For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I apologize if my writing over the last few days has been below my usual standard. I have not been feeling well and if the doctor is to be believed I will feel this way for a few more. On the other hand, if my writing has not been substandard, praise God because it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that such is possible.
Every time I read this proverb I struggle with how to express what it conveys to me. When a fool speaks eloquently they may convince many people to take foolish actions. It is even worse when a government leader lies. When a government leader lies a whole gamut of things can go wrong, from an innocent person being unjustly condemned to a nation going to war for no good reason.
As I read this passage this morning, it communicated something to me that I don’t think I have ever noticed about it before, even though it is something I have deeply believed for a long time. Cornelius was a God-fearing man who genuinely sought to know God. Cornelius followed where his search led him and that search led him to Jesus. I believe that every person who genuinely seeks to find God and to follow His will will come to Jesus, sooner or later.
On the other side, we have Peter. While God was showing Cornelius how to come closer to Him, He was also preparing Peter. Again this is how things work. God prepares us for changes in our lives before they come about. If we listen to the messages God sends us we will be prepared to serve Him.
Despite being placed in his position of power by God, Jeroboam failed to even make a pretense of faithfully serving God. This passage makes it clear that he knew the role God played in his becoming king of Israel. When his son got sick he sent his wife to consult the prophet who had told him he would one day be king. Jeroboam knowingly turned his back on God in his pursuit of what he believed was his own interest. He suffered as a result.
For today, One Year Bible Online links here. Christmas is coming soon. Let us remember what it is truly about, the birth of Jesus Christ. Let us strive to not be caught up in the commercialism which is what this season is about for many in our society today.
Many people seek to curry favor with the politically powerful, but if you wish to see justice seek the Lord. The righteous think poorly of the wicked and the wicked look on the righteous with disdain and contempt.
This psalm reminds us that God’s people should strive to live together in peace and unity. It is not an easy thing to do. We all have our shortcomings and we are all too ready to blame others when we fail to live as we know we ought. Let us strive to live in unity with those who also strive to serve God.
The passage begins with John noting a scroll in the hand of God. Since we do not normally use scrolls anymore we often overlook the significance of the fact that there is writing on both sides of the scroll. Ordinarily there is only writing on the inside of a scroll. The fact that this scroll has writing on both sides indicates that it is completely full. It is complete, there is no more to be written. The other important fact is that it is sealed with seven seals. This indicates that it is completely and perfectly sealed. There have been those who connect this scroll to the one referred to in Daniel 12:4. I believe they are correct. Further, I believe that John wrote this book intending to connect it with the apocalyptic prophesies from the Old Testament.
I should mention one thing here. I believe that what is recorded in the Book of Revelation represents visions which John actually saw. However, he described those visions in ways which reflect what he believed them to mean and the events which he thought they indicated. I believe that John struggled with what his visions meant much as we do today.
So, we have a scroll which represents God’s complete message that is completely sealed. A call is put forth seeking someone who is worthy and able to open the scroll, but no one in all of heaven and earth is found. When John breaks down and cries over this tragedy he is told that the Lion of Judah, David’s heir, is worthy and able to open the scroll. The Lion of Judah is Jesus. It is through Jesus, and only through Jesus, that we are able to hear, and understand, God’s complete message. Anyone who attempts to open the scroll of God’s message on their own will fail.
The book of Jonah starts out with God giving Jonah a calling. Not only did Jonah not obey God’s calling, he went in the opposite direction. I spend so much of my time seeking clear direction from God that I sometimes wonder how Jonah could have done that. Yet, I remember one time when I felt a clear call to do something for God and chose not to do it. I justified my decision by convincing myself that I was not prepared for the role. Looking back I regret the decision I made at the time.
On the other hand, the rest of the book of Jonah suggests that maybe my perception of God’s call was mistaken. Why do I say that? Because when Jonah refused to answer God’s call, God did not take that first “No” for an answer. When God calls us, He will not easily take “No” for an answer. God drove Jonah to the deepest depths. When he was in the belly of the fish, Jonah could have laid down and died. Instead, he cried out to God and repented his sins. When God called Jonah once more to go to Ninevah and preach, Jonah still did not like what the results would be, but he realized that he like the results of not doing God’s will anymore. So Jonah went and did God’s will.
