The lesson here is that some problems cannot be fixed by giving them more. You do not stop a fire by feeding it more fuel. You will not fix a desert by pumping water into it. In both of these cases the solution is more complicated. You stop a fire by removing its access to fuel. While you may be able to fix a desert, it is complicated (and I do not think that is the writer’s point). Overall, I believe the point here is that there are some enemies with whom giving them what they want is not a viable path to peace.
Another psalm to meditate on. God knows every detail about us, even more than we know about ourselves. No matter where we are, or where we go, God is able to see our actions and our thoughts. If we want to get away from God, there is no place we can go to do so. If we want to turn to God, to call upon Him, He will be there for us, no matter where we are. He planned out every aspect of our bodies and our lives before we were born. There is nothing about our bodies that does not serve God’s purposes (if we allow it…and even if we don’t). Every aspect of our personality will be used by God if we choose to serve Him. God loves us deeply, is always thinking about us, and seeking to show us how to live joyously.
I will ask God to show me the things I think and the things I do which offend Him. With His help, I will strive to remove those things from my life so that I can follow the path He has for me.
This passage is worth some careful thought. Are the two witnesses in this passage two individuals? Or is there something more symbolic about them? My inclination is that they are two individuals. As I read this, I wonder how anyone will fail to recognize them when they appear? Or if there appearance is more subtle than the most literal reading of this passage suggests, how will I recognize them when they appear (assuming they appear during my lifetime)?
My experience leads me to believe that when God moves in this world He does so in a manner which allows those who reject Him to come up with logical explanations for events which do not require His existence. It requires at least the acceptance of the possibility of God to see Him working in the world. Therefore, I believe that when these two witnesses appear there will be those who call themselves Christians who will not recognize them. On the other hand, I also believe that there will be those who falsely present themselves as these two prophets. So, my fear is that I will either fail to recognize the real thing or fall for the imposters.
The lesson of this passage is that if we put taking care of our own needs ahead of serving God we will never have enough to give to God. It does not matter what the resource is, whether it is material goods, or time, or any other resource which we perceive to be in limited supply. We need to put God first. As soon as our most basic needs are met–shelter from the weather (even if it is only the most basic), clothes to wear (even if they are ill fitting and unfashionable), food to eat (even if we don’t like what it tastes like)– we need to start looking for ways in which we can serve God. And, when we hear the call to serve God, we should, at least sometimes, put that ahead of our needs. When Elijah went to the widow in Zarephath she was about to use the last of her food for a final meal. He told her to first prepare him a meal. As a result of serving God in this way, the meal she prepared was not her final meal. God provided her needs. He will do the same for us.
For today, One Year Bible Online links here. For those of you who do not read this every day, I was very sick last week and it affected my writing (I do not know if for the better or worse). While I am still taking antibiotics, I am otherwise feeling better. I thank those of you have been praying for me.
This proverb reminds us that quarreling is closely tied with sinning. If you start a quarrel because you trust your defenses, you are inviting disaster. If you attempt to win your quarrel using deceits and lies you will suffer as a consequence, even if you “win” the quarrel.
I will say that this proverb serves as a warning to me. I love to argue (as in debate…but debates are more formal), but this reminds me that it important to not allow an argument to become a quarrel. I strive to extract myself from an argument when my emotional investment in my argument starts to overwhelm my rational thought (or I observe the same happening to the other party).
I love this psalm. This psalm is one which we should teach regularly. God knows our every thought and action. Nothing is hidden from Him. He knows what we are going to do before we do it. He knows what we are going to say before we say it. He knows what we are going to think before we think it. There is no place, and no circumstance where God does not know what we are doing. When we do things which harm ourselves, it pains Him. And the final verse is my prayer
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Change my life so that those things in me which offend you are removed.
After Paul’s sermon many people asked Paul and Barnabas to speak about the topic again the following week. Many of those who had heard Paul speak followed them to continue the discussion. The following week, Paul and Barnabas attracted a large crowd. This led some of the Jews to be hostile to them and to seek to turn others against them. In response to the Jewish hostility, Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue and preached among the Gentiles. Many came to believe as a result. However, and here we have a warning, the Jews managed to stir up the influential religious women and city political leaders against Paul and Barnabas. The warning is against efforts to stir up hostility among those who strive to be righteous against people and groups on the basis of rumor and innuendo.
