For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Those who refuse to listen to facts which do not support their beliefs, who do not fear the Lord, are rejecting wisdom. Wisdom is there for us to learn, if we start with fear of the Lord and accept knowledge, even when we don’t like what it implies. If we reject wisdom we will end up being destroyed by our folly. Those who listen to wisdom, and thus fear the Lord, will live in peace and have no other fears.

    The psalmist wore himself out praying to the Lord. He did not give up. He continued to cry to the Lord, even as his troubles mounted. In the end, God heard his prayers and answered them. Let us follow the psalmist’s example and cry out to the Lord in our troubles. Let us turn to Him. He will hear our prayers and answer them. However, let us not forget to be listening so that when God answers our prayers we will hear Him.

    Jesus continues His teachings about what it means to righteously keep the Law. It is not about obeying the letter of the Law. Rather it is about the spirit of the Law. The Law says that it is wrong to commit adultery. Jesus tells us that even looking at someone with lust is committing adultery. Both involve looking at others as mere objects to satisfy our desires. Jesus goes on to say that even though the Law says a man may divorce his wife by giving her a letter saying so, it is wrong to do so. If a man divorces his wife, he causes her to commit adultery. These two teachings taken together set a very high bar for sexual fidelity. They also set a standard for Christians on sexual behavior. If the Church had held itself to these standards, we would not be having the conversation with society about “gay marriage”.
    Jesus goes on to teach about the honesty, justice, and love. Jesus tells us that if we do not lie, ever, there is no need to take vows to support what we say. If people can trust that every time we answer a question our answer is the truth to the best of our knowledge, they will not need to ask us to take an oath that we are telling the truth. Further, if we are willing to lie in the first place, why should they believe our oath that this time we are telling the truth?
    The next teaching is one of the hardest: “do not resist an evil person.” There is more to it than this, but part of what Jesus is saying here is that we should not let others provoke us. Let them continue to abuse us rather than rise to the bait, but make it obvious. His instructions here are more than just not retaliating. Jesus tells us that if someone strikes us on the cheek, turn the other cheek. If someone forces us to carry their burden one mile, carry it two. I have a situation I deal with where someone I work with frequently tries to get me angry so that I respond defensively and attempt to strike back at his accusations. I need to learn not to rise to his bait.
    Jesus tells us that it is not enough to love our neighbors, we need to also love our enemies. It is important to remember that love is not just an emotion. It involves action. If we love someone we will actively work to promote their well-being. That is a very difficult thing to do. It is so easy to passively stand aside and allow our enemies to suffer harm. Jesus tells us that if we can, we should take action to prevent that harm.

    When Abram and Lot arrived in Canaan they soon ran into a problem. Their herds were too big to share the same pastures. As a result, their herdsman were in constant conflict. Abram sought a solution and suggested to Lot that they separate. Each going their own way. Abram gave Lot first choice. Lot chose the territory that appeared to be better land. As a result of his choice, Lot ended up getting caught up in a war and taken captive. In the meantime Abram had prospered and formed alliances. He was no caught up in the war, but was able to launch a retaliatory raid to rescue Lot. It is important to realize that the consequences of our choices are not always apparent when we make those choices.

     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.

     When Abram moved on from Haran, his nephew Lot accompanied him. Both Abram and Lot were successful and had large households and many flocks, to the point where the land could not support them living close to one another. Disputes broke out between Abram’s herders and Lot’s herders. So Abram went to Lot and suggested that they go their separate ways. Abram offered Lot first choice of direction. Lot chose the Jordan valley to the east and Abram moved westward into the land of Canaan. Lot lived among the cities of the plain of the Jordan, pitching his tent near Sodom, while Abram pitched his tent further west near Hebron. The people of the cities of the plain were wicked and sinned against God in many ways.
     Shortly after this war broke out in the Jordan valley and the kings of the valley were defeated. The conquering armies took many prisoners as slaves and much plunder. Among the captives was Lot. One of Lot’s servants escaped and brought word to Abram. Abram gathered the 318 trained men in his household and set out in pursuit of Lot’s captors. When he overtook the army which had captured Lot, they fled from him and his men. He continued in pursuit until he had recovered Lot, all of the captives, and all of the plunder which had been taken.
     As Abram returned from his victory he was met by the king of Sodom and the king of Salem, the latter being named Melchizedek. Melchizedek was also a priest of God. Melchizedek blessed Abram and praised God. Abram gave Melchizedek a tithe of the recovered goods. When the king of Sodom offered Abram all of the plunder, asking for only the return of his people, Abram declined. Abram asked only that his allies be given a fair share for their aid in this endeavor. Abram made it clear that he went on this raid to rescue his nephew and did not want the king of Sodom to feel either that Abram owed his wealth to him nor that he owed anything to Abram.
     Abram has an exchange with God where he asks God what good it does him for God to bless him with wealth beyond what he needs to live comfortably when it will all be inherited by his servant from Damascus. God replies that Abram will indeed have a son to inherit his wealth and God’s promises to him. Abram accepted God’s assurance that he would have a son, even though he was well past the time of life when most men who will have children have had them, and his wife was of similar age. Do we have similar faith in God’s promises to us?

     This passage includes a series of explanations where Jesus tells us that it is not enough to follow the letter of the Law, but we must obey the spirit of God’s Law. It is not enough to not commit adultery, if we even think about committing adultery it is as if we had done so. It is not enough to keep our vows, we should not even need to make vows, we should be such people who when we say something, people are confident that it is true without us needing to take a vow. It is not enough that we take only proportionate revenge, we should accept harm to ourselves rather than cause harm to others. It is not enough that we love our neighbors and friends, we should love even those who persecute us and cause us harm. Let us seek to imitate God who has shown us love and forgiveness despite our resistance to His guidance and wicked behavior.

     The psalmist offers us an example to follow. When we face difficulties let us do as he did here. Let us cry out to God for deliverance and wait for God to come to our relief. I will not spend my time with those who do evil. I will trust God to come to my rescue. I know that God will answer my prayer and my enemies will be disgraced so long as I remain faithful to God.

     Those who hate the knowledge which wisdom offers and refuse to fear God will suffer the consequences of their actions. Those who choose to live foolishly in violation of God’s instruction will be destroyed by the consequences of their actions. Those who listen to the lessons of wisdom and fear the Lord will live in peace.