Sure enough, the actions God called Jonah to perform had the effect that Jonah feared. God could have left it at that. Jonah had done what he asked and the people of Ninevah repented. He did not need Jonah to be happy about it. But God wanted Jonah, and us, to understand why He did what He did here. As evil, wicked, and nasty the people of Ninevah had been, God did not desire their destruction. He desired that they turn from their wickedness to doing good. To make a modern comparison, God does not desire the destruction of the people who make up ISIS (Islamic State of Syria and Iraq). He desires them to turn from their evil to serve Him.
I prefer the NIV translation for today’s proverb. The proverb discusses two things which cause disruption. They are, when a godless fool is eloquent and when a ruler lies. Both of these will cause problems for many. The eloquent fool will convince many to follow his foolishness. The lying ruler will bring misery to those he rules over. The proverb is related to the statement about lying rulers and is why I prefer the NIV. Those who give bribes see them as charm which will allow them to prosper in every situation. It is even true, right up until they come upon either the honest official, who will not accept the bribe, or the totally dishonest official, who will accept the bribe and not accede to the briber’s wishes (probably because they have been bribed a greater amount by someone else).
Seems to be a theme today, because I prefer the NIV for today’s psalm as well. Let us make it our goal to live in harmony with our fellow believers. Let us strive to find the areas where we agree and use those points of commonality to resolve our differences. As we find ways to resolve our disagreements and differences, God will bestow His blessings upon us.
The story of Peter and Cornelius teaches us something about how the Spirit often works to confirm the messages which He gives us. When Cornelius’ messengers gave Peter the message from Cornelius that an angel had told him to summon Peter, Peter realized that his vision was a confirmation of that message. The Spirit will usually confirm what He is telling us from a second (and sometimes third or fourth) source. I pray to God that I do not give in to my doubts when He gives me such confirmations.
Before Peter had his vision of the Spirit telling him to eat non-kosher meat he would never have dreamed of going to the house of a gentile. He perceived them as unclean and going into their house would make him unfit to be in God’s presence. The combination of Peter’s vision and Cornelius’ message teaches us that we should not consider anyone who is seeking God unclean. If God was able to cleanse us through the blood of Jesus then He is able to cleanse another, no matter how great a sinner they may have been up to that point.
Rehoboam led the people of Judah into idolatry. The people set up Asherah poles throughout the land and brought back the practice of male and female shrine prostitutes. As a result of Rehoboam’s sins God allowed King Shishak of Egypt to ransack Jerusalem. Rehoboam’s son followed in his father’s footsteps, but only ruled for three years. However, Rehoboam’s grandson, Asa, was faithful to God. Asa drove the shrine prostitutes out of the land and destroyed the idols which were worshiped along with them. He went so far as to remove his grandmother from positions of authority and destroyed the Asherah pole which she had set up. The story of Asa tells us not to set our expectations too high. Asa failed to remove the shrines from the high places throughout the land, but his heart was faithful to God throughout his life. While Asa was not completely successful in eliminating the idolatry in the land, he was dedicated to worshiping the Lord himself and in turning the people back to God. Let us not judge ourselves on our failures, but rather on our success in living each day more faithfully than the last.
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.
Today’s passage is the entire book of Jonah. So often we are like Jonah. At first when God calls Jonah to confront evil people for their sins, he resists, going so far as to go in the opposite direction. God is calling Jonah to confront people for their sins, but rather than do so, Jonah moves away from them. Who in my life is God calling me to announce His judgment against? Who does He desire me to confront?
When Jonah ran into problems because of his choice to act against God’s will, he repented and cried out to God. It is worth noting that God took action to save Jonah from the consequences of his disobedience even before Jonah cried out to Him. It is also worth noting that God used Jonah to bring others to Him even in Jonah’s disobedience (the sailors worshiped God and vowed to serve Him). When Jonah cried out to God in his desperation, God brought him forth from the “belly of the fish” and set the task before him once more.
