For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I was away over the weekend, Friday night through Sunday (October 16-18). I prepared today’s study before I departed, but published it at my normal time. I hope this does not cause anyone a problem.
This should not need stating, but unfortunately it does. If you spread gossip about someone, you will anger them as surely as a hurricane brings rain.
I chose the King James Version for this psalm because the first verse from the KJV is a great song.
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
Yes, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. And with my mouth, my hands, my writing I will make known His faithfulness to all generations.
Paul warns against false teachers, some of whom teach that it is wrong to get married and wrong to eat certain foods. The key to recognizing false teachers is to look at their lives because they are hypocrites and liars. They teach one thing and do another, then either deny that they are doing it, or claim that when they do it it is not wrong. Elsewhere, Paul talks about marriage and makes it clear that many are called to do get married. Here, he repeats his stance that all food is blessed by God.
We should not argue over secular ideas, about how secular society should be organized. This hits home to me. Instead, we should focus on training ourselves to be godly. This hits home to me because I find myself debating points which I do not believe we, as Christians, should be actively involved in on either side of the issue. In discussing this, Paul makes an aside which I think is often overlooked. He tells us that physical training is good. We should make an effort to train our bodies so that we are in good physical shape. However, we should make an even greater effort to train our minds and spirits so that we are in good spiritual shape.
Jeremiah prophesied that even though God was about to bring disaster on Jerusalem, the day would come when all of Israel prospered once more. God will do so in a manner which will cause people of every nation to both fear and praise Him.
Then Jeremiah condemned the leading citizens of Jerusalem for being hypocrites. They freed their slaves of Jewish descent in a very public manner. Then, as soon as no one was paying attention, they enslaved them once more. We see this very often with political leaders. They do something (such as passing a law) which does away with some abuse that angers people in a very public way, making sure that everyone knows that they did it. Then, a short time later, when everyone’s attention has moved on to something else, they quietly reinstate the abusive practice. The general populace may not notice, but God will and He will hold them accountable.