For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I will be out of town on business for most of this week. It is my plan to complete this blog every day, but I may run late some days.

    The proverb tells us there are two kinds of people, those who think before they speak, and those who just say what comes to mind. Further, it tells us that the godly are the first sort and the wicked are the latter. So, the question is, which am I?

    As I watched the sun rise from my hotel window this morning, I read this psalm. It is indeed the day which the Lord has made, and I will rejoice in it. I will be glad today and enjoy the positive things God brings my way.

    Jesus begins today’s passage by telling us that a kernel of wheat must fall to the ground and die before it can be transformed into a wheat plant and bring forth many new kernels. While it is true that Jesus was referring to His own death here, it is clear from the context that He intended this message for us as well. It is only by being willing to give up our lives in this world that we can be transformed into the likeness of Christ and thus have eternal life. More than that, it is only by being willing to give up our lives that we can truly lead others to know Christ.

    Jesus told us that God would honour anyone who serves Him. He said this right after saying that anyone who wanted to serve Him needed to follow Him. This was in the context of Jesus talking about the fact that He would soon be crucified. He followed this up by saying that He would not ask God to save Him from the suffering He was about to face. Rather, Jesus asked that God bring honour to God’s name. I hope that if I ever face such suffering, I will have the faith to feel and say the same thing.
    Later in today’s passage Jesus said that He does not speak on His own authority. Instead He spoke as God commanded Him to speak. The same is true for us today. I struggle with the knowledge that God has commanded me what to say, and how to say it. This is a difficult thing for me. I know that God has commanded my as to what to say, but I am not always sure which things God has commanded me to say and which things are me speaking for myself. However, I will seek each day to make the words I speak the words God wishes me to speak.

    When the Amalekite came to tell David that Saul and Jonathan were dead, he expected to be rewarded for bringing the news. The man clearly thought that by bringing news to David that David’s path to the throne was clear would make David happy. He sought to curry favor by bringing the news. From the perspective of this world, the news the Amalekite brought should have delighted David. However, up until this point, David had not sought to be king. That was not what he was striving for. In the same way, we should not strive for worldly power, whether in the government or in the work place. If God intends for us to have power, He will bring us to that place.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I will be out of town on business for most of this week. It is my plan to complete this blog every day, but I may run late some days.

    The proverb writer tells us that gracious words are pure in God’s sight. This results from the fact that in order to speak graciously we must select pure words.

    The psalmist tells us to give thanks to the Lord. I will do so, for much the same reason that the psalmist did. When I look at my life, I completely agree with what the psalmist says in verses 5-7. When I was in distress I cried to the Lord and He delivered me. Most important, since I know that God is with me, I will not fear anything that may come. God will see me through to the other side. I do not fear pain, or suffering, or death because God is with me. Remember, if God is with us, why should we fear what mere mortals can do? They have no power to do anything which is not according to His will.

    I have long struggled with how Jesus’ reply to Judas Iscariot applies to us today. Jesus is no longer physically among us for us to do something similar to what Mary did here. There are two aspects of the lesson for us. The first part is that giving to the poor is not the only way to give assets to God’s service. The second part is that we should, from time to time, do things which tell others how much we appreciate what they have done in their life. There are times when we are called to show someone who has been doing the Lord’s work that they are appreciated and loved.

    In yesterday’s passage, David had marched to war against Saul with the Philistine king who had sheltered him from Saul. There is no evidence that David was reluctant to do so, even though up until now he had avoided attacking his fellow Israelites (and had rejected the idea of killing Saul on those several occasions when he had the opportunity). Today we discover the hand of God at work. The other Philistine commanders were afraid to have David and his men in their order of battle. They were afraid that in the midst of the battle David would switch sides back to Saul. As a result they demanded that the king of Gath send David away from the coming battle. As a result, David did not take part in the battle which led to Saul’s death. No one could accuse David of contributing to the death of King Saul.
    There was a second way in which this worked to David’s benefit. When he and his men returned to the town where they had settled, they discovered that it had been raided and their families taken captive. If they had stayed with the Philistine army, their families would have been long gone by the time they returned. As a result of their early return they were able to pursue the raiders and rescue their families. It is good to see how the hand of God so often protects us in more ways than one.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The godly think carefully before they respond to what they have been told. The wicked do not care about the consequences of their words and say what comes to mind when it comes to mind. I will think carefully about the impact my words may have on others before I speak.

    When God opens the gate through which the righteous will pass, I will go in. I will enter His presence and thank Him for all He has done. He has answered my prayers and given me victory over my troubles.

This is the day the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.

I love this psalm and all that it says. I will bless those who come in the name of the Lord, not those who just say that they do, but those who genuinely come in His name.

You are my God, and I will praise you!
You are my God, and I will exalt you!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.

Yes, He is my God and I will give thanks to Him. I have experienced His faithful love and know that it will endure for all time and beyond.

    It is only when we are willing to sacrifice our lives to serve God that we truly find life. When Jesus faced the facts of His coming crucifixion, His prayed that the Father bring glory to the Father’s name. He did not turn from the path that led to His crucifixion. Let us walk in the light which Jesus provides so that we may see where we are going. But let us also let Jesus’ light shine through us so that others may see where they are going. I will always remember that those who are walking in darkness cannot see where their path is taking them. It is my job to let Jesus’ light shine upon them so that they can see their destination and perhaps choose another one.
    I will follow and trust Jesus so that His light will shine on me and through me. I will not judge others because Jesus came to save them. I too wish for them to be saved. However, I know that those who reject Jesus’ message will be judged by the truth of that message. There is such a thing as objective truth and I will strive to live according to that truth.