This time Jonah followed God’s command and confronted the sinners of Nineveh. He told them that God was going to destroy them because of their sin. When they heard his message, they turned from their sin and stopped their evil ways. They cried out to God and begged Him for mercy. God listened to their cry and chose not to carry out the destruction which he had had Jonah proclaim. Jonah became angry with God because what he had predicted did not come to pass. I believe Jonah’s anger was a result of hurt pride. He had told the people of Nineveh that they would be destroyed and now it was not going to happen. He set himself up just outside of the city to watch the city, hoping that perhaps the destruction was merely delayed for a short time. God caused a plant to grow up over Jonah’s shelter, providing relief from the hot sun. Then, in order to communicate a lesson to Jonah, God caused the plant to wither and die. Once more Jonah was angry enough that he wished to die. God pointed out that Jonah had more concern for a plant, which had come into being and grown with no intervention on Jonah’s part than he did for the many people living in Nineveh. Do we have more concern for plants and animals than we do for people? Am I willing to listen to God’s will and give people God’s message, even if I have to risk looking like a kook?
Next John saw that the one who was sitting on the throne had a scroll in His hand. When no one was found worthy to break the seals and read the scroll, John wept. However, he was told not to weep because there was one who was worthy to read the scroll. John had not been patient enough. He needed to wait until the Lion of Judah had won the victory (this to me is a metaphor for our patience and for the history of the world from Creation until Jesus’ death and resurrection). So, John looked, and what he saw was a Lamb which had been slain, but was now living.
The Lion who has won the victory is the Lamb who was slain. Do we understand the significance of this? God did not gain victory by crushing His enemies. He gained victory by allowing them to crush Him. The Christian message is not that of Islam. Islam proclaims that God will rule the world through the military conquests of His followers. Christianity proclaims that God will rule the world through the death of Jesus Christ. God will rule the world through the apparent defeat of His followers. Let us not be disheartened by apparent defeat because in God’s calculus, being defeated while faithfully serving God results in victory. Death results in new life.
It is definitely true that it is good and pleasant when brothers live together in harmony, whether that brotherhood is biological or the brotherhood of believers. It is God’s will that we live in harmony with one another and I will strive to do so, in as much as doing so is within my power.
Many seek the favor of those with earthly power, but if we truly desire justice we must apply to God. You can tell a lot about someone by whom they dislike. The righteous dislike those who are dishonest and unjust. The wicked despise those who are godly.
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.
Today I read the book of Jonah. I am not used to this. Most of the time when we look at the book of Jonah we either look at the first part where he runs from the Lord’s command, is cast into the sea and swallowed by a very large fish, or we look at the second part of the book where he prophecies in Nineveh, they repent, and Jonah gets angry and sulks when God withdraws His judgment against Nineveh.
The story starts with God calling Jonah to go to Nineveh and prophecy that God is going to bring judgment against it because of its wickedness. Now we do not know when this took place, but it is reasonable to believe that it took place while Nineveh, as the capital of the Assyrian Empire, was at the height of its powers and represented the primary threat to Israel and Judah. Jonah did not want to go and warn them of God’s coming judgment because he wanted God to bring destruction upon them. So, in order to avoid giving them warning, Jonah not only refused to go to Nineveh, he decided to get as far away from them as possible. “God, you can’t expect me to go to Nineveh now. I’m all the way over here in Tarshish.” I am sure you know times when you were sure that God could not mean for you to do whatever it was you were being convicted to do because it was such an inconvenience to do so. I think there are two messages from the book of Jonah. The first message is that, yes, God does mean for you to do that even if it is inconvenient. The second is that God will make His will perfectly clear. Of course, if we are stubborn the way Jonah was, we will not like the results of God making His will clear.
When Jonah fled, he got on a ship sailing for Tarshish. We are not exactly sure where Tarshish was, but it was the farthest place that anyone in Israel could think of at that time. God raised a violent storm against the ship, a storm so violent that the sailors were afraid for their lives, nevertheless Jonah slept through the storm. The ship’s captain woke him up to demand that he pray to his god for a calm in the storm. When the storm did not calm, the sailors cast lots to determine who on board had offended the gods. The lot fell to Jonah. They immediately wanted to know who he was and what god he worshiped. Jonah told them that he worshiped the God who had made the sea and the land. He then told them to throw him into the sea. When the sailors finally gave up on their own efforts to escape the storm and threw Jonah into the sea the storm stopped at once. They were struck by God’s power and vowed to serve Him. Notice that even in the midst of Jonah trying to avoid God’s will, God used him to touch the lives of those around him and to bring them to following the Lord. When Jonah entered the water, he was immediately swallowed by a great fish. We have no idea what kind of fish it was, nor how Jonah was able to survive three days inside of it, because neither of those things are part of the point of the story.
