and to claim the Galatians as their disciples so they can boast. Paul replies to that by saying that he wishes to never boast of anything other than the cross of Christ. Specific rules are not what is important, what is important is to be transformed to live as a new creation, living in love (although elsewhere Paul points out that there are certain behaviors that are always contrary to love).

Psalm 65:1-13

     This is a psalm with a lot in it. If you are reading this for a synopsis of it, stop, follow the link and read the psalm. God is worthy of praise and will receive it. Sooner or later everyone will come before God, whether they wish it or not. If we approach Him with humility and remorse, He will forgive our many sins. God’s power reaches to the ends of the universe. No matter how far from home we go, God will still be there to answer our prayers. There is no place on earth, and no person, that is distant from God. No matter who or where you are, if you turn to God He will answer your prayers and meet your deepest needs.

Proverbs 23:24

     If you want to give your parents joy, show wisdom and lead a godly life.