When they were chased out of Antioch in Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas went to Iconium, where they had a similar experience. They initially spoke at the Jewish synagogue, but some of the Jews were offended by their message and spread lies about them. Nevertheless, Paul and Barnabas were able to preach there for an extended period of time. Overall these two accounts remind us that we should be true to the Gospel message in the face of hostility. We should not change the message in order to attempt to respond to hostility to that message.
What I am about to write is not original with me. In today’s passage we have the account of three army captains and their men sent to arrest Elijah. The first two captains acknowledged that Elijah was a man of God, but believed that the king had authority over him nevertheless. The king had commanded Elijah to appear, so in their minds, Elijah was obligated to do so. They believed that their own authority, which derived from the authority of the king, was greater than Elijah’s authority, which derived from God. The third captain recognized that Elijah’s authority, because it derived from God, was greater than his own authority. The lesson here is that the government’s authority is subordinate to God’s authority. When the third army captain acknowledged that he had no authority, no ability, to compel Elijah’s actions, God instructed Elijah to accompany him. I think this is an important message for us today. The agents of the government do not have the authority to compel the agents of God to obey them. It gets more complicated when we consider whether the government has the authority to compel the agents of God. I will keep this topic in the back of my mind as I continue reading through the Bible to see what it says on that subject.
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.
There are some things which you cannot satisfy by giving them more. No matter how much is burned up in a fire, it will always be able to burn more. No matter how much rain falls in the desert, it will be dry almost as soon as the rain stops. No matter how many people die, the grave will always have room for more. We need to recognize those things which cannot be sated.
This psalm conveys an important message. One which I cannot sum up better than the way the psalmist says it.
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
…
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
God knows everything we think and do. He knows what we are going to say before we even think it. The psalmist goes on to tell us that there is no place we can go to be separated from God. No matter where we go, God is already there.
John describes two witnesses/prophets who will arise and prophesy in Jerusalem. They will perform miraculous signs and, during their period of testimony, any who try to harm them will die a sudden death. When they complete their testimony the forces of evil will make war against them and kill them. Their bodies will be left to lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days. During that time, the people of the world who do not worship God will gloat over their death. Then God will raise them up to life again, terrifying those who witness it. They will be called into heaven.
I am convinced that much of what is written here is figurative. However, I am also convinced that when this happens, those who truly worship God will recognize it as fulfilling this passage. In addition, many people will come to serve the Lord as a result of these events, some because of the prophesying by these two witnesses, and some because they see how these two witnesses fulfill this passage.
Haggai called on the Jews who had returned from exile to rebuild the Temple. He calls them to task for putting their own comfort ahead of doing God’s will. This message is an important reminder to us to put God first in our lives. The returned exiles had good intentions. As soon as they got the local economy back up and running, they were planning to rebuild the Temple. But everything they tried fell just a little short. They never managed to accumulate the surplus they thought they needed to be able to spare the time and effort to work on the Temple. This is so much like us.
Haggai’s message to them was to do the Lord’s work now, not to wait until conditions were just right to do so. God wants the same thing from us today. If we wait until we get everything going the way we think it should before doing God’s work, we will never get there. Let us start doing what we know God wants us to do first. Then God will bless us by showing us how to make the rest work as well.
The love of quarrels is a love of sin. Some people love getting into quarrels because they believe their defenses will protect them from any attack. However, those who think their defenses will protect them from whatever trouble they can start are courting disaster. If you allow your heart to become corrupted so that all you desire is perversion you will not prosper. If you think that you can make your way through life by telling lies, those lies will lead you into trouble.
What a wonderful psalm! It is worth memorizing and meditating on.
O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
How very true this is. It is both comforting and frightening at the same time. It is frightening because there is no place I can go to hide from God. Every sin I commit is plainly in His sight. On the other hand, it is comforting because no matter where I am, God can reach out to save me and enfold me in His arms. Further the psalmist tells us that God knew all of our actions before we were born:
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
Finally the psalmist concludes by asking God to test him and correct him so that he could faithfully serve Him. I make this my prayer:
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Test me, oh God, and cleanse me of that which offends You.
