Monthly Archives: July 2025

Daily Bible Study

July 22, 2025 Bible Study — Woe to Those Who Say “Let God Hasten His Work”

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 5-8.

I was debating about what to write out of today’s passage.  I really like writing about Isaiah’s commission where God says, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”  It really calls me to respond as Isaiah did, and to call others to do likewise, to say, “Here I am. Send me!” Then later there is Isaiah’s prophecy to Ahaz which also became a prophecy about Jesus.  However, today I kept feeling myself drawn to earlier in the passage where Isaiah writes:
“Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit,
    and wickedness as with cart ropes,
 to those who say, ‘Let God hurry;
    let him hasten his work
    so we may see it.
The plan of the Holy One of Israel—
    let it approach, let it come into view,
    so we may know it.’
 Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter.
 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight.”
I always wonder about the correct interpretation of the inclusion of “to those who say, ‘Let God hurry…”  Is Isaiah talking about those who say this to mock those who trust in God?  Or, is he comparing those who long for the return of Christ to those who call evil good and call good evil?  I have read and heard people make the case for the former, but I can’t shake the feeling that perhaps Isaiah meant the latter.  So, what could be wrong about hoping for the Day of the Lord to come sooner rather than later?  I think that perhaps that last piece of my above quote gives us a hint, “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.”  Along with that is those who are righteous in their own eyes.  Those who think that they are righteous and so have nothing to fear when the Day of Judgement comes.  But what about those of us who know that we are not righteous, who know that it is only through God’s grace that our sins are forgiven, why shouldn’t we seek for the Lord to return sooner rather than later?  The answer is because of the suffering which will accompany His return.  We should pray that those who have not yet turned to God and accepted Christ’s forgiveness for their sin turn to Him before His return.  Instead of praying that we might sooner experience living with Christ in eternity, we should pray for more time to serve Him here on earth.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 21, 2025 Bible Study — Let Us Be Willing and Obedient

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 1-4.

The first thing I want to note is that Isaiah began prophesying during the reign of Uzziah, about whom the writer of Chronicles said “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”  In fact, similar things could be said about 3 of the four kings who reigned during Isaiah’s time of prophesy.  Yet from the very beginning f Isaiah’s prophecies he calls out the people of Israel for their rebellion against God.  Isaiah tells them that the sacrifices which they offer are meaningless and their assemblies are worthless.  Isaiah told the people of Israel that they must stop doing wrong and learn to do right.  God was condemning their worship because it was empty.  Their worship rituals were not intended as an end in themselves.  They were intended as an expression of God’s command, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  But the first of the expressions of following that command was that they were to ,”love your neighbor as yourself.”  We make the mistake of not paying attention to Isaiah’s prophecy today.  Have our worship services become meaningless and worthless?  If we do not want God to refuse to listen to our prayers, the same as He did to the people of Israel in Isaiah’s day, then we need to wash away our sins and learn to be willing and obedient.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 20, 2025 Bible Study — Do Not Awaken Love Until It Is Time

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Song of Solomon 1-8.

The Song of Solomon reminds us that sexual attraction has a place in following Christ, that sexual relations in the proper context are not sinful.  It can also be a metaphor for the relationship between the Church and Christ.  One thing I am always struck by when I read it is the phrase repeated several times: “Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.”  Other translations say “until the time is right” where the NIV says “until it so desires”.  I think that reminds us that we should not seek sexual activity until we enter into the right circumstances.  One element of the right circumstances is marriage, but it is also a warning against entering into marriage until the time and circumstances are right.  The final thing I want to say is that the passage tells a story, which I cannot quite follow.  There are places where it seems like the woman in this passage was abused by men other than her lover.  Yet, that doesn’t quite seem correct either.  Perhaps sometime I will try writing down in my words what the poetry seems to be saying at each point in order to put it together.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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July 19, 2025 Bible Study — Avoid All Extremes

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Ecclesiastes 7-12.

