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 prophet speaks of the suffering he has undergone, of the torment, pain and affliction he has experienced. Yet despite the utter despair of his situation, he declares that he will dare to hope. He will continue to hope because God’s love is faithful and never ends, God’s mercies never cease. He tells us to wait quietly for the Lord in our times of tribulation. God will bring grief to us, but He will also show us compassion. When we suffer tribulation, let us acknowledge our sinfulness and turn back to God and strive to serve Him. When we seem completely overwhelmed by our enemies, let us call on the Lord and have faith that He will deliver us.

     In the past God spoke through the prophets, now He has spoken through His Son. God created the universe through His Son. The Son radiates God’s glory and expresses the very character of God. The Son has cleansed us from our sins and now sits in the place of highest honor at the right hand of God. The Son is far greater than the angels. While the earth and the heavens will come to an end, the Son will rule forever from the throne that God has established for Him. The Son is not some sort of greater angel, He is something entirely different. The angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit the salvation provided by the Son.

     The Lord will not reject the pleas of the destitute. He will listen to their prayers. God will live forever and He does not change. Even today He will do such great things that a generation not yet born will praise His name for them. Time and again throughout history God has done things which demonstrate His great power, let us praise Him for those things as long as we draw breath.

     Some people start fights in the same way that hot embers light charcoal. It is almost as if they cannot help themselves. Let us strive not to be like that. Rumors are tempting tidbits that sink into our hearts and effect our judgement long after we have forgotten their origins.