For today, One Year Bible Online links here. Today is Christmas Day. Merry Christmas!

    Just because someone struts about and acts as if he is powerful does not mean that he is someone to be admired. However, those who do so should be treated with caution since they can be dangerous.

    If we trust in God, He will train us to fight the battles He wishes us to fight. Let us remember to take refuge in God and only fight the battles He directs us to fight. Let us trust Him to fight any other battle which may come our way. We are such little things in this large Universe, yet God sent His Son to save us. I will praise God for all that He has done for me.

    In John’s vision the seven angels pour out the plagues upon the earth one by one and things go from bad to worse. But, instead of repenting of their sins and turning to God the people cursed God and blamed Him for their suffering. As things got worse the leaders of the people of the world joined forces to make war on God. As I read this passage it reminds me of many people today. When things go wrong, they blame God (even while claiming that they do not believe that He exists). Rather than change the behaviors which led to their problems, they blame those who point out that God warned them of those consequences. In their minds, it is God who is evil for telling them that if they continue to sin bad things will happen, things they will not like.
    Today as we celebrate Christ’s birth let us remember that God offered His Son to suffer those consequences with us and show us that if we are willing to turn from our sin, good can come out of our suffering.

    Zechariah receives another message as a follow up to the one he gave in response to those asking if they should continue to fast and mourn in remembrance of the destruction of the Temple. Zechariah’s new message is that the fasts and mourning they had been practicing should now turn to celebrations. God was determined to bless Jerusalem. This blessing is going to happen. However, in order to experience this blessing the Jewish people need to do some things. When the people of any nation act similarly, they will receive similar blessings.
    Here is the key for any nation to experience God’s blessing. The people of that nation must speak the truth. Their courts must render true and sound judgments. They must not scheme against each other, no more seeking to gain advantage by cheating/misleading others. They must stop thinking it demonstrates cleverness to swear that a lie is the truth. I will state that I believe that a nation whose people follow these instructions will find themselves on the path to economic prosperity. Running counter to these instructions leads to an economic collapse.

     I want to wish everyone reading my blog today a Merry Christmas. May the Prince of Peace, whose birth we celebrate this day, bless you in the coming year and grant you the confidence and faith to serve our God with a willing, merciful heart. I pray that God may grant you healing in all of the places which the sin of this world has broken you, just as He is doing for me.
     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.

     Zechariah gives a prophesy here where he states that God is going to bring His people back to Jerusalem from all over the world, from the east and from the west. He reminds them that before they started work on the Temple, before they started the work which God had given them, they had no jobs and no money. In short, when they were dedicating all of their resources to their own desires, the economy was terrible, but after they began dedicating a share of their resources to doing God’s work, the economy recovered. Zechariah continues by telling them to be strong and continue doing God’s work. They are to stop telling lies and tell each other the truth. They are to ensure that everyone receives justice in their courts. If they do these things, the day will soon come where people from every nation will wish to walk with them in service to God because of the blessings which they have received from doing so.

     John’s vision now contained seven angels who poured out seven bowls of God’s wrath upon the earth. The first bowl caused those who had accepted the mark of the beast and worshiped his statue to break out with malignant sores. This sounds to me like a plague which only effects those
who worship the beast. I think this is representative of the diseases which those who fully embrace immoral practices experience. The second and third bowls caused the bodies of water over the entire earth to become foul and undrinkable. The fourth bowl caused the Sun to become hotter, causing the earth to be scorched. The fifth bowl caused darkness to fall on the lands which worshiped the beast. Despite all of the suffering caused by their evil actions, the people who worshiped the beast not only refused to turn from their evil, they cursed God for allowing them to suffer the consequences of their actions.
     The sixth bowl caused the Euphrates River to dry up, allowing the kings of the East to march their armies west without hindrance. At this point, three evil spirits emerged and gathered the armies of all of the rulers of the earth at Armageddon in order to do battle against God. Finally, when the seventh bowl is emptied there will be thunder and lightning, a great earthquake, and a hailstorm. The earthquake will destroy many cities, cause islands to disappear, and level the mountains. Hail stones the size of a large dog will fall from the sky. Once again, rather than repent of their sins, people will curse God for the consequences of their actions.
     I am not sure what all to make of this passage, except that those who wallow in sinful behavior will always blame others for the suffering which they experience as a consequence of their sin. If no person can be blamed, they will blame God for allowing them to suffer harm as a result of their actions. I will strive to always turn to God and repent my sins when those sins lead me to suffer.

     What a psalm of joy for this day. God will be our refuge and our deliverer. My thoughts echo those of the psalmist. Who am I that God should notice me? Let alone send His son, whose birth we celebrate today, to suffer and die for my deliverance? Yet, He did so. He reached down from heaven and rescued me from despair. I will sing praises to God, both today and every day.

     The writer tells us today that not everyone who struts about is as dangerous as they think. The lion and the king leading an army are examples of proud and dangerous creatures, but the rooster is just as proud and not nearly as dangerous (the male goat is somewhere in between). I am not sure if this is a note to tell us that if we walk proudly, most will leave us alone, or an instruction that not everyone who acts like they are powerful is as dangerous as they pretend.