Paul’s sermon at the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia was initially well received by the Jews of that town. As a result, Paul and Barnabas were invited to speak again the following week at the synagogue. However, when a very large crowd turned out to hear Paul and Barnabas speak, some of them became jealous. Rather than rejoice in God using Paul and Barnabas to reach outsiders, they began to work to stir up sentiment against them. Those who were jealous of Paul and Barnabas were willing, and even eager, to receive their message when they thought that it was just for them as members of an exclusive group. However, when Paul and Barnabas made it clear that their message was for all who would hear it, they became hostile.
The Gospel message is not a message for an exclusive group of people. It is a message for all who will listen. In addition,we should preach the Gospel to those who are willing to hear it. If the group we first approached rejects our message, we are not only free to move on to those who are receptive, but called to do so.
When the king sent troops to arrest Elijah, the first two sets of troops were destroyed by fire. Yet the third was not. The difference between these three groups was the way they viewed the relationship between the Church and the state. The commanders of the first two stated that Elijah was a man of God, yet believed that because they were acting on the king’s orders that they had the authority to command Elijah’s actions. The third commander recognized that the king was unable to give him authority over a man of God, that the final authority was God. Notice that when the third commander begged Elijah to spare his life, God directed Elijah to accompany him. If we are truly men and women of God, the government will not be able to use force of arms (or any other means) to stop us from following God’s will.
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.
Haggai was called to prophecy after the people of Judah returned from the Babylonian Exile. Haggai confronts the returned exiles over the fact that they had built luxurious homes for themselves but had not rebuilt the Temple. He points out that their labor is not producing as much as they had anticipated. He goes on to tell them that even what they get, both in harvests and in money, does not last as long as they expected. All of this he tells them is a result of them putting their own desires ahead of God. Rather than waiting until they are financially where they want to be before they start spending their resources on God, they need to put God first. This is an important lesson for all of us. There is a discipline that comes from putting God first that makes everything else we do more productive.
I just started a new job after being laid off for a month. I will take listen to the message of Haggai and put God first. I will not wait until I have paid all my bills back to where they would be if I had not gotten laid off. I will put God first and trust Him to provide for everything else.
John’s vision continues with Him seeing the Temple in Jerusalem. He is told that Gentiles will control the city of Jerusalem and the Temple courtyard, interfering with people worshiping God anywhere but within the Temple itself. During this time, God will raise up two prophets to prophesy to the entire world. Anyone who attempts to interfere with them during their ministry will die by fire which comes out of their mouths. They will have the power to prevent it from raining during their ministry and the power to produce other signs that they speak the word of God. At the end of the time which God has appointed them to preach, the “beast” will arise from the Abyss, overpower them, and kill them. For three and a half days their bodies will remain lying out in public view where the people of the world will gloat and celebrate their deaths. At the end of the three and a half days, God will raise them from the dead, striking terror into the hearts of all who witness it. The two prophets will then be called up to heaven by God. As they rise up to heaven an earthquake will destroy a tenth of Jerusalem.
Following this, the seventh angel will sound the seventh trumpet. At that point the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of God and Christ will begin His eternal reign over all of it. The Temple of heaven, of which the Temple on earth is but a copy, will be opened and all will be able to see the Ark of God’s covenant within it. At that moment there will be another terrible earthquake and a hailstorm over the whole earth.
As I read the beginning of this a thought came to me. Since the view of the New Testament is that the Temple of God is composed of the bodies of believers, is John’s vision of Gentiles trampling over the outer courts and the city of Jerusalem a metaphor for our society telling us that we should only worship God in the privacy of our own thoughts and not allow our religious beliefs to enter into the public square of discourse?
