Everyone wants to be friends with people who have wealth, while those same people avoid those who are poor. Are we willing to make the effort to break this rule? >br?
When God has delivered us from troubles, or saved us from harm, do we publicly praise Him? Or do we just go about our lives as if His salvation was our just due? Let us never forget that the wicked are trapped by their own actions. It is only by the grace of God that we do not join them. Let us praise Him and rejoice when we see His justice served around us. Even more so let us celebrate when He shows us His mercy.
Paul starts by summarizing the Gospel he preaches:
God promised it through the prophets (we can read what they wrote about it)
Jesus was biologically a descendant of David
The Holy Spirit used its power to declare Jesus the Son of God by raising Him from the dead
From there Paul goes on to describe his calling and the purpose for preaching the Gospel. Paul invited/enjoined/requested those who had no real understanding of God to a faith in Him which led to obedience to Him. I think this is a something we all to often forget. The purpose of preaching the Gospel is to convince people to have faith which leads to obedience. It is not just to get people to affirm that Jesus is the Son of God. We preach the Gospel (or at least, I do) in order to convince people to act upon that belief.
Paul wanted to go to Rome so that he could, in some way, help them become stronger in their faith, so that he could help them become better Christians. However, he recognized that this goes both ways. I cannot help you be a better Christian unless I am open to you helping me become a better Christian. If we think that we are so much better than another that God cannot use them to strengthen us than we badly overestimate our faithfulness to God.
It is interesting that this passage suggests that some men defected from Saul’s army to join with David when they thought David was about to join the Philistines in attacking Saul. The Philistines refused to allow David and his men join them in the battle against Saul. However, after the battle many other warriors from various tribes joined David with the intention of making him king over Israel in place of Saul’s remaining son. I am convinced that the fact that David did not take part in the battle where Saul died contributed mightily to his strength as king.
The description of what happened when David first attempted to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem tells us something about how God works. David had the Ark put on a cart to transport it. When someone reached out to steady the Ark, they were struck dead. Two generations earlier, the Philistines had returned the Ark to Israel in a similar fashion and nothing bad happened. In some ways these two stories show us that God holds those of us who should know better to a higher standard than those who have never heard His commands.
In Exodus, God had given the Israelites instructions on how to transport the Ark. The Philistines had never heard those instructions, but David and his men should have been aware of them.
Let us never forget the teachings we find in the Bible. If we practice loyalty and kindness in all of our dealings we will earn favor with both God and man. The next stanza of this proverb is most important:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
Those two parts fit together perfectly. We must trust in the Lord with all our hearts and seek to do His will in all we do, but we cannot depend on our own understanding to know what His will is. It is only by listening to others who are also seeking to do God’s will that we can hope to truly discern what His will actually is.
I beg of God that He save me from the troubles that I will face. I beg this of God so that I can praise Him. The reason I wish to be rescued is so that I can continue to do His will. The wicked seek only to accomplish their own will and will be trapped by the troubles their actions bring them. Those who seek only to do as God wishes will be rescued by God. Let us praise Him for all He has done.
Today’s passage is three stories of Jesus healing people. Later in the Gospels Jesus tells His disciples (and through them us) that they will perform the same sorts of miracles He did and more. Yet, I do not see healing happening very often in the Church today. I do not know why, but I am convinced that our failure to see more miraculous healing says something is wrong in the Church today. I am convinced that part of the problem is that we do not really expect to see miraculous healing. Another part of it is our failure to discern the Holy Spirit’s leading. This is an area I struggle with.
There are a lot of things in this passage about trusting God and how God will provide us guidance. However, what struck me today was Abraham’s vehement insistence that Isaac not return to the land of Abraham’s ancestors. There are hints throughout the story of Genesis that Abraham came from a community which shared worshiped God, but there are also suggestions that there was something “wrong” with that community.
We have Abraham sending his servant to his relatives back where he came from to get a wife for his son from among his relatives. This suggests that there is something about them that makes them a better match for Isaac than the local people (this theme is brought up again with Jacob and Esau getting married). However, there is something about them that leads Abraham to not want his son to live among them. I am not sure what this means for us, but it is something I think is worth some thought.
