Despite the many times Israel had rebelled against God, He kept coming back to them. The psalmist points out how He raised up David to lead them. Let us pray that God raises up a David to lead us today.
Jesus tells a parable that many of us need to think about carefully. God has planted us in His garden, but He did not plant us there for our benefit. He planted us in His garden so that we could bear fruit. I don’t quite know how to say this, but if our lives have seemed to suddenly get easier perhaps we are running out of time to bear fruit.
The parable about the mustard seed and the parable of the yeast are related, but make somewhat different points. Both parables make the point that while we, individually, or as a group, may be small and weak, we can make large contributions. The parable of the mustard seed tells us that the group that God has called to a task may be small, but if they faithfully serve God they will grow until they are large enough to fulfill the task for which He called them. The parable of the yeast tells us that even though those who are serving God may be few, if they faithfully serve God they will influence the society around them completely out of proportion to their numbers.
When Moses blessed the tribes of Israel, he described them each being faithful to God and the blessings which they would receive as long as they remained faithful. Each of the tribes was called to different things, and each of them was promised a different blessing for as long as they remained faithful. The same thing holds true today. God offers each of us blessings in line with the personalities He has given us. These blessings come as a result of us being faithful in the mission to which God has called us. He calls each of us to a mission which has been custom designed for the gifts and personality traits which God has given us.
We may think that God has abandoned us because of our sins, but, if we turn back to Him, He will rouse to our defense. However, the rescue He brings us may not come from the direction we were expecting and He may lead us down paths completely different from where we thought He wanted us to go. Let us remember that the plans God has for us will be far better than anything we could have imagined for ourselves.
Jesus reminds us that we are all sinners deserving of death. If we do not repent of our sins and turn to God, we will suffer and die. He follows this up with a parable of a fig tree that has been carefully tended, but failed to bear fruit. The man who had planted it determined to cut it down. However, his gardener begged him to give it one more year. That is where we are. If we are not currently bearing the fruit of the Spirit for a harvest for God, we are on borrowed time. We have a limited amount of time left to demonstrate that we will respond to the love which God has lavished on us. When I read passages like this one, and look at my life, I grieve at how far I have fallen short of fulfilling God’s will for my life and pray that He will change me so that I will do more for Him.
God loves His people, those whom He has called to His service. I read this passage, and the very different blessing which Moses gave for each of the tribes, and I was reminded of how God calls each of us to different paths in this life. Let us not think that because someone else has been called to leadership and been blessed by following that call that it means that we need to take up a position of leadership in order to be blessed. Some are called to build up their families and teach the next generation to serve God. Others are called to stand up to pressure and use the strength God has given them to resist evil. Yet others are called to exercise the gifts which God has given them in economic matters to acquire wealth to use for furthering God’s purpose. I will not go on listing the various ways in which God may call different people, since I cannot possibly list them all. Whatever path God has called you to trod, follow it with dedication to Him and He will bless you throughout your life and into the next.
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.
Having warned the people of Israel about the results of breaking their covenant with God, he declares a blessing on them, picking out each of the tribes for a specific blessing. Moses told them that they would live in safety as long as they faithfully served God.
Jesus was told about a group of Galileans who were killed by Pilate while they made their sacrifices in the Temple. Jesus told the people that the Galileans who were killed were no greater sinners than anyone else. Jesus told us that unless we repent and turn from our sins, we will suffer a similar fate.
Jesus then told a parable about a fig tree that a man planted. He repeatedly looked to see if it had borne fruit and it had not. Finally, he decided to cut it down and burn it. His gardener told him to give it one more year. The gardener would give it special attention and care. If it did not bear fruit after one more year, than the owner should cut it down and burn it. Have we borne fruit for God? How long do we have left to be fruitful servants of God before He cuts us down and throws us in the fire?
One Sabbath when Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, He saw a woman who was crippled with bad back pain (the description sounds like someone with bad arthritis in their back). Jesus turned to the woman, told her she was healed and touched her. Immediately she was able to stand up straight and she praised God. The synagogue leader was furious that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. He told the people that there were six days for working and they should come for healing on one of those days, not the Sabbath. Jesus was equally furious and called the synagogue leader (and those who shared his sentiment) a hypocrite. He told those there that they already did some work on the Sabbath, they fed and watered their animals on the Sabbath (He was not condemning them for doing that). If it was OK to feed and water mere animals on the Sabbath, isn’t it fit that a child of God be healed on the Sabbath? We should never let our rules interfere with doing good for others.
Jesus then tells two parables about what the Kingdom of God is like. In one He compares it to a mustard seed, which is tiny yet grows to be a large bush/tree. In the other He compares the Kingdom of God to yeast, of which only a small amount is needed to cause a large amount of dough to rise. The point here is that we should not let the fact that we are weak and/or few in number keep us from doing the will of God. If we do the will of God we will have disproportionate impact on the world around us. Even if we are weak or few in numbers (or both), if we do the will of God we will have a huge effect on the society around us. In some cases, God will call us to be like the mustard seed where we will start something going that will grow into a large “tree” that will provide for the needs of those suffering. In other cases, God calls us to be like yeast, where our dedication to God and His ways will transform society around us in the way that yeast causes dough to rise to multiple times its original size.
The psalmist concludes this psalm by telling us that after allowing the children of Israel to suffer the results of their sins, God rose up and drove their enemies back. He raised up David to lead them to defeat their enemies and back to serving Him. We can remember this, God will allow people to suffer the consequences of their sin for a time, but then He will raise up leaders to bring them back to Him and bring them relief from their suffering.
People become weighed down and depressed due to worry. However, if we offer those struggling with worry an encouraging word it will build them up and lift them up. Let us put aside worry and the depression that comes with it, trusting in God to provide for our needs. Let us further work to encourage those whom the worries of this life have overwhelmed and left depressed. I will strive to show them how God’s wondrous power will relieve them of their troubles.
