For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Find a teacher who will teach the ways of wisdom and lead you in a straight path. If you do this, nothing will block you as you seek your goals.

    Let us serve the Lord so that our only enemies will be those who hate Him. When that is the case we can be confident that we will stand victorious over them. When your enemies tell you that God is dead, just remember, Jesus’ enemies said the same thing on Good Friday approximately 2000 years ago!

    When the disciples ask Jesus to send the crowd away to get food for themselves, Jesus tells them to feed them. The disciples respond that they have just enough for themselves. Jesus’ answer is to have the disciples bring their food to Him. He then blesses the food and breaks it into portions for the disciples to distribute. The lesson here is that when we do the will of God our supplies will be sufficient to complete the task He has set us.
    This is followed by the story of Jesus walking on the water. Actually, the part of this which has seemed like the important part of this story is that Peter walked on water. There are two elements here. Peter got out of the boat and started walking to Jesus. Then he started looking at the waves and he began to sink. It is often pointed out that Peter got into trouble because he took his eyes off of Jesus. This is true…and important. But we often forget to point out what he was able to accomplish as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. It was when Peter stopped thinking about Jesus and started to think about what he was doing, “Look at me! I am walking on water,” that Peter got into trouble. When the focus of his thoughts were on going to Jesus, on following where Jesus led, Peter was able to do the impossible. When he started looking around and thinking about what he was doing that Peter got into trouble. It was then that he started thinking, “How am I doing this? What if it stops working?” If we focus on Jesus and following Him without thinking about what we are doing, we too can “walk on water” (literally, but not just walk on water. We can do much more.). However, if we start to think “Look at me! I am really doing the Lord’s work now,” we too will start to worry about what could go wrong. No matter what we are doing, whether it is healing the sick, feeding the hungry, or preaching the Gospel, we need to make sure we are doing it in order to get closer to Jesus, not so that others see what wonderful Christians we are.

    Joseph tested his brothers in many ways in order to see if they had changed as much as he had. He put them into circumstances where they could have easily left their brother to suffer. However, they demonstrated that not only did they regret what they had done to him, they were willing to sacrifice themselves to save their brother Benjamin. However the most important part of this passage was when Joseph told his brothers that they should not be angry with themselves for what they did to him. It was God’s plan to send Joseph into Egypt ahead of them to save them and their families from the famine, as well as saving many others. We should have similar view of life. The difficulties and hardships we face in life are there in order to position us so as to carry out God’s will when the time is ripe.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The first step to being wise is to seek to gain wisdom. If you do not value wisdom, you will be stuck being a fool. Whatever else you do with your life, develop good judgment. Seek wisdom, no matter what it costs you in material wealth. Spend your fortune, if that is what it takes, to acquire understanding. If you embrace wisdom, wisdom will bring you honour.

    Our enemies may attack us when we are at our most vulnerable, but God will reach down from heaven to rescue us. He will lead us to safety…all we have to do is follow Him. If we keep to the ways of God and do not turn to evil, those ways will lead us to safety. God is faithful to those who are faithful. He shows His integrity to those who demonstrate integrity. The pure will see that God is pure. But the devious will discover that God is cunning.

    Today’s passage contains one more parable about the Kingdom of Heaven. In this parable Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to fishing with a net. When fishing with a net, you catch everything in the water where you spread your nets. It is only after you have drawn the nets to the shore that you separate the good fish from the bad. In the same way, we are called to spread our nets and bring everyone into the Kingdom of Heaven. When the end comes God will sort out those who belong from those who do not. It is not up to us to determine who “deserves” to be in the Kingdom of Heaven and who does not. There is a saying which is sometimes used during war, “Kill them all. Let God sort them out.” There is a kernel of truth to that, but the Christian version of this is, “Invite them all. Let God sort them out.”

    We see in today’s passage the fulfillment of the dreams which Joseph had as a boy when his brothers bowed down before him. I think Joseph found this result much less glorious than he imagined it would be when he had those dreams as a boy.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    It is interesting to note that this proverb uses “house” when referring to the wicked, and “home” when referring to the righteous. The clear implication it that only the righteous truly have a home; the wicked merely have a place where they live.

    When we cry to God for help we need to be honest with ourselves and with God. God has examined our hearts and tested our thoughts. He knows what we truly think and feel. We may convince ourselves of the lies we tell, but God will not be fooled. However, if we are honest when we pray to God, He will answer our prayers. Let us follow His commands because He has given them to us as expressions of His unfailing love. If we follow the path He has laid out for us, we will be kept safe from our enemies.

