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 people continued their communal prayer recounting God’s actions throughout their history and the rebellion of their ancestors. At the end of this prayer, the people made a binding agreement, in writing and signed by their leaders, to obey all of God’s laws and commandments. In addition they swore to not arrange for their children to marry the children of those who did not worship God and keep His commands. They swore to not do business on the Sabbath. They promised to pay an annual tax for the maintenance of the Temple. They promised to offer the first fruits of their harvests and a tithe on the rest. They promised not to neglect the Temple.
Paul continues his discussion of our freedom in Christ in today’s passage using himself as an example. He tells us that he is a free man, enslaved to no one. However, he allowed others to dictate how he behaved in order to bring as many as possible to Christ. When he was with those who lived according to strict rules and regulations because they thought that was what it meant to be righteous, he lived according to strict rules and regulations in order to convince as many as possible to accept the Gospel message. When he was with those who rejected rules and regulations because they thought that rules and regulations interfered with loving each other, Paul lived without regard to rules and regulations in order to convince as many as possible to accept the Gospel message. Despite doing the latter, Paul states that he believes in living according to God’s rules and regulations as mediated by Christ. When he was among those who were weak, Paul says that he became weak. He was willing to become all things to all people in order that some might be saved.
Paul refused to insist that people take him as he was. He was willing to reach them in whatever way necessary. He would behave in whatever manner was necessary to get a hearing. This did not mean that he compromised the Gospel. However, among the straight-laced, Paul was straight-laced. On the other hand, among those who thought the straight-laced were all hypocrites, Paul avoided coming across as straight-laced. With those who were tired of the arguments and discord between different groups, who wondered how anyone could know who was right, Paul avoided coming across as “I’m right and you’re wrong.”
I think I do pretty good on the first two counts. However, I have trouble with the third group. All too often, I come on too strong when I disagree with people. I have been asking the Holy Spirit to help me with that and I think I have been making progress.
Paul then goes to the metaphor of athletic training. All athletes who hope to compete at the highest level train with discipline, yet only one of them comes out victorious. In the same way, Paul strives to live his spiritual life with discipline. He does not live so that he can feel good about his spirituality. He has a goal and everything he does is aimed towards that goal. He is not just casually running so that he can be in better condition. He is running hard so as to prepare his body for a race. He disciplines both his body and his spirit.
Paul then uses the example of the children of Israel in the Exodus. They were all guided by the cloud that moved in front of them. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual water, yet God was not pleased with many of them. Some of them craved evil things and worshiped idols. Some of them engaged in sexual immorality. Some of them put God to the test and some of them grumbled against God. All of these sins led to death.
Paul warns us not to be cocky in our faith, not to become overconfident and stumble because we took our eyes off of God. He tells us that God is faithful and will not allow us to be tempted more than we can resist. When we are tempted, He will show us what we must do to overcome the temptation. We just need to do what He shows us.
This psalm has some great lines:
he delivered me from all my fears.
But there is one that stands out to me:
I am not sure what the psalmist meant, but I read that as meaning that the psalmist is telling us that if we want to see that God is good, we need to try living according to His commands for a while. If we do that we will quickly see that they lead us to a better life than living according to our own designs. It reminds me of the decision that led me to finally put my doubts to rest.
For many years I struggled with the question, “How do I know if God is real?” After many years of working on understanding how the world worked and after looking at different ideas about how it came to be, I was left with two choices that could potentially be intellectually satisfying. Either the God of the Christian Bible was real, or the universe was the product of random chance and nothing meant anything. I wanted proof one way or the other, but I was unable to find any.
As time went on, this lack of proof led me more and more to think that the universe was purely random. There was only one problem. That conclusion depressed me beyond words. Finally, one day I was crying out in my soul to God, “I cannot go on any longer if You do not exist, please prove to me that You are!” At that moment it came to me that I had my answer (I know now that this was God speaking directly to me). Since I could not live with the conclusion that the universe was random, I would live as if I believed that the God of the Bible was real. I would “taste and see.” Within days, I knew (not just thought, not just believed, KNEW) that the God of the Bible was real. I had tasted of God and seen that He was good!
When you hear the cries of those in need, have the means to do something for them, and do not, then you can know that the day will come when you are in need and your own cries will not be answered.