There is a reason this is the most popular psalm. It reminds us that God cares for us and will provide for all of our needs. If we trust Him, He will keep us safe and comfort us when we pass through dangerous times.
Most of us have read this passage about forgiveness many times, but how often do we tell ourselves that this time we don’t need to forgive? WE don’t usually say it that way. Instead we say that our anger is justified, or that we will forgive, but that doesn’t mean we have to forget. We have other ways to justify not forgiving those who have offended us. It is very hard to forgive someone who does the same thing to us over and over again. Jesus tells us that no matter how many times that person has sinned against us, no matter how many times they have done that thing we cannot stand, it is minor compared to how badly, and frequently, we have sinned against God, we have done that thing which God cannot stand. Yet God has forgiven us. If we will not forgive those whose debt to us is much less, we will be unable to accept God’s forgiveness of our much greater debt to him.
Some Pharisees came to Jesus and tried to find out which side of the rabbinical debate about divorce He was on. I am not sure what about this question Matthew viewed as a trap, but I am quite sure those present saw it the same way. Jesus’ tells us that God made us male and female with the intent that a man would leave his father and mother and become one with his wife. When we get married God makes us one with our spouse. Since God has made us into one, who has authority to split us into two once more? Jesus’ answer is that the only justification for divorce is if the other person has been unfaithful…or in other words, if the other person has already divorced us. Since in Jesus’ world the only “marriage” is that marriage before God, the only “divorce” is divorce before God. If your spouse leaves you, by having sexual relations with another, you are free, but there is no circumstance under which you are justified leaving them.
Moses did what God had told him to do and things got worse. Howe often have we seen things go like that? Either for ourselves or someone else? But God was not done with Moses, and after fussing about it, Moses went back to Pharaoh. Things did not get better right away. Pharaoh demanded proof of God’s power, so Moses showed him proof. Pharaoh did not accept Moses’ proof. How often do we run into that today? People ask us for proof, but are unwilling to accept anything as proof. Pharaoh never did accept Moses’ proofs for God’s existence and power, but eventually he did as God said he would.
Since even children are known, and judged, by the way they act, whether they are good children or troublemakers, we should not be surprised when people do the same thing to us. People will judge us by our actions. If we want people to think well of us than we need to act in a righteous manner.
In some ways this is a difficult psalm to write about because it is such a beautiful psalm which everyone knows. What more is there to say? Well, I will give it a shot.
Let us review what the psalmist tells us here. God will lead us and guide us. He will provide for all of our needs. He will bring us to places where we can rest and have a pleasant time. However, He will also lead us on paths which may be less pleasant, because it brings honour to His name. Yet, no matter how dangerous those paths may seem, God will protect us so that we need never fear. He will always be close beside us, even when our vision is obscured and we cannot see Him. He will honour us and show us abundance in front of those who wish to see us fail. God will pour out more blessings upon us than we are able to make use of. His blessings will spill out from us on to others. Not only will God offer us good things, but He will pursue us with His love and mercy, even when we stray from Him. If we follow where He leads, we will spend eternity in His presence.
Paul tells us to submit to the government because the government’s authority comes from God. In the very statement where he tells us to submit to the government, he tells us the limits of that submission. The government’s authority comes from God, therefore it does not have the authority to demand that we violate God’s commands. However, no matter what the government does, Paul tells us that it is not our place to overthrow the government. Let us pay our taxes and whatever fees we owe. We should not enter into debt to anyone. Let us honour those who are owed honour and respect those who are owed respect.
Paul reminds us that all of our actions towards those around us should be guided by the command to love our neighbors as ourselves. However, this does not mean ignoring self-destructive behavior. If we see our loved ones doing something that will bring them harm, we will warn them of the danger. However, in all we do, let us remember to do it with love. Paul gives us a list of things that may interfere with us showing our love to those around us: drunkenness, wild parties, sexual promiscuity, immoral living (or as the NIV translates it, debauchery), quarreling, and jealousy.