    Jesus explained to His disciples that He taught in parables because only some are allowed to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. In the NIV, verse 12 reads: “Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” I have struggled to understand what He meant by this. The NLT translates verse 12 in the following way: “To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.”
    The NLT reading makes Jesus’ meaning clear to me. Those who listen to Jesus’ teaching with the intent to understand it, will find more and more of it becoming clear as time goes on. On the other hand, those who listen to Jesus’ teachings with the intent of discovering its flaws will find it to make less and less sense and time goes on. In addition, the latter group will, over time, find themselves less and less able to recognize the difference between good and evil.

    When Joseph was young he was his father’s favorite and dreamed of great things. He was convinced that those dreams were visions, and we know that they were indeed visions from God. His pride in the visions which God has given him lead to his downfall and he is sold into slavery by his brothers. He ends up in Potiphar’s house in Egypt. He does not forget his dedication to God and rises to high position in Potiphar’s house. This time it is his very faithfulness to God which leads to his downfall. He is imprisoned for a crime which he did not commit.
    Despite this, Joseph remains faithful to God. Once more, Joseph’s faithfulness and integrity lead him to rise to the highest possible position. Despite the fact that he has risen to positions of authority time and again, Joseph takes no credit for his success. Rather he credits God for his skill and wisdom. It was Joseph’s continued faithfulness to God that put him in a position to raised to the highest level in the land when God’s time was right. We would do well to follow Joseph’s example. If we are faithful to God and maintain our integrity, He will open ever greater opportunities for us to serve Him.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    If you can do good for someone who deserves it, don’t put it off. If someone needs your help, deserves your help, and you could help right now, DO IT. Don’t wait until tomorrow, that might be too late.

    God is my master because every good thing I have comes from Him. When I look at the world around me I realize that it is the godly who are the true heroes. Being an athlete, a pop music star, or a movie star, or any other kind of pop culture star does not make one a hero. Those are not the people we should hold up to be honored. Instead, I will honor those who do the will of God.

    Jesus says that whoever is not for Him is against Him. Yet, shortly after the Transfiguration,He told the disciples that whoever is not against us is for us. These two statements seem in contradiction. However, when taken together they tell us something about Jesus and Christian faith that people often try to sidestep. There is not such thing as being neutral when it comes to Jesus. Sooner or later everyone must reach a decision. They are either for Him, or against Him. You must decide if you believe that He is your Savior, the Son of God, or you must believe that He is some combination of crazy/evil.
    There are those who try to get around this choice by saying that He is fictional. However, that only puts off the problem for a bit. If you believe that He is fictional, you will still have to decide whether the teachings attributed to Him are good or evil. Ultimately, the teachings attributed to Jesus cannot truly be good if Jesus is a fictional character. This leaves you with the conclusion that those teachings are evil when taken as a whole, even though you may think some of them are bad. So, either Jesus was God, and the only path to salvation, or He was evil/crazy (or the invention of evil/crazy people). Those are the only two options and, sooner or later, everyone is going to have to choose between them.

    I find the story of Judah and Tamar interesting. One thing I wondered about when I was younger was why God made the Israelites slaves in Egypt. Why did His chosen people have to suffer through that slavery? I found that answer in the story of Judah and Tamar. Judah thought nothing of joining into pagan worship by visiting a shrine prostitute. I take Judah’s attitude as typical of his brothers. If Jacob’s sons were already casually integrating with the pagan practices in this way, how long would it have been before they had completely adopted the local practices?
    So, the answer to the question I started this section with is, the Israelites had to suffer through slavery in order to forge them into a people separated from others by their worship of God. We see this still to this day. From time to time the Church becomes too much a part of society around us. When that happens, God allows persecution to arise in order to call His people out from the midst of society so that they will renew their dedication and love for Him.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The writer reminds us to keep our eyes on wisdom and understanding. Let us strive to preserve our sound judgment and discretion. These are the tools which will help us to walk a straight path and avoid stumbling. If we remember to act according to wisdom and understand, sound judgment and discretion we will not fear when we lie down on our beds to sleep.

    I love this psalm. It gives us a nice checklist of things ways to behave in order to please God:

• Lead blameless lives
• Do what is right
• Speak the truth from the heart
• Do not speak slander
• Do no wrong to a neighbor
• cast no slur on another
• Despise the vile
• Honor those who fear the Lord
• Keep our promises, even when it hurts
• Lend money to the poor without interest
• do not accept bribes against the innocent

These are things for which no one can be condemned. If we do all of them we will be able to stand firm even when the ground around us collapses.

