I am not a parent, but I have observed the truth of this proverb time and again. Parents who love their children discipline their children. I have seen many parents with different discipline styles. The key factor in those parents who did a good job raising their children was that they were consistent in their application of discipline. They did not discipline out of anger. They did not fail to discipline because it wasn’t worth their time. They made it clear through their actions that they imposed the rules they had because they believed those rules were best for their children.
Today’s reading contains 2 psalms. The first one reminds us that our life is short. We have but a few years to do God’s will. It reminds us to pray that God remind us of how short life is so that we will use our time wisely.
The second psalm reminds us that if we turn to God for safety we will not need to fear anything, neither terrors in the night, or attacks by day. When we trust and obey God, He will protect us from all harm. God promises to rescue those who love Him and protect those who trust Him.
At the end of yesterday’s passage Jesus described a time of great destruction and trials that was to come. His prophecy was primarily concerned with the coming destruction of Jerusalem (which happened in A.D. 70). However, His conclusion to that prophecy which begins today’s passage shows us that there is more to this prophecy than just that. He tells us that when we see the signs He spoke of, we will know that the Kingdom of God is near. So, when we see the nations in turmoil and people terrified by what is coming upon the earth, we should rejoice because it means that God’s Kingdom is near.
Even more importantly, as we see these things going on we must not allow the day of the Lord’s return catch us unaware. There are several ways in which that might happen. We might allow the worries of this life weigh down our hearts, or our hearts may become dulled by drunkenness and carousing. Rather than allowing that to happen let us keep our hearts and minds sharp in service to God. Otherwise we may get caught unawares when that day arrives. Above all let us pray for the strength to escape the coming difficulties.
Joshua failed as a leader in one key respect. He did not train up a leader to take his place when he died. It was the resulting lack of leadership which allowed the people of Israel to move in among the pagans living in the Promised Land rather than waiting until they were driven out to move in. Since they were living among the pagans, they adopted some of their practices and worshiped their gods. Rather than insisting that those who wanted to live among them worship God, they began to live among those who worshiped other gods. This is an important reminder that if we begin to water down God’s commands before long we will be following the commands of other gods.
This proverb is based on an important point about love. If I truly love someone, I want what is best for them, even if that results in them not liking, let alone loving, me. I am not a parent, yet I have observed the truth of this proverb time and again. Parents who truly love their children make the effort and take the time to lovingly discipline them. Those parents who are more concerned with having their children loving them than in what is best for the child carry out lax discipline. In both cases, the children know the truth. Children whose parents discipline them consistently based on what the parent believe is best for the child know to the deepest part of their being that their parents love them. Children whose parents are lax, or inconsistent, disciplinarians do not truly believe that their parents love them.
The psalmist reminds us that what to us is a long time is but a moment to God. God will fulfill His promises, but the passage of time is not the same to Him as it is to us. The psalmist follows that up by reminding us that we do not have much time to serve God. Let us do what we can to serve God while we still have strength and time.
I will join the psalmist in saying about God:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.
I know that He will rescue and protect me. He will answer when I call. You too may have such confidence if you love Him and trust in His name. I will seek to serve the Lord in all of my actions.
Jesus reminds us not to let ourselves become distracted by carousing and drunkenness, nor by the worries of this life. Let us keep alert for how we can serve God and pray that He give the strength to stand before Christ. Let us always be on the watch for Christ’s return so that He will find us faithfully serving Him when He arrives.
After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel conquered more of the land. However, they failed to completely drive the people who were already living there out of the land. From the account written here, this was partially a lack of ability and partially a lack of will. For example, the tribe of Judah attacked and defeated Jerusalem, killing everyone there. However, when the tribe of Benjamin too possession of Jerusalem, they allowed the Jebusites to live there with them. I always struggle with the lesson presented here and at other places in the Old Testament. The Israelites often fell into sin because they failed to keep themselves separate from the peoples around them.
On the one hand, it is important to keep ourselves separate from those who do not worship and serve God. On the other hand, we cannot bring the Gospel message to the lost if we do not interact with them. As we live our lives we must balance our need to spend time with those who will strengthen our dedication to serving God with reaching out to those who do not yet have a relationship with Him.