Judah had three kings in a row who followed God. As a result those kings were powerful and not threatened by outside forces. Unfortunately, the people of Judah were not as faithful as their kings. Ahaz, the son of the third of these kings, turned to idolatry, going so far as to sacrifice his own sons. As a result, he was conquered by the king of Aram, and faced other foreign threats. Instead of turning to God, Ahaz asked the king of Assyria for help. Rather than coming to Ahaz’s aid, the king of Assyria attacked Jerusalem and plundered it. Ahaz then closed the Temple, preventing anyone from worshiping there, and set up yet more pagan altars throughout Jerusalem. Rather than learn from his mistakes and return to God, Ahaz compounded them.
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.
Yesterday, I said that when things “went wrong” with the ministry God had sent Moses and Aaron on they did not give up. This is not quite true. When things did not go as Moses expected He went back to God and complained that he had done everything God had told him to do and, not only didn’t it work, it made things worse. God replied to Moses’ complaint by saying, “Trust me, I’m God.” He told Moses that Pharaoh would see who He was and when he did, Pharaoh would not only allow the people of Israel to leave, he would force them to do so. Moses went back to the people of Israel, but they would not listen to him any longer. God then told him to go back to Pharaoh. Moses resisted, saying that he had made such a hash of it by saying the wrong thing that not even the people of Israel would listen to him anymore.
How often do we feel that way? We feel like we have made a complete mess of things, we said the wrong thing and lost our opportunity. God tells us to keep trying. Except that we need to do it His way, not our way. When things don’t work out, we need to persevere and trust in God. Moses and Aaron had to go back to Pharaoh ten more times before things worked out. If God is calling us to a ministry, we may “fail” again and again, but we need to keep trying. Reading this today it seems to be speaking to me directly. I have felt called to a certain ministry. Yet every time I have started to plan to develop my involvement and become more active in it, something has happened to force me to put it on hold. This passage tells me that I should continue as long as the door to this ministry stays open.
Jesus tells us a parable about forgiveness that sums up the most important point that we need to understand. No matter what someone has done to us, no matter what debt they owe us for the wrong they have done to us, it is insignificant in comparison to the wrong which we have done and of which God has forgiven us. If we will not forgive others for the wrongs they have done us, we will not, can not, be forgiven for the much greater wrongs which we have committed.
Jesus is next confronted about divorce. According to the more popular rabbinical teaching of the day the law of Moses allowed a man to divorce his wife for any reason whatsoever (sort of like today’s “no-fault” divorce, except that only the husband was allowed to “file”…of course this was in a culture where women were economically dependent on men, so a woman was unlikely to file for divorce). Jesus is essentially asked which side of the ongoing debate He was on, did He agree with the interpretation that a man could divorce his wife for any reason he chose, or the side which said that there were a list of reasons which justified divorce. Jesus answered that He was not on either side. He told them that divorce was contrary to God’s will in every case. The only case in which a man could divorce his wife and remarry without committing adultery was if she was already committing adultery against him.
This is perhaps one of the best known passages in the Bible, for good reason. It is such a comforting passage. God will look out for us and we need fear nothing, not even when we pass through the most dangerous places. Nothing can remove us from God’s plan for our life and all that He does will work together for our good if we love and fear Him. The final verse sums it up:
Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord
forever.
God will not only desire to do good for us and love us all of our lives, His love and goodness will pursue us in His effort to give us good things. And if we allow it, He will bring us into His very house to live throughout eternity. What an amazing, wonderful promise.
The wicked thing they are free, but in truth they are enslaved to the sins they commit. Lack of discipline leads to foolish decisions which in the long-run (and sometimes the not-so-long run) lead to death.
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.
Upon the death of Amaziah, his sixteen year old son, Uzziah, was made king. Uzziah did what was pleasing in God’s sight. The passage tells us that he continued to seek God during the days of Zechariah and that as long as he sought guidance from the Lord, God gave him success. Uzziah became very powerful, conquering the Philistines and collecting tribute from other neighboring peoples. However, at the height of his power, he became proud and entered the Temple in order to burn incense on the incense altar, in violation of the Law of Moses which stated that only priests should do that. When some of the priests confronted Uzziah over this, he became furious. However, while he was raging at the priests, leprosy (the word used here refers to multiple skin disorders, not just the disease we apply the word leprosy to today) broke out on his forehead. The priests who saw this hurried Uzziah out of the Temple because of his leprous outbreak. Uzziah himself hurried out of the Temple because the Lord had struck him with leprosy. Uzziah lived out his life quarantined in a separate house and his son Jotham became regent for him until his death. Jotham became king after the death of Uzziah and followed his father’s example (except for the part about entering the Temple to offer incense). Jotham was careful to live in obedience to God and became a powerful king as a result.