Those who lie and bear false witness against others will suffer for their actions. They may seem to get away with it for a time, but they will not be able to avoid the consequences forever.
The wicked may plan and plot to trap others into doing their will, but they will fall into traps of their own making. We can be confident of God’s justice. He will ensure that the wicked suffer the fate which they deserve. Let us beg God to have mercy on us, otherwise we will suffer the fates which our sins deserve. When God shows us His mercy, let us shout His praises for all to hear.
Paul wrote the letter to the believers in Rome to introduce himself and what he taught about Jesus to them. He starts out by describing the goal of his teaching. His goal was that those who heard him would believe and obey God. He taught that once one believed the message he taught one would act upon it in order to bring glory to God’s name. As he does elsewhere, Paul begins this letter by telling us that while our actions do not bring us righteousness, the righteousness we receive through our faith will determine our actions. What we believe determines what we do. If we truly believe the Gospel message we will act accordingly.
There is another thing which strikes me every time I read this passage. It is something which every one who attempts to teach others about Christ should bear in mind. Paul says that he desires to visit the believers in Rome to teach them and encourage their faith. But he also wanted to be taught by them. He did not intend to go to Rome solely so that he could impart to them his own wisdom, he recognized that the believers in Rome had things to teach him as well. If and when we find ourselves called to be teachers we need to humbly recognize that those we are teaching know something that we need to learn as well.
This passage tells us something about how David became such a successful leader and king of Israel. First, he did not impose himself upon the people of Israel as their leader. Rather the people of Israel acclaimed David as their king. The warriors and leaders of warriors came to David and offered him their support. But it was not just the military men who supported David. People in other walks of life brought food and supplies to David and his men to acknowledge and celebrate his leadership of the nation. David was acclaimed the leader of the people of Israel by people from all walks of life.
The second thing this passage tells us is that David used his position of leadership to call the people to faithfulness to God. When the people had made him king, one of his first acts was to bring the Ark of the Covenant to his capital in order to make the worship of God a central part of the nation. The people followed David in his worship of God. A good leader needs the people to choose to follow him. Then he needs to lead them to follow God.
The final thing this passage tells us about David’s leadership was that he planned his actions based on guidance from God. He did not insist on repeating the strategies that had worked for him in the past. Rather he listened to God’s guidance and modified his strategies based on circumstances and the direction which God gave him. Let us not get stuck in the rut of doing only that which worked for us in the past. When God calls us to try new things, let us be ready to do so.
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.
After the death of Sarah, Abraham sent his most trusted servant to find a wife for Isaac among the people of his father who still lived in Haran (or nearby). The servant followed Abraham’s instructions. What Abraham’s servant did when he arrived at his destination is a model for us to follow when we are attempting to follow God’s guidance. He asked God for a sign, but the sign was not arbitrary. The sign he asked for was one which would reflect the character of the person who carried it out.
The servant believed that God had chosen a woman in the town he had just arrived in to be Isaac’s wife, but he did not know who she was, nor did he have any good ideas as to how to find her. He did however know a few things about her. He knew she would be a relative of Abraham, but he did not know how to find Abraham’s relatives in this town. He knew she would be courteous and hospitable to strangers, partly because he knew that was what God (and Abraham) would want in a wife for Isaac, and partly because he knew that Abraham’s relatives would raise their daughter to be that way (that was at least part of the reason Abraham wanted Isaac to marry a woman from his father’s people).
Now, the servant had a plan that would tell him if a woman met the second criteria, but he had no way to know if she met the first. So he asked God that the first woman he met who met his test be one who met the first. Abraham’s servant laid out his “fleece” (it is kind of funny to call it that, since Gideon had not yet been born at the time of this story). And the first woman he approached did as he had hoped. She not only eagerly offered him water when he requested a drink, as he was drinking she drew more water in order to water his thirsty camels. When she did this, he acted on faith and presented her gifts, which in light of his next question, she would have interpreted, correctly, as “courting” gifts (that he was trying to convince her to marry, and her family to allow her to marry, someone he was representing). When he asked her whose daughter she was, she told him that the daughter of Bethuel and the granddaughter of Nahor.
