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.

Proverbs 15:20-21

    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.

Psalm 116:1-19

    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.

John 10:22-42

    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.

1 Samuel 24-25:44

    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.

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.

Proverbs 15:18-19

    When we read these proverbs we should use them to look at ourselves. Do we find ourselves in fights and conflicts? Perhaps the problem is that we too easily lose our temper. If we control our anger we will find that we will not end up in as many fights, and we will be able to defuse the conflicts around us.
    Do we find every task we begin obstructed by obstacles? Perhaps the problem is that we are too lazy and do not approach our life with enough industry. When we honour God with all of our being and look at all of the tasks before us as service to God, there do not seem to be any obstacles of consequence to accomplishing those tasks.

Psalm 115:1-18

    There are other messages in this psalm, but it starts with the one I want to focus on:

Not to us, Lord, not to us
but to your name be the glory…
This should be the focus of all of our actions. I struggle with making that my focus as I write this blog. From time to time I need to remind myself that I am not writing this blog to attract attention. I am writing this blog so that I will study God’s word each day. Yes, I hope there are other people reading it (and I know that there are). And I hope that those who read this get some blessing from God by doing so. However, if that is the case, it is not because I am such a masterful writer. No, it is because the Holy Spirit has used the words I have written. That does not mean that I think I am not a masterful writer. It just means that I know that no matter how cleverly I write this the only way it will bring about positive change is if the Holy Spirit moves in the heart of the one who reads it.
    So, the point I want to make is the title of today’s blog: Not to me, but to God be the glory!

John 10:1-21

    As I read Jesus’ teaching about the Good Shepherd and the sheep fold I see Jesus communicating two messages at the same time. One message is that we must go through Jesus to get to the sheepfold where we will be safe. Jesus expands on a message He has taught elsewhere. Those who are called by God, who are truly seeking God, will recognize the “sound” of Jesus’ message and will listen to Him. The other message is that all spiritual teachers who do not lead people to and through Jesus are thieves and robbers. They seek to advance their own interests through their teaching and do not truly care for their followers.
    Jesus goes on to compare the good shepherd to the hired hand. While in part Jesus is comparing Himself to religious teachers who do not direct people to Him, there is more to this. I see a couple of things I will draw out of this. The first is to be skeptical of pastors, preachers, or other religious teachers who live a lavish lifestyle. I question the faithfulness of any of the above who lives a millionaire lifestyle. I will not categorically state that no faithful teacher of the Gospel lives a millionaire lifestyle. I can imagine justifications for such, but I will remain skeptical until I personally see evidence of their faithfulness (I have known individuals living a millionaire lifestyle who were at least as faithful — and probably more so — in following Christ as myself). The key element to test religious teachers is their willingness to sacrifice their lives for the benefit of those they are leading.
    Writing this it fully struck home for the first time that, because I write this blog, I need to start holding myself to the standard I believe the Bible presents for those who teach the Gospel. I have always felt that all Christians should strive to hold themselves to that standard, but that God does not necessarily hold us all to that standard. I do not believe that I can soothe myself for my failures by thinking God does not hold me to that higher standard.

1 Samuel 22-23:29

    We have in this story a contrast between the way David and Saul managed their affairs. Saul had the priests of Nob killed because Ahimelech gave aid to David. This despite the fact that when Ahimelech aided David, no one knew that Saul no longer considered David his chief subordinate. David, on the other hand, risked himself and his men to protect the town of Keilah. Further, David sought God’s guidance for all of his actions.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Proverbs 15:15-17

    Pessimism and depression are a vicious cycle. When you are depressed, or expect the worst outcome in every situation, you notice the things which go wrong, and indeed, things are more likely to go wrong for you. On the other hand when you are happy and optimistic, you focus on the good things going on around you and dismiss the things which go wrong, and things are less likely to go wrong for you. This cycle means that when you become depressed it is very hard to break out of that depression.
    The second two verses are closely related. You will be happier serving the Lord in poverty than living for yourself with great wealth. I would rather have a simple salad with people I love than a great feast with people I cannot stand.

