For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I hope those of you who regularly read my blog are not getting tired of pictures of flowers and of Magrat (my cat), because there are a lot more to come.
I have noticed that the proverb writer spends a lot of time telling us that easily losing one’s temper is a sign of foolishness. Those who are wise and understand how the world works control their anger. He does not tell us that the wise do not become angry, just that they do not let their anger control them. We would do well to spend a similar amount of time teaching (and learning) this lesson.
Today we reach the end of this psalm which tells us about how God always has a plan, a plan that comes to fruition. God used the difficulties and trials described in yesterday’s psalm to mold and shape the children of Israel. Then when the shaping was done He revealed His plans and brought them out of bondage with wealth. Let us remember that God has a plan for us that will end with our joy, even if we are going through a difficult and painful shaping process right now.
When Jesus came upon the crowds of sick people by the pool of Bethesda, He only healed one of them. Why did He pick this man out of the crowd? We don’t know, but it is worth noting that Jesus did not heal all of the sick who were by the pool that day. It is worth noting that the religious leaders were more concerned with the fact that Jesus told the man to carry his mat on the Sabbath than with the fact that the man was healed. How often do we get so caught up in the “rules” of righteous behavior that we forget what those rules are about?
When I covered the beginning of the Book of Ruth I commented that people often denigrate Orpah but that they were wrong to do so. Here, people rarely mention Peninnah, yet she is someone worthy of criticism. She taunted and made fun of Hannah because she had not had children. Today, we would call this bullying (although I would consider that to be a misuse of the word “bullying”). The only mention I have ever heard about Peninnah is as an example of why multiple wives is a bad idea, or to criticize Elkanah for not stopping her mistreatment of Hannah. Those are both valid lessons from the passage.
That being said, I think there is value is comparing and contrasting Peninnah and Hannah. Peninnah was blessed by God with children, but rather than feel pity for Hannah who was not so blessed, she berated and belittled her. Hannah, rather than strike back, or ask their husband to punish Peninnah, turned to God and begged Him for a son. When God granted her request Hannah dedicated her son to serving God. We know nothing about how Peninnah’s children turned out, but we do know how Samuel turned out. It is important to note that Eli had already raised two sons, both of whom turned out badly. That means we need to look elsewhere to find out why Samuel turned out so well (although, we should not overlook the possibility that Eli had learned something from his earlier failures). We know that Hannah was a devoted mother to Samuel and I would give her most of the credit for how Samuel turned out.
If you want to gain understanding and wisdom, exercise patience. Those who exercise patience indicate that they have already obtained understanding and wisdom. Those who easily fly off the handle are demonstrating their own foolishness. Being quick to anger indicates a willingness to pass judgement before all of the facts are known.
The psalm reminds us that God does wonderful things for us in order to teach us to follow His instructions. There is a positive feedback loop in doing what God instructs us to do. When we follow the Lord’s instructions, we are blessed. As we are blessed, we are encouraged to follow the Lord’s instructions, which leads to more blessings. The only problem is that sometimes we become content with the blessings we have already received and begin to believe that they are the result of our actions rather than a reward from God.
In this passage about Jesus healing the lame man by the Pool of Bethesda, Jesus did not just approach the man and tell him to get up and walk. Jesus first asked the man if he wanted to get well. The man replied that he kept trying, but when the opportunity came someone always got there first. There is a lesson here for us about when we need help and when we give help. When Jesus approached the man, He did not just come up and heal him. First, He asked the man if he wanted to get well. Jesus did not just give the man what He thought the man needed. He made sure that the man was willing to be helped. When Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be well part of the man’s answer was, “I have no one to help me.” This indicated that the man was willing to accept help. We need to recognize that we can only help those who are willing to be helped.
The man did not complain about the unfairness of the situation and he did not give up. Despite having been lame for many years, he still came to the pool, hoping that perhaps this time when the opportunity came he would get into the pool in time. We need to be the same way. If we want God to heal us, we need to be ready to accept it when He has decided that it is time. The question I need to ask myself when I consider areas where I need God’s healing (whether physical or otherwise) is, “Do I want to get well?”
Elkanah had two wives, which led to problems. Yet God used that circumstance. Peninnah, who had children, taunted Hannah, who had none, over Hannah’s lack. This led Hannah to desperately seek God’s assistance. Hannah was a woman of faith. She made a vow to God which she kept. When God granted her prayer for a son, she gave that son into God’s service. Hannah desired a son for her own reasons, but she dedicated that son to serving God. In the same way, when God grants us our desires, we need to dedicate what we have received to God’s service.
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. 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.