Abraham’s servant made a request of God for a sign. When he got the sign, he acted. He did not fail to follow up and confirm that the sign was correct, but he also did not wait until he had incontrovertible proof before he began to take action. God makes His intentions clear to us if we are paying attention.
This passage contains two stories of Jesus healing people that have some similarities. Both stories demonstrate great faith on the part of those requesting Jesus to heal. The first man is a leper who tells Jesus, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Notice the man did not say, “you can heal me.” He said, “you can make me clean.” He recognized that he needed more than just healing, although he needed that as well. He needed to be made clean. We, also, need to be healed and made clean. Every single one of us is struggling with something of which we need to be both healed and cleaned (except for a few who have already be healed and cleaned by Christ). Jesus’ answer is quite instructive, as well. He simply said, “I am willing. Be clean.” He then instructed the man to follow God’s commands for demonstrating that he had been cleaned. If we are willing to go forward according to God’s will, Jesus is willing to heal us and cleanse us. Actually, Jesus is willing even if we are not, the problem being that if we do not go forward according to God’s will, we will not stay clean and healthy.
The next story is that of a Roman soldier, an officer. This man came to Jesus on behalf of his servant, who was paralyzed and suffering. When the man approached Jesus, Jesus said that He would come at once. The Roman officer answered that he was unworthy to have Jesus come to his home and there was no need for Jesus to do so. He knew that if Jesus wished to heal his servant, He could do it from where He was. The Roman officer understood that Jesus had authority over disease. He knew that Jesus did not heal with potions or medicines and neither did Jesus heal by reaching out and comforting the mind of those who were suffering, although those are both fine ways of bringing about healing. Jesus healed by using the power of He who had formed the first man out of the dust of the earth. Do we have the faith to believe that God can and will heal us, or our loved ones, without needing to make use of human hands? This is not to take away from those who work to heal those who are sick in the world around us. I do believe that some of us are called to that. But we are all called to recognize that God does not need that in order to heal our broken world.
I will call upon the Lord to have mercy upon me for I know that the wicked will be caught in the trap which they set for themselves. It may seem that the needy are being ignored and the poor crushed, but God will stand by them and bring justice to their oppressors.
The proverb writer tells us to trust in God and warns us not to rely on our own understanding. If we seek to do God’s will, He will show us the path to take. If we follow that path we will find favor with God and with people.
I am trying something different today. Sometimes when I read a passage, it speaks to me directly. Other times, it speaks to me in context of summarizing what the passage says. Sometimes it does a little of both. Today, I am going to try separating out my commentary on the passage from my summary of the passage. I will see how this works out and may try variations on it as time goes by.
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.
The passage starts out by telling us of a group of warriors who defected from the Israelite army to join David as he marched with the Philistines before Saul’s final battle. This is something I had never noticed before. It suggests that Saul may have been alienating the people he ruled over, causing those who had options to go into opposition to him. David and those with him ended up not fighting against Saul because the Philistine commanders were afraid that they would switch sides in the middle of the battle. After Saul’s death more and more warriors joined David increasing his might until all of Israel made him their king.
David decided to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem from where it had been kept since its return after its capture by the Philistines. He had it placed on a cart that was guided by two of the sons of the man whose house the Ark had been kept at up until this point (probably Levites). When the Ark was getting close to Jerusalem, the cart hit a rough spot. Uzzah, one of the two men guiding the cart, reached out to steady the Ark. When he touched the Ark, something happened and he died immediately. This frightened David such that he decided to leave the Ark at the house of a man named Obed-edom. During the time that the Ark was at Obed-edom’s house, God blessed him in ways that were obvious to everyone. After three months, David moved the Ark the rest of the way to Jerusalem.