Psalm 113-114:8

    Lately I have been struggling with finding the right words for what the psalms make me think and feel. Part of that is because the psalmist does such a good job of expressing their thoughts, part of that is just the difficulty of turning the poetic into prose. I will praise God, now and forever, because He is great enough to create and guide the entire universe, yet caring enough to reach out and help the poor and needy. His very presence causes obstacles to move out of the way of those who serve Him.

John 9:1-41

    I think this is perhaps my favorite story of Jesus’ miracles. My father first pointed out what is the key point in this story for me (I’m sure others did it before him, but he was the one who first brought it up in my presence). Jesus healed a man born blind. The religious teachers and leaders of the day brought the man before them and questioned him. They were looking for something to hold against Jesus, or some evidence that He was a fraud. They confronted the man born blind with their conviction that Jesus was a sinner. The man born blind knew he could not argue theology or doctrine with these men, and did not try to do so. In the face of all of their learning and arguments against Jesus he replied with one of the great statements of faith, “I don’t know about any of that. What I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”(I am paraphrasing here).
    This is the important thing for us to remember. We must never allow arguments and debates about theology or doctrine distract us from the central Gospel message. I was blind, but now I see. In my case it was not physical blindness. Nevertheless, I was blind and it was not until I allowed faith in Christ to take root in my heart that I gained the ability to see God’s will for my life. I was proud of my intellect and ability to reason things out. It was only when I accepted that there were things which I am unable to understand, that my reasoning and logic will never fully explain how the world works, that I was able to truly see God. It is only by the working of the Holy Spirit that someone will come to God. I will never be able to give someone faith. I can only give them God’s love.
    I pray for everyone I meet that they experience Jesus’ miraculous healing so that they too will receive sight from God.

1 Samuel 20-21:15

    Reading this story always makes me feel sorry for Jonathan. Jonathan was a good man who was loyal to David and probably would have made a good king. It also shows us how irrational Saul’s hatred of David was. Saul wanted to kill David because he considered him a threat to Jonathan taking the throne. Yet, he was willing to kill Jonathan when Jonathan refused to aid him in killing David. Yet, in all of this, David did not act against Saul’s interest.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. Why, yes, I do like cats. Why do you ask?

Proverbs 15:12-14

    Those who mock others resent it when you point out that their mockery is unjustified, especially when you show them how they are the ones being stupid or foolish. You will notice that those who most enjoy mocking others avoid those who could/would teach them to understand those with a different view of the world from themselves.
    When I read the third of today’s proverbs it reminded me of the entertainment choices people make. Some people choose to spend their leisure time learning and gathering knowledge, others spend their leisure with things that distract them from thinking about anything. There is nothing wrong with limited amounts of the latter, but the wise are hungry for knowledge and will fill up their leisure time acquiring it. The fool has no interest in knowledge and will avoid like the plague any leisure activity which requires thought, let alone the acquisition of knowledge. If they spend their leisure time involved in anything which involves the acquisition of knowledge, it will be knowledge which is of no lasting value.

Psalm 112:1-10

    Those who fear the Lord and take delight in in following His commands will be filled with joy. They are willing to lend money generously and are fair in all of their business dealings. As a result good comes their way and evil will fail its attempts to overcome them. Overall I love the message of this psalm, but struggle with writing a meditation on what it means to me.

John 8:31-59

    This passage starts with one of Jesus’ most famous statements, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” That is a very true and important statement. However, the exchange which follows probably gives us more insight into living our lives. There is one thing which I have never heard anyone preach about when they talk about this exchange. Jesus was talking to those who believed in Him. Yet, despite this, their first reaction was to take offense at Jesus telling them that they would be set free.
    Jesus points out that everyone who sins is a slave to sin. He then points out that there are some in the crowd who want to kill Him. Rather than accept that those who were trying to kill Jesus were in the wrong, they took offense. I always find this passage difficult to digest, but not because the message is so hard. I get caught up in the dynamics of the conversation between Jesus and the people so that it distracts me from the message Jesus is preaching here. I actually run into that a lot when I read the Gospel of John.
    Those who love God and are born of God will hear and love the truth. Those who are born of Satan lie, murder and steal. Or, to put it another way, truth and love are characteristics which come from God. Lies and deception come from the devil. The more we are truthful in what we say, and treat those we meet with love, the closer we are to God. The closer we are to God, the more we will be truthful and treat those we meet with love. On the other hand, the more we use lies and deception the closer we are to the devil and the farther we are from God. The farther we are from God the more we use lies and deception.