Upon Jotham’s death, his son, Ahaz, succeeded him on the throne. Ahaz did not follow his father’s and his grandfather’s example. Rather he made images for the worship of Baal and burned his own sons in the sacrificial fires. He suffered defeat at the hands of the king of Aram, who took many of the people of Judah captive. A warrior chief from the Northern Tribes raided Judah and took a large number of people captive, intending to make them slaves. However, a prophet confronted the force as it returned from battle and told them that God would judge them harshly for enslaving people of Judah. When other leaders of the Northern Tribes heard the prophet’s words, they insisted that the army release the captives. The army turned the captives and the plunder they had taken with them over to those leaders. The leaders used the plunder to care for and clothe the captives and returned them to their relatives at Jericho.
The Philistines and the people of Edom raided Judah during the reign of Ahaz, but he did not turn to God for help. He took up worship of the gods of Aram and sealed the Temple so that no one could worship there. He attempted to make a treaty with the king of Assyria for assistance against his enemies, but the king of Assyria instead attacked him and took tribute from him. Ahaz worshiped pagan gods and encouraged the people of Judah to do the same.
Paul tells us in today’s passage that we as Christians should submit to the governing authorities because all authority comes from God. Everyone in a position of authority is placed there by God. God has ordained government to punish those who do what is wrong. We are to pay our taxes as part of that submission to government authority. Paul instructs us to pay taxes to those to whom taxes are due, fees to those to whom fees are due, respect to those to whom respect is due, and honor to those to whom honor is due.
***
This is a very difficult passage to reconcile with the evil behavior often exhibited by government officials. However, the governing authorities of Paul’s day were every bit as evil as any that we experience today, so we cannot say that he did not understand the potential for evil among government officials. I look at this passage and consider it in light of when Jesus said, “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.” In addition, Paul here tells us that God created government in order to punish those who do wrong. This leads me to conclude that I am to be subject to those instructions from the government which fall into the government’s purview of passing edicts against doing what is wrong, but that I should never obey it when it exceeds that authority and declares as wrong things which God has declared to be right…or demands behavior which God has declared to be wrong.
***
Paul continues on from his discussion of giving what we owe to those to whom we owe it, whether that be money, respect, or honor by telling us that we should owe no one anything. That is we should give everyone what they are due when they are due it. He then says that the only ongoing obligation we should have is the obligation to love one another. Paul echoes what Jesus said when he tells us that all other laws follow from the one which states “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If we love others, we will do no wrong to others. This means that if we truly love others, we will fulfill all of God’s other commands.
Sunset through the trees
Today’s psalm is one of the most familiar passages in the Bible. Even those who have never opened the Bible have at least a passing awareness of it. As a result of that familiarity, I sometimes forget why it is so familiar, because it tells us some great basic truths about God’s love for us. It starts out by telling us:
The Lord is my shepherd;
I have all that I need.
It goes on to tell us that God will guide on us the right paths. So that even when we go through a valley where we cannot see what threats might lurk in the darkness, we need have no fear because God is right beside us to protect us and to comfort us. But God’s love for us goes beyond that. The psalmist tells us that God will honor us with a feast in front of those who wish us harm, who are are enemies. God’s goodness and love will follow us all of the days of our lives. This is a wonderful and beautiful psalm.
Red roses
If we judge even children by their behavior, whether they are good kids or not (and we do), how much more can we who are grown adults be judged by our actions?
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.
The people complained to Moses about the results of his meeting with Pharaoh. Moses went to God and said, “I did what you asked and not only haven’t your people been freed, but things have gotten worse.” God replied to Moses that He was God Almighty and the Lord of All. God told Moses to tell the Israelites that He would free them from their slavery and demonstrate His power in such a manner that no one would be able to deny that He was supreme over all the earth. When Moses reported this to the Israelites, they did not listen to him because they were discouraged from the hard labor. How often do we do the same things? When things don’t work out the way we expected, we turn to God and say, “I thought this was what You wanted me to do, why are things getting worse?” God does not promise that things will get better right away when we do His will. He promises that He will show His power and those around us will know that we serve God Almighty.