When the Philistines realized that David had become king of Israel they attacked him. The first time they attacked, David fought them straight on and defeated them. After their defeat, the Philistines returned, prepared for David to attempt what he had done the last time. This time, however, David circled around them and attacked them from the rear, giving them an even more decisive defeat.
Paul starts the letter to the church in Rome by giving them summarizing what he considered important about himself and his message. He starts by saying that he was set apart by God to preach God’s gospel. So, the first thing Paul tells us is that he defines himself according to what God has done, not according to what he, Paul , has done. He then realizes that he needs to say what God’s gospel is. He says that it is concerning Jesus Christ who was shown to be the Son of God through the power of the resurrection of the dead. All of this is a quick summary because he is writing to people who already know the Gospel. Paul finishes by saying that his ministry was to call Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. Paul follows up his introduction of himself by describing who he is writing to, Gentiles in Rome who have been called by Jesus to follow Him.
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Paul points out an important aspect of being a Christian here in what is almost an aside. Obedience to God is a result of faith in God. There are other places in scripture where this point is made, but I wanted to point it out here as well. We behave according to God’s commands, not because doing so brings us salvation, but because we have faith in Him and truly believe that He has saved us already.
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Paul goes on to write that he has been planning to come to Rome for some time, but other things have constantly gotten in the way, now it seems like he will finally be able to get there. He tells them that he hopes to be able to impart some spiritual gift to them, but that he does not expect this to be one-sided. He expects that they will have a gift from God for him as well. Paul tells us that he is obligated, that he owes, both Greeks and Barbarians, both the wise and the foolish. His obligation is to bring them the word of God. It is in the interest of fulfilling this obligation that Paul was eager to preach the Gospel in Rome. Despite the troubles that it had brought him, Paul was still not embarrassed of the Gospel, because it embodied the power of God to bring salvation to everyone who believes, both Jew and Gentile. The Gospel reveals God’s righteousness.
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Paul states here a theme that will be the centerpiece of this letter: “The righteous will live by faith.” That quote is taken from the second chapter in Habakuk. Paul tells us that the only righteousness we can have is that of God, and the only way to get that righteousness is through faith in God. However, as I mentioned previously, as a result of that very same faith we will obey God. Our obedience does not give us righteousness, our righteousness gives us obedience. Righteousness is a gift from God that we can do nothing to earn and it there for anyone who will accept it. No matter how well we obey God, it does not make us any better, any more righteous, than anyone else. Obedience to God can however give us greater happiness and joy. I obey God because I believe Him when He tells me that certain acts will make me happier and more fulfilled than other acts, not because obeying Him will win me brownie points with God. I can never do enough good to earn enough brownie points to overcome my failings, that can only come through God’s free gift.
God will be known by His acts of just judgment, while the wicked will be caught in the snares and traps they set for others. God will never forget the needy and He will provide hope for the afflicted. Those who make wicked plans will be destroyed by their own actions. God will show those that wish to usurp Him that they have neither the wisdom nor the knowledge to do so, let alone the power.
Everybody wants to be friends of the rich and famous, but nobody goes out of their way to be friends with the poor. Those who give false testimony will pay a price and those who tell lies will suffer for it.
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.
Sarah died when she was 127 years old near what was later called Hebron. Abraham approached the elders of the local town and negotiated to buy a plot of land that included a burial cave where he buried Sarah’s body. Shortly after this, Abraham called in his senior servant, who was in charge of all that Abraham had. He asked this servant to take an oath not to find a wife for Isaac among the people of Canaan, but rather to return to the land of Abraham’s birth and get a wife for Isaac there. The servant took ten camels loaded with goods from Abraham’s possessions and went to the region where Abraham was from. When he arrived at his destination and stopped near the town well he prayed to God for guidance. He laid before God what we often call a fleece (from the actions of Gideon who lived long after the time we are now discussing). The servant asked God that when he asked a young woman for a drink that if she was the one that God had chosen for Isaac, she would not only give him a drink but offer to water his camels as well.
