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 those who take bribes are wicked and the result of bribes is the perversion of justice. There is no getting around these facts.
The first thing that struck me as I read this psalm was the reference to prayer as an incense offering we make to God. I suppose in part because I have been convicted lately that I need to pray more. Of course the next line is one that I have been praying for the last few years. I do indeed desire that God take control of what I say and guard every utterance that comes out of my mouth. It is to God whom I will look for help. I pray that He keep me from the traps which the wicked have set for the godly.
A dispute about doctrine arose between Paul and Barnabas and some unnamed believers from Jerusalem. The congregation of Antioch in Syria sent a delegation to Jerusalem to get the apostles opinion on the issue. The delegation included Paul and Barnabas, which suggests where the bulk of the congregation stood on the issue. When they got to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas were welcomed by the entire Church there, including the apostles and the elders of the Church. Paul and Barnabas gave an account of their mission trip and what God had done through them. Some of the believers present stood up and said that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised.
So, we have a dispute over Church doctrine. The key factor was over how they resolved the issue. The Church elders and the apostles met together and discussed the issue. However this was not a small, exclusive group. The account tells us that there was much discussion, then Peter got up and recounted the vision he had before visiting Cornelius. The n Paul and Barnabas told about the signs and miracles they had witnessed among the Gentiles. At that point, the NIV translates the description of the group as “the whole assembly”.
So, what do we learn about how we should resolve such issues? The elders and leadership of the entire Church gathered and discussed the issue. Everyone got a hearing. And while the passage not specify this, I believe that they prayed and sought the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Gradually, the respected leaders presented their thoughts directing towards a consensus, which the larger group accepted. Having made a decision, the group appointed delegates to convey their thoughts to the Church in Antioch.
I have heard and read many commentaries on the story of Naaman’s healing. Today the point that came to me is one I have heard before, but not the way it struck me. When Naaman came to Elisha he was upset by two things. First, he was upset that Elisha had not come out to meet him. How could Elisha not come out to meet the great general? Second, he was upset that Elisha had set him a task to complete in order to be healed, but not a heroic task, just washing himself in the Jordan. Anybody could wash themselves in the Jordan, that was no task to set a great man like Naaman. And if he had to wash himself in a river, why not one more convenient to home?
The point of all this is that when God calls me to a task, that task is the one He wants me to complete. Fulfilling the tasks God sets me are demonstrations of but one thing, my willingness to do as God instructs me. If I am seeking to do some great work for God, I am focusing on the wrong thing. God gives me the tasks which it serves His purpose for me to complete. They are not designed to bring glory to me. They are not designed to show the world what a great servant of God I am. They are designed to further God’s purpose in this world. As long as I faithfully execute the tasks which God lays before me, I have served His purpose. It is not my job to change the world. I will leave that up to God.
This proverb needs little explanation, except to note that the wicked accept the bribes in secret in order to pretend that they act from noble motives.
I will call out to the Lord, relying on Him to save me. Verse three struck me: yes, my prayer is that God will take control of what I say and guard my lips so that nothing comes from between them which might fail to glorify Him. The psalmist reminds us that we must be on guard against drifting towards evil. It is so easy to gradually drift into evil, telling ourselves, “It is only a small lie. What harm can it do?” Or something similar. Let us pray constantly that God does not allow us to fall into such a trap. I will look to God for the help I need to avoid such pitfalls. It is by His power that I will be saved.
While Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch of Syria, some men arrived from Judea and began teaching that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them strongly. Things became so heated that the church in Antioch decided to send a delegation to Jerusalem to ask for a ruling from the Apostles and the elders of the church there. The debate continued in Jerusalem. However, here the Apostles and the elders of the church met together and discussed the issue. After much discussion, Peter stood and addressed the meeting, siding with Paul and Barnabas. Then Barnabas and Paul gave their account of the Spirit’s working among the Gentiles. Finally, James stood and summarized the sense of the council.
I have long felt that the Jerusalem Council recounted here is a model we should follow in Church governance. They met together and everyone got an opportunity to have their say. When the discussion had gone on long enough and a consensus began to emerge, the leaders spoke up to put the emerging consensus into words.