However, God was not done with Moses. He told Moses to go to Pharaoh once more. Moses argued back, asking why Pharaoh would listen to him since he was so bad at public speaking. God’s answer to Moses was that Moses should just say what God had commanded him to say and Aaron could dress it up for Pharaoh. God told Moses not to worry because Pharaoh was not going to let the people go based on anybody’s fancy argument. Pharaoh was going to let the people go because God was going to demonstrate His power and Pharaoh would be afraid to not let them go. So Moses and Aaron went back to Pharaoh another time.
Aaron spoke to Pharaoh in the manner which God had commanded completing his presentation by throwing his staff upon the ground, where is became a snake. Pharaoh summoned his wise men and magicians. They also threw down their staffs and they each became a snake. The snake that had been Aaron’s staff, swallowed the snakes that had been the Egyptian magician’s staffs. Nevertheless, Pharaoh was not impressed and refused to listen to Moses’ and Aaron’s request. God instructed Moses to return to Pharaoh in the morning and once more tell him that God was requesting that He let God’s people go into the wilderness to worship Him. As a demonstration of God’s power Aaron was to stretch out his staff over the Nile, when Aaron did this, God would turn all of the water in the Nile to blood. Moses and Aaron did as God commanded and Aaron turned all of the waters of the Nile to blood. However, once more Pharaoh summoned his magicians and they also turned water to blood. And again Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.
How often do we see this pattern followed in the world around us? Christians call on God for something and God performs a miracle. However, those of the world dismiss the miracle because they can give it a naturalistic explanation. It is tempting to dismiss these miracles as nothing special because they could have happened without divine intervention. Notice however that there are always differences between the divine intervention and the natural event: Aaron’s staff swallowed the staffs of Pharaoh’s magicians; Aaron stretched out his staff and turned all the water in the Nile and its tributaries to blood, Pharoah’s magicians merely changed a smaller amount of water to blood (necessarily, since the Nile and its tributaries were already blood and therefore they needed to work on some water that was not part of that). Moses and Aaron could have given up. They could have said to God, “You aren’t doing anything that these other gods can’t do. Why should we continue to face the hardship of following You?”
Team Reports On Trip To Honduras With MAMA Project
Peter came to Jesus and asked Him how often he should forgive someone who sinned against him. Peter had given this some thought and thought he knew the answer. It seemed to him that since the number of perfection was seven, that would be the number of times to forgive someone. Seven times was being generous in Peter’s mind, and in ours. You know the person Peter was talking about. The person who does the same thing over and over and every time begs for your forgiveness. You just know that if you forgive them this time they will do the same thing to you again. Jesus tells us that we are to go ahead and forgive them, this time and every time, even before they ask us. Jesus illustrated His point by telling a parable. I am not going to retell the parable, follow the link and read it for yourself. The point of the parable is that we have sinned so much against God that the amount that any one person, or even group of people, has sinned against us pales in comparison. Since God has forgiven us so much, why are we even thinking about not forgiving our fellow-man the relatively minor wrong they have done to us? The other good thing about this parable is that it reminds us what it means to forgive. When we forgive someone it means that we are giving up any claim to recompense for what they have done to us. If we have forgiven someone it means that we will not treat them any worse than we would treat a complete stranger. That’s a tough one.
After this Jesus left Galilee and went into Judea. Crowds of people came out to see Him and He healed them. Some Pharisees came to test Him by asking Him what the conditions were for divorce. While I was studying this today I came across something I had been unaware of. There had been a debate between two rabbis on the conditions that justified divorce. The passage that was the core of the debate was Deuteronomy 24:1. The rabbi Hillel argued that if a man’s wife became displeasing to him for any reason, he could divorce her. The rabbi Shammai held that a man could only divorce his wife if she was sexually unfaithful. Jesus basically sided with Shammai, but He took it further. Both Shammai and Hillel based their position on their understanding of the passage in Deuteronomy. Jesus based His position on the Creation account in Genesis. Since a man leaves his parents, is united with his wife and the two become one flesh, it is a violation of God’s desire for them to divorce. Those whom God has joined together no man has the right, or power, to separate. The only grounds for divorce that Jesus accepts are marital unfaithfulness and even then He seems to be saying that remarriage is not an option. The disciples certainly viewed His position this way since they thought His teaching suggested that it was better not to marry. I am not completely sure of how my reading of this passage applies today. However, I am utterly certain that God intended for marriage to be a lifetime commitment with no opt out clauses.
