For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    It is good to have unsatisfied wants and needs, it provides motivation to be productive. Those who have everything they need and want are not as motivated as those who must struggle to meet their needs.

    The last two verses of this psalm are a great reminder of God’s grace to His people. Let us not allow our current sorrow stop us from doing God’s work. God will give us joy at harvest time.

    As the number of believers rapidly increased, the problem with the arrangement described in chapter 4 cropped up. It becomes difficult to distribute resources fairly as the group becomes larger. This is especially true when the group grows rapidly. The Apostles proposed a solution of appointing seven men whose specific job it would be to oversee the distribution in order to make sure that everyone’s needs were met. The lesson we learn is that in order to care for the needs of those unable to care for themselves (whether that inability is due to a permanent disability of some sort, or to some sort of temporary setback) someone needs to know each individual in need well enough to know what they need.

    Solomon’s great success results from the fact that he chose to seek wisdom from God rather than wealth, a long life, or victory over his enemies. We should follow Solomon’s example in this (although probably not in much of the rest of his life).

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    It is good to have desires, they provide motivation for working hard. It is not wrong to work hard in order to satisfy our desires for the finer things in life. We should, however, also desire to help those in need. Let us work hard to satisfy our godly desires.

    When we face hard times and sorrows, let us remember what God has done for His people in the past. If we are faithful to God during our hard times and sorrows, we will reap a harvest for God when He restores us to joy. Let us be witnesses for God, so that when He brings good things to us it will lead those who have not known Him to praise Him.

    As the number of believers multiplied, so did discontent. The Apostles were Hebraic Jews, that is more traditional in their background and culture. As a result they were more aware of the needs among the Hebraic Jewish believers. This led to those believers who were Hellenized Jews, more assimilated into the culture of the Roman Empire, to feel that those with needs among them were being neglected. The Apostles recognized this as a legitimate concern. They worked with the rest of the believers to choose seven men whose job it would be to make sure that everyone’s needs were met. This is an important model for us. The Apostles delegated some of the work of leadership (providing for the needs of the widows and others) to these seven men.
    In this new leadership role Stephen quickly found himself debating those Hellenized Jews (these were not believers) who questioned Jesus’ teachings. When they realized that they could not defeat Stephen in debate, they started spreading lies about what he taught. Let us remember to always take with a healthy grain of salt any accusation which non-believers make against our fellow believers. When they realize they cannot defeat believers in open debate they will often distort what they have said or don (or flat out lie about it) in order to put them in a bad light. We must be careful not to fall for such tactics.

    Solomon followed the instructions which David, his father, had given him. Except that he worshiped and offered sacrifices at the “high places”. Through out the Old Testament there are repeated condemnations of the practice of worshiping God and offering sacrifices to God at these high places. It never quite makes clear why this was bad. However, we can tell by “reading between the lines” that one of the problems with these high places was that worship at them often degenerated into idol worship rather than remain true to God. This is an important reminder that we need to be careful not to allow the rituals and practices we use to worship God to become the objects of our worship rather than God Himself.
    When God appeared to Solomon in a dream, he responded with humility. Solomon recognized that ruling well was beyond his ability to do on his own. He asked God for His help and wisdom so that he might do the task well. Solomon recognized that he was not able to do the task which God had given him on his own. God has given me tasks in this world which I cannot accomplish without the Holy Spirit. It is only through the power of God that I will be able to accomplish the tasks which God has set me. Let us remember that if we desire that God give us what we need to accomplish the tasks He has given us and ask Him for that, He will give it to us. He will give us not only what we need to do what He has assigned us, but much more than that as well.