In the story of Elisha curing Naaman of leprosy, Naaman was insulted that Elisha did not come out to meet him. After all, he was a great general. He expected Elisha to come out and wave his hands over him so that he was cured. Or, perhaps, Elisha would set him some epic task to prove that he was worthy of being cured. Instead, Elisha instructed him to do something simple and mundane, a little strange, but otherwise of no particular note. Naaman’s reacted by getting angry that Elisha did not show him more respect. It was only when his officers pointed out that he had not come to Elisha to be honoured, but to be cured, that Naaman relented.
How often do we react in a similar fashion when God gives us a task? We think the task is beneath us? Or that He should have used a more exalted person to assign us the task? We need to accept that sometimes God calls us to a task that has no glory attached to it. Perhaps God is calling us to a task that no one will notice that we are doing. Let us embrace that task and serve God in the role to which He calls us. Let us not seek to gain more attention than is required to do what God has called us to do.
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 a few years, the woman of Shunem’s son became sick and died. She quickly traveled to where Elisha was and asked him if she had requested that a son, if she had asked for her hopes to be raised. Elisha immediately gave his staff to his servant Gehazi and told him to run and lay it on the boy. The woman said that she would not leave Elisha, so Elisha followed on. When Gehazi got to Shunem he did as Elisha had instructed, but the boy was unresponsive. When Elisha arrived he went in to where the boy lay and after much effort was able to return the boy to life. He then returned the boy to his mother.
Elisha returned to Gilgal where he was the leader of a group of prophets. There was a famine in the land and one day Elisha told his servant to make a stew for the group. One of the young men gathered some herbs and a few gourds. He shredded them and put them in the stew. Unfortunately, the gourds were poisonous. After a few of the men present had tasted the stew, they told Elisha that the stew was poisonous and would not eat it. Elisha took some flour and put it in the stew. He then told the group that the stew was now safe to eat. They ate it and no one was harmed. On another occasion, a farmer brought Elisha twenty loaves of bread and some grain. Elisha told his servant to give it to the people to eat. His servant told him that it was not enough to feed that many. Elisha told his servant that God had said that everyone would eat and there would be leftovers. When they had given the food to the people, everyone ate and there were leftovers.
Naaman was the well-respected commander of the king of Aram’s army. However, he suffered from leprosy. Naaman’s wife had a slave girl from Israel as one of her maids. The Israelite girl told Naaman’s wife that she wished Naaman would go to the prophet in Samaria, who would heal him of his leprosy. When the king of Aram heard what the girl had said, he wrote a letter asking for Naaman to be healed of leprosy and sent him to the king of Israel. Naaman went to the king of Israel. However, the king of Israel was upset when he read the letter because he thought the king of Aram was just looking for an excuse to start a war. Elisha heard about it and told the king to send Naaman to him.
So Naaman went to Elisha’s house. When he got to the door of Elisha’s house, Elisha sent out a messenger and told Naaman to wash himself the Jordan River seven times and he would be healed. Naaman’s initial reaction was anger because Elisha himself did not come out to meet him and cure him directly. Going on from that reaction, Naaman wanted to know why he should wash in the Jordan, couldn’t he wash in one of the rivers closer to home? Naaman’s servants pointed out to him that if Elisha had told him to do something difficult and noteworthy, he would have done so. So, why not at least try what the prophet had instructed? Naaman was convinced and did as Elisha had instructed. He was healed. Naaman returned to Elisha, praised God and offered Elisha a gift. Elisha refused to accept any gifts from Naaman, although Naaman was insistent. Naaman asked Elisha for permission to take bags of dirt from there back with home with him. He told Elisha that he would never again worship any god other than the God of Israel, nor would he offer sacrifices to them. However, he asked that Elisha intercede for God to forgive him when he accompanied the King of Aram to the temple of his god and had to bow down there. Elisha told Naaman to go in peace.