When times are good the writer tells us to be happy and when times are bad he tells us to remember that those times come from God as well.  God brings both good times and bad times to us for a reason.  I recently heard a speaker say that the bad times we experience may be to teach us how to treat others better.  I do know that some of my best experiences grew out of how I dealt with bad times.  Let us learn to praise God and thank Him for what He has given us, whether we like it or not.  A little later the writer tells us not to be over-righteous or over-wise, not to harm ourselves trying to do the right thing.  He also tells us not to be wicked or a fool.  All of that he ties together by telling us to avoid extremes.  Which helps us understand what he means when he tells us not to be over-righteous or over-wise.  He is telling us not to puff ourselves up and to not avoid all pleasure.  I think of those who will only read certain types of non-fiction because other books do not build us up and make us better people.  Certainly, it is wise to be selective in what you read so that you do not tear yourself down, but there is room for reading just for pleasure.  Or, one can look at those who will never eat candy or other sweets because they are not good for them.  Again, there is room to eat things, in moderation, just because doing so brings pleasure.  It is wise to limit what one consumes, but one should be careful that one does not become extreme about doing so.

I am going to put this here at the end because it amuses me.

From Chapter 10 verse 2:
The heart of the wise inclines to the right,
    but the heart of the fool to the left. (Ecclesiastes 10:2)

 

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 18, 2025 Bible Study — There Is Nothing New Under the Sun

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ecclesiastes 1-6.

I generally find Ecclesiastes a bit depressing.  However, the writer makes some great points that we need to remember.  He writes that there is nothing new under the sun, everything that is has been and that which has gone away will come back.  When he writes that he is not referring to things like airplanes or computers.  Rather, he is talking about human behavior and motivation.  I have heard it argued that certain biblical passages do not apply today because the writers did not understand how people would behave, or think, or feel, today.  They claim that people today are different than they were two thousand years ago.  The writer of Ecclesiastes told us that such thinking is mistaken, and a careful study of history (and a closer examination of how people behave today) shows that he was correct.  A little further in he writes:
“What is crooked cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.”
I never really thought about what that meant until this morning.  This morning it hit me that this reminds me of something I have been asked from time to time by people overseeing me when I am planning a project. “What haven’t we planned for?” I always struggle with that because if I knew the answer to that question, I would have included it in the plans, which is the point the writer is making here.  We cannot say, “Well, there are seven things we haven’t included in our plans because we don’t know what they are.”  The only way we can know there are seven things is if we know what they are.  We cannot know what we do not know.  The writer is referring to the things which Donald Rumsfeld referred to as “unknown unknowns” in one of his famous quotes. “Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones.”  People made fun of that quote, but to me it made a lot of sense.  There are things we know, there are things we know that we do not know (for example, I know that there are apples at the grocery store, but I do not know how many apples are there, or even how many types of apples are there), then there are things we do not know that we do not know.  I cannot give an example of that last one, because if I could it would move into the category of “known unknowns”.  The writer is referring to those things we do not know that we do not know when he writes “what is lacking cannot be counted.”  

 

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 17, 2025 Bible Study — Fools Rage While the Wise Remain Calm

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Proverbs 29-31.

Today the passage, once more, gives many pieces of advice on different subjects.  However, one theme which the writer keeps coming back to is the way that fools rage while the wise remain calm.  I will remind the reader that the translators’ notes from early in the Book of Proverbs pointed out that the word translated as “fool” throughout the book implies someone who is morally deficient.  Both parts of that meaning are relevant when the writer speaks of those who give in to rage.  Allowing rage to control your behavior will not bring about good ends, for you or for others, but some people will intentionally give voice to rage in order to manipulate others.  On the other hand the wise see the benefits to be had by all if everyone remains calm, even while disagreeing, perhaps, especially while disagreeing.  I think of videos I have watched recently of people angrily jumping from one argument to another when the person with whom they are debating has a reasoned reply to one of their arguments.  Some of them are just too busy being angry to listen to what others have to say, while some use the anger and chaos to keep those they disagree with from making a point and possibly convincing someone.  If you care about convincing others you will choose the wise path and remain calm.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 16, 2025 Bible Study — If You Want to Fix a Problem, Get Rid of Those Who Try to Game the System

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Proverbs 25-28.