1 Samuel 18:5-19:24

    After his battle with Goliath David became one of Saul’s chief subordinates. Everything Saul asked him to do David did, and he did it well. David was so successful that the people began singing his praises. They began praising David as greater than Saul. Saul, rather than taking this as a compliment for his good judgment in selecting David, became jealous of David. David continued to be a faithful servant to Saul and to put all of his efforts into serving Saul’s interests. Saul felt threatened by David’s success and his reactions to that perceived threat made it more real. Despite Saul’s actions, David did nothing against Saul’s interests, except act to preserve his own life. One of the reasons Saul lost his throne was because he acted to diminish the power of any subordinate who was too successful.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Proverbs 15:8-10

    It does not matter how big of a donation you make to good causes if your gained your wealth through evil acts. The prayers of a righteous person will make a bigger difference in the world than the billions of dollars spent on “good works” by the wicked.

Psalm 110:1-7

    While I am certain that the composer of this psalm was referring to King David, I am also certain that the New Testament references to this as a prophecy about Jesus are completely appropriate. This psalm is clearly a prophecy about the Messiah, God’s Anointed One.

John 8:1-20

    In the story of the woman caught in adultery there is an interesting discrepancy. If she was caught in adultery, they must have caught the man as well, but he was not brought to be stoned. The Old Testament law calls for a man caught in adultery to be stoned as well as any woman so caught. This tendency to view a sin committed by one person differently than the same sin committed by a different person is something we need to examine in ourselves.
    However Jesus does not address that issue. Instead, when the men asked His position on the Mosaic command was, He stooped down and wrote in the dust. He did not answer their question. They kept badgering Him, insisting He answer the question of whether or not she should be stoned. Finally He stood up and told them that they were right to stone her, but the first stone had to be throne by someone who was without sin. Then He returned to writing in the dust. I wish we knew what He was writing in the dust, but it probably does not matter. Perhaps He was writing out the Ten Commandments. Or perhaps He was playing tic-tac-toe with Himself. As I write this I realize that at least part of why Jesus wrote in the dust was to get the temper of the crowd to cool off. The reason the older men drifted off first was because they were the first to realize that no one was going to throw the first stone. The younger men were hoping that someone else would throw the first stone, then they could join in.
    There is a final point to be made here. When the entire crowd had dispersed, Jesus asked the woman where her accusers were, if none of them had condemned her. When she replied that no one had, Jesus told her that He did not either. However, what He said next was at least as important as His lack of condemnation. He did not say, “Well, then, I guess you can go back to what you were doing.” No, He said, “Go, and sin no more.” When we come to Jesus, He does not condemn us. But He does tell us to go and sin no more. When sinners come to us, let us do likewise, both by refusing to condemn them and by calling on them to sin no more.

1 Samuel 15-16:23

    Samuel told Saul that God had instructed him to destroy the Amalekites and all of their livestock. So, Saul mobilized his army and attacked the Amalekites, wiping them out. However, he took their king captive and allowed his men to keep the best of the livestock. In doing this, Saul did what was politically expedient. Saul believed that if he allowed them to keep the livestock they found appealing they would be more loyal to him in the future. Saul chose political expedience over principle. Those who choose expedience over principle will always fail to build something which lasts.
    Later, when God had sent Samuel to Jesse to anoint one of his sons as the next king of Israel, Samuel immediately thought that it would be Jesse’s eldest son, Eliab. However, God told him not to judge by appearance or height, Eliab was not God’s chosen. This contains an important lesson for us, we tend to judge others by their outward appearance. God judges people by their hearts. We would do well to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance to do the same, not just in those we choose to follow, but in all of our interactions with others.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Proverbs 15:5-7

    It is foolish to ignore a parent’s discipline, no matter what your age. The wise learn from correction regardless of the source. Take advice where you can find it. Anyone who offers you advice has some wisdom you can learn from, only a fool has no advice to give.

