For today, One Year Bible Online links here. We are approaching the end of the year and the beginning of a new one. Let us seek to serve God in all that we do in the New Year.
The writer warns against wasting one’s strength on women. It is worth noting the use of the plural here. If one spends one strength and money on multiple women one is wasting it and it will lead to their ruin (the same can be said of women dealing with men as well). He then goes on to warn against allowing alcohol to impair our judgement. Those who are in circumstances where nothing they can do can make things better, or worse, are encouraged to drink in order to forget their pain, but it is worth noting that the writer is suggesting it only for those for whom things can get no worse.
There is joy in singing praises to God and it is fitting to do so. The psalmist gives us many reasons why we should do so, but the first is the one that I will highlight today:
He heals the brokenhearted
and bandages their wounds.
Let us remember this about God and strive to be the tools He uses to accomplish this task.
In John’s vision he heard great rejoicing in Heaven after the fall of “Babylon”. The rejoicing was because of the pain and suffering which “Babylon” had inflicted on the poor and destitute throughout the world. Over the last few days I realized something I had never noticed before, John points out that immorality (sexual and otherwise) leads to the oppression of the poor. All too often, Christians (and others) are accused of focusing too much on sexual immorality and not enough on injustice and greed. There is unfortunately some truth to that accusation. However, all too many people who focus on injustice and greed overlook the ways in which sexual immorality plays a role in creating social injustice.
Zechariah prophesies that a day will come when the nations around Israel will attack Jerusalem. They will gather a great force to attack, but the only result will be loss for those who joined in the attack. I do not know if this prophecy refers to what has been going on in the Middle East over the last 60 years, but there is a similarity between what Zechariah says here and what has been going on. I think that what Zechariah is talking about is something else, but the similarities make me wonder.
Zechariah tells us that a fountain will be opened to cleanse people of all of their sins and impurity. As the waters from that fountain wash over the land all idolatry will cease and people will reject all forms of idol worship. I believe that Jesus is the source of the fountain to which Zechariah refers. As evidence for that I will point out all of the times in history when faith in Jesus spread through a land causing idol worship to be washed away as in an overwhelming flood.
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.
Zechariah prophesies that the day will come when God will pour out His Spirit upon the people of Judah and Jerusalem. On that day, they will mourn for the One they have pierced, they will grieve bitterly. As a result, they will be cleansed of their sins. God will erase idol worship throughout the land and false prophets will be removed from the land. No one will claim the ability of divination any longer. Those who had previously practiced it will reject the practice and be ashamed that they had once practiced such sinfulness.
God is going to put His people through fire in order to refine them like silver and purify them like gold. When He is done He will say, “These are my people.” They will reply, “The Lord is our God.” Will you be one of those people?
With the fall of “Babylon” a great crowd will praise God for His greatness and salvation. They will sing about how He brought justice against those who had murdered His servants. They will sing for the joy of being invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb as He marries the bride who had prepared herself for Him. Then a rider on a white horse will ride forth to wage war against the beast and the kings who gathered with him. They had gathered to bring down the prostitute and then to make war against God Himself. The rider, whose name is Faithful and True, will be accompanied by the armies of heaven, but He will be victorious of the kings of the earth and those who had worshiped the beast without the aid of His armies. He will strike down all who had given themselves over to evil. This passage is a reminder that everyone will be held accountable for their actions. It may seem that some people are getting away with their evil behavior, but God will hold them accountable and force them to pay the price for their mistreatment of others.
God will heal the brokenhearted and bandage their wounds. This is a reminder that we do not claim to be perfect. No, we have all been wounded, but God will bandage our wounds and offer us healing. God does not desire those who claim to be strong and able to stand up against whatever the world can throw at them. He calls us to acknowledge our pain and turn to Him for healing. Those who fear Him and put their hope in His love will experience healing. He does not take pleasure in those who rely on their own strength and/or wealth. Let us turn to Him for healing and trust in His love.
The proverb writer warns against spending one’s strength (or, possibly, wealth) on various women. He does not come out and say it, but instead a man should find one woman who will strengthen them and help them be a better person. He goes on to say that rulers should not indulge themselves in alcohol because it may distort their judgment and cause them to deny the oppressed of their rights. Rather alcohol should be left for those who are in pain or suffering, in order to help them forget their misery.
