For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been convicted over the last few weeks to seek to develop a disciplined prayer life. It is still a work in progress. Please pray for me, that the Holy Spirit may show me how to pray in a disciplined manner.

Proverbs 26:1-2

    No one expects a fool to be honourable any more than they expect snow in the summer. It happens on rare occasions, but people are always surprised when it does. Curses can be real, but those who are undeserving of a curse will be no more effected by it than a sparrow will land on a moving person’s head.

Psalm 90-91:16

    Let us remember that our lives are short. We do not have much time to serve the Lord, so let us not waste what time we have. If we seek to do the Lord’s will, He will make our efforts successful.
    This psalm speaks to me with what is going on in the world today. If we make Him our shelter and rely on Him for our safety, we need not fear anything in this world. In a world where diseases such as Ebola are once more spreading, where war and chaos are spreading, and where economies seem about to crash, the psalmist tells us this:

Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
The Lord is my shelter, my place of safety. He is my God and I will trust in Him.

2 Timothy 1:1-18

    Often times we see those who have come to Christ after being lost in sin, drug addicts, convicted criminals, low-life’s of various sorts, as the greatest witnesses for Christ. However, Paul commends Timothy for the faith imparted to him by his mother and grandmother. Timothy was able to serve the role he had in the early Church because he was raised in a godly household. Those of us who were raised in Christian families and came to our faith as a result bring necessary skills to the Church. Let us use those skills to further God’s will, just as those who experienced the complete devastation of sin use their skills for that purpose. Whatever background we have, God has used it to mold us into the people we are, people He wants to use to accomplish His purposes.
    We have been given a spiritual gift. Let us seek to fan into flames the gifts which the Holy Spirit has given us. These gifts will help us to proclaim the Gospel to those we encounter without shame. Perhaps the hardest part of what Paul tells us here is that we should never be ashamed to tell others about Christ. God will give us the strength to face and embrace any suffering which may result from us doing so. We will face ridicule and worse when we publicly declare our faith, but let us embrace that as evidence that we have been judged worthy of sharing in the suffering of Christ. Rather than trying to avoid persecution and suffering for our faith, let us embrace the opportunity to show our love for God, relying on the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to see us through.

Jeremiah 39-41:18

    When Jerusalem fell, just as Jeremiah had predicted, Jeremiah was given a message for the man who had rescued him from the death certain Jewish courtiers had planned for him. Because that man, Ebed-melech, had trusted God and acted to protect Jeremiah, God protected him when Jerusalem fell, even though he had been a high official in Jerusalem and the Babylonians slaughtered most of those.
    The Babylonians offered Jeremiah a place in Babylon where they would care for him. However, Jeremiah chose to stay in Judah and continue to minister to those Jews who remained. One of those who had led guerrilla forces against the Babylonians killed the governor Nebuchadnezzar had set over the land. His actions suggest that he intended to set himself up as the next king of Judah. The other former guerrilla leaders banded against him and gathered the people together to decide what to do. They were afraid of what Nebuchadnezzar would do when he heard that his governor had been killed.

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

Jeremiah 39-41:18

     As Jeremiah had warned, Nebuchadnezzar returned with his army and sacked Jerusalem. King Zedekiah attempted to flee the city at night, but he was captured along with all of those with him. Because he had been afraid to follow Jeremiah’s advice to surrender to Nebuchadnezaar, Zedekiah suffered the fate he feared. Part of Zedekiah’s fate was to watch the execution of his court officials. We are told, however, that Ebed-melech, who had rescued Jeremiah from those officials seeking his death, was spared and kept safe. We see here the difference in the fate of those who followed God’s commands vs. those who refused to do so.

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2 Timothy 1:1-18

     This passage is one of great encouragement to me. I strive to follow the command which Paul gave Timothy. I will fan into flames the spiritual gifts which God has given me. God does not put His Spirit in us so that we can live timidly and in fear. Rather, He gave us a spirit of power, love and self-discipline. This spirit, which God has given us, moves us to tell others about Christ without shame or fear. God has saved us and called us to live a holy life, not because we deserve such treatment, but because He planned to do so from before He created the universe.
     In this passage Paul wrote the words which inspired the hymn, “I Know Whom I Have Believed.” The words of this song touch my heart and brings me to tears of humility and joy every time I hear or read them:

I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.
Refrain:
But “I know Whom I have believed,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.”

Each successive verse begins with “I know not…” I confess that there are many things I do not know. But, as this passage, and the refrain of the song point out, there is one thing I do know. I know that I have believed in a God who is more than able to guard and keep safe that which I have entrusted to Him. I have no need to fear condemnation and damnation because I have offered myself up to God and asked Him to transform me into His image. I know that, while I am unable to live up to His standards, He is able to transform me into His likeness, and He has promised to do so.

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Psalm 90-91:16

     The psalmist reminds us that God does not see time the way that we see time. Our lives are but a moment to God, yet He sees everything we do. There is no place we can go to sin where He will not see it. We need to recognize that our lives are short and we have only a short time to honor and glorify God. If we do, He will make us glad all of our days.
     The psalmist entreats us to find refuge in God, to rest in His shadow. If we do this we will not fear anything. The psalmist tells us the following:

Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
…
If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.

God promises that He will rescue those who love Him and protect those who trust Him. This is such a wonderful promise. Our lives may be short, but if we spend them honoring God, He will keep us safe and give us joy for all of our days.

Proverbs 26:1-2

     A fool is as unlikely to get honored as snow is to fall in the summer. In addition, giving an honor to a fool is as disruptive as rain during harvest.
     The more interesting proverb is the second which tells us that if someone curses us, and we do not deserve the curse, it will not come to rest upon us.