No sooner had he prayed for this sign then Rebekah came to draw water from the well. Abraham’s servant approached her and asked her for a drink of water. She quickly lowered her water jar and gave him a drink of water. As soon as he had finished drinking, Rebekah told him that she would draw water for his camels. She emptied her water jar into the trough and quickly returned to the well and drew enough water to water all of the camels. The servant did not say anything until the camels had finished drinking. He then took out three pieces of jewelry that had a gold value of about $7200 on today’s gold market. He then asked her whose daughter she was and whether there was room in her father’s house for himself and those with him to spend the night. Rebekah responded that she was the granddaughter of Nahor (who was Abraham’s brother) and that they had straw and fodder to feed his camels as well as space for him to spend the night. The servant immediately Gave praise to God, telling Rebekah that she was related to his master Abraham. Rebekah ran home and told her family what Abraham;s servant had told her. When Rebekah’s brother Laban saw the jewelry and heard her story, he rushed out and invited Abraham’s servant to come and stay with them (notice that the story-teller indicates that Laban’s primary interest was the jewelry). When the man came into the house they put food before him. He told them that he would not eat until he had told them his story. He then explained the mission he was on for Abraham and the sign he asked from God. He then explained how Rebekah fulfilled that sign. When Bethuel, Rebekah’s father, and Laban heard his story, they immediately told him that this was from the Lord and they were not willing to stand in the way of what the Lord so clearly supported. They told him to take Rebekah to be the wife of his master’s son.
This is a great story. We can learn some lessons about seeking God’s will and about how God reveals His will. When Abraham’s servant got to his destination he prayed to God for guidance. He asked for a specific event to show him God’s will. When he got that event, he acted immediately. He did not second guess the sign. Then we see God follow-up by giving him further confirmation that Rebekah was the woman God intended for Isaac, he discovered that Rebekah was Abraham’s great-niece. Also, notice how the sign that Abraham’s servant asked for was indicative of a woman who would make a good wife for Isaac (Rebekah showed a hospitable spirit by on her own initiative watering his camels). God’s follow-up sign fulfilled one of the wishes for a wife for Isaac (she was from the household of Abraham’s relatives).
When Jesus finished the Sermon on the Mount and came down from the mountainside a man with leprosy approached Him and knelt. The leper declared to Jesus, “If you are willing, you can heal me.” Jesus reached out and touched him. Leprosy was a scary disease and somewhat contagious (and generally viewed as disgusting), but Jesus was willing to touch this man. Jesus told the leper that He was indeed willing to heal him. Jesus told the man not to tell anyone about the healing until he had gone to a priest and been examined according to the Law so that the evidence of his healing could be properly noted (for the man’s sake, not Jesus’).
When Jesus entered Capernaum a centurion approached Him and asked Him to heal his servant. Jesus asked the centurion if He should come with him to heal his servant. The centurion replied that he was unworthy to have Jesus in his house. The centurion was confident that if Jesus said that his servant would be healed, the servant would be healed. Jesus commended the man for his faith and told him to go, his servant would be healed. We are told that the servant was healed at that moment. I wish that I had the faith of that centurion. I believe that God will do such things, but I have trouble believing that He will do them through me. Dear Lord, give me the faith of the centurion in this story.
O Lord have mercy on me because I do not deserve to be treated well, yet as long as You have mercy on me and leave me on this earth, I will praise Your name. I will not make the mistake of thinking that I can work my way out of my problems. I know that on my own I will merely be trapped by the wickedness of my acts. If I plot to trap others, those traps will spring on me and entrap me. I will deal honestly and strive to help the poor and needy. I know that you will bring them aid, do not let me be the one they need aid against.
The writer tells the reader to remember what he has taught then summarizes his teaching. The first lesson is to always be loyal and kind. If we do this, people will think well of us and we will find favor with God. The second lesson is to trust God with all of our being, seek to do His will in everything we do. Rather than rely on our own understanding, let us follow the path that God shows us.
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.
