For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Evil people may gain wealth, but such wealth is only temporary. The rewards of godliness are eternal.

    Victory comes from God, so let us wait quietly before God. We will find rest in Him and if we faithfully and patiently wait for Him, we will not be shaken. No enemy will reach us if we rest in Him. This psalm gives me so much peace. Read the psalm and the psalmist says it so much better than I can.

    I am not one who gets much out of genealogies. Jesus was the descendant of King David and through David He was descended from several of the most important women of the Old Testament (Ruth, Rahab, and Tamar). All three of those women have interesting stories and their place in the history of faith is significant. Another interesting ancestor of Jesus is Zerubbabel, who governed the Exiles when they returned to Jerusalem.

    There is more to this passage than this, but this is what hit me today. As I read through these festivals I noticed it said in various ways that the offerings that were described were in addition to the regular offerings. That means that we should be making regular offerings to God and, in addition to those regular offerings, we should make special offerings to celebrate special events throughout the year.
    The other aspect of these festivals that came to my attention was that there were days within them where the Israelites were instructed to do no ordinary work. There are times when we should set aside our ordinary activities in order to focus on worshiping God.

    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, or more. in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

    The rewards which the wicked gain seem great, but they have no lasting value. However, righteous behavior results in righteous, lasting rewards. Righteousness provides life, wickedness leads to death and destruction.

    I will wait quietly before God because that is where my hope lies. Oh, how difficult that is to do when troubles seem to be all around. I want to place all of my trust in God, but that is hard when I do not see the way out. Yet, I do find refuge in Him. I pour my heart out to Him. I have been in similar situations and God has been faithful to guide me through. I have faith that He will do so once more. I cannot comprehend how those who do not share my faith and knowledge of God face similar difficult times. When God sees me through to the other side, I will not allow wealth to become the center of my life.

    I came across an interesting thing for those reading this who may be Star Wars fans. As some may know, Hebrew does not have a sound that is equivalent of the English “J” sound, the sound that gets transliterated as “J” in English Bibles is actually closer to the “Y” sound. I could go into the explanation of how that happened, but I don’t remember it in full and that is not important for what I am writing. What I noticed is that Luke lists one of Jesus’ ancestors as being Joda. That’s right, Yoda is an ancestor of Jesus.
    There are those for whom the study of Jesus’ ancestry brings spiritual insight. Generally I am not one of them, although it is worth mentioning that Jesus is the descendant of Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth, three women whose stories play significant roles in the Old Testament.

    There is a lot of rich symbolism in the feasts and assemblies described in today’s passage. Unfortunately, I know that I do not have a full appreciation for this symbolism. Passover occurs at the beginning of Spring with the Feast of Weeks (or Pentecost, or Shavuot) being held seven weeks later. The other three Feasts/Assemblies are held in the fall and follow the fall harvest. I think that we miss something by not practicing something like these feasts and assemblies, but I am not sure how we could implement them in our congregations in our modern societies.