For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been convicted over the last few weeks to seek to develop a disciplined prayer life. It is still a work in progress. Please pray for me, that the Holy Spirit may show me how to pray in a disciplined manner.

Proverbs 26:6-8

    Trusting a fool to deliver your messages will have a predictable outcome, and it is one that will be unpleasant. Proverbs can be useful shortcuts for learning, but a fool will use a proverb to avoid learning anything.
    We generally honour people in order to encourage others to emulate them. If you honour a fool it is likely people will emulate the foolish behavior rather than that which you intended.

Psalm 94:1-23

    It may seem like God is taking His time in bringing the wicked to judgement. It may seem like God is not listening to the cries of the poor and oppressed. The wicked think that they can avoid suffering any consequences for killing widows, foreigners, and the fatherless. However, He who made our ears can surely hear, and how would He know to make eyes if He could not see?
    Those who accept God’s discipline and learn from His instruction will experience joy. He will give them relief in troubled times. God will cause to be established governments which make judgements based on justice. He will raise up virtuous people who will pursue justice. When we start to doubt, let us call out to God. Then He will support us and lift us up. Trust in God and turn to Him when evil seems triumphant. He will turn the sins of the evil against them.

2 Timothy 2:22-3:17

    Paul tells us to stay away from foolish, ignorant arguments. They serve no purpose other than to start fights. This does not mean that we should stay away from all arguments, just foolish, ignorant ones. However, even with arguments we should get involved in we are to avoid being quarrelsome. Rather we should be king to everyone, able and willing to teach, and, most important for this context, patient with difficult people. Rather than argue forcefully and angrily, we should gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Let us rely on God to change the minds of those we disagree with, rather than trying to do so by the force of our arguments or personality. An important element of this is the willingness to allow God to change our minds if we are the ones in the wrong.
    Paul describes what people will be like in the last days. He sounds like he is describing what many people are like today (in context it sounds like he was describing the people of that day as well). People love only themselves and their money. He describes such people in detail telling us that they will act religious but reject the power of God which could actually make them godly. The important point is that we should stay away from such people. He warns us that such people worm their way into people’s homes and gain control over gullible women. Women who are vulnerable to such people are burdened with guilt and controlled by various desires. Paul describes such women as always willing to listen to new teaching, but never coming to an understanding of the truth. Those who prey on such women have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith. A little further on Paul points out an important characteristic of such teachers. They will go from bad to worse. Most importantly, they will both deceive others and be deceived themselves.
    It is worth repeating that those who work hard to deceive others about God’s truth are often easily deceived. This gives us an important lesson. When we are marshaling our arguments for the truth, check the facts we plan to use. If we allow ourselves to use “facts” which are not actually true, even if they support a true argument, we are setting ourselves up to be misled. We need to do our due diligence on the things we hear and confirm that they are true from sources who were either present when they happened or heard from someone who was there. If the story does not contain information which will allow you to check its veracity (where did it happen, when did it happen, who was there) do not use it in your arguments (except perhaps as an illustration of your point, rather than as support for your point).

Jeremiah 44:24-47:7

    Jeremiah told the people of Judah who fled to Egypt that they could not worship both God and the “Queen of Heaven”. This whole exchange reminds me of many people today who call themselves “Christians”, yet read their horoscopes daily and follow other idolatrous practices. You have to choose if you are going to follow idolatrous practices, or if you are going to worship God. God will not accept divided loyalties. We need to examine our lives and root out all forms of idolatry.

     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.

Jeremiah 44:24-47:7

     When Jeremiah confronted the people of Judah who had fled to Egypt over their idolatry, they responded that they had done such things when times were prosperous for them and would continue doing them until they brought about prosperity once more. Jeremiah now tells them that such behavior will merely bring more destruction and misery down on their heads. Their refusal to give up the sins for which God had judged them would lead to hardship and death. However, Jeremiah also had a word for those who remained faithful. He told them that God would protect them from the coming troubles.

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     This reminds me of so many people who I know. The people to whom Jeremiah was speaking refused to recognize that the behaviors they were continuing were the ones which brought the times of prosperity to an end. They were convinced that by practicing the sins and idolatry which had brought God’s judgment against them when they had been prosperous they could return to that time of prosperity. We will not gain prosperity by continuing the mistakes that brought our prosperity to an end.

2 Timothy 2:22-3:17

     Paul tells us the key to pleasing God. I will follow his advice and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace. The key to reaching those goals is spending time in fellowship with those who call on the Lord. The next thing Paul writes challenges me. All too often, I see people say foolish things and I seek to correct them. Then I allow myself to be drawn into foolish arguments. Rather than argue with those who believe things contrary to God’s truth (the only truth that there is, all truth is God’s truth), I will strive to gently point out the truth to them and allow God’s Spirit to change their hearts.
     The next part sounds so descriptive of our society today. All too many people today love only themselves and their money. People hold nothing sacred and have no self-control. Some put on a show of godliness, but do not allow God’s Spirit to govern their actions. They worm their ways into homes and take control of the gullible. The gullible ones are those who are always seeking the truth, but never willing to accept it when they find it.
     However, Paul tells us how we can both strengthen our faith and avoid being deceived by those who oppose the truth.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.(NIV)

So, I will study the Scripture so that I may avoid deceit and be equipped to accomplish whatever good work God provides for me to do.

Psalm 94:1-23

     The wicked convince themselves that God will not hold them accountable. They either think that He is not there, or that He does not care. However, the sins of the wicked will turn back on them and lead to their destruction. Those who oppress and murder the powerless will discover that their sins bring about their own destruction. God will see that justice is served.

Proverbs 26:6-8

     If you ask a fool to deliver a message for you, the message is likely to get garbled and you will be worse off than if the recipient had never received the message. A fool who knows a proverb will misuse it.