This psalm so wonderfully sums up our relationship with God. He knows everything about us, even things we do not know about ourselves. He knows our every action and every thought. He will go before me to show me the way and follow behind me to guard me from attack. There is no place that I could get away from God’s presence. Wherever I find myself, God will be there and able to see me in full detail. No matter what circumstances I find myself in, God is willing and able to guide me. God saw me before I was even born, while I was yet a zygote in my mother’s womb, even then He knew the plans He had for my life. I will seek His counsel and request that He show me anything in my life which offends Him. I request that He put His Spirit upon me and lead me along the path He desires for me.
There are those who can never be satisfied no matter how much we give. Let us recognize that we will never be able to give enough to satisfy all of the needs of the world. We can kill ourselves trying to care for the needy and there will still be more need. Let us not be disheartened because we are unable to satisfy all of the needs in the world.
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for over 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.
After Ahab’s death, his son Ahaziah ruled in Israel. One day he fell through latticework in an upper room of the palace and was seriously injured. He sent messengers to Ekron to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron as to whether he would get better. Elijah intercepted the messengers and told them to tell Ahaziah that he would die because he had sent to consult Baal-Zebub rather than asking God whether he would get better. When the messengers return and tell King Ahaziah Elijah’s message, he sends a captain with 50 men to arrest Elijah.
When the captain found Elijah, he called Elijah a man of God and told him that the king had demanded that Elijah come with them. Elijah responded that if he was a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume the captain and his men. Fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his men. Ahaziah sent a second captain with 50 men to arrest Elijah. This captain also called Elijah a man of God and told him that Ahaziah demanded that he come at once. Elijah repeated what he had told the first captain with the same results. Ahaziah sent a third captain with 50 men. This third captain also called Elijah a man of God, but rather than demand, based on the king’s authority, that Elijah come with him, this captain begged Elijah to spare his and his men’s lives. God told Elijah to go with this captain and he did so. When Elijah arrived at the palace, he told Ahaziah what he had told Ahaziah’s messengers, that he would never rise from his sick bed but would die in it. Shortly afterward Ahaziah died and was succeeded by his brother Joram.
We could read this passage and see it as telling us that the first two groups of soldiers died because they were caught in a difficult place. However, if we look a little closer we see something different. The first two captains approached Elijah and acknowledged that he was a man of God, but they assumed that the authority of the king was binding on the man of God. The third captain acknowledged that, as a man of God, Elijah was only subject to the commands of the king as God allowed. In the same way, if we are people of God, we are only subject to the edicts of the government as God directs us. When the laws and edicts of the government go against what God directs, we have an obligation to not follow them. Further, the government will only be able to act against us for violating its directions inasmuch as God allows, no matter how much force the government brings to bear.
When the time came for Elijah to end his ministry on this earth, he told Elisha to stay where they were while he, Elijah traveled to Bethel. Elisha insisted on accompanying Elijah. When they got to Bethel, a group of prophets came to Elisha and told him that God was going to take Elijah soon. Elisha told them that he knew that and that they should keep quiet about it. Elijah then told Elisha to stay at Bethel while he went to Jericho. Again Elisha refused to stay behind. The prophets at Jericho told Elisha the same thing as the prophets at Bethel had said and Elisha responded the same way. Now Elijah told Elisha that he should stay at Jericho while Elijah went to the Jordan. Once more, Elisha refused to stay behind.
When they got to the Jordan, Elijah folded up his cloak and struck the water with it. When he did so, the Jordan River divided and the two men crossed over. The prophets from Jericho had accompanied them as far as the Jordan, but did not cross with them. Once they had crossed the Jordan River, Elijah asked Elisha what he could do for him. Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit and to be his successor. Elijah told Elisha that he had asked for a difficult thing, but if he saw Elijah when he was taken, he would receive it. As they walked on a chariot of fire drove between them and Elijah was carried into heaven by a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out in grief and tore his clothes. He then picked up Elijah’s cloak and returned to the Jordan. When Elisha got to the Jordan he took the cloak, struck the water with it and cried out, “Where now is the God of Elijah?” The Jordan River divided for Elisha just as it had for Elijah. The prophets who were waiting for Elisha to return recognized that the spirit that had rested on Elijah was resting on Elisha. They offered to send 50 men to search for Elijah, but Elisha initially declined. They persisted and Elisha relented and told them to search. The searchers returned after three days without finding Elijah.
