For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    If you search for good, you will find it and people will like you. If you search for evil, you will find that as well, or to be more precise, evil will find you. The former is pleasant, the latter, not so much.

    If I ever need to give a toast at some event, I hope I remember the first verse of this psalm:

    This passage contains what we refer to as the “Golden Rule”. I have heard many takes on this rule:

• “Them as have the gold make the rules.”

That is nowhere close to what Jesus taught.

• “Do to others before they do to you.”

This sounds closer, but isn’t really.

• “Do to others what they do to you.”

This is the philosophy most people live by and one which Jesus tells us is not very praise worthy.
    Unlike those, Jesus teaches us “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” He tells us to love our enemies. If we love those who love us, well, even the most evil people in history loved those who loved them. If we do good to those who do good to us, even Mafia bosses do that. We are to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who hurt us. All in all, this is a tough command to follow. We are not just to do good things for the poor and powerless (feed the hungry, clothe the naked). We are to do what good we can for the rich and powerful. We are to show love to those who mistreat and oppress us.

    Moses continued his speech recounting the travels of the Israelites from the time they turned away from the Promised Land until that moment in time. He described how God had forbidden them to make war on, or cause trouble for, the Edomites, the descendants of Abraham through Esau. Nor were they allowed to make war on the Moabites and the Ammonites, descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. However, the Amorites, who were not related to Abraham at all, not only refused the Israelites permission to pass through their land, the mobilized their armies and attacked them. In response the Israelites completed destroyed two Amorite kingdoms.
    Having conquered a foothold on the east side of the Jordan, the Israelites prepared to cross the Jordan and take control of the land there. Moses delegated control over the Israelite fighting force to Joshua and made it clear that Joshua would lead the attack into the Promised Land. God had forbidden Moses to enter into that land, despite Moses’ desperate pleading for the opportunity to cross over and see the land. However, God did send Moses up onto a high mountain and gave him a view over the land He was giving to the Israelites. In some ways, this was a foreshadowing of how the various Old Testament prophets would look forward to the coming of Jesus, the Messiah.

    I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I write this daily blog because it helps me pay closer attention to the Scripture as I read it. Before I started writing this blog I had trouble disciplining myself to read the Bible regularly, let alone every day. I hope that by posting my thoughts I can encourage others to regularly read the Bible (and perhaps my thoughts will give someone encouragement in their walk with Christ). In order to make it possible for others to use my blog as part of their daily Bible Study (the hubris of that idea never ceases to amaze me), 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.

    Those who seek good will find both it and favor with others. Those who seek evil will find it, to their own loss. If you seek evil, you will suffer evil.

    This psalm reminds us to praise and bless God because He has blessed us by providing for our needs. Yet it also carries the reminder that as we praise and obey God, we will be blessed by Him even further.

    Luke tells us that people came from all over to hear Jesus preach and to be healed by Him. In addition, he puts a phrase hear which reminds me of the woman who was healed when she touched the hem of his robe. “Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.” (verse 19) Then we have Luke’s take on the beatitudes. These are more troubling than Matthew’s version. Jesus said that those who were poor, hungry, and sorrowful are blessed because they will inherit the Kingdom of God, be fed, and experience joy. The scary part is that Jesus then goes on to tell those who are experiencing the good life will experience sorrow and misery in the future. I do not think this second part is a promise, but rather it is a warning (at least I hope so) because of what He says next.
    Jesus transitions from His warnings of sorrow by saying, “But to you who are listening…” He tells us to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless and pray for those who treat us badly. We are to do to others as we would like them to do to us. It is not enough to do good things to those who can/will return the favor. We need to be nice, do good things for, those who will not and/or cannot be nice and/or do good things in return. God has been merciful to us, as undeserving as we were, and are. If we expect God to reward us, we must be merciful to those who do not deserve it, and will not deserve it. Let us work to imitate God’s goodness. Jesus tells us that we should not hold others to a higher standard than we wish to be judged by ourselves. If we wish to be forgiven, we need to forgive others. I just realized that there is an implicit understanding of human nature here. Those who are unwilling to forgive others are those who think of themselves as not needing forgiveness. The measure by which we give to others (in forgiveness, good will, and material goods) is the measure by which we will be rewarded. Let us give to others generously.

    Moses continued his account of the time the Israelites spent in the wilderness. He recounts how God instructed them to avoid conflict with both the Edomites and the Moabites (descendants of Esau and Lot respectively). Moses then told of how he sent messengers to Sihon, the king of Heshbon, requesting permission to pass through his lands as they had through the lands of the Edomites and the Moabites. Sihon rejected Moses request and attacked the Israelites. I am reminded as I read this that God will provide for us. There will be obstacles in the path that God sends us on, but God will remove those obstacles. Let us not become hostile towards those who do not share our goals until they take action against us. Even then, we need to rely on God to defeat them for us.