For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Proverbs 28:8-10

    If you refuse to follow God’s instructions, praying will not help you. There is actually more packed into that statement than is obvious. Often times, God’s answer to our prayer is revealed, sometimes even brought about, by our following His instructions.

Psalm 119:17-32

    I will seek God’s favor so that I can serve Him. The more we follow God’s instructions the more clearly we see and understand them. If we obey God despite those who scorn and insult us for doing so, God will force them to respect us. As we follow God’s commands we will discover that they were the wise course of action, even when it appeared otherwise at the time. The biggest challenge to obeying God is our tendency to lie to ourselves. If we are faithful, God will reveal those lies to us and show us how to be true to ourselves and others.

1 Peter 1:1-12

    It is by God’s grace that we have received the faith which leads to His salvation. That salvation is waiting for us in heaven where it cannot be corrupted, nor can it decay. God’s power will protect us by supporting our faith, even in the face of suffering and persecution. The end will be wonderful joy in God’s presence. We will endure various trials and tests in this life that will test and purify our faith, showing that it is genuine. These trials will purify our faith in much the same way that fire purifies gold. They will cause the impurities in our lives to be exposed so that we can allow God to remove them from us. Therefore let us embrace these trials and tests so that God may further purify us.

Ezekiel 44:1-45:12

    I continue to struggle with the meaning for us today of Ezekiel’s detailed description and instructions for the new Temple which will be built after the Exile (is this the Temple described in Nehemiah? Herod’s Temple? Or one yet to come?). However, the instructions for the priests reminds us that those who are called to be spiritual leaders among us must be of the highest character. If you answer the call to be a spiritual leader, or even desire such an office, you must hold yourself to a higher moral standard than that to which you would hold anyone else. This actually makes a good rule for us to follow, even if we do not desire, or feel called to, a position of spiritual leadership. We should hold ourselves to a higher moral standard than the one to which we hold others.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Proverbs 28:8-10

    Those who accumulate wealth at the expense of the poor are merely accumulating it for someone else. God will ignore the prayers of those who ignore His laws. Those who lead people down a path to doing evil will be caught in the traps they set for others. While those who live upright, honest lives will thrive.

Psalm 119:17-32

    I like how today’s portion of Psalm 119 begins:

Be good to your servant,
that I may live and obey your word.
We request that God be good to us, not because we obey His commands but in order that we may obey His commands. Then the psalmist reminds us that we are foreigners in this land. We are not citizens of earth, rather we are citizens of God’s Kingdom. Let us tell God of our plans and ask His guidance on carrying them out. Let us listen to His answers and change our plans according to His instruction. I will beg God to keep me from lying to myself that my own desires are His will, when such is not the case. I have chosen to be faithful and will strive to follow God’s instructions.

1 Peter 1:1-12

    Peter reminds us that it is through our faith that we are shielded by God’s power. He encourages us to rejoice and be glad, even though we suffer grief from the trials we face in this world. These trials come to prove the genuineness of our faith. It is not a matter of proving our faith to God, who knows whether or not our faith is genuine. Rather it is a matter of proving our faith to ourselves.
    Our faith is of greater worth than gold. Peter tells us that our faith will bring us praise, glory, and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. I initially read that as meaning when Christ returns, and think that is probably primarily what Peter meant when he wrote this. However, I just realized that it means, in part, that every time Jesus Christ is revealed to someone who has seen our faith (and perhaps comes to see Jesus because of our faith), we will receive praise, glory, and honour.
    We have not seen Jesus and we do not see Him now, but our faith should, nevertheless, fill us with glorious, inexpressible joy. I went with the NIV for this passage today because of what it says in verse nine. The NIV translates verse nine in the present tense. We are receiving the end result of our faith, which is the salvation of our souls. This is not just something which will happen to us in some nebulous future. It is happening right now as we live lives of faith in Jesus Christ. As I type these words, I am filled with that inexpressible, glorious joy to which Peter refers. I hope that reading the passage and thinking about what it means does the same for you.

Ezekiel 44-45:12

    Ezekiel continues his discussion of the Temple in the restored Jerusalem. It is not clear to me if this restored Jerusalem represents a place and time on earth, or the heavenly Temple, or is perhaps primarily symbolic. As a result, most of Ezekiel’s prophecy about it goes over my head. However, in today’s passage there a couple of things which connect for me.
    Ezekiel discusses how the religious leaders of Israel failed to protect the rituals instituted by God by allowing those who did not worship God to partake in them. Rather than maintain the purity of their worship they invited those who scoffed at God to organize and run their worship. As I read this I think of groups and organizations today who try to find common ground of faith with those who do not honour Christ. We can not make those who have not surrendered themselves fully to the Lord members of the Body of Christ.

     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.

Ezekiel 44-45:12

     As Ezekiel completed his description of his vision of the Temple, he describes the rules for the priests and the allotment of land after the people return from exile. He instructs that the ruler is to have land of his own near the Temple to support himself and the rest of the land is to be divided up among the rest of the people. The rulers are to stop robbing and cheating the people. They are to use standard weights and measures that are the same for every person. The rules are to be the same for everyone and no one is above the law.

1 Peter 1:1-12

     Peter reminds us that we were chosen by God and made holy by His Spirit. God has caused us to be born again and given a new start through the resurrection of Jesus. God will protect us by His power through our faith in the salvation which He is giving us through Christ’s death and resurrection. Then Peter gets to the meat of his introduction. We can rejoice, not despite our trials, but because of our trials. The trials we face will test and refine our faith. Despite the fact that we have not seen Jesus, we love Him and even though we do not see Him, we believe in Him. This belief and faith fills us with joy. I will declare that I have that joy in my trials, although that is sometime difficult.

Psalm 119:17-32

     The psalmist asks God to open his eyes to see the truths contained within God’s instructions. I will ask the same of God, that He show me the wonderful things that come from following His law. These are not rewards, they are merely the natural consequence of living according to God’s commands. People may laugh, mock and hold me in contempt for doing so, but I will strive to be faithful to God’s commands. And here in the middle is a reminder of the source of so much of our sorrow and shame: we lie to ourselves. I will join the psalmist is asking God to keep me from lying to myself. The first step to pleasing God is to be honest with myself about my failures, neither minimizing them nor over-emphasizing them. I will cling to God’s laws and pursue His commands. As I do that God will increase my understanding.

Proverbs 28:8-10

     If we do not listen to what God has to say to us, how can we hope to receive His answers to our prayers. Those who pray to God for aid, yet refuse to listen to and obey His instructions is a hypocrite and will never receive the answer they are looking for.