For today, One Year Bible Online links here. For those of you who do not read this every day, I was very sick last week and it affected my writing (I do not know if for the better or worse). While I am still taking antibiotics, I am otherwise feeling better. I thank those of you have been praying for me.
This proverb reminds us that quarreling is closely tied with sinning. If you start a quarrel because you trust your defenses, you are inviting disaster. If you attempt to win your quarrel using deceits and lies you will suffer as a consequence, even if you “win” the quarrel.
I will say that this proverb serves as a warning to me. I love to argue (as in debate…but debates are more formal), but this reminds me that it important to not allow an argument to become a quarrel. I strive to extract myself from an argument when my emotional investment in my argument starts to overwhelm my rational thought (or I observe the same happening to the other party).
I love this psalm. This psalm is one which we should teach regularly. God knows our every thought and action. Nothing is hidden from Him. He knows what we are going to do before we do it. He knows what we are going to say before we say it. He knows what we are going to think before we think it. There is no place, and no circumstance where God does not know what we are doing. When we do things which harm ourselves, it pains Him. And the final verse is my prayer
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Change my life so that those things in me which offend you are removed.
After Paul’s sermon many people asked Paul and Barnabas to speak about the topic again the following week. Many of those who had heard Paul speak followed them to continue the discussion. The following week, Paul and Barnabas attracted a large crowd. This led some of the Jews to be hostile to them and to seek to turn others against them. In response to the Jewish hostility, Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue and preached among the Gentiles. Many came to believe as a result. However, and here we have a warning, the Jews managed to stir up the influential religious women and city political leaders against Paul and Barnabas. The warning is against efforts to stir up hostility among those who strive to be righteous against people and groups on the basis of rumor and innuendo.
When they were chased out of Antioch in Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas went to Iconium, where they had a similar experience. They initially spoke at the Jewish synagogue, but some of the Jews were offended by their message and spread lies about them. Nevertheless, Paul and Barnabas were able to preach there for an extended period of time. Overall these two accounts remind us that we should be true to the Gospel message in the face of hostility. We should not change the message in order to attempt to respond to hostility to that message.
What I am about to write is not original with me. In today’s passage we have the account of three army captains and their men sent to arrest Elijah. The first two captains acknowledged that Elijah was a man of God, but believed that the king had authority over him nevertheless. The king had commanded Elijah to appear, so in their minds, Elijah was obligated to do so. They believed that their own authority, which derived from the authority of the king, was greater than Elijah’s authority, which derived from God. The third captain recognized that Elijah’s authority, because it derived from God, was greater than his own authority. The lesson here is that the government’s authority is subordinate to God’s authority. When the third army captain acknowledged that he had no authority, no ability, to compel Elijah’s actions, God instructed Elijah to accompany him. I think this is an important message for us today. The agents of the government do not have the authority to compel the agents of God to obey them. It gets more complicated when we consider whether the government has the authority to compel the agents of God. I will keep this topic in the back of my mind as I continue reading through the Bible to see what it says on that subject.
The love of quarrels is a love of sin. Some people love getting into quarrels because they believe their defenses will protect them from any attack. However, those who think their defenses will protect them from whatever trouble they can start are courting disaster. If you allow your heart to become corrupted so that all you desire is perversion you will not prosper. If you think that you can make your way through life by telling lies, those lies will lead you into trouble.
What a wonderful psalm! It is worth memorizing and meditating on.
O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
How very true this is. It is both comforting and frightening at the same time. It is frightening because there is no place I can go to hide from God. Every sin I commit is plainly in His sight. On the other hand, it is comforting because no matter where I am, God can reach out to save me and enfold me in His arms. Further the psalmist tells us that God knew all of our actions before we were born:
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
Finally the psalmist concludes by asking God to test him and correct him so that he could faithfully serve Him. I make this my prayer:
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Test me, oh God, and cleanse me of that which offends You.
Paul’s sermon at the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia was initially well received by the Jews of that town. As a result, Paul and Barnabas were invited to speak again the following week at the synagogue. However, when a very large crowd turned out to hear Paul and Barnabas speak, some of them became jealous. Rather than rejoice in God using Paul and Barnabas to reach outsiders, they began to work to stir up sentiment against them. Those who were jealous of Paul and Barnabas were willing, and even eager, to receive their message when they thought that it was just for them as members of an exclusive group. However, when Paul and Barnabas made it clear that their message was for all who would hear it, they became hostile.
The Gospel message is not a message for an exclusive group of people. It is a message for all who will listen. In addition,we should preach the Gospel to those who are willing to hear it. If the group we first approached rejects our message, we are not only free to move on to those who are receptive, but called to do so.