    We have two stories in today’s passage which give us insight into the limits of rules used to guide behavior. In the first story, Pharisees accuse Jesus’ disciples of breaking the law because they casually broke off heads of grain and ate them on the Sabbath. The Pharisees said they were harvesting on the Sabbath. In response, Jesus’ points out exceptions to the Law found in scripture. He then quotes Hosea 6:6 to them to show that God does not desire slavish obedience to the letter of the Law. God does not desire our sacrifices, He desires us to show mercy and love.
    The second story occurs in the synagogue of these same Pharisees. When He entered the synagogue, Jesus took notice of a man with a crippled hand. The Pharisees asked Him if the law allowed someone to heal on the Sabbath, with the implication that healing was work (and the Law banned working on the Sabbath). Jesus then asks a rhetorical question. If one of your animals fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you work to get it out? Jesus then answers the question by telling them that, of course, they would. They would neither let the animal suffer, nor risk the loss of their asset, in order to wait for the end of the Sabbath. To sum up His teaching: it is never wrong to do good.

    After the confrontation with the people of Schechem over the rape of Jacob’s daughter Dinah, Jacob moves to Bethel. Jacob was worried about the people of the area around Schechem mustering and attacking him and his family in response to his sons taking revenge on the people of Schechem for his daughter’s rape. God appeared to him and told him to move to Bethel and build an altar. In response to God’s direction, Jacob tells his family and servants to purify themselves and get rid of all of their pagan idols. As a result they gave him all of their idols and their earrings, which Jacob then buried under an oak at Schechem. I find it interesting that they gave Jacob both their idols and their earrings. I don’t know what the significance is of that, but I find it interesting. The more interesting thing is that rather than destroy the idols, Jacob buried them under a tree which could be used to find them again later.
    Bethel was the place where Jacob had had the vision of the staircase to heaven while he was fleeing Esau many years earlier. His return here is symbolic, intentionally so on his part. He has returned to reaffirm his dedication to serving God. He was reminded at Schechem of the promises which God had made to him those many years ago, and of his promise in return. Getting rid of the idols in his household was part of keeping those promises he had made those many years ago as he rededicates himself and his household to God.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Wisdom offers us a long life and wealth. They are ours to have if we embrace wisdom and hold to her tightly. This does not mean that everyone who is wealthy is wise, nor that everyone who is poor is foolish. Different people are called to different places in life and wisdom helps them make the most of the opportunities they are given.

    Our troubles may make it seem as if God has forsaken us, but it is more likely that they are because we have forgotten Him. If we trust in His unfailing love, we will rejoice because He has rescued us. “I will sing to the Lord because He is good to me.” How true that is.

    I never really thought about today’s passage in the context of discussions we often have about Church unity. In this passage Jesus tells us that if we love anyone or anything more than we love Jesus we are not worthy of Him. He says this right after telling us that He did not come to bring peace. In other words, if we love Church unity more than we love Christ, we are not worthy of being His Church.

    At the end of the passage, John the Baptist’s disciples approach Jesus and ask Him, on behalf of John, if He was the expected Messiah. Rather than directly answer their question, Jesus told them to tell John what they had heard and seen. He then summarizes what they would have seen: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and good news is preached to the poor. That is the standard we have to live up to, if the Church is not doing those things it is failing in its mission.

    As soon as Laban learned that Jacob had left with his wives and flocks, he set out after him. From the description it appears that Laban intended to stop Jacob by force. However, the night before Laban overtook Jacob he received a dream warning to leave Jacob alone. Laban proceeded to claim that if Jacob had only told him he wanted to go he would have thrown a farewell party for him and sent him on his way. In their confrontation, Jacob once more gives credit to God for his success.
    Jacob goes on to meet his brother Esau. He makes all of the plans he can to ingratiate himself with Esau. He sends a gift flock on ahead of the rest of his flocks and family. He then divided his household into two groups, so that if Esau attacked one the other could possible escape. Yet after making all of his plans, he does not rely on his skill or planning. Rather he turns to God and asks for his protection. Let us follow his example and plan for the troubles we face in this life as best we can, but recognize that we depend on God for our safety.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Wisdom is more valuable than any treasure you can obtain, silver, gold, or jewels. Nothing on the face of this earth which you may desire is of more value than wisdom. Make gaining wisdom a higher priority than gaining anything else. There will be time enough for other things after you acquire wisdom, and even if there isn’t, you will be better off with wisdom than with those other things.

    I read this psalm and it seems as if the psalmist is living today. It is a reminder that the Bible applies to us today as much as it did when it was written.