The passage goes on to describe what happened when Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, went after Naaman to get some of the things which he had offered Elisha. However, to me the main take away from this passage is what Naaman’s servants said to him when he was upset with Elisha’s instructions. They told Naaman that if Elisha had asked him to do some great and difficult task in order to be healed, he would have leapt at the opportunity. However, when Elisha asked him to do something simple and humbling, he balked. How often do we react the same way when God gives us instructions? We are looking for the great task that God wants us to undertake, but are we willing to take on the tasks we perceive as minor and of little importance when God directs us to them?
After Paul and Barnabas had returned to Antioch in Syria, some believers came down from Jerusalem and told the Gentile believers that they needed to be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul and Barnabas strongly disagreed with them and argued with them passionately. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to get a decision from the church there on the issue. They told the churches along the way that Gentiles were being converted and the believers who heard the news rejoiced to hear it. When they got to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas reported on the ministry God had given them. Then some believers who had been Pharisees stood up and said that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised and taught to follow the law of Moses. The important thing to remember is that up until this point, the Christian Church was, and viewed itself as, a subset of Judaism. With few, if any, exceptions, the Christians of that day viewed themselves as Jews who followed the prophesied Messiah, not as followers of a new religion.
The apostles and other elders of the church in Jerusalem met to discuss the issue. The meeting went on some time while everyone shared their view on whether or not Gentile believers should be told to follow the law of Moses. Finally, Peter stood up and addressed the group. He told them that he had been chosen by God to preach to the Gentiles and that when he did so, they received the Holy Spirit. God had cleansed them of sin through their faith just as He had the Jewish believers. God had made no distinction between them, why did they now want to burden the Gentiles with rules that neither his listeners nor their ancestors had been able to keep? God had saved both groups through the undeserved grace of Jesus. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke about the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
At this point James stood up and gave his opinion about the decision that should be made. James said that they should not make things difficult for those Gentiles who were seeking to turn to God. They should tell the new believers to abstain from food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. The law of Moses had been taught in the synagogues for generations and had little impact on bringing people to a desire to serve God. The council agreed with James’ decision and wrote a letter to send to the believers. In addition, they chose a delegation to accompany Paul and Barnabas in taking the letter to the church in Antioch.
Another psalm that I will make my prayer today and that sums up so much of what I wish to pray everyday. I cry to the Lord and ask for His help. But for what do I cry?
Take control of what I say, O Lord,
and guard my lips.
This! Yes, this is the first of my requests to God. I want God to give me the words I should speak and to seal my lips against the words which I should not speak. The next line is another one of my fervent prayers.
Don’t let me drift toward evil
or take part in acts of wickedness.
Don’t let me share in the delicacies
of those who do wrong.
It is oh, so easy to little by little drift into doing that which is wrong. I too easily justify doing what I know I should not by thinking “It’s not that bad.” The other night a friend came over to discuss her struggle with determining how God wanted her to deal with associating with other friends who were living immoral lives. I was challenged because so rarely do I feel the desire to confront my friends with how they are hurting themselves (and others)through their sins. The friend who visited was struggling with how to witness to people specifically about the sins they are committing. How do we tell our friends that what they are doing will cause them pain without coming across as if we are telling them not to have fun? God give the words to say and the desire to say them.
Rosebud close-up
I am not sure what to say here. I think this proverb tells us that when government officials act in secret it is usually because they know that what they are doing is wicked. Actually, most of time when anyone acts in secret it is because they know that what they are doing is wicked.
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.
When the boy that Elisha had predicted for the woman from Shunem was a little older, he grew sick and died. The woman came to Elisha and tells him indirectly of the boy’s death. Elisha sends his servant to lay his staff on the boy, but the woman refuses to return home unless Elisha accompanies her. Elisha does so. On the way, his servant met him and told him that the boy was still dead even though he had followed Elisha’s instructions. Elisha prayed to God and was able to raise the child.
The passage tells us that there was a famine in the land. During this famine, Elisha performed two miracles that we are told about. The first is that while the group of prophets was making a stew, one of the young man accidentally added some poisonous gourds to it. When some of them tasted it they realized it was poisoned and told Elisha. He put some flour in it and neutralized the poison. Later during the same famine, someone brought a small amount of food to Elisha. Elisha told his servant to give it the people of the town to eat. His servant says that it is not enough for that many people. Elisha tells him that it will not only be enough but there will be leftovers. The servant gives the food to the people and there are indeed leftovers after everyone had plenty to eat.
