For today, One Year Bible Online links here. Christmas is coming soon. Let us remember what it is truly about, the birth of Jesus Christ. Let us strive to not be caught up in the commercialism which is what this season is about for many in our society today.
I have always connected with this proverb. I ask God that He give me just enough to meet my needs and perhaps a bit more to help those less fortunate than I. But never so much that I forget that it all comes from Him. I also ask that He not leave me with so little that I am tempted to do wrong to meet my needs.
What a wonderful psalm to follow up that proverb. Give thanks to the Lord. He remembers us. He saves us. He gives us food to eat. His faithful love endures forever.
You do not realize it until now, but up until this passage John’s vision of heaven had a lot of sound (mostly various praises being sung and shouted). When the seventh seal was broken there was silence throughout heaven for half an hour. I find the scene which ends the silence interesting. An angel combines the prayers of God’s people with the smoke of incense as an offering before God. The interesting thing is that the burning incense was thrown down on to the earth, where it caused great damage, yet the prayers of God’s people continued to rise up before God as an offering to Him.
The next thing that happens is that seven angels prepare to blow seven trumpets. After each of the first four trumpets is blown the passage describes a disaster occurring upon the earth. Then after these events of massive destruction the message goes out that even greater terror is yet to come. While this passage is about how things will get worse and troubles will come upon the earth in greater intensity and frequency as the end of the world approaches, there is an element here as well reminding us that there will be torment and trouble until the day of the Lord’s return.
There were two news stories this week which bring this thought home to me. One was the story about the hostages taken in the coffee shop in Sydney, Australia. The other was a story about a man who shot 6 people throughout the area close to where I live. Both of these stories broke my heart. Yet they are the sort of thing we should expect in this broken world and will only get more common and worse and the day of the Lord’s return approaches.
The prophet Nahum speaks about the fall of Ninevah and Assyria. Ninevah was a city of great wealth and power, but her people did not acknowledge God. They believed that they could do as they pleased with no negative consequences. By acting on that belief they made themselves the enemies of God and God brought about their destruction. The prophet describes the fate of all who choose to be God’s enemies.