Since today is Mothers’ Day I want to thank my mother for the grounding in faith which she gave me. It is because of her that I have the faith that I do. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
The importance of choosing our words carefully cannot be overstated. If we respond to anger with calm, those who are angry with us are likely to become more calm. When we discuss knowledge and learning wisely, we make others want to know more. When we blather on about things which we do not truly understand we show others that we are fools.
Sometimes it seems that He is ignoring evil. Other times, it seems like He does not reward good. In addition, there are times when it appears that God is not paying attention to either. Yet the truth of the matter is that God is watching both the good and the evil. He will give us just recompense for what we do, whether good, or evil.
I love this psalm. The psalmist commands us that if God has rescued us from difficulty to tell others about it. Then he goes on to give us examples of the sorts of things which God has rescued people from.
- Some were lost and nearly died.
- Some rebelled against God and became imprisoned by misery.
- Some were fools and suffered for their sins.
- Some faced threats from nature and nearly died.
Yet, when each of the above cried out to God for help, He saved them. I will praise the Lord for the times when He has rescued me, and I will tell those I meet about what He has done for me. For those with eyes to see, one can look at history and see the faithful love of God for those who call on Him.
This passage is a hard one, as John tells us in the passage itself. Jesus tells us that only those drawn to Him by the Father will come to Him. But He also tells us that those who are seek out God and are willing to listen to what God teaches them will come to Him. Many in our society that anyone of good will can attain salvation. This is absolutely true. However, if they are honest seekers after goodness and righteousness, they will, sooner or later, be drawn to Christ. Those who reject Him are rejecting salvation.
Jesus tells us that if we want to experience eternal life, we need to feed our souls on Jesus. Just as our bodies are transformed by what we feed them, so our souls will be transformed by what we feed them. We need to take Jesus into ourselves so that we can become like Him. We do not each get to decide what it means to be good, although we each need to decide that we desire to be good. There is an absolute standard as to what is good and if we wish to be good we must follow that standard. Many of Jesus’ disciples could not understand His teaching here, or were unwilling to accept His absolute standard as to what is good so they left Him. When Jesus asked the Twelve if they also would leave, Peter spoke for all of them by asking what choice did they have? Who else could they follow who spoke God’s Truth? Am I willing to accept that Jesus is the only place where I can find God’s truth?
As I read this passage I see both Saul’s potential and the roots of his failure as king of Israel. When he met the group of prophets he allowed God’s Spirit to take him over so that he began to prophesy (in this context it seems to mean something more like what happens at Pentecostal Church worship services than what we usually mean by “prophesying”). Then, after his first victory, when his followers wanted to execute those who had initially would not accept his kingship, Saul rejected such a course of action. Instead, Saul gave credit to God and invited those who had not wanted to recognize his authority to see and accept that God had chosen him. However, we see the first sign of the insecurity which Saul felt that eventually led him to be fail to follow Samuel’s instructions and later be jealous of David. Saul’s later sins grew out of the sense of inadequacy he demonstrated by hiding among the baggage train. We need to recognize our own sense of inadequacy and turn to God to overcome it. We need to realize that we are not able to do all that God calls us to do on our own ability and that God does not expect us to do so. We must turn to God when the task is more than we can do on our own and accept the help which he sends us, sometimes by divine intervention within us, sometimes by sending others to our aid, and sometimes by some other means.