The passage then tells us the story of Naaman. Naaman was the commander of the army of the king of Aram. Naaman had leprosy. Naaman’s wife had a slave girl as a maid who had been captured in a raid into Israel. One day this slave girl tells Naaman’s wife that she wished that Naaman would go see the prophet in Samaria, because he would heal Naaman of his leprosy. When Naaman told the king of Aram what the slave girl said, the king sent Naaman to see the prophet with a letter of introduction to the king of Israel and rich gifts. When Naaman gives his letter to the king of Israel, the king of Israel is sure that the king of Aram is seeking an excuse to attack him. When Elisha hears of the king of Israel’s distress, he sends a message to the king telling him to send Naaman to him. Naaman went to Elisha’s house and waited at the door. Elisha sent him a message telling him to go and wash in the Jordan river seven times. Naaman is furious that Elisha did not come out and see him. He expected Elisha to come out and wave his hand over him to heal him. Further Naaman doesn’t understand why he could not wash in one of the rivers closer to his home. Some of his officers point out to him that if Elisha had given him some difficult task in order to be healed, he would have done it, why not at least give washing in the Jordan a shot? Naaman listens to their counsel and washes in the Jordan seven times. The passage tells us that he was healed. Naaman returns to Elisha and offers him the goods he had brought with him. Elisha refuses the gifts. Naaman then swears that he will make no sacrifices to any god but God.
Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, thinks that Elisha should not have let Naaman go without taking at least some of his gifts. So, Gehazi goes after Naaman and makes up a story about some young men that had come to Elisha that Elisha would like Naaman to give some clothes and money. Naaman gives Gehazi the clothes and money. When Gehazi returns, he hides what Naaman gave him, but Elisha confronts him about it. Elisha tells him that because he has done this, he will have leprosy. Now the thing about this is that leprosy is a contagious disease. It is likely that Gehazi got the leprosy because he was exposed to it through the clothes he took from Naaman.
After Paul and Barnabas return from their missionary journey, some Jewish believers come from Jerusalem and begin teaching that the Gentile believers must be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them and there were vehement arguments between them. The church in Antioch decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to see what the apostles and elders of the church in Jerusalem thought. They also sent some local believers along. On the way they stopped in several cities that had believers and shared how God was calling Gentiles. The believers in these cities were delighted to hear this news.
When Paul and Barnabas got to Jerusalem, the entire church there welcomed them and listened to their report. Then some of the believers insisted that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised and follow the law of Moses. The elders of the church and the apostles met to discuss this issue. After a lengthy discussion where there was apparently little agreement, Peter gets up to talk. Peter tells of his experience being called to preach to the Gentiles. He points out that God made no distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles in the pouring out of His Spirit. He further points out that the Jews, including himself, have been unable to keep the Law and asks why they would burden the Gentiles with a requirement that they themselves has been unable to keep. Finally Peter points out that all are saved by the undeserved grace of Jesus.
After Peter finished speaking, Paul and Barnabas again told about what they had witnessed God doing when they ministered among the Gentiles. Finally, James gets up to speak. He summarizes the sense of the meeting at that point as that they should only ask the Gentiles to follow a few points of the Law; don’t eat food sacrificed to idols, avoid sexual immorality, avoid eating strangled animals and blood. The Council wrote a letter to the believers in Antioch and sent a delegation to deliver it.
The psalmist calls on the Lord to protect him. In particular he asks God to keep him from wickedness. He asks God to prevent him from even speaking wicked words, to allow the righteous to correct him when he does wrong. The psalmist prays that the wicked suffer for their wickedness, but he also prays that they hear his words and turn from their wickedness. He prays that they fall into the traps and snares they have set for others. We should seek to live and speak so that when the folly of their wickedness is exposed to them. the wicked will heed our words and turn to God.