While inside the fish, Jonah prayed to God and rededicated himself to doing God’s will. God had the fish spit Jonah out onto the beach. God then once more called Jonah to go to Nineveh and prophecy His judgment against that city. This time Jonah obeyed. He went to Nineveh and prophesied that in forty days God was going to destroy Nineveh. When the people of Nineveh heard Jonah’s prophecy, they declared a fast and dressed in plain, somewhat uncomfortable clothes to show their remorse. Even the king of Nineveh got off of his throne and did this. The king called for people to turn from their sins and violence in the hope that God might turn aside His anger. When God saw their sorrow and repentance, He chose not to destroy them.
Jonah was furious with God for sparing Nineveh. He had run away to Tarshish in the first place because he was afraid that God would change His mind and not destroy Nineveh. I see two things here. One, Jonah was upset because he really wanted God to destroy Nineveh. That is bad enough, but the second was that part of the reason he wanted God to destroy Nineveh was because he had told them that God was going to. Jonah was upset because what he had prophesied did not come to pass. He was not grateful that the people had heard his message, repented and been spared the terrible judgment. Rather he was upset because he felt that he looked like a fool, he had said that Nineveh would be destroyed and it did not happen. He had not preached God’s word in the hopes that people would listen and turn from their sin. He had preached God’s word out of a sense of satisfaction of telling people how wrong they were and how much they would suffer for it.
There are two overall lessons here. When God calls us, He will make His call clear, but we had better not pretend that we do not understand His call after it is clear because we will not like what God does to convince us to follow His will. The other lesson is that we should always seek to turn people away from their sin and towards following God, even when we think they deserve the judgment we see coming to them if they do not change their ways.
Nativity Scene At First United Methodist Church In Perkasie
The writer of Revelation tells us in this passage that he saw a scroll in the hand of the one sitting on the throne of Heaven. The scroll was sealed. An angel cried out asking if anyone was worthy to open the scroll, but no one was found who could open the scroll. The writer was heartbroken because no one was found worthy to open the scroll. At that moment he was told that the Lion of Judah had been found worthy to open the scroll and when he looked he saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slain. This is an interesting juxtaposition. He was told that the Lion was worthy to open the scroll because it had been victorious, yet when he looked, he saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slain. A lamb is usually considered as the opposite of a lion. A lion is considered an apex predator, that is something that nothing else preys upon. A lamb on the other hand is among the most vulnerable of all prey animals. Here we are told that not only is a lamb the victorious lion, but a lamb that has been slain. This disrupts our entire understanding of power dynamics. When the Lamb stepped forward and took the scroll, the beings that were in the presence of God changed their song and began praising the Lamb. They sang that the Lamb had ransomed people from every possible division of people to become the people of God. This is an important message. Think of all of the things that divide us from one another, tribe, nation, ethnic background, the language we speak, the culture we grew up in, this passage is telling us that Jesus has claimed someone, or multiple someones from each of those groups to be part of the people of God. From all of these divisions, Jesus has brought people to be priests before God, priests who will rule over the earth. None of us represent a group that has special dispensation to consider itself better than others because all are equally dependent upon Jesus to become the people of God.
People seek the favor of those who rule, but justice comes from God. We can tell a lot about people by who they dislike. The righteous dislike the unjust, while the wicked dislike the godly.
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.
Jeroboam’s son became sick. Jeroboam had his wife disguise herself and go to the prophet who had told him he would become king to find out what would happen to his son. The prophet recognized Jeroboam’s wife, even though he was now blind. The prophet told her that the boy would die and that Jeroboam’s family would be destroyed. The prophet condemned Jeroboam for his idolatry and prophesies that Israel will be scattered for its sins.
