For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
There are two ways to read the first of today’s proverbs, both are correct. It can be read to mean that a nation will become great if its people and government act in a godly fashion. There is truth to this. However, it can also be read to mean that the true measure of whether a nation is great is the degree which its people and government act in a godly way. This is definitely true. Let us not seek for our nation to wield power in the world. Rather, let us seek for the people of our nation to act in a godly fashion. If the people act in a godly way, the government will follow.
The psalm recounts how the people of Israel, time after time, rebelled against God and did evil. The part that strikes me as standing in judgement against us today is this:
They even sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to the demons.
They shed innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters.
It makes me want to cry to consider the degree to which people of our nation do the same through the practice of abortion. Killing their sons and daughters on the altar of convenience.
Jesus told us that we should spend our energy seeking after the things of God, rather than seeking after food which perishes. When the crowd asked Him what to do in order to perform God’s works, Jesus told them to believe in the one God sent. In response the crowd wanted Jesus to perform yet another miraculous sign. This was despite having witnessed Him feeding the 5,000 the day before and the fact that Jesus crossed the lake ahead of them without getting on a boat. They gave Jesus the example of Moses giving the people of Israel manna in the wilderness. Jesus pointed out that it was not Moses who gave the manna, but rather God who did so.
Those who come to Jesus will receive the bread of life, which is Jesus Himself. God will give those who truly seek Him to Jesus and Jesus promises that He will never reject any who come to Him truly seeking to serve God. Let us expend our energy seeking the bread of life. Let us believe in Jesus and act on that belief. He will never reject us. Others may reject us and hold us in contempt, but Jesus will never do so.
As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to act as judges over Israel. His sons, like those of Eli before him, were corrupt and used their position for their own benefit. Samuel’s sons served themselves rather than serving the people of Israel. I had never noticed before, but Samuel was no better of a father to his sons than Eli had been to his sons before him. It was Samuel’s failure to raise godly sons to follow after him which led the people of Israel to ask for a king. This story is such a classic example of people taking the wrong lesson from their experiences. What made the people of Israel think that a king would have a son who would make a good successor when their last two leaders had sons who abused their authority?