When we refuse to confess our sins, to acknowledge that we have done wrong, it will eat at us, destroying our peace of mind and our bodies. However, when we finally confess our guilt and acknowledge our wrong it all changes and we discover that God will forgive us. Then we experience joy and our bodies begin to recover. It is not enough to confess our sins, we must also seek to follow God and no longer do what is wrong. Instead of continuing to do wrong, let us follow the path that God lays out for us and do right.
This is a complicated passage because Paul is making several closely related points. The stimulus for Paul’s teaching was “the present crisis” which was occurring in Corinth (and perhaps throughout the Mediterranean). However, I believe there is applicability to what he taught here for the Church at any time. The primary message was that in times of crisis we will be better off if we do not change our current status; if we are single, we should remain single; if we are married, we should stay married.
However, I think the modern Church (and probably the Church through most of history) misses an important point Paul makes here. The Church all too often treats single adults as if they are not yet adult. There is tendency towards the attitude that when they finally grow up they will get married. Paul tells us that those who are single can focus more on serving God than those who are married. Those who are married must spend some of their time considering how they can meet the needs of their spouse, not just on serving God. Paul is not saying that this is wrong, just that those who are single are able to expend more effort on serving God. Those who are single can spend their time doing God’s work and thinking about how to please Him. On the other hand, those who are married need to spend some of their time thinking about how they can please their spouse. God’s calling is for some Christians to be single and for some Christians to be married. All too often the people of the Church have acted as if being married is the norm and being single is somehow abnormal. We spend too much of our time trying to find God’s intended mate for our single friends and not enough time considering that they can, in many ways, better serve God by remaining single.
I rejoice that God gave me a wonderful wife, but I regret that when I was single I did not spend less time looking for a wife and more time looking to serve God.
The first thing that struck me about this passage was that the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall did not happen by government mandate. Nehemiah inspired the people of Jerusalem and the surrounding area to work on rebuilding the walls. He did not tax them in order to hire workers, nor did he conscript their labor to do the work. Instead, those who were able rebuilt the sections of the wall near where they lived and worked. The reconstruction was not a top down, government mandated effort. Instead, it was an effort by the people which was supported and encouraged by the government.
For today, One Year Bible Online links here. As I was setting today’s blog up (I put the passages, links, and pictures on to the page before I start reading the passages), I realized that it might not be clear where my titles come from (for example, yesterday’s title was “Divorce and Remarriage”). The titles are based on what strikes me the most in the passages I read for the day.
There are no shortcuts to prosperity. Success comes to those who plan carefully and work hard. Those who gain wealth through deception will not keep it long, and they risk death because of their deception. Those who think that their might gives them the right to do as they please, when what they please is evil, will discover that the violence they set in motion will rebound upon them.
If we confess our sins, God will forgive us. Such forgiveness brings with it great joy. However, in order to receive that forgiveness we must admit that we have sinned. When we refuse to admit, even to ourselves, that certain acts are sin we will continue to suffer the consequences of those acts. We cannot be forgiven for sins we do not recognize as sin. But, oh what joy we experience when we experience when we finally admit all of our sins and allow God to guide our actions! Let us pray to God requesting that He reveal to us those sins we have not yet admitted.
Paul advises us to strive to be as free from the concerns of this life as possible. Those who are unmarried will find that easier to do. A married person must think about the concerns of this life, as to how they influence the life and happiness of his/her spouse. It is not a sin to get married, and may indeed keep one from sinning. However, we can devote more of our time to serving the Lord if we remain single.
This teaching by Paul is one that we in the Church fail to give proper emphasis on. All too often we encourage young people to seek out a spouse with the argument that with a spouse they can better serve the Lord. When, in fact, the reverse is often true. The Church needs to remember that our young people (and not so young) can serve the Lord perfectly well while they are single, and should encourage them to do so. I sense that all too often we encourage our young people to spend their time seeking a spouse rather than encouraging them to serve the Lord with the expectation that once they are married, then their ministry will begin.
Yesterday I spoke of Nehemiah as an example of leading a project for the Lord. In today’s passage we see that Nehemiah gave credit where credit was due. The passage contains a list of the persons who took responsibility for getting certain portions of the wall repaired. Nehemiah made sure that he acknowledged those without whom he would have failed. Let us remember to share credit to those who aid us in completing the Lord’s work.
When the poor among the returned exiles came to Nehemiah for relief from their burdens, he recognized the problem and went to the wealthy among them and confronted them about how their practices were harming their fellow worshipers of God. When he heard their complaints, he was angry that the problem existed, but he thought things over before he acted. He spoke out against those who were loaning money to the poor at interest. He demanded that they stop this practice. They were to aid those in need by making loans without charging interest. However, one of the key elements to the success of Nehemiah’s reform was his willingness to admit that he and his family were guilty of the same practice. He led by example. He discontinued charging interest on the loans he made to those in difficult circumstances. Let us follow Nehemiah’s example. When we confront others about their sins against the oppressed, let us recognize our own sins and vow to correct our own actions in the same way we are demanding of others.
