The immoral say things which are tempting, but what they offer is a trap leading to trouble. Those who fall into such traps have already acted in ways which anger God.
This psalm could easily be advice to young couples (with most of the actual advice being addressed to the young man). The advice for the young man could also be seen as advice to those who desire to exercise government authority. In either case, seek to perform awe-inspiring deeds, but not just any such deeds. No, those deeds should defend truth, humility, and justice. If you are a young man seeking a wife, doing such deeds will attract the type of women who make a good wife. If you are someone who seeks to exercise government authority, such deeds will demonstrate that you are worthy of being granted such power. In either case, you will be blessed by God.
I try to take the same attitude as Paul reveals here. Whether people see me as crazy or sane makes no difference to me (at least, I try to feel that way). If I can bring glory to God by appearing insane, then go ahead and think me crazy. On the other hand, if I can benefit others by appearing rational, I will do by best to appear rational. Either way, I want to be controlled by Christ’s love.
Paul tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ. This is a position of great responsibility. Our actions reflect on God’s character. If we act disreputably, people will think poorly of God. On the other hand, when we live up to our role, people realize that treating us poorly is like treating God poorly. Let us live up to the responsibility God has entrusted us with. Our job is to show people how God is reconciling them, and us, to Himself.
When God answered him, Job realized that his challenges to God were wrong. He realized that his understanding was too limited to judge God. God did not rebuke Job for asking questions. God rebuked Job because he thought he had a right to understand God’s actions and to demand an explanation. When Job stood before God, he reacted with humility. Let us remember to live our entire lives with that humility.
True riches are blessings from God. Unlike worldly riches we need make no choices we will later regret to obtain God’s blessings. I will seek God’s blessings rather than wealth and property.
This psalm was written as praise for King David (or perhaps one of his descendants). However, as I read it today it seems to be praise for Christ. It is Christ’s throne which will endure forever. Wherever justice is found, there Christ rules and wherever Christ rules justice is found.
When James and John asked for Jesus to promise them that they would get to sit in the places of highest honour they demonstrated that they had not yet understood Jesus’ teachings about greatness in heaven. The reaction of the other disciples to their request indicated that they also had failed to understand Jesus’ teachings on this matter. Having been raised in the Church and taught them from childhood, and, more importantly, growing up seeing them demonstrated by my parents (imperfectly, but demonstrated nevertheless), I do understand Jesus’ teaching on this matter. Even so, I still struggle to put it into practice. One of the key things I learned at a young age is that we should strive to elevate others.
Jesus focuses here on serving others, but it is not enough to do things for other people. Sometimes, we need to allow others to do for us. Jesus calls on us to do what others need in order for them to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven. If we seek to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven, we will fail. We must seek to make others great.
I love the scene with blind Bartimaeus for its simplicity. There is a reason it follows right after Jesus teaching His disciples that in order to be great in Heaven we need to serve others. This was not the first time He had taught this lesson to His disciples. Then we have the scene where Bartimaeus cries out to Jesus, “I want to see!” Throughout the Bible “see” is often used as a metaphor for “understand”. Here, Bartimaeus came before Jesus and all he wanted was to see. When he received his sight, he followed Jesus. He understood. Do we want to see more than anything else? Or do we want to go on pretending the world works according to our desires?
This passage tells us that if we, as a people, obey God we will live in safety. We will not need to worry about our security because God will take care of it for us. Our enemies will flee from us, even if they vastly outnumber us. On the other hand, if we, as a people, fail to follow God’s will, disaster after disaster will come upon us. Each one greater than the one before. Until, eventually, God brings our enemies to invade our land and make us prisoners in a foreign land.
It is not a question of what laws the government has in place. It does not matter if the law of the land enforces God’s will. What matters is whether we, each and every one of us, chooses to serve God, or ourselves. If we serve God, we will be secure. If we serve ourselves, we will loose our very being.
An immoral, adulterous woman (or man) will say things which inevitably lead those who listen to them into a dangerous trap. Those who have already made God angry will fall into that trap.