When the king sent troops to arrest Elijah, the first two sets of troops were destroyed by fire. Yet the third was not. The difference between these three groups was the way they viewed the relationship between the Church and the state. The commanders of the first two stated that Elijah was a man of God, yet believed that because they were acting on the king’s orders that they had the authority to command Elijah’s actions. The third commander recognized that the king was unable to give him authority over a man of God, that the final authority was God. Notice that when the third commander begged Elijah to spare his life, God directed Elijah to accompany him. If we are truly men and women of God, the government will not be able to use force of arms (or any other means) to stop us from following God’s will.
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for over 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.
After Ahab’s death, his son Ahaziah ruled in Israel. One day he fell through latticework in an upper room of the palace and was seriously injured. He sent messengers to Ekron to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron as to whether he would get better. Elijah intercepted the messengers and told them to tell Ahaziah that he would die because he had sent to consult Baal-Zebub rather than asking God whether he would get better. When the messengers return and tell King Ahaziah Elijah’s message, he sends a captain with 50 men to arrest Elijah.
When the captain found Elijah, he called Elijah a man of God and told him that the king had demanded that Elijah come with them. Elijah responded that if he was a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume the captain and his men. Fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his men. Ahaziah sent a second captain with 50 men to arrest Elijah. This captain also called Elijah a man of God and told him that Ahaziah demanded that he come at once. Elijah repeated what he had told the first captain with the same results. Ahaziah sent a third captain with 50 men. This third captain also called Elijah a man of God, but rather than demand, based on the king’s authority, that Elijah come with him, this captain begged Elijah to spare his and his men’s lives. God told Elijah to go with this captain and he did so. When Elijah arrived at the palace, he told Ahaziah what he had told Ahaziah’s messengers, that he would never rise from his sick bed but would die in it. Shortly afterward Ahaziah died and was succeeded by his brother Joram.
We could read this passage and see it as telling us that the first two groups of soldiers died because they were caught in a difficult place. However, if we look a little closer we see something different. The first two captains approached Elijah and acknowledged that he was a man of God, but they assumed that the authority of the king was binding on the man of God. The third captain acknowledged that, as a man of God, Elijah was only subject to the commands of the king as God allowed. In the same way, if we are people of God, we are only subject to the edicts of the government as God directs us. When the laws and edicts of the government go against what God directs, we have an obligation to not follow them. Further, the government will only be able to act against us for violating its directions inasmuch as God allows, no matter how much force the government brings to bear.
When the time came for Elijah to end his ministry on this earth, he told Elisha to stay where they were while he, Elijah traveled to Bethel. Elisha insisted on accompanying Elijah. When they got to Bethel, a group of prophets came to Elisha and told him that God was going to take Elijah soon. Elisha told them that he knew that and that they should keep quiet about it. Elijah then told Elisha to stay at Bethel while he went to Jericho. Again Elisha refused to stay behind. The prophets at Jericho told Elisha the same thing as the prophets at Bethel had said and Elisha responded the same way. Now Elijah told Elisha that he should stay at Jericho while Elijah went to the Jordan. Once more, Elisha refused to stay behind.
When they got to the Jordan, Elijah folded up his cloak and struck the water with it. When he did so, the Jordan River divided and the two men crossed over. The prophets from Jericho had accompanied them as far as the Jordan, but did not cross with them. Once they had crossed the Jordan River, Elijah asked Elisha what he could do for him. Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit and to be his successor. Elijah told Elisha that he had asked for a difficult thing, but if he saw Elijah when he was taken, he would receive it. As they walked on a chariot of fire drove between them and Elijah was carried into heaven by a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out in grief and tore his clothes. He then picked up Elijah’s cloak and returned to the Jordan. When Elisha got to the Jordan he took the cloak, struck the water with it and cried out, “Where now is the God of Elijah?” The Jordan River divided for Elisha just as it had for Elijah. The prophets who were waiting for Elisha to return recognized that the spirit that had rested on Elijah was resting on Elisha. They offered to send 50 men to search for Elijah, but Elisha initially declined. They persisted and Elisha relented and told them to search. The searchers returned after three days without finding Elijah.
The elders of Jericho came to Elisha and asked him if he could do anything about the fact that the water in and around the town was bad in a way that made the land unproductive. Following God’s leading, Elisha purified the water. Shortly after that Elisha left Jericho to go to Bethel. On the way, a gang of boys came out and started to taunt him and make fun of him. Elisha turned, called down a curse on the boys and two bears emerged from the woods, mauling 42 of the boys. This sounds cruel, but think about the situation. Elisha was a lone traveler in a somewhat remote region. A large gang of unsupervised boys (the word suggests that they were in their teens) comes out and starts making fun of him and jeering him. Think about how you would view this situation if you were walking through a bad neighborhood in the inner city, or in a dirt poor region of Appalachia. You are in whichever of those you chose, more than 40 teenage boys came out and started to say nasty things about you and make fun of you, telling you to get out of that area. There is no one else around. What are the odds that those boys are likely to turn violent? If not with you, then perhaps the next passerby, or the one after that.
When Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue after Paul’s preaching, people begged them to come back the following week and tell them more. The following week, almost everybody came to hear Paul and Barnabas speak. When the Jews saw the crowds that came to hear Paul speak they became jealous and began to contradict him. They even went so far as to deride him personally. Paul and Barnabas were not intimidated by the animosity of the Jews. They told them that they had to offer the word of salvation first to the Jews, but since the Jews had rejected it they were free to preach to the Gentiles. The Gentiles in the city were thankful for the willingness of Paul and Barnabas to preach to them and many of them became believers. The Jews stirred up the religious women and city leaders against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town. Paul and Barnabas shook the dust of the town from their feet and moved on to Iconium.
When they got to Iconium they once again started by speaking in the synagogue. A large number of Jews and Gentiles became believers as a result. However, some of those Jews who rejected their teaching worked to poison the minds of the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas and their message. Nevertheless Paul and Barnabas stayed in Iconium quite some time, speaking boldly and performing wonders and miracles to bring glory to God. The people of the town were divided about them. Eventually a group of those opposed the them decided to attack and stone them. However, Paul and Barnabas learned of it and left the city before that happened.
Paul and Barnabas followed a pattern when they went to a new city. The first thing they did was go to the synagogue. They went to those who shared their faith and started preaching there. They did not arrive in town and immediately plant a new church. No, they went and worked with those who were already there proclaiming themselves to be serving God. It was only when the already established group rejected their ministry that they went elsewhere. And the thing is they didn’t stop after they had run into problems in one or two, or more cities. Paul continued this pattern for his entire ministry. I think this reflects something we should do when we are called into a new area to preach the gospel. If there is an established congregation there, we should attempt to work with them first. It is only if and when they reject the way that God is guiding us to minister that we should go out and plant a new congregation.
Today’s psalm is often used by those fighting against abortion, and there is nothing wrong with that. But we make a grave mistake if that is all we see in it because this psalm is so much more than that. A couple of days ago I read that John Ratzenberger had made the comment that when he was growing up we didn’t need surveillance cameras and other spying techniques because we had God. His point was that when he was young he was taught what this psalm tells us. God is always watching us. He knows everything we do. It doesn’t matter how we try to hide it, God sees and knows. Even if we could hide it from God’s sight, it would do us no good, because God knows what we are going to do before we do it.
But there is more to this psalm than God watching us. It also tells us that God has a plan for our life that He laid out before we were born. Fifty years ago, when I was still in my mother’s womb, God knew, and planned, that I would be sitting here today writing this. The psalm goes on to tell us that each one of us is the object of more thoughts of God than there are grains of sand. I will conclude my comments on this psalm by asking the same thing the psalmist did:
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
This first proverb is a challenge to me: “Anyone who loves to quarrel loves sin…” because I love to debate and there is a fine line between debating and quarreling. There is nothing wrong with debating various things, but it is important to remember that it is all too easy to become emotionally attached to your debating points and then your debate becomes a quarrel. The point of debating is to learn the truth and there is no shame in learning that you were wrong about something. The shame comes from refusing to admit that you were wrong.
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.
After King Ahab’s death, his son King Ahaziah takes the throne. At some point, King Ahaziah falls through some latticework on an upper floor of his palace and is seriously injured. He wants to know if he will recover, so he sends messengers to the temple of the god of Ekron to inquire. While they are en route, Elijah intercepts them and tells them that because he sent to consult an idol rather than God, Ahaziah will die from his injuries. When the messengers gave Ahaziah this message, he sent fifty men to arrest Elijah. When they found Elijah, their leader called Elijah a man of God and told him that the king had commanded that he come with them. Elijah replied that if he was a man of God fire would come down from heaven and destroy those fifty men. This happened. King Ahaziah sends another fifty men. The same thing happens. King Ahaziah sends a third group of fifty men. The leader of the third group of fifty men recognizes that he has no ability to force Elijah to do anything and begs Elijah to spare the life of himself and his men. God tells Elijah to go with this group and he does. The first two groups of men believed that they had the ability and right to compel Elijah’s compliance to the King’s will despite acknowledging that Elijah was a man of God. They felt that their strength and the King’s authority carried more weight than the will of God as expressed through Elijah. The commander of the third group recognized that they would be unable to compel Elijah to do anything that God did not allow to happen. That Elijah was only subject to the secular authorities if God chose to allow it.