The next section tells us that Rehoboam reintroduces the practice of pagan rituals in Judah. We are told that the people imitated the “detestable practices” of the peoples that God had driven out of the land. Among those practices that the people adopted was that of having male prostitutes as part of worship of certain idols. The passage tells us that they set up shrines, sacred pillars and Ashera poles on every high hill and under every green tree. We are told that the king of Egypt came and ransacked Jerusalem. When Rehoboam died his son Abijam succeeded him. We are told that Abijam’s mother was the daughter of Absalom and that Abijam committed the same sins as his father. Abijam reigned for three years before he died and was succeeded by his son Asa. The people of Judah stopped worshiping God and started worshiping idols and taking up pagan religious rituals. It reminds of what we see today. People have been taught that Christianity is superstitious nonsense. So, they do not follow Christian religious practices. Instead, they adopt religious practices that they imagine are those of their ancestors from various pagan religions.
We are told that Asa, Rehoboam’s grandson did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight. He got rid of the shrine prostitutes, burned the Asherah poles and destroyed the idols his father and grandfather had made. He went so far as to depose his grandmother from the position of queen mother because of the Asherah pole she had made, which he cut down and burned. He was unable to stop the practice of worshiping at local shrines, but he appears to have mostly eliminated idol worship. The Law of Moses said that all worship of God should be at the Tabernacle and after the Temple was built at the Temple, but the people often conducted sacrifices at local shrines. Even when these sacrifices were to God, they were condemned throughout the Old Testament. It took me awhile to realize why this would be. If the people worshiped at various places, they would develop competing understandings of correct practices and what God commanded. By centralizing worship, God could more readily correct improper practices by raising up prophets to condemn them. It is the same reason that we as Christians today should gather with other Christians on a regular basis, so as to test our understanding of God against what the Spirit is saying to others.
While Peter was staying in Joppa, God sent an angel to appear to a Roman officer named Cornelius, telling him to send to Joppa to summon Peter. We are told that Cornelius was a devout, God-fearing man along with the rest of his household. Cornelius gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God. Cornelius sent three men to Joppa. As they were arriving in Joppa, Peter was praying. It was near lunchtime and Peter was hungry. While a meal is being prepared, Peter has a vision of a sheet being let down from heaven filled with all sorts of unclean animals. A voice tells him to kill and eat them. Peter replies that he has never eaten anything proscribed by Jewish Law as unclean. The voice tells him not to call anything unclean that God has declared clean. This vision repeats three times. As Peter is trying to figure out what the vision means, Cornelius’ messengers arrive. When Peter hears their message he agrees to accompany them.
We read this passage and the message of the vision seems obvious and I think that it was. We often wish that God would give us such obvious guidance. I think that He often does if we follow the process we see in this passage. The first thing is that Peter was praying, something the context and other passages in Acts suggest he did regularly. So, the first step is regular prayer. The second is that Luke makes a point of telling us that Peter was hungry and that a meal was being prepared. Further, it was around the middle of the day. I don’t know about you, but if I spend time in prayer around lunchtime, I often fall asleep. So, Peter could have dismissed this vision as a dream that was the result of the combination of his hunger with the smells of a meal being prepared. He doesn’t. When the men from Cornelius arrive, it is immediately clear to him what message God was sending him. If we regularly spend time in prayer and worship, we too will see how the dreams and thoughts that God sends our way apply to the decisions we need to make.
The psalmist tells us that living in harmony with our brothers is a wonderful thing. We need to strive to live in harmony with those around us, especially our fellow believers. This does not mean that we should not correct them when they are wrong, but we must be humble and recognize that we might be the ones who are wrong. We must also recognize that even if we are right on one issue, we have issues where we struggle to follow righteous behavior.
This proverb tells us that it is dangerous when a fool is eloquent and even worse is when someone in authority lies. I have seen how people begin to believe things they would otherwise see as foolish when someone presents those ideas in a manner that is eloquent and convincing. I have learned not to decide how I feel about an issue on the basis of a speech or a video, but instead wait until I can see the arguments in writing. When I can take the time to read an argument for something, I can more readily see where the weaknesses in the case being made are. I can then explore those weaknesses and discover if they truly make the position wrong, or if they turn out to be not important.