If we truly understand what it means to fear the Lord we will work to convince others to do the same. In order to accomplish this we must be sincere before God, who can see all of our motives and actions. We may hide some of our motives and actions from people, but we cannot hide them from God. If all of our motives are forthright and open those who hear our testimony and preaching will know that we are sincere. They may think that we are crazy, but I am willing to be crazy if that is what it takes to bring glory to God. On the other hand, there are times when we must show that our beliefs coincide with reality and logic (I need to write a blog on the importance of that for Christian faith some time).
Whether we are acting in ways that seem crazy, or showing how doing God’s will is the only way to be truly sane, Christ’s love should be what is controlling our lives. Christ died for everyone, so let us die to ourselves and live for Him. Rather than seeking that which will give us pleasure, I will do that which brings glory and pleasure to Christ. God has reconciled us to Him. Having done so, He has given us the task of bringing His message of reconciliation to others. God has made us His ambassadors. As His ambassadors we are His personal representatives. In this role, our actions reflect directly on God, let us act accordingly. We are here to call on others to be reconciled with God. It is our responsibility to act towards others as God Himself would act.
I like looking at the way both the NIV and the NLT translate verse 20. The NIV says that we “implore” others to be reconciled with God while the NLT says that we “plead” with others to come back to God. Both of these translations give the sense that there is little, or nothing, we are not willing to sacrifice if only the one we are speaking with will be reconciled to God. What am I unwilling to sacrifice, to give up permanently, in order for another person to come to Christ? How can I learn to be willing to surrender that to God as well?
When Job finally gets what he asked for, a chance to speak with God face-to-face, he recognizes that he was in the wrong. Job realizes that when he questioned God, he was demonstrating his ignorance and foolishness rather than posing legitimate questions for God. This is the reaction that every person has when they finally find themselves before God. When in the presence of God we all realize that when we questioned what God has done it was because we did not know enough to understand, that we are incapable of truly understanding. Job recognized his sin and fully repented his arrogance.
Having humbled Job, God turns to his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. He tells them that their words were even further from the truth than what Job had said. God instructs them to ask Job to pray for them. Noticeably absent from the list of those corrected by God is Elihu. The conclusion of the Book of Job is why it is important to read through the Bible multiple times. We can easily lose track of which things said by which person in the Book of Job (and elsewhere) represents things we should follow and which things represent misunderstandings about God.
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. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
This psalm always gives me trouble because it strikes me as little more than a courtier’s flattery of the king. Yet I firmly believe that everything that is in the Bible is there because God has a message in it for us. So, there must be something here the Spirit wants me see. As I look at this with that eye, I see one important point. One note necessarily directed at me, but a lesson for us today just as much as this psalm was meant to flatter the king in the day it was written. If someone with authority over others wants success and to endure in their position then let them love justice and hate evil. Those who wish to be leaders blessed by God need to defend truth humility and justice.
Jesus once more predicts His death and resurrection. Shortly after doing so, James and John asked to be seated in places of honour when He sat on His throne. Jesus asks them if they are able to follow the suffering path He will take to reach His throne and they respond in the affirmative. He then tells them that He does not have the authority to grant them their wish as those places have already been designated to someone by the Father. Jesus then reminds them (and us) once again that the path to greatness in His Kingdom is to be the servant of others. We are to follow the model which Jesus gave us. He came to serve others, not to be served. He came to suffer so that we would not have to. If we wish to be great in the Kingdom of God we need to serve others and be willing to suffer in order to relieve others from suffering. This is a truth that works in the workplace as well as in the Church, the path to greatness is by being of service to others.
This is capped by a story that I try to take to heart. When Blind Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was nearby, he began making a fuss so that he could gain Jesus’ attention. The people around him told him to be quiet and settle down, but this just made him shout louder and kick up a bigger stink. When Jesus heard him, He told the crowd to let him through. Immediately, Bartimaeus threw aside his cloak, jumped to his feet, and ran to Jesus. When Jesus asked him what he wanted, Bartimaeus replied, “I want to see.” Jesus told him to go, that his faith had healed him. Instantly Bartimaeus could see and followed Jesus down the road. I never noticed the importance of this story right here in Mark’s account. Jesus had just once more told His disciples that He would soon die and they did not understand. No sooner had He told them this than they began asking for places of honour in the Kingdom. Once more He had to tell them that those only those who served others would receive honour. Then we have the story of Bartimaeus. All he wanted was to be able to see. Do we desire to have out eyes opened the way Bartimaeus wanted his sight? Do we recognize that without Jesus, we are blind? Oh Lord, I want to see. Let me see Your will. Let me see how you want me to act and then cause me to act that way.