Hannah desperately desired to have a son. She went before God and poured out her heart to Him. She prayed so fervently that Eli, the priest, thought she was drunk. When she explained to Eli that she was praying out of deep anguish and sorrow, Eli blessed her with the wish that her prayer be fulfilled. This lifted her spirits and she was able to eat again, the passage tells us that she was no longer sad. Just this part gives us some strong guidance on how we should live. Hannah was desperately sad but she did not wallow in that sadness, nor did she turn it to anger at herself or others. She turned to God and poured out her heart to Him. Eli listened when she told him she was not drunk and gave her a blessing from God which lifted her spirits. We should follow both of their examples. We should bring our troubles and lay them before God. And we should listen to those who tell us they are suffering and let them know that we are calling God’s blessing on them.
In due time, Hannah’s prayer was answered and she bore a son. When her son, named Samuel, was old enough they went to the Tabernacle and Hannah gave him into the service of the Lord. Samuel stayed and assisted Eli the priest. Hannah sang a song of great praise which contained a warning against boasting and arrogance and reminded us that no one succeeds by strength alone.
The passage concludes by contrasting Eli’s sons with Samuel. Eli’s sons abused their authority and position. I am having trouble wording what the passage seems to be saying was the worst of their sin. Rather than serve as facilitators of other’s worship of the Lord they interfered with it. They did so cavalierly in the pursuit of their own desires. However, we are told that Samuel served the Lord, even though he was but a boy. We are told that each year when his family came to sacrifice his mother brought him a small coat. Samuel knew that he was loved and grew up desiring to serve the Lord.
One time when Jesus went to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days, He passed near the pool of Bethesda. Many disabled persons would lie there because it was believed that the first to enter the water after it was stirred up would be healed (and maybe they were the passage does not tell us). There was a man there who had been crippled for thirty eight years. When Jesus learned this, He asked the man if he wanted to be healed. The man replied that whenever the water was stirred, as he was trying to get in someone would get in ahead of him. Notice that the man tried to take action to get better but was unable to accomplish it. He had not resigned himself to his condition, even after 38 years.
Jesus saw his faith and his desire and told him to get up, pick up his mat and walk. The man was healed and did as Jesus instructed. This happened on a Sabbath day. When the Jewish leaders saw the man carrying his sleeping mat, they told him that the law forbade him carrying the mat. The man replied that the one who had healed him had told him to do so. The Jewish leaders wanted to know who had told him to do that. Am I willing to listen to what Jesus tells me to do, even when the arbiters of what is acceptable in our society tell me it is wrong? That I am a “sinner” for doing so? Will I take up my mat and walk?
The passage ends with Jesus claiming to be the Son of God and explaining what that means. He tells us that the Son can do nothing except what He sees the Father doing. Further, the Son does whatever He sees the Father doing. He then tells us that the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. So, first He tells us that the Son does not do anything that He does not see the Father doing. Second, He tells us that the Son does everything He sees the Father do. Finally He tells us that the Father shows the Son everything that He, the Father, does. Based on other passages, I believe that this applies to us as well. We should be doing everything that we see Jesus doing and nothing that we do not see Jesus doing. I know that my problems in this life stem from my failure to keep watching Jesus to see what He is doing. At my best, all too often I am like a son who sees his father hammering nails into a board to carefully attach it to something he is building who then goes off and starts hammering nails into every board he sees. I need to watch closer and realize that the nails are only supposed to be hammered into certain boards and then only at certain places. Of course, that is at my best, all too often, I am not even watching Jesus and going off and doing my own thing without giving thought to what Jesus is doing, that I am supposed to be imitating. That results in me doing many things that are not only at the wrong time and place but are completely the wrong thing for me to do at any time or place. I pray to God that I listen to His Spirit when it reminds me to keep my eye on Jesus so that I can follow His cues as to what I should be doing.
The psalm I have been reading over the last several days that has been talking about how God molds His people. It tells us the purpose of all the things which the people went through (and of all of the things that we go through).
All this happened so they would follow his decrees
and obey his instructions.
Praise the Lord!
Let us remember that everything we go through is to teach us to follow God’s decrees and obey His instructions. Therefore, I will praise Him even for the difficult times.
Magrat on the rocks
The first proverb tells us that a growing population brings glory to a king, while a prince with no subjects is nothing. This weekend at meetings my congregation had it was brought up that there is a passage which says that we are kings in God’s service (Revelation 5:10). When I think about this in light of what Jesus says that he who wishes to be greatest must serve others, I think that I need to ask myself, “How many people am I serving?” Is the population that I am serving growing? Or is it no one?
The second proverb tells us that a hot temper shows great foolishness, that those who are wise control their temper. I have fairly good control over my temper, but this weekend God revealed to me that I have become complacent about my anger and have recently acted in ways that are not pleasing to God when I was angry. I have been convicted that I need to turn my anger over to God. I repent of my failure to allow Him to control my life in those situations and pray that His Spirit will remind of His will the next time I am angry.
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.
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.
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.
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.