Today’s passage begins by listing a group of warriors from the tribe of Manasseh who abandoned the Israelite army and joined David when he fled from King Saul to the Philistines. The passage then continues with the warriors from various tribes who joined David after Saul’s death while he was still basing himself at Hebron and fighting Saul’s son Ish-bosheth. The passage tells us that after this second group arrived there was four days of feasting.
The passage does not tell us how the transition happened from David’s capital being in Hebron to being in Jerusalem, but the next thing we are told is that David called an assembly to bring the Ark of the Covenant to the capital (which is now Jerusalem), something that was not done during Saul’s reign. David has the Ark placed on an oxcart and people from all over Israel escorted it with songs and celebration. When the Ark got close to Jerusalem the oxen stumbled and one of the men guiding the cart reached out to steady the Ark and was struck dead. David was angry, and frightened, by this turn of events, so he left the Ark at that location in the care of a man who lived near there. We are told that for the three months that David left the Ark there the man and his family prospered. The passage does not go into detail as to what went wrong here. However, in Exodus God instructed Moses that when the Ark was moved it should be carried by priests using poles that would extend through the carrying rings mounted on it for that purpose. Here the Ark was being transported by oxcart.
Today’s passage concludes with an account of the Philistines mustering their army to defeat David before he is able to consolidate his power. David mustered his army to oppose them. When the Philistines launched an attack in one area, David consulted God as to what he should do and followed God’s instruction to meet the Philistines in a frontal assault. David defeated them in this battle. After a while the Philistines again attacked that area. On this occasion, David outflanked them and attacked them from behind. After this second battle, David conquered most, if not all, of the Philistine territory.
Paul begins his letter to the believers in Rome with a short summary of who he is and the Gospel that he preaches. He tells them that he was appointed by God as God’s messenger to preach His Good News (or Gospel). This Good News is that Jesus is God’s son who died and was raised from the dead. Paul goes on to tell them that their faith is a subject of talk throughout the Roman Empire and that he prays for them regularly. One of the things that Paul has been praying for is the opportunity to come to Rome to visit them. He tells them that he hopes to bring them some spiritual gift and encouragement, but that he does not expect this to be a one way street. Paul says that he expects to be encouraged by their faith, and I think he is implying that he expects them to help him come to a greater understanding of God’s will for him.
Paul tells them that he has planned to visit them before, but has been prevented from doing so. He tells them that he hopes to come and preach among them because he feels an obligation to preach to the civilized and the uncivilized, to the educated and the uneducated. I think this is an important point. The Gospel is for all people in whatever state they come to it. There is a tendency of Christians to think that somehow the Gospel isn’t really for the educated, or the uneducated. Or it isn’t for those who are cultured, or those who are not cultured. But Paul is telling us here that the Gospel is for all, and that all fall equally short of God’s glory. The educated are no closer to God than the uneducated, and vice versa. The the cultured are no closer to God than the uncultured and vice versa. All are the same distance from God.
Paul tells us that the Good News he preaches tells us how God makes us right in His sight. God accomplishes this through faith. God makes us right with Him through faith. We must have faith in Him and we have no extra inside track by being educated, or by being uneducated. It is the same for all of us. No matter who we are, we must live our life through faith in God.
The psalmist calls out to the Lord for salvation so that he can praise the Lord publicly. Do we praise the Lord publicly for the ways that he has saved us? I know that I do not do so enough. The psalmist goes on to say that the seeds of the destruction of the wicked is sown by the wicked themselves. That they will fall into the traps that they set for others. God will provide for the needy. He will fulfill the hopes of the poor. Those who defy God will discover how inadequate they are to the task they have set themselves. Those who puff themselves up as able to stand on their own and defy God will discover that they are mere mortal humans after all.
The first of today’s proverbs tells us that there are many people who wish to be friends with the wealthy, but those people will go away as soon as the money does. The second tells us that those who lie and falsely accuse others will not escape punishment. That sooner or later those who falsely accuse others will pay a price that they would rather not.
