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.
Seven days after the waters of the Nile had been turned to blood, God sent Moses and Aaron back to Pharaoh. They were to tell Pharaoh that since he had not let God’s people go to worship Him, God was going to bring a plague of frogs on the land. Aaron stretched out his hand and frogs came up out of the Nile and other bodies of water and covered the land. Once again Pharaoh called his magicians who duplicated this feat. What Pharaoh’s magicians could not do was make the frogs go away (or die). So, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and asked them to ask God to take the frogs away. Pharaoh told them that if they did that he would let their people go to worship God. Moses asked Pharaoh to specify a time for the Egyptian households to be rid of the frogs. Pharaoh gave Moses a time and Moses prayed to God. At the appointed time the frogs that were not in the waterways died. Pharaoh however reneged on his promise and did not let the people go. The next plague was gnats. This time Pharaoh’s magicians were unable to duplicate what God had done through Moses and Aaron. Nevertheless Pharaoh would not let them go. The plagues got progressively worse and Pharaoh bargained with Moses, but he never followed through. Repeatedly through today’s passage we are told that Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to follow through on what he had promised.
How often have I been like that? When I have faced troubles I have made deals with God, promising that if just this once more He gets me out of the troubles I got myself into, I will change my ways and do what He commands. Or sometimes I have declared that as soon as things got better I would commit myself to serving Him in a new way. Then when things get better I forget, or make excuses why I won’t do the things I said I would do. The answer is I have done that all too often.
Some people brought children to Jesus for Him to pray for them. The disciples tried to discourage them, I assume because they thought it was a waste of Jesus’ time to pray over children that were not sick. Didn’t these people know that Jesus was an important man? However, Jesus intervened and told them to let the children come to Him, that the Kingdom of Heaven belonged to those who were like these children. Jesus laid His hands on the children and went on His way.
Then a man came up to Jesus and asked Him what good thing he needed to do to get eternal life? Jesus gave a two-part answer. The first part was to question why the man was asking Him about what is good, since only God is good. The second part was to tell the man to keep the commandments. The man then asked specifically which commandments he should keep. Jesus answered this by listing six of the ten commandments. To which the man replied, “Oh, I’ve kept those.” Jesus then told him to go sell all that he had, give the proceeds to the poor and come follow Jesus. The man went away sad because he was unwilling to give up his great wealth.
Jesus turned to His disciples and told them, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples’ response to this statement by Jesus was that if a rich man would have trouble getting into heaven, what chance did anyone else have? Jesus told them that it was impossible for man to do this, but with God all things are possible. This led Peter to burst out that they had left everything to follow Jesus, what would happen to them? Jesus told them that they would receive their reward and that those who had given up worldly possessions in order would receive a hundred-fold more and eternal life as well. Jesus followed this up by saying that many who were first would be last and many who were last would be first.
I see a link between these two stories. The rich young man was looking for a shortcut to salvation. He was looking for a way to have both his power and position in this life and in the kingdom of heaven. The children were being brought by their parents, no one thought they were important (except for Jesus). The disciples obstructed the children’s path to Jesus. At the very least they stayed out of the rich young man’s way, if they did not actively clear the way for him to approach Jesus. The rich young man wanted to know what the rules were confident that once he knew the rules he could use his wealth and position to smooth the way for himself. The children just wanted to see Jesus and be touched by Him. Perhaps the most important point of this story is Jesus statement that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. There have been many attempts to make this comparison less ridiculous, but let’s look at what came after Jesus said this. The disciples response was, “Well then, how can anyone be saved?” and Jesus followed up by saying that it is impossible for man, but with God all things are possible. It is only through the action of God that I can be saved, I cannot earn salvation. There is nothing I can do to obligate God to let me into heaven.
What the psalmist says here is so true. Everything on this earth and in this universe belongs to God. Anything we think that we have is something that belongs to God that He has given us stewardship over. This thought should give us guidance in how we spend our money and our time. How can we spend them in ways that further God’s purpose in this world? When I am considering spending money or doing something with my time I need to examine how that will serve God. I want to plan my life so that everything I do and everything I spend my money on serves God’s will.
Today’s passage from proverbs is a recommendation to avoid standing as security for someone else’s debt (for example, co-signing a loan for them). It is one of the few passages in Proverbs that I do not agree with completely. I would say that one should only offer to secure someone else’s debt if you are able and willing to pay that debt back for them. While you may hope and expect that someone will pay the debt, you should realize that the reason they need someone else to offer to secure the debt is because there is reason to believe that they will fail to do so.