For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    If we use the wealth which God gives us to do His will, and thus honour Him, He will see that all of our needs are met and more.

    Yesterday I read the portion of this psalm which discussed the fact that the wicked believe they will face no consequences for their actions. The portion I read today reminds us that God hears the cries of the hopeless. He will hear their cries and will comfort them. God will bring justice to the fatherless and the oppressed. If we have fully put our trust in God, mere people will no longer terrify us.

    I wonder if the story of the paralyzed man in today’s passage contains part of the explanation of why we see so little healing in the Church today. Jesus recognized that the man’s first need was forgiveness of sin. It is worth noting that the passage does not say Jesus saw the man’s faith, rather He responded to the faith of those who brought the man to Him. Do we have the faith to bring our sick friends to Jesus?
    It is also worth noting that the teachers of the law responded to Jesus offering the man forgiveness by questioning His authority to do so. It was then that Jesus healed the man. Jesus demonstrated that He had the power to offer forgiveness by healing the man. In the same way, the Church today needs to show that it has the power to offer God’s forgiveness by healing the people around us. I fear that I have too little faith for this, but I will continue to ask God to give me faith.
    The story of the calling of Matthew, and what followed is important. First, Jesus called as one of His disciples a tax collector. That was bad enough, a rabbi not just accepting as his disciple one of the hated tax collectors, notorious sinners all, but actually calling the man to become His disciple. But Jesus than proceeded to hang out with the sinners who had been the tax collectors friends before he became His disciple. Surely, He should have called Matthew to have nothing to do with those sorts any more. At the very least, He should have shown His disdain for such people by having nothing to do with them.
    Instead, Jesus went and partied with them, telling those who complained that the healthy do not need a doctor. The important lesson for us here is this, how are we going to preach the Gospel to sinners if we do not know any? We see throughout the Gospels that not only was Jesus willing to go to parties thrown by sinners, He was enough fun at those parties that sinners kept inviting Him! Yet He never stopped calling on them to repent. If the “sinners” you know think you are boring, you are not following Jesus’ example.

    In this passage we see again the issue of marrying local women. First, we are told that Esau married two local women and that those women made life miserable for his parents. Then, further on, we have Rebekah tell Isaac that she would rather die than see Jacob marry a local girl. While this was partially a ruse to get Isaac to agree to send Jacob out of Esau’s reach, it seems likely there was enough truth to it for Isaac to believe it. I am still not sure what lesson we should take from this, but it is something I need to think about.

     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, or more. in advance. My work schedule has recently changed, meaning that I may not have time every day to complete these. As a result, I am trying to get several days ahead. I hope this does not negatively impact the quality of these posts (if that is possible). If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

     At the end of yesterday’s passage, Abimelech asked Isaac to move away from his lands because was becoming wealthy and powerful enough to be a threat. Isaac did not fight or complain that this was not fair. He trusted God and moved away. When Abimelech’s shepherds contested for control of the area he had moved too, even though they had abandoned that territory. Isaac just moved further. Isaac moved away from them until they no longer contested his use of the lands. When Abimelech came to him in his new home, Isaac made a peace treaty with him, even though the hostility between them had originated with Abimelech.
     Usually when we read this passage we skip over the account of Esau’s wives with just a passing thought. However, I think it is part and parcel of the whole thing. Esau married some local girls, but the fact that they were local is not the problem. They have a different idea about what is proper behavior than Isaac and Rebekah. That is the problem. There is a connection between the attitudes of Esau’s wives towards Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob stealing Esau’s blessing. It seems to me that Rebekah convinced Jacob to steal Esau’s blessing so that Esau would be mad at Jacob, giving Jacob motivation to leave and go to her brother’s house to find a wife.

     This passage tells us how Jesus interacted with sinners. He did not condemn them, but neither did He tell them that they were not sinners. Rather Jesus told them that they were worthwhile people whom God had forgiven. This passage also tells us that the first step to healing is forgiveness. In order to offer healing to our fellow man, we must first offer forgiveness. There are different ways we can look at the story about the call of Matthew the tax collector. However, it has always struck me that we cannot evangelize the lost unless we spend time among them. Too many Christians only socialize with their fellow Christians. We are not called to spread the Gospel to those who know the Gospel. So, how are we supposed to spread the Gospel to sinners if we do not know any sinners?
     I do not want to say much about the last part of this passage, except to say that in it we are reminded that there is a time and place for Christians to fast. I know that I do not do so as often as I should.

     God is king over all and those nations which despise Him and attempt to escape from His rule will vanish from the face of the earth. God hears the cries of those who suffer. He will listen to them and answer them. He defends the fatherless and the oppressed, teaching them that mere mortals cannot harm them in any way that matters.

     This proverb reminds us that if we honor God with our wealth, if we put God’s interests ahead of our material comfort, He will bless us so that we have all that we need and enough to bless others.