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. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
Zechariah talks about what has happened since the people followed the prophet Haggai’s prophecy calling on them to start rebuilding the Temple. He tells them that before they started following God’s will (by working on rebuilding the Temple) the economy was in terrible shape, crime was high and everyone was in conflict with one another. But now that the people are following God’s will in the area of rebuilding the Temple the economy is improving. The prophet tells them that if they want that to continue they must tell each other the truth, they must seek justice in their courts, and they are to stop scheming against each other. If they do this, then not only will they prosper but people of other nations will strive to join with them to share in that fellowship and prosperity. The prophet tells them to love truth and peace.
We can take a lesson from this. Why is our economy doing poorly? Because we are not being faithful to God. We cannot force others to do what is right, but we can do what is right ourselves. If we who claim to love the Lord return to doing what is right, we will prosper. This does not mean that we will become wealthy (although that might happen). It means that the Lord will provide for our needs. If we follow God’s will for our lives, others will see that we live on an even keel and are not flustered by the troubles and trials we face. They will seek to understand how this can be. We should be honest in our dealings with others. We should not seek after the accumulation of material goods, but rather seek to use our resources to help those in greater need than ourselves. We cannot fix the problems of this world by force. Actually, we cannot fix the problems of this world, only God can. All we can do is show people how God desires us to live and pray that His Spirit convicts them to change. I shall strive to live so that those around me approach me and say, “‘Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” I shall probably fail, but that shall remain my goal.
The writer tells us that seven angels will pour out seven bowls of God’s wrath upon the earth. Each of these bowls will be a plague upon the earth. The first plague will be painful sores on the people who worshiped the beast. It will be followed by first the oceans becoming as blood and then the sources of freshwater. The sun will become hotter, then the earth will be plunged into darkness. Then there will be warfare throughout the earth, after which all the armies of the world will gather to defy God. Finally, an mighty earthquake will come immediately followed by a hailstorm with hailstones of up to 100 pounds. Yet after each of these plagues, not only will people not repent of their sins and turn to God, instead they will curse God for the suffering they have brought on themselves. Do we not see this in the behavior of those around us? A tragedy occurs and people do not examine themselves to see what they have done that might have led to it. Instead they blame other people and God for allowing it to happen. After each tragedy, let us instead strive to look for what we can do to ease the pain and suffering of those who have experienced it and look to see what we are doing that may have contributed to this tragedy. Rather than seeking to place blame, let us strive to be more obedient servants of God going forward.
The Lord will be my ally and my fortress. He will shield me and defend me. Who am I, a mere mortal man, that God should care about me? Yet He does. He rescues me from troubles and delivers me from evil although I am completely undeserving. I will praise His name as long as I shall live.
Today’s proverb is another one of the “three things, no four” sets in Proverbs that are really cool to read. Yet, I struggle to understand what the author is saying. Today he refers to four things that walk with confidence, that strut about. Is he telling us to follow their example? Or is he telling us that they are full of empty pride? Or is he telling us that just because someone struts about acting as the top dog it doesn’t mean they are all that powerful? Or, perhaps he is telling us that just because the last person we saw posturing was an empty windbag, that does not mean that the next one will be.