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.
The passage starts with a continuation of the descriptions of which groups were working to repair which portions of the wall. When the account of who was rebuilding which portion the wall was complete, we are told that Sanballat and Tobiah came to view the work and were furious that the Jews were doing this. Sanballat mocked the work that was being done and Tobiah chimed in saying that the wall would collapse if even a fox walked on top of it. When Nehemiah heard their mockery, he prayed to God, asking God to hold them accountable for their attempt to belittle the builders and make them feel worthless. Nehemiah called such behavior a sin (and I would agree with him). Even so, before long the people had rebuilt the wall to half its height all the way around the city.
When Sanballat, Tobiah and other leaders of surrounding peoples learned that they were making such progress on the wall, they made plans to attack the Jews at Jerusalem in order to disrupt the work. Jews who lived near those plotting to attack Jerusalem brought news to those working in Jerusalem of the planned attack. This news arrived just as those working on the rebuilding were becoming overwhelmed at the amount of work yet to be done in order to complete the wall. Nehemiah stationed armed guards at the weakest points in the walls and assigned some of the people to stand guard according to their families. Nehemiah called together the nobles, other leaders, and all of the people and told them not to be disheartened, God would stand with them. He encouraged them to stand and fight in defense of their families and neighbors. from that time forward, only half of Nehemiah’s men worked while the other half stood guard. In addition to this, those who worked on the wall made sure that they had weapons nearby. Nehemiah kept a trumpeter by his side at all times. He instructed the people that, since the work was spread out, they would need to rush to the sounds of battle to reinforce those who met any initial assault. Finally, he asked those who lived outside of Jerusalem who were working on the wall to move into the city until work was completed, so that they could help stand guard. When their enemies, those plotting to attack Jerusalem, learned that they were aware of the plans, they abandoned the idea of a sneak attack (probably in part because they would now likely be held accountable by the Persian king for such an attack). Nehemiah and those directly accountable to him remained at all times after the plot was revealed.
In the middle of all of this, some of the men came to Nehemiah complaining of their financial hardship and how the leaders and aristocrats were exacerbating their troubles. One of the problems was that some of them were forced to sell their children into slavery in order to meet their living expenses. When Nehemiah heard their complaints he was angry. Nehemiah called together the nobles and wealthy among the Jews and confronted them over what they were doing. He pointed out that, as a group, they were attempting to buy out of slavery all the Jews they could find who were enslaved by pagans, yet some of the same people who were part of that group were selling Jews into slavery to pagans!
Nehemiah admitted that he, and his brothers, and some of his men, had been lending money to people in order for the people to buy grain. Nehemiah then declared that he and those answerable to him would stop charging interest on the money they lent to their fellow Jews. He demanded the same of the other wealthy people among the Jews. They all agreed with that he was right and vowed that they would return the property they had obtained as interest for the money they had lent to other Jews. Nehemiah then called the priests and had all of those involved swear an oath before God to do as they had agreed. “And the people did as they had promised.”
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This passage reminds me of a lesson my father taught me about the Church. He once told me that there was nothing inherently wrong with a Christian being a millionaire (or billionaire) and there was nothing inherently wrong with a Christian being on welfare. However, if any congregation had a member (or members) who was a millionaire and a member (or members) who was on welfare, then there was something very wrong with that congregation. He was very clear that where the fault lay would need to be determined on a case by case basis. The fault might not even belong to either the wealthy person or the person on welfare, but lie somewhere else. But, there was clearly a violation of biblical teaching for such a disparity to exist in a body of believers who all knew each other and worshiped together. (I think that perhaps I need to do a blog on this subject some day soon).
Day lily in bloom close up
Paul continues his discussion about sexuality and marriage. He starts off this section by saying that what he is about to say is not a command from the Lord. Rather it is merely what is in his judgment wise advice. Paul tells them that he thinks that those believers who are unmarried would be wise to remain unmarried. He emphasizes that those who are married should remain married and make no attempt to end their marriage (this is a message that not enough congregations emphasize). Paul advises that those who are not married should remain unmarried, but that if they do get married, it is not a sin.
Paul says that because we are living in troubled times, it would be better to remain unmarried so that we can focus on doing the Lord’s work and not have to think about meeting the needs and desires of a spouse. However, he tempers this advice by saying that those who struggle with sexual temptation would be well advised to get married and thus blunt that temptation by giving those desires a legitimate outlet. Paul expresses the opinion that in general it would be better for those who are single to remain single, but he acknowledges that not everyone is gifted by God to live in that fashion.
The psalmist tells us that joy abounds for those whose sin has been forgiven. He tells us that as long as we refuse to confess our sins, as long as we deny that we are sinners, our sins will eat away at us. They will cause our bodies to waste away and our strength to drain from us. Our unconfessed sins will destroy our ability to reason and bring suffering upon us. However, if we confess our sins and repent of them, God will forgive us.
I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”
And you forgave me!