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. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
Zechariah prophesies that the day will come when the nations of the world will come against Jerusalem and God will watch over the city and defeat those who come against it. He says that the clans of Judah will overwhelm the surrounding nations. God will pour out His Spirit on the people of Jerusalem. This will cause them to look to Christ (the one whom they have pierced) and mourn what they have done. When that happens God will cleanse the people of all sin and impurity. God will remove all idol worship and false prophets from the land. God will bring His people through fire to refine them like silver and gold.
I believe that this passage has two meanings. The first is a reference to acts that God is going to carry out (has carried out?) among the Jewish people, although I am not quite sure how or when. The second however applies to all of those who are called by His name. We will pass through troubles and persecutions so that God may purify us in the same way that silver and gold are heated to remove impurities. We should embrace our trials as they represent God’s love for us and attempts to remove things from our lives that make us less than perfect servants to Him. I am not very good at embracing these purifying moments.
After the vision of the woman whose name is Babylon and the scarlet beast, the writer hears a great crowd in heaven praising God for His judgments and for punishing the “great prostitute” which was the woman whose name is Babylon. Then again he hears a great crowd (or what sounds like a great crowd) cry out praise to God, who reigns over all. The crowd proclaims that the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb and his bride, who has prepared herself with the good deeds of God’s holy people. Elsewhere in scripture the bride is identified as the Church.
Continuing on the writer sees heaven open to reveal a rider on a white horse. The rider is named Faithful and True. He judges fairly and wages a righteous war. The armies of heaven dressed in pure white linen and mounted on white horses followed Him. The rider is the Word of God. He has a sword coming out of His mouth with which He will strike the nations. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of all Lords. The scarlet beast gathered the kings of the world and their armies to do battle against the Rider and His army. The beast and his prophet were captured by the Rider and thrown into the lake of sulphur. The beast’s entire army was killed by the sharp sword that came out of the Rider’s mouth.
There are many metaphors and symbols in this passage and I am sure that there is more meaning than I am capable of extracting. The first thing I see is that the Rider is clearly Jesus on His second coming to judge the earth. I see the sharp sword coming out of His mouth to be a symbol for how His words will strike down those who stand against Him. It is a symbol for how God’s power is different than what we as humans understand as power and yet we are unable to stand against it. All of the mightiest armies of the earth will be slain by this power. The other symbol which speaks to me today is the army that follows the Rider. The army is dressed in pure white linen. In the segment just before this where the crowd proclaimed the wedding feast of the Lamb, pure white linen was referenced as being the good deeds of God’s people. Our good deeds do not save us, rather they provide adornment. But not adornment for us, they provide adornment for the bride of the Lamb and for the army of the Rider. We are to do good deeds, not to make ourselves look good, but to make the bride of Christ look good. Our goal in making the Church look good is because that reflects well on Christ, not so that people look at the Church. There is one final piece to this for me today. The army of the Rider does not assist Him in defeating the armies of the beast. They are merely witnesses to it.
I will sing praise to the Lord. The psalmist tells us that He heals the brokenhearted and numbers the stars. He is great and mighty in power, yet He cares for those who are hurting. His power is absolute and He supports the humble. God does not take pleasure in our strength and might. The psalmist tells us that God is delighted by those who fear Him and put their trust in Him. It is all too easy to look at only one side of this equation.
On the one side, God is delighted by those who fear Him. We see fear as a negative emotion and it may be, but fear serves a positive purpose. I occasionally talk about a time when I started to overcome my fear of heights. I decided that I wanted to be able to show myself as fearless. Shortly after that I was in a situation where I was doing some work at a great height. As I worked I reached out to do something and almost slipped and fell. I realized that in my efforts to overcome my fear, I had lost some of my caution. Fear can serve a useful purpose. I stopped attempting to further overcome my fear of heights because my fear of heights is a legitimate fear that causes me to take precautions against falling. Fear of God will cause us to be cautious and look to see if we are doing something to bring God’s anger against us.
However, fear can also cause us to freeze when we should act, which brings us to the other side of the equation for pleasing God. God is delighted not in those who fear Him alone, but in those who both fear Him and trust Him. If we trust God, we know that He will catch us when we fall. We will know that we do not have to rely on our own strength, which our fear will tell us is totally insufficient to the task of doing God’s will. So, here we have the equation, we fear God, knowing that we have not the strength to do what pleases Him, but we trust God knowing that if we rely on Him, He will provide the strength to do what pleases Him, if we only try.
Those in positions of power should not get drunk because it may cause them to show unjust favoritism. I will strive to not let my judgment be clouded, so that I may make wise, fair decisions for those who rely on me.