Some time after this, Elijah and Elisha were traveling together. Elijah tells Elisha to stay where he is while Elijah goes on ahead. Elisha tells Elijah that he will never leave him. When they arrive at the destination, a group of prophets came to Elisha and asked him if he knew that God was about to take Elijah. Elisha replies that of course he knows. Again Elijah tells Elisha to stay where he is while Elijah goes on ahead. And again Elisha tells Elijah that he will never leave him. When they arrive at their next destination, another group of prophets ask Elisha if he knows that God is about to take Elijah and again Elijah tells them that he knows. A third time Elijah tells Elisha to stay behind while he goes on ahead and again Elisha says that he will not leave him. This time fifty of the prophets followed them at a distance. When Elijah and Elisha come to the Jordan river, Elijah uses his cloak to cause the Jordan river to part for them and they cross. Elijah asks Elisha what he wants before Elijah is taken away. Elisha asks for a double share of Elijah’s spirit and to be his successor. Elijah tells him the if he sees Elijah taken, he will get his desire. As they continued to walk and talk, a chariot of fire pulled by fiery horses drives between them. While they are thus separated, a whirlwind carries Elijah into heaven. Elisha witnesses this and is distressed, even though he knew it was coming. Elisha picks up Elijah’s cloak and returns the way they had come (including parting the Jordan).
After Elijah is taken up, Elisha spends some time in Jericho. The elders of the town approach Elisha because their water supply is tainted. Elisha pours a bowl of salt into the spring where they got their water purifying it. Shortly after this Elisha leaves Jericho and travels to Bethel. As he is walking a gang of young men comes out and start harassing him. They tell him to go away and insult him. There is an element in their choice of words that suggests that when they told him to go away they were telling him to die. This was a large group of people approaching a single individual who was a stranger to them in a somewhat isolated area. It reminds me of stories that have been in the news recently about gangs of young people who have surrounded strangers and beaten them up. In this case, they chose the wrong target. Elisha turns to them and curses them. At which point two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of them to death. Think about that, the bears mauled forty-two of them, but not all of them. That means there were more than forty-two of them in the mob that harassed Elisha. Again, Elisha was in a rather isolated area and a large group of boys or young men start following him, taunting him and insulting him. The language is ambiguous about their ages, but think about it, even if they are only 10-12 years old there are more than 42 of them and Elisha is alone. This was a dangerous group of people, whose parents had failed to teach any kind of discipline. Sooner or later they were going to seriously hurt someone, if they had not already done so.
After Paul’s speech in the synagogue, the people begged them to come back the following week and tell them more about the Gospel. The following week we are told that most of the city came out to hear them speak. Some of the Jews were jealous of Paul and Barnabas and began slandering them and arguing against everything they said. When the Jews rejected the Gospel message, Paul and Barnabas began preaching to the Gentiles. We are told that many became believers and the Gospel spread throughout the region. The Jews stirred up the leaders of the city and got a mob to run Paul and Barnabas out of town.
From there, Paul and Barnabas went to Iconium where a similar thing happened. Paul and Barnabas went to the synagogue and preached, many believed. But a small group of Jews became jealous and stirred up trouble for them. We are told that Paul and Barnabas stayed there a long time and performed miraculous signs, bringing many to the faith. At some point a mob is stirred up and decides to stone Paul and Barnabas. However, Paul and Barnabas learn of the plan and travel to another region.
This psalm has so much to say to us. God knows everything about us, more than we know ourselves. This psalm has been used as part of the anti-abortion argument and I certainly see why. But it is so much more than that. I am anti-abortion, but so often, we Christians have allowed others to frame the argument. Whether abortion is legal, or illegal, is irrelevant. What matters is that it is wrong. We as Christians are not called to see to it that the laws punish sinners.
We are called to see to it that the sinners know that they have the opportunity to be saved from their sins. That we too are sinners to whom God has shown another way. As we read this psalm, the psalmist says that he cannot escape God’s eye, no matter what he does. That no matter where he goes, God can see what he does. And that is not a cause for fear and cowering, but a cause of rejoicing. There is no method we can devise, no place we can go, to hide our sins from God…and this is more wonderful than we can imagine. We need,…I need to pray the psalmist’s final lines in this psalm:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
Those who love fights, disputes quarrels is a lover of sin. Those who think that they can find safety through defensive measures and military might will suffer disaster. No matter how powerful the armaments or imposing the defensive structures, those who lie and are deceitful will come to sorrow.
