For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I will be out of town on business for most of this week. It is my plan to complete this blog every day, but I may run late some days.
Some people take pleasure in behaving foolishly…they have no sense. This is not just about behavior which is foolishly dangerous, it includes behavior which is just silly when there is serious tasks at hand. The person with sense takes a straight course to getting their work done.
I love reading this psalm in both the NLT and the NIV translations because today they give it much more meaning. The NLT presents the first two verses in the present tense: “He hears my voice and my prayer.”…”He bends down to listen.” While the NIV presents them in the past tense: “He heard my voice and my cry…” “He turned His ear to me.” I love this vision of the fact that our love for God is a response to what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do.
The people asked Jesus to tell them if He was the Messiah. The way they worded their question implied that he had avoided answering that very question in the past. Jesus replied that He had already told them, but they did not believe Him. The proof of who He was rested on the work He had done in His Father’s name. Now, we can easily take this to refer just to Jesus. However, it applies to everyone. If you claim to be a follower of Christ, does your work prove it to be true?
Jesus goes on to say something that was initially going to be my focus today. He says that those who do not believe Him do not do so because they are not His sheep. His sheep listen to His voice and follow Him. They shall never perish and no one can snatch them out of His hand. This is for me a very heartening thought. If we believe Jesus and follow Him, no one, and nothing, can separate us from Him.
This passage begins with an account which shows us that Saul’s attempts to kill David grew out of his own insecurity and were not based on any legitimate gripe with David. When presented with the opportunity to kill Saul, while Saul was seeking to kill him, David chose not to do so. I think that this passage presents us with part of the basis for how we should interact with government authorities who are acting inappropriately.
There is also the story of Nabal and Abigail. This story gives us an idea about how David increased both his wealth and his power. David supported himself and his men while he was fleeing from Saul by protecting the property of wealthy men and merchants from bandits. We, also, get a hint about the way economic life was organized at the time. When Nabal’s servants observed how he had insulted David they went to Nabal’s wife Abigail to request that she intervene.