This passage begins by discussing the importance of not allowing our “brothers” to be mistreated. The reason for this is that is that they are God’s servants and belong to Him. Those who mistreat God’s servants is disrespecting God. Today let us use our resources to protect God’s servants throughout the world to the best of our ability. The passage goes on to tell the people of Israel that if they faithfully follow God’s commands they will live a peaceful life and never be in want. It also warns them if they fail to follow God’s commands they will face disease, privation, and invasion. There is a universal truth in this. Those societies which honour God and attempt to behave in a righteous manner will be prosperous and face few threats. Those societies which denigrate righteousness and hold honesty in low esteem will be filled with strife and poverty.
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.
God asks Job to answer His questions. Job replies that he is unworthy. He has spoken, but he has no answer to God’s questions. God then asks some more questions. First, He asks Job if he wishes to discredit God’s justice and condemn God in order to prove that he is right?
God then asks Job if he has the power to match God? Can he humiliate the proud and punish the wicked? God then asks Job if he can tame Behemoth, which God made, the same as He made Job? Then God asks if he can catch Leviathan, also made by God? A description is given of both, Behemoth is an herbivore and Leviathan a carnivore. We are unable to determine if these are fanciful descriptions of real animals (my personal opinion), or descriptions of mythical beasts which the writer thought were real.
Job answers God once more and admits his fault in questioning God’s wisdom. He tells us that he had been talking about things about which he knew nothing. Job repented his anger with God. God then told Bildad, Eliphaz and Zophar that He was angry with them for misrepresenting Him (it is worth noting that God does not say anything against Elihu). God tells them to offer sacrifices and ask Job to pray for them. They do as instructed and Job does pray for them. The book concludes by telling us that Job prayed for his friends and God restored his fortunes to even more than he had had before.
***
I am not sure what to make of this, but it struck me that Job, the one who was suffering, prayed for his friends. Usually when someone we know is suffering, we go to them and pray for them, for them to receive relief from their suffering. In this case, it was the one who was suffering who prayed for those who came to see him, and was then relieved from his suffering. I know that this situation is a special case, but perhaps we should give some thought to asking those who are suffering to pray for us?
Paul told the Corinthians that since he knew what it was to fear the Lord, this knowledge inspired him to attempt to convince others. Paul goes on to say that if he is out of his mind, as some perceive him to be, it is in service to God. On the other hand, if he is in his right mind, it is in order to be of service to his fellow believers. In either case, Paul is compelled to act as he does because of Christ’s love. Because Christ died for all, therefore, in some sense, all have died. As a result, those who continue to live because of their faith in Him should no longer live for themselves, but should live for Christ.
We are no longer to regard anyone from a worldly perspective. If we belong to Christ, He will have made us into a new creation. God has reconciled us to Himself, and thereby given us the ministry of spreading the word of His reconciliation. It is our task to tell everyone we meet that God is in the act of reconciling everyone who will accept to Himself through Christ Jesus. He has made us His ambassadors from the kingdom of God to the nations of this world.
***
This is a word of great hope. God has made us into something new. We do not have to remain stuck in the same old rut of falling into all of our old sins. God has transformed us and will continue to do so every day. More importantly, we need to remember that we are God’s ambassador’s in this world. We may be the only sample of what God is like that some people ever see. We are called upon in every way, every day to act as representatives of God. As ambassadors, we have two jobs. One is telling people how they can emigrate to God’s kingdom because God is seeking immigrants to His kingdom. However, all too often we forget that the other part of being God’s ambassador is convincing people that they want to emigrate to God’s kingdom. We are to live a life that makes others want to be like us.
Magrat spots something to play with
Today’s psalm is a wedding song for a king. The only part of it which touched me today was when the psalmist said that the king defended truth, humility, and justice and then a little later when he said that the king loved justice and hated evil. These are the characteristics of a ruler who will have God’s favor in all of their actions.
Today’s proverb tells us that the words of an immoral woman are a trap into which those who anger God fall. I am not completely clear on what the writer means, but I believe he means that the same behaviors which anger God make one susceptible to the traps in the words of an immoral woman.