Psalm 109:1-31

    We will, and do, face the sorts of accusations which the psalmist recounts. However, let us never stoop to the level of our accusers. Let us love them, even though they accuse us. Let us pray for them, even as they seek to destroy us. They will accuse us of persecuting the needy. They will claim that we curse others. Let us call out to God to protect us from such accusations and do the opposite even while they are saying these things about us.

John 7:31-53

    Before Jesus began teaching at the Festival, no one was willing to publicly say anything good about Him. However, once He began teaching and preaching an interesting thing happened. More and more of the people became willing to declare that He must be the Messiah. It got to the point where the religious leaders decided to have Jesus arrested. They sent the Temple guards to arrest Him, but the guards were mesmerized by what He said and returned without doing so.
    The point I am getting at is that when the Festival started people were afraid to talk about Jesus in a positive manner. Yet when He actually stood up and started to speak they became more emboldened. This is a lesson for us. Our society attempts to silence the Gospel message and threatens those who proclaim it. Yet if we stand up and boldly proclaim it other people will be emboldened to embrace that message. We will not avoid persecution by keeping quiet about our faith.

1 Samuel 14:1-52

    When Jonathan went with just his armor bearer to scout the Philistine camp he used an interesting method of deciding whether or not to attack. However, before that, he made his plans with the knowledge that he would only be successful with God’s help, and that with God’s help he could not fail. When he reached the point where he needed to determine if God was going to help him or not, he based his decision on the Philistine reaction to his presence. If the Philistines made it clear that they were going to do the smart thing and use the advantage of their position, he would return to the Israelite camp. If, on the other hand, the Philistines were foolish enough to allow him, and his armor bearer, to close with them, negating the advantage of their location, he would do so and attack. The Philistines chose the arrogant, foolish course of action. As a result, Jonathan and his armor bearer were able to disrupt the Philistine camp making the Philistine army vulnerable to the Israelite army. The key here was that Jonathan acted in faith and allowed God to direct his actions.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Proverbs 15:1-3

    Choose your words with care. If you speak gently when someone is angry, you can defuse and/or deflect that anger. If you speak with anger, frustration, or other harsh emotions you will elevate the tempers of those around you. But there is more to choosing words wisely than cooling or raising tempers. By choosing our words wisely we can cause others to desire to learn.

Psalm 107:1-43

    The key point of this psalm is in verse 2, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”(KJV). I know that I do not tell others about my faith as much as I should. God has done wonderful things for me. He has redeemed me from my sins and I am grateful for the changes He has wrought in me.
    The psalmist describes some of the many situations from which people have been redeemed. Some were lost, hungry, and homeless; some were imprisoned in misery because they had rejected God’s words and scorned His advice; some were fools who rebelled against all authority; some suffered the damage wrought by nature (storm, earthquake, volcano, etc). They all had one thing in common, from the depths of their torment they cried out to God for help and He saved them. If you were one of those described, or if God redeemed you from some other tribulation, speak up! Let the people around you know what God has done for you. How will someone else suffering a similar tribulation know that if they cry out to God He will redeem them if you do not tell them what He has already done?

John 6:43-71

    The key phrase in today’s passage is when Jesus says that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood if we wish to receive eternal life. In my mind there are two ways to understand this passage, and both of them are correct. When Jesus said this He was telling us that we need to take His teaching and internalize them. We need to allow His words to transform us into His likeness. The saying that this brings to my mind is “you are what you eat.” If we “eat” Jesus’ flesh and blood we will become like Him.
    The other part of this message is about the importance of taking Communion/the Eucharist/the Lord’s Supper with our fellow believers. Jesus had not yet established the Lord’s Supper when He taught this lesson, but I am convinced that when He said “this is my Body, take and eat” and “this is my blood, drink this in remembrance of me” He was referring back to what He said here.

