April 15, 2013 Bible Study –The Kingdom Of God Is In Our Midst

     I am approaching the one year mark of doing this daily Bible study blog. I am getting excited about discovering what God has in store for me as I begin blogging about the passages that I blogged about last year. I am debating if I am going to go back and read what I wrote last year to compare it to what I write this year. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. As I said, I am excited to see what difference going through these passages for the second time makes.
     I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. 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.

Magrat in camouflage
Magrat in camouflage

Joshua 11-12:24

     After Joshua and the Israelites defeated and subdued the southern region, the kings of the northern region united to attack them. Joshua mobilized the Israelites and marched against the northern kings, while their armies were still camped at their initial muster point. The Israelites surprised the northern kings and defeated their armies decisively. The Israelites then went on to conquer the cities, completely destroying their populations.When Joshua finished this campaign, the Israelites controlled all of the land except for some Philistine cities on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea (at least that is how this passage reads to me) and the land had rest from war. It is interesting to note that after defeating Jericho and Ai, Joshua only attacked those who either first attacked Israel’s allies (the Gibeonites) or gathered their armies to attack Israel.

Magrat goes exploring
Magrat goes exploring

Luke 17:11-37

     As Jesus reached the border between Galilee and Samaria on His way to Jerusalem, He met ten lepers. The lepers begged Jesus to heal them. Jesus responded by telling them to go and show themselves to the priests (as the Law of Moses required of lepers who had been healed). As the lepers followed Jesus’ instruction and went to show themselves to the priests, they were cleansed of their leprosy. One of them, upon noticing that he was healed, returned to Jesus and fell at His feet praising God. This one was a Samaritan. Jesus notes that only one out the ten returned to praise God and that one was a Samaritan. He asked where the other nine were? The question I need to ask myself is this, am I the one or the nine?
     Some Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come? Jesus’ answer is intriguing. He tells them that the Kingdom of God is not coming with signs that can be observed (I think the New American Standard Version does the best job of translating this in a way that is understandable). Jesus tells them that we will not be able to say about the Kingdom of God, “Here it is,” or “It is over there.” He tells us instead that the Kingdom of God is in our midst. When I read what Jesus says here, it reminds me of earlier passages where He compares it to yeast. The Kingdom of God is in our midst and is (or should be) permeating all aspects of society. I think that to some degree the problems in our society resulted from Christians forgetting that they were the yeast permeating the dough and began to think that we were the dough.
     Jesus goes on to tell His disciples that the time will come when they will long to see His coming. People will proclaim that the Messiah is “Over here,” or “Over there.” But we should not believe them because when Jesus returns, it will be like a flash of lightning that lights up the sky from one end to the other. When I read that description I think about the incredibly bright lightning bolts that happen every once in awhile, the ones where even if your eyes are closed you see the flash. Jesus goes on to tell us that just like in times past when the day of judgment arrived (the Flood and what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah) people will be going about their lives with no thought to the coming judgment when it will arrive suddenly. No one in the time of Noah missed the coming of the Flood, no one in Sodom and Gomorrah missed the coming of the day of judgment on those cities. In the same way, when Jesus returns, no one will miss it.

What's over there?
What’s over there?

Psalm 84:1-12

     I strive to fully share the sentiments the psalmist expresses in this psalm. I want to do this every hour of every day:

With my whole being, body and soul,
I will shout joyfully to the living God.

And I do believe that this is true:
A single day in your courts
is better than a thousand anywhere else!
I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God
than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.

There are times when I forget but God reminds me before I go completely off of the rails. It is truly better to be a lowly servant in the house of God, than a mighty ruler anywhere else.

Magrat up close
Magrat up close

Proverbs 13:5-6

     I like the NIV’s translation of today’s proverb: “The righteous hate what is false,…” A short time back I realized that the way to read proverbs like today’s is as a method for judging myself. Do I hate what is false? Or do I revel in deception and guile? If the former, I am being transformed into God’s likeness. If the latter, I am on the path to shame and destruction.