Well, I am several days into my second year of this blog. Some days, I can tell that I see things in the passage I am writing on that I never saw before. Other days, all I get out of the passage is a reaffirmation of things I get every time I have read it. The story of the widow’s mite yesterday is a great example of this. I did not see anything new in the passage, but it still challenged me and led me to new resolve to make sacrifices in order to give to the Lord’s work.
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.
I begin the book of Judges today. After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked God which tribe should first attack the Canaanites to clear their land. God told them that Judah should go first. The warriors of Judah asked the tribe of Simeon for help clearing their land, promising to help clear Simeon’s land when they were done. Together the two tribes drove out all of the Canaanites living in the hill country of the land allotted to both tribes. However, the Canaanites living on the plains had iron chariots and they were unable to drive them out. A similar pattern emerged as the other tribes renewed their drives to take control of their allotted land. The tribes conquered much of the territory but failed to completely drive the existing residents out.
God sent a messenger throughout the land of Israel, challenging the Israelites for their failure to drive the peoples out of the land and making treaties with them. God told them that since they had made treaties with the people living in the land, He would no longer drive them out ahead of the Israelites, rather those people would remain as a thorn in the side of the Israelites. Their gods would be a constant temptation to the Israelites.
Jesus tells us to be alert, to not let carousing, drunkenness, or the worries of this life dull our love for Him or cloud our minds. The Kingdom of God is near and we should pray that we remain strong enough to escape the coming horrors and to stand before God. Jesus tells us in this passage that “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.”
Every day Jesus went to the Temple to preach and in the evening He went out to the Mount of Olives to spend the night. The religious leaders were plotting how to kill Jesus without triggering a riot. In the middle of their plotting, Judas approached them with an offer to help them arrest Jesus when the people were not around. The religious leaders were delighted at this offer and promised to pay him for doing so. The passage gives us no insight into Judas’ motives. Which in itself tells us something important, God does not care why we do evil. It is not our intentions that matter, but our actions. If I do wrong for the best of motives, it is still wrong. You can never accomplish good ends by evil actions.
As the Feast of Unleavened Bread arrived, Jesus sent Peter and John to make preparations for Jesus and the disciples to eat the Passover meal. He gave them explicit instructions on how to find the person who would allow them to use his guest room. I used to read this as Jesus sending them to meet someone who He miraculously knew would allow them to eat in his guest room. However, a year or two back, I realized that Jesus’ instructions read like directions given to someone to meet at a prearranged place. I believe that Jesus had prearranged with the owner of the room for Jesus and His disciples to eat the Passover meal there.
The psalmist tells us that God has been there ruling all since before there was time. He tells us that to God, a thousand years pass as a few hours of the night to us, hardly long enough to notice. God sees our sins, even those we think we have kept carefully hidden, they are in plain view to God. Our lives are short and even our best years are filled with pain and trouble. It is only through recognition of how brief our lives are that we can learn wisdom and even that comes solely at the hand of God.
It is God who makes us glad through His unfailing love. The source of our happiness and joy are the works of God’s hands. As God shows us His power, we experience joy. It is only as we find favor with God that our efforts will be successful. When we strive to do God’s will, He will make our efforts successful. We do not accomplish anything, not even God’s will, through our own skill and power, it is God who makes our efforts successful.
In the next psalm, the psalmist tells us that God will be our shelter. IF we place our trust in God we do not need to fear the traps that are set for us, nor the terrors of the night, nor the disaster at midday. If we but open our eyes we will see how the wicked are punished. IF we make God our refuge, no evil will be able to conquer us. He will order His angels to protect us wherever we go. Let us always remember that God keeps His word and He says:
“I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
15 When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.”
Those who love their children will discipline them, failing to discipline your child is a sign that you do not truly love them. I do not have children, but time and again I have seen how the children of those who apply stern discipline with consistency are confident of their parent’s love. But those whose parents cannot be bothered to discipline them are constantly seeking reassurance that they are loved.