Today’s psalm is Psalm 23. Anyone who is familiar with any part of the Bible is familiar with this passage and for good reason. This passage is a source of great comfort for those who love the Lord. The passage tells us that God is our shepherd and He will provide for our needs. There is a little more here than we usually notice. A shepherd provides for the needs of the sheep by driving them to where the things they need are to be had. Sheep often don’t want to go where the shepherd drives them. The shepherd makes it unpleasant for the sheep to not go where he wishes them to go. Despite the fact that we often do not want to go where God drives us, those are the places that we need to go in order for our needs to be met.
Those who do evil become trapped by their actions into doing more evil. Lack of discipline and unwillingness to accept the consequences of one’s actions leads to death. The folly of being unwilling to admit that one has done wrong, leads one to do more wrong.
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.
Uzziah succeeded his father Amaziah on the throne of Judah. We are told that Uzziah did what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord and was successful as a result. Uzziah built a well-trained large army and conquered much of the surrounding territory. His spiritual mentor was Zechariah. However, after Zechariah died, Uzziah entered into the sanctuary of the Temple, where only priests were supposed to go, and burned incense. The high priest and eighty other priests confronted him over this. He went into a rage against them for opposing him on this. While he was in this rage, he broke out with a contagious skin disease (usually translated as leprosy). When the priests saw this, they rushed him out of the Temple. Uzziah lived in isolation in a separate house the rest of his life. His son Jotham took charge in his name until his death when Jotham became king.
We are told that Jotham also did what was pleasing in the sight of God and continued expanding the power of Judah. However, it mentions that the people of Judah were not faithful to God during this time. When Jotham died his son Ahaz succeeded to the throne. Ahaz did not follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Instead he cast metal images for the worship of Baal and offered sacrifices at pagan shrines. He even went so far as to sacrifice some of his own sons in the fire. While Ahaz was king, Judah was invaded by a force from Israel which captured a large number of people and took them as slaves. However, a prophet of the Lord confronted them for taking their fellow descendants of Israel captive as slaves and leaders of the people of Israel demanded that they not bring them to their towns as slaves. The Israelite force returned some of their plunder (possibly all, the passage is not clear) to the captives and returned them to Judah. King Ahaz attempted to hire the king of Assyria to help him, but the king of Assyria plundered Jerusalem as well. King Ahaz shuttered the doors to the Temple to prevent anyone from worshiping there and set up altars to pagan gods throughout Jerusalem and the rest of Judah.
The first part of today’s passage tells us to submit to the governing authorities. They only have such power as God has delegated to them. God has instituted governments to punish wrongdoers. In addition, Paul tells us that those who are in positions of authority in government were placed there by God. We should obey governing authorities not just to avoid punishment, but to please God, since He has established them. This includes paying taxes. We are, also, to respect and honor those in positions of government authority.
Paul follows this up by instructing us to owe no one anything, except for our obligation to love one another. Paul tells us that the commandments can be summed up by “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Time is running out, the Lord will be returning soon. We must avoid wild parties, drunkenness and sexual immorality. We must strive to serve the Lord and not seek ways to indulge our evil desires.
Today’s psalm is one that anyone who knows the Bible at all is familiar with. There is a reason for this, it contains a lot of basic truths. The Lord is our shepherd. He will guide us to those places where all of our needs will be met. Even when we pass through difficult and dangerous places and times, we need not fear because God will protect us. If we faithfully follow the Lord’s guidance, when we finish this life we will dwell in His house for eternity.
Today’s proverb tells us that even children are known by the way they act. Considering that, how much more will we as adults be judged by our behavior.