The passage begins with a series of proverbs attributed to Solomon by courtiers of King Hezekiah.  They give advice on good government.  I really like this one:
“Remove the dross from the silver,
    and a silversmith can produce a vessel;
 remove wicked officials from the king’s presence,
    and his throne will be established through righteousness.”
As a Christian, I do not feel that I should be involved in the government.  However, this proverb should be thought about carefully by those who seek good government.  All too often people who desire to address a problem created by corrupt government officials seek new laws, when instead they should seek to remove corrupt people from the government.  The lesson which applies here also applies to our personal life.  If you seek to find a loophole in God’s law you will not find the benefits of doing His will.  Actually, we have an example of this lesson in a pair of proverbs later in this lesson.  If you take each of them at face value, they contradict each other.
“Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
    or you yourself will be just like him.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.” 
It both says that you should not answer a fool according to his folly and that you should answer a fool according to his folly.  The first part tells us that we should not allow a fool to frame the discussion, do not allow them to set the definitions of terms in ways with which you disagree.  On the other hand, if you point out how you view the situation, they may realize the merit of your position.  There are so many more sayings in today’s passage which we should take to heart with lessons we should strive to live by.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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July 15, 2025 Bible Study — Learn to Be Honest and to Speak the Truth

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Proverbs 22-24.

Today’s passage comes closer to following a theme than the passages for the last two days.  It still covers a lot of ground in giving us advice on how to live wisely.  However, one thing is says is that these sayings will teach us to be honest and to speak the truth.  A little later it says:
“Buy the truth and do not sell it—
    wisdom, instruction and insight as well.”
My initial understanding of that reads it as telling us to be truthful and not be willing to lie in order to gain something.  I genuinely believe that the writer would agree with that, but would then tell me that there is more to it than that.  In addition to being truthful we should seek out the full truth.  We should not be satisfied with the simple easy things we can learn about events.  We should seek the entire truth and not settle for partial truths.  The writer is once again telling us t gather all of the facts before we reach a conclusion about a situation.  Another one of the sayings in today’s passage is closely related to this:
“Rescue those being led away to death;
    hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
 If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’
    does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?”
When you know terrible things are being done to others, but look the other way because you pretend that you do not know what is going on, you are either failing to “buy the truth” or you are “selling” it.  Many times people see this as applying to looking the other way when the government unjustly persecutes people, and they are not wrong (although I have not always been convinced that those who apply it that way were seeing actual persecution).  But it also applies when we look the other way when the mob riots and causes destruction.  We need to call out those who are in the wrong in both cases.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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July 14, 2025 Bible Study — Do Not Foolishly Start Conflict

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Proverbs 18-21.

Today’s passage is again  collection of short proverbs which do not have a theme.  However, several of them touch of the idea that those who stir up controversy and conflict are foolish.  Related to these are proverbs which recommend choosing our words carefully and being wary about spending time with people who feel the need to fill silence with words.  In many ways, I suspect that the latter proverbs are intended as much to suggest that we should be careful not to say too much as they are to tell us to avoid the company of people who talk too much.  Mixed in with those are proverbs which tell us that we should wait until we have all of the facts to judge a situation.  These include warnings that people will explain things in ways that make themselves look better, but also that they have a tendency to see things in a way which justifies them getting what they want out of the situation.  So that even if they intend to accurately relay the facts, they may not see the importance of something, and thus not mention it, because it would go against their own interest in the situation.  The final point made here that I want to pull out for a closer look is the idea that the key to success is hard work and laziness leads to poverty.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 13, 2025 Bible Study — Food for Thought

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 14-17.

Every year when I come to this passage, and many of those which follow in the Book of Proverbs, I debate with myself how I want to approach writing about it.  Today’s passage is composed of a large number of short proverbs which each provide some guidance for living our lives.  However, they do not have a theme.  They are not grouped together so that those which are on a particular theme are together.  I have never even been able to find a thread which explains why the writer chose to place them in this order.  Today I have chosen a few ideas of these proverbs which seem to explain things which I have observed recently.  The first one is this:
“Whoever fears the Lord walks uprightly,
    but those who despise him are devious in their ways.”
I have noticed that you often times see people bring up arguments that they think will undermine their opponents position but which they do not themselves believe.  An example of this is someone who argues for a different interpretation of a verse than the traditional one who later reveals that they don’t think the verse should be considered authoritative even with their alternate interpretation.  

Another proverb which I have seen played out recently is:
“Mockers resent correction,
    so they avoid the wise.”
Here we see it with people who cut off ties with those who disagree with them.  And while sometimes that happens because one person was offensive in the way they expressed their beliefs, all too often it is because the person who cuts off communication does not want to consider that they were wrong and the other person correct.

Finally I want to leave you with one which all of us should heed more than we do:
“Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent,
    and discerning if they hold their tongues.”

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.