1 Samuel 10-11:15

    Samuel gathered the people of Israel together at Mizpah in order to declare who God had chosen to be their king. Even though Samuel already knew who God had chosen, he went through the process of determining who that would be by lot. Despite this, there were those who refused to accept Saul as king. Shortly after this Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, besieged an Israelite city east of the Jordan (a manuscript of 1 Samuel among the Dead Sea scrolls contains a passage which suggests that Nahash had taken control of all of the rest of the Israelites east of the Jordan). Nahash demanded that the Israelite men have their right eye gouged out as one of the conditions of surrender. The men of the city agreed that they would submit to this if no one came to their rescue within seven days.
    When word of this reached Saul’s hometown the people wept to hear that their fellow Israelites would be subject to such a demand. But none of them suggested any action. Saul had been out in the fields plowing when word came. When he heard the news, he was outraged. He sent word throughout the land demanding that the warriors of Israel gather. He took the army which had gathered and relieved the siege. In doing so Saul completely broke the power of Nahash. When the battle was over, Saul’s supporters demanded that Samuel gather those who had refused to accept Saul as king so that they could be killed. Saul refused to use his victory as an excuse to rid himself of opposition. By doing so he actually managed to unify the people in a way which killing the opposition would not have done.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Proverbs 14:34-35

    No nation becomes truly great unless its people are godly. A nation begins its fall from greatness when its leaders start to justify sinful actions on the basis of it being in the nation’s interest. Once that is accepted it is only a matter of time until sinful actions are justified on the basis of it being “in my interest”. Once the people of the nation start accepting sinful actions in their leaders because those actions are in their own interest, the nation is doomed. Godliness is not something that can be imparted by changing the laws. Only the work of the Holy Spirit can change people so that they seek to live a godly life. I do not seek for the United States to be a great nation. I seek for my neighbors to know the Lord, and thus lead godly lives.

Psalm 106:32-48

    It has been awhile since I saw a theme running through more than one of the passages I read in a day, but today I am doing so with this psalm following the proverb I just finished writing about. The psalmist pointed out how the downfall of the people of Israel resulted from their adopting the evil customs and practices of the pagans among whom they lived. In the same way the downfall of the Church in America has been a result of us adopting the evil customs and practices of the society around us. He speaks of sacrificing their sons and daughters to the demons, something that is all too common in the U.S..
    If the Christians of this nation will not hold themselves to a standard of godly behavior, how can we hope to convince others to come to know the Lord? The issues that matter (abortion, sexual immorality, integrity, etc) are not about the laws of the land. They are about the behavior of individuals. Let us behave in a godly manner, and call those around us to do likewise by our example more than by our words. When we teach and preach against immoral, sinful behavior we should make it clear that we are directing our words to those who are seeking to follow Christ.

John 6:22-42

    My first thought when I read this was that the theme I found in the proverb and the psalms was not continued here. That is partially true, but there is a related theme here. The people crossed the Sea of Galilee looking for Jesus because He had fed them. When they found Jesus He told them they should be more concerned with spiritual food than with material food.
    All too often we follow leaders who promise to advance our interests in the material world. When we believe that such leaders will deliver on such promises we are often willing to follow them even when their behavior is selfish and advances their interest at the expense of others. Rather than follow such leaders we should follow leaders who sacrifice their own interests in order to advance our spiritual interests. The leaders who we should follow do not offer to give us anything except God’s work to do.

1 Samuel 8-9:27

    When Samuel got old he appointed his sons as judges over Israel in his place. Unfortunately, rather than follow their father’s example they used their position to advance their own interests and accepted bribes to render judgments. The leaders of Israel decided that the answer was to select a king who would found a dynasty. Rather than a spiritual leader, such as Samuel, who called them to follow God’s commands they wanted a military leader. They no longer wanted their security and material interests to depend on God, which meant remaining faithful to God. They desired a king, a military leader, who would be responsible for their security and material well-being.