    The messenger who brought word to David that Saul and Jonathan were dead claimed to have killed Saul at Saul’s request. Yet, 1 Samuel tells us that Saul killed himself to avoid capture by the Philistines. The messenger appears to have believed that David would honour him for having done this and for bringing Saul’s tokens of kingship. David killed the messenger for the crime of killing Saul based on the messenger’s own confession. This is not the only time when David punished those who attempted to curry favor by taking credit for doing something that was wrong. If we are in a position of power, we need to follow David’s example and punish those who have done wrong to curry our favor, rather than rewarding them.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    God will work against the proud to destroy what they try to build for themselves. Yet, He will protect the property of the powerless. Those who seek God’s favor will avoid wicked thoughts and plans, which God detests. They will keep their words pure and truthful. By doing the latter rather than the former we gain favor with God.

    We may be surrounded by thousands who are hostile to us, yet if we trust in God He will rescue us. God’s love endures forever. Let us put our trust in Him. If we are with God, what can mere mortals do to us? I will put my trust in God and thus I will not fear. I may be forced to retreat and be on the brink of death, but as long as I rely on the Lord, He will be my strength and song. He will give me victory!

    John tells here the story of Mary anointing Jesus feet with expensive perfume. John points out that Judas Iscariot’s complaint was not because he cared about the poor. Rather, Judas complained because if the perfume had been sold, he would have been able to skim some of the money off for himself. This is a reminder to us that all too often those who are making the greatest demands that we help the poor are more interested in controlling our money than they are in the poor. This story points out that there are other ways we can spend our money to serve God than giving to the poor. Let us avoid being fooled by hypocrites into giving our money to them in the name of the poor.

    David had gone over into Philistine territory to get out of Saul’s reach. While based there he had conducted raids on various non-Israelite villages, but reported to the Philistine king in whose territory he was sheltering that he had attacked Israelite villages. The Philistine king was convinced that David had made himself hated by the Israelites and invited him to join his entourage as the Philistines went to war against Saul. David agreed to join his forces. However, the other Philistine kings did not trust David and his men. They demanded that he and his men not be part of their order of battle. God’s hand was in this in two ways. First, God thus kept David from going to war against his own people. Second, when David and his men returned to their village, they discovered that it had been raided and their families taken captive. If David and his men had stayed with the Philistine army, their families and goods would have been long gone by the time they returned. Instead, they were able to overtake the raiders and rescue their families and goods. They also gathered the plunder the raiders had taken from other villages.

     I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. 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.

     Three days after David had returned to Ziklag a man arrived bringing news that the Israelite army had been defeated by the Philistines and that Saul and Jonathan were dead. The man who brought the news was an Amalekite who lived among the Israelites. When David questioned him about his news, he claimed that he had come upon Saul injured. Further he claimed that Saul had asked him to kill him and that he had done so because he saw that Saul would not live long in any event. The Amalekite than took Saul’s armband and crown and brought them to David. David ordered his men to kill the Amalekite based on his confession to killing King Saul. This fits into a pattern whereby David punished people who performed actions that were morally wrong but that they thought would benefit David and bring reward from him. I think this teaches us an important lesson about what to expect from those in positions of power. David did not accept those who did wrong to advance his cause with a “wink and a nod”, where he claimed to be opposed to the actions they took, but accepted them anyway. There will be several more occasions where we are told that David punished someone who came to him claiming to have done wrong to advance David’s cause.
     David composed a lament for the death of Jonathan and Saul which expressed his deep love for Jonathan and his respect for Saul. It praised Saul and Jonathan for their might in battle defending Israel. Once David finished his mourning for Jonathan and Saul he moved back to Judah with his men and their families. They settled around Hebron. The elders of Judah came to David and made him king over Judah. When David heard the news that the men of Jabesh-gilead had taken the bodies of Saul and his sons and buried them, he sent them word praising their action and blessing them for it. In his message, he asked them to accept him as king, as the tribe of Judah had done. However, in the meantime, Abner, the commander of Saul’s army, had taken Saul’s remaining son, Ishbosheth and declared him king. With Abner’s backing, Ishbosheth became king over all of Israel except for Judah.

     While Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover (and after the Triumphal Entry), some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast approached Philip and asked him to arrange a meeting with Jesus for them. Philip told Andrew about their request and Andrew and Philip approached Jesus. In response to this request Jesus said that the time had come for Him to enter into His glory. He went on to say that it is only as a kernel of wheat enters the ground and dies that it is able to produce more wheat. In the same way, if we hang onto our lives, if we love our lives, we will lose them, but if we are willing to sacrifice our lives for God we will gain eternal life. It is interesting that this teaching is in response to some Greeks, some non-Jews, seeking to meet with Jesus. I am not sure why that is significant, but it is.
     Jesus went on to say that His soul was troubled. But He did not wish to ask the Father to save Him from the trial He was about to face, rather He asked the Father to glorify the Father’s name. Jesus says this immediately after telling us that if we wish to serve Him, we need to go where He is. This reads to me as a model for us to follow. We, also, should ask the Father to glorify His name through the difficult times we face, rather than asking Him to take these difficult times from us. I find this to be a very difficult teaching to follow.

     I just read the last passage in John where I understood Jesus to teach us to ask God to glorify His name through the difficulties we face rather than take them from us. Then I read this psalm where it says:

     The greedy bring trouble not only on themselves, but on their entire household. Those who seek after righteousness strive to control what words they use. The wicked do not give a second thought to the type of language they use, or what they say.