I don’t know about you, but I read great joy in that last phrase, “And you forgave me!” Perhaps a little surprise as well. I know that joy. I remember when I first felt God’s forgiveness for my sins. How it lifted a burden from my heart. The psalmist goes on and tells us that God will guide along the best pathway for our lives. He advises us not to be like a horse, which needs a bit and bridle to direct it in the path it should take. The wicked will experience much sorrow and suffering, but if we listen to the Lord and take His advice, obeying His commands, we will be surrounded by God’s unfailing love and experience joy in all of our life.
Lobelia cardinalis
Careful planning and hard work are the path to financial security, attempting to follow “get-rich-quick” schemes is the path to poverty. Gaining wealth by lies or evil violence will lead to trouble for those who employ such means and the wealth will not last.
Today’s passage begins with a continuation of the detailed list of who worked on rebuilding the various sections of the wall. The importance of this is that it shows that the people pitched in and worked on the project. Rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem was not a project that was done by leadership taxing the people and hiring builders. The people themselves took responsibility for different parts of it. Some people took responsibility for just the little bits “immediately across from his own house.” Other people took responsibility for larger sections. All are given credit here with no sense that some were better than others because they did more. Not only does this account not read as giving some more credit than others, it reads, to me, as those who did more doing so happily and not considering themselves more important than those who only did the section across from their own house.
When the leaders of the neighboring peoples learned of the progress being made by the concerted effort to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, they were furious. They insulted the quality of the work being done in what appears to have been an effort to discourage the workers. Nevertheless work continued. The neighboring peoples made plans to attack Jerusalem. However, Jews who lived near to them heard of their plans and warned Nehemiah. Nehemiah responded by posting guards and mobilizing the people. When their enemies discovered their preparations they abandoned their plans to attack. From that point on, Nehemiah kept his guard up and made sure that the people were prepared to stop working and defend the city at a moment’s notice.
At this point some of the Jews came to Nehemiah to complain that the wealthy and powerful among the Jews were taking advantage of them and causing them to have to sell their children into slavery. Nehemiah was angry when he learned what was going on, so he called a public meeting to address the issue. Nehemiah makes the point that they as a collective group were working to redeem Jews who had had to sell themselves into slavery, yet, here some of the same people were causing some of the Jews to sell themselves back into slavery. Nehemiah says that they must stop doing this. He admits that he, his family and retainers had been profiting from lending to the poor. He says that they must all stop charging interest for their loans to their fellow Jews and that they must restore what they had taken to cover the debt. The leaders agreed to return the property they had taken as interest and not charge interest going forward. Nehemiah does not say, “You are doing this and you must stop.” He says, “We are doing this and we must stop.” A reading of the passage suggests that Nehemiah and those around him were not guilty of the abuses that led to the problem coming to a head. But Nehemiah recognized that there was a fine line between what he was doing and what was causing the problem and that his actions might inevitably lead to the problem. Even though his own actions might have been “OK”, he chose to stop them because they could too easily slip over into the “Not OK”.
Apparently the Corinthians had also asked whether it was OK for those who were not yet married to get married (or perhaps whether they should get married). I suspect that Paul was not quite sure of what exactly they were asking, so he phrases his answer several different ways to make sure that it was clearly understood. The first thing he says is something that he emphasizes is just advice, not a command. He says that he thinks that if you are not married, it would be better not to get married. However, he emphasizes that it is not a sin to get married. He points out that a single person can focus solely on doing God’s will. Whereas someone who is married needs to think about how to care for their family. He repeats that he is not placing restrictions on them. He tells them that he wants them to do what will help them serve the Lord with the fewest distractions. If sexual desires and temptations are distracting someone from serving the Lord, they should get married. If, on the other hand, they can restrain themselves, they should remain single. Paul expresses his belief that it is better to stay single, but that everyone must make that judgment for themselves. I think that this is something that the Church today fails to focus on. The Church (in the U.S. at least) seems to almost take the approach of teaching that getting married is God’s calling for people. Yet Paul here seems to be saying that we should look at it in the reverse. That staying single is the calling and getting married only for those who do not have that gift.
The psalmist tells us that we must confess our sins in order to be forgiven. That when we refuse to admit and confess our sins, they will eat away at us. When we stop trying to hide our sins and pretend that we have it all together God will forgive us and bring us healing. When we admit that we are not perfect, we will experience joy. If we pretend to have it all together, it will all fall apart. It is only when we admit our sin and brokenness that we can experience God’s healing and redemption.
Today we have three proverbs that I see as linked. The first tells us that careful planning and hard work leads to prosperity, but that attempting to take shortcuts leads to poverty. The second two expand on this theme because they represent two “shortcuts” to wealth. One tells us that if you gather wealth on the basis of lies, at some point that wealth will vanish and you will be trapped by the lies, finding it hard to acquire wealth by legitimate means once you have started down the path of deception. The other tells us that using violence to acquire wealth will sooner or later cause that violence to rebound onto the perpetrator.
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.
