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.
Moses recounts how the people of Israel wandered in the wilderness for a generation, until God instructed them to turn north. God told them not to attack the Edomites because they were the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother. So, the Israelites went around the land of Edom. God also instructed them not to attack either the Moabites or the Ammonites. However, God told them to attack the Amorites. First, Moses offered the King Sihon that they would travel through his lands without causing disruption, paying for any food or water they consumed in their travels. King Sihon responded by mustering his armies and attacking the Israelites. The Israelites completely destroyed King Sihon and his people. Then King Og of Bashan attacked them and they turned and destroyed his people, conquering his lands.
Moses divided this land among the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh on the condition that they send their fighting men across the Jordan with the rest of the tribes to help them conquer the land there. Moses then tells the people that he appointed Joshua as his successor and had given Joshua instructions concerning leading the people. Moses told them that he had begged God to be allowed to cross the Jordan and see the land on the other side. However, God was angry with Moses for things he had done while leading the people in the wilderness. God told Moses to go up to the top of a high peak which would allow him to look out over the land on the other side of the Jordan, but that Moses would not be allowed to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land.
Jesus spent a night in prayer to God and in the morning He called all of His disciples together and chose twelve of them as His messengers (the original Greek word for apostle means “messenger”). When they came down from the mountain, Jesus stood on a large level area surrounded by crowds who had come to hear Him preach and be healed by Him. The passage does not spell it out, but it reads to me like Jesus chose a natural amphitheater to preach from. Luke tells us that in the middle of this crowd, Jesus began to teach His disciples.
Jesus tells His disciples that those who are poor and hungry are blessed by God and will be satisfied. When people hate, persecute us and reject us as evil because we follow Jesus’ teachings, we should rejoice because that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. Jesus then goes on to tell us that those who are wealthy and well-fed now will suffer deprivation later. More importantly He tells us that we should be concerned if everyone speaks well of us, because that is how their ancestors spoke of the false prophets.
We should pay attention to this, those that our society thinks highly of are not the people we should be listening to. On the other hand, we should look closely at what those our society condemns to see if they are preaching the word of God. We should remember that those who tell people what they want to hear are almost always deceivers seeking to accomplish evil goals. When everyone speaks well of someone it is a sign that their message is probably false. Unfortunately, the converse is not necessarily true. When everyone maligns someone, that does not mean that their message is true. However, society will, sooner or later, denigrate anyone who speaks God’s message truthfully.
Jesus goes on to tell His disciples (us) that they should love their enemies and do good to those who mistreat them. We get no credit for being nice to those who are nice to us, even sinners do that. We are to go beyond what sinners do and be nice to those who mistreat us. Jesus goes on to tell us not to judge or condemn others. Rather we are to forgive others so that we may be forgiven. The measure we use in giving to others, God will use in giving to us. This is not about receiving material wealth in return for our charitable giving (although there is an element of that in this teaching), rather it is about us treating others better than we think they deserve because God treats us better than we deserve.
Every day I am finding the psalms I read a blessing. I am truly blessed by the opening to today’s psalm:
May his face smile with favor on us.
However, I am challenged by the next phrase:
your saving power among people everywhere.
How will that happen if I am not demonstrating those ways and teaching those ways to those I meet? Yes, I want the nations and people everywhere to praise God and sing for joy in the knowledge of His governance. But that can only happen if I tell those I meet about it. As Paul writes in Romans 10:14 “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” Have I done all I can to tell others about God? The answer is “No”, which means that I must find more ways to spread the word of God’s love. I know that part of my reluctance to do more is a fear that others will condemn me for it. Yet Jesus tells us that we should rejoice when others condemn us for preaching His word. I will strive to live up to that going forward.
If you look for good, you will find it and people will look favorably on you. On the other hand if you look for evil, you will find that as well and will experience it. While evil is out there and we should be aware of it, we should look for good in those around us because if we do, we are likely to find it. Those who expect others to treat them well usually experience that type of treatment, while those who expect others to treat them badly almost always receive the treatment they expect (especially since they tend to interpret the treatment they do receive in the most negative light possible).