    It is tempting to take Jesus’ instructions to the Twelve when He sent them out as THE model for evangelism. This would be a mistake, because Jesus gives different instructions for evangelism elsewhere. However, it is A model for evangelism. There are times and places where this is how we are called to preach the Gospel. There are however some things in Jesus’ instructions here which do apply to us in every circumstance.
    Jesus tells us that we are going out as sheep among wolves. Therefore we need to not be naive. We need to be aware that people are going to attempt to take advantage of us
and we should not let them do so. However, we can allow them to think that they are taking advantage of us. We should be aware of the ways in which people are attempting to manipulate us and not allow them to do so. However, there is we do not need to reveal that we know they are attempting to manipulate us until they try to get us to do something that does not fit in with our mission.
    Jesus goes on to tell us that we will be arrested and face persecution. We will be brought before judges and rulers. This will give us an opportunity to preach the Gospel to some who would not otherwise listen. When we are in that circumstance we should not worry about what we are going to say because the Holy Spirit will guide our words. I do not think Jesus is telling us not to plan out what to say when we know in advance that we are going to speak in front of a hostile audience. Rather, He is telling us not to worry about what to say when we are put on the spot. I know that on several occasions I have been in a circumstance where to this day the only explanation I have for the words I spoke was the Spirit of God (quoting verses I have never memorized, saying things I had not realized I believed, etc).

    When Jacob decided, with God’s guidance, that it was time to leave Laban and return to Canaan, he did not claim that his wealth was the result of his hard work. Rather he credited God with being responsible for his success. Yes, Jacob claimed to have worked hard, but he acknowledged that all of his hard work would have been for naught if God had not aided him. Do we have a similar attitude? Are we willing to work hard in the knowledge that any success we have will nevertheless only come as a gift from God?

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    We should willingly accept it when God disciplines us. His correction and discipline is evidence of His love. If He did not love us He would allow us to continue in our sins until we destroyed ourselves with them. Instead, God disciplines us in an attempt to turn us from the path of destruction.

    The psalmist makes a point that is easy to overlook because of his poetic language (well, at least, I overlooked it for years). If we truly mean it when we tell people to trust in the Lord, why would we warn them to flee to safety to avoid the actions of the wicked? Yes, the foundations of law and order in our society may have collapsed, but God still rules from His Temple. He still controls all that happens. Our society may have abandoned law and order, but God never will. If we put our trust in Him, He will provide for our safety.

    Today’s passage contains three more stories about Jesus healing people. We have the synagogue leader’s daughter, the woman who has suffered for twelve years, and the two blind men. In each case the people approached Jesus because they believed that He could heal them. We have the synagogue leader, desperate for healing for his daughter, the woman, who merely wanted to touch His cloak, and the blind men, who wanted His mercy. In each case it was their faith that resulted in their healing. Yet we also have the story of the man who could not speak. He was brought to Jesus and we are told nothing about those who brought him.
    The synagogue leader was willing to face ridicule: the people laughed at Jesus when He arrived at the house. The woman was desperate for Jesus: she just wanted to touch His cloak. The two blind men wanted mercy: they had faith that Jesus’ mercy was all they needed. Let us follow their examples.
    As Jesus continued to travel, preaching and healing as He went, He saw how there were so many people with great needs. The needs were too great for one person to address, even if that person was Jesus Christ. He then tells His disciples, and through them, us, that the harvest, the work to be done, is great, but there are few workers. They, and we, are to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more workers. Every time I read this passage I am challenged. Yes, we are to pray for God to send more workers. However, we are also the workers whom God has sent in response to the prayers of those who went before. Are we doing the work for which we have been sent? What more should I, can I, be doing in order to bring in the harvest?

    When Esau heard that his father had sent Jacob, his brother, away to their mother’s people to find a wife, he finally understood how much his father did not like his wives. So, he went and took one of his half-uncle Ishmael’s daughter as a third wife.
    As Jacob began his travels we can only imagine what he must have felt. He was leaving his father’s protection, traveling to live with relatives he had never met. In part he was making this trip because his twin brother wanted to kill him (with some justification). I doubt his emotions were positive. He was probably feeling a little lonely and fearful (perhaps even a lot). Then he had a dream where God promised to protect him and make him prosper. Reading this it seems like for the first time Jacob really thinks about God. How often are we surprised into the realization which Jacob came to when he awoke? “God is in this place and I wasn’t even aware of it.” Are we aware that God is living in our midst? How often do we think about where we live and work and think, “God is in this place”?