The elders of Jericho came to Elisha and asked him if he could do anything about the fact that the water in and around the town was bad in a way that made the land unproductive. Following God’s leading, Elisha purified the water. Shortly after that Elisha left Jericho to go to Bethel. On the way, a gang of boys came out and started to taunt him and make fun of him. Elisha turned, called down a curse on the boys and two bears emerged from the woods, mauling 42 of the boys. This sounds cruel, but think about the situation. Elisha was a lone traveler in a somewhat remote region. A large gang of unsupervised boys (the word suggests that they were in their teens) comes out and starts making fun of him and jeering him. Think about how you would view this situation if you were walking through a bad neighborhood in the inner city, or in a dirt poor region of Appalachia. You are in whichever of those you chose, more than 40 teenage boys came out and started to say nasty things about you and make fun of you, telling you to get out of that area. There is no one else around. What are the odds that those boys are likely to turn violent? If not with you, then perhaps the next passerby, or the one after that.
When Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue after Paul’s preaching, people begged them to come back the following week and tell them more. The following week, almost everybody came to hear Paul and Barnabas speak. When the Jews saw the crowds that came to hear Paul speak they became jealous and began to contradict him. They even went so far as to deride him personally. Paul and Barnabas were not intimidated by the animosity of the Jews. They told them that they had to offer the word of salvation first to the Jews, but since the Jews had rejected it they were free to preach to the Gentiles. The Gentiles in the city were thankful for the willingness of Paul and Barnabas to preach to them and many of them became believers. The Jews stirred up the religious women and city leaders against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town. Paul and Barnabas shook the dust of the town from their feet and moved on to Iconium.
When they got to Iconium they once again started by speaking in the synagogue. A large number of Jews and Gentiles became believers as a result. However, some of those Jews who rejected their teaching worked to poison the minds of the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas and their message. Nevertheless Paul and Barnabas stayed in Iconium quite some time, speaking boldly and performing wonders and miracles to bring glory to God. The people of the town were divided about them. Eventually a group of those opposed the them decided to attack and stone them. However, Paul and Barnabas learned of it and left the city before that happened.
Paul and Barnabas followed a pattern when they went to a new city. The first thing they did was go to the synagogue. They went to those who shared their faith and started preaching there. They did not arrive in town and immediately plant a new church. No, they went and worked with those who were already there proclaiming themselves to be serving God. It was only when the already established group rejected their ministry that they went elsewhere. And the thing is they didn’t stop after they had run into problems in one or two, or more cities. Paul continued this pattern for his entire ministry. I think this reflects something we should do when we are called into a new area to preach the gospel. If there is an established congregation there, we should attempt to work with them first. It is only if and when they reject the way that God is guiding us to minister that we should go out and plant a new congregation.
Today’s psalm is often used by those fighting against abortion, and there is nothing wrong with that. But we make a grave mistake if that is all we see in it because this psalm is so much more than that. A couple of days ago I read that John Ratzenberger had made the comment that when he was growing up we didn’t need surveillance cameras and other spying techniques because we had God. His point was that when he was young he was taught what this psalm tells us. God is always watching us. He knows everything we do. It doesn’t matter how we try to hide it, God sees and knows. Even if we could hide it from God’s sight, it would do us no good, because God knows what we are going to do before we do it.
But there is more to this psalm than God watching us. It also tells us that God has a plan for our life that He laid out before we were born. Fifty years ago, when I was still in my mother’s womb, God knew, and planned, that I would be sitting here today writing this. The psalm goes on to tell us that each one of us is the object of more thoughts of God than there are grains of sand. I will conclude my comments on this psalm by asking the same thing the psalmist did:
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
This first proverb is a challenge to me: “Anyone who loves to quarrel loves sin…” because I love to debate and there is a fine line between debating and quarreling. There is nothing wrong with debating various things, but it is important to remember that it is all too easy to become emotionally attached to your debating points and then your debate becomes a quarrel. The point of debating is to learn the truth and there is no shame in learning that you were wrong about something. The shame comes from refusing to admit that you were wrong.
