For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    In a way there are two sides to this. On the one hand, it is up to a woman whether or not she will be a wife of noble character. Women, it is up to you to to make the effort to develop noble character. No one else can do it for you.
    On the other hand, men, your wife is likely to live up to (or down to) your expectations. If you treat her as if you believe her to be a disgrace, she will likely be a disgrace. If you treat her as if you consider her to be a woman of noble character, she will likely be a woman of noble character.
    Women and men, it is up to you how you want to live your life. Women, you can be a woman of noble character if your husband (or the men/people in your life) believe you are a disgrace. It is harder, but you can do it. Men, if you believe, and act accordingly (that is the important part), that your wife (and the other women in your life) are women of noble character, they will likely live up to your expectations.

    I love the sentiment of this psalm. I cannot think what to write about it except to say I desire to reflect the humility the psalmist expresses when he says:

    Once again we have a story of a demon possessed man who approaches Jesus and asks Him, “Why are You interfering with me?” Jesus had not approached the man. It was the man who approached Jesus. Jesus did not interfere with the demon possessed man until the man came to Him. This is an important lesson, when the man got in Jesus’ face and demanded to be left alone, Jesus did not back down. Rather He recognized that this act was a cry for help.
    There is another piece to this story. The people of the region were familiar with this man. They had tried on several occasions to bind him under guard to keep him from harming himself and others. At least, I assume that was why they had done it. Whatever their reasons, it had failed. The man had broken free and run wild. Yet now, they saw him fully clothed, cleaned up, and completely sane.
    Their response, fear. Rather than see the transformation of this man as a sign of hope and seek for similar changes for themselves, they asked Jesus to leave. Jesus did as they asked. When the man who had been freed from demons asked to go with Him, Jesus told Him to stay. Proving that you do not always have to leave your home town to do missions work.

    Moses told the Israelites to commit themselves wholeheartedly to God’s word. The instructions he gave them that day apply to us today. We should talk about God’s word(s) when we are at home and when we are on the road, when we get up in the morning and when we go to bed at night. The words of God should be in our thoughts all day, every day. They should guide our actions in everything we do. And we should talk about them with those we spend time with.
    God promises that if we, as a people, obey His commands the environment around us will be pleasant and healthy around us. We are not instructed to be environmentalists, but if our actions are destroying the environment around us we are not being faithful to God. We are called to be good stewards of the resources with which God has blessed us. If our actions are consistent with the commands God has given us then the land around us will be blessed and thrive. We will turn deserts into prosperous land and that in a way that will continue from generation to generation.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    This proverb is so true. Only the truly stupid hate to be corrected and the only person who is truly stupid is unwilling to accept discipline when they are wrong.

    This psalm expresses the faith of one suffering deep depression. Everything, and everyone, seems to be conspiring against him (and perhaps it is). Yet, no matter how bad he thinks things are, no matter how bad things actually are, he continues to have faith in God. He continues to cry out to God for rescue, believing that God will rescue him. The psalmist does this even though he is ridiculed for his faith. He acknowledges that he has foolishly sinned and prays that God does not allow his foolishness to cause others who trust in God to be shamed.
    All in all, this psalm is a great expression of faith. I pray that my faith will be as strong should I ever find myself in similar circumstances.

    Wow, I actually have three points to make on this passage. First, the more we perceive ourselves to have been a sinner, the more thankful we are to God for His forgiveness. Second, we should all strive to show our thankfulness as enthusiastically as this woman. Third, none of us should have the attitude of the Pharisee in this story. None of us should think of someone else as a greater sinner than ourselves, that we are somehow better than that other person.
    I was going to go into more detail on this, but I think that pretty much covers it. I will finish with this question: Do we realize how much we have been forgiven? Do we express to God the love He deserves for the forgiveness we have received?

    Moses tells the Israelites that when they enter into the Promised Land they must not make any treaties with the people living there. He tells them to completely consecrate those people to God. The word used here is typically translated as “destroy”, and typically the term means destroying something in order to give it to God. As I read this, I am reminded that when the Israelites left Egypt they were accompanied by a large number of non-Israelites. Those non-Israelites became part of the people of God. The Israelites were not to adopt any of the customs of the people whose land they were entering. But if those people were to dedicate themselves wholly to the service of God, well that was different. Understand, I do not think that was how those who heard Moses speak understood him. I do however think that was how God intended them to hear it.
    The second part of the passage contains both a promise and a warning. The promise is that if the Israelites live in fear of the Lord and follow His commands they will prosper. This promise was not just for the Israelites. It was for all people. So was His warning. The passage warned the Israelites to remember that their wealth came from worshiping and serving God. If they were to begin to think that the wealth they acquired was a result of their merit and specialness they might stop being faithful to God and start worshiping other gods. Just as the nations which the Israelites were displacing were being destroyed because they refused to obey God, so too would the Israelites be destroyed if they refused to worship God…so, too will we be destroyed.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Those who trust their wealth to get them through all of their troubles will fall like leaves from a tree in autumn. The righteous, on the other hand will thrive like new growth in spring time.

    Earlier psalms told us that everyone will stand before God, sooner or later. This psalm tells us that there are two things we may experience when we come into God’s presence. Those who are God’s enemies will melt like wax. They will be blown away like smoke. But the godly will rejoice when they come into God’s presence. They will sing songs of praise to His name. I know which I would choose to be.

    A few verse earlier Jesus said, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you.” In today’s passage He gives a more detailed take on what He means. When Jesus told us not to judge others, He was not telling us that we cannot tell right behavior from wrong. He was telling us that our job was to identify the wrong behavior in our own life…and change it.
    When Jesus tells me “Do not judge others,” He is not telling me that I should their behaviors are right. He is telling me that I should worry more about the sins I commit than the sins someone else commits. As we read on in this passage Jesus tells us how to judge our behavior. We are to judge our behavior by the results, not by our intentions (or more likely, what we tell ourselves our intentions are). The thing to remember is that when Jesus addressed the woman caught in adultery, He did not say, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and do as you like.” He said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”
    We are not called to confront others about their sin. We are called to bring God’s healing to sinners, starting with ourselves. An important part of bringing that healing to others is acknowledging that we need it just as much as they do.

    As Moses gets to the end of his summary of the Israelites travel through the wilderness, he tells them to obey the laws and commands which God is giving them. The command was not, “Make sure the other guy obeys these commands.” The command was “You obey these commands.”

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    If you search for good, you will find it and people will like you. If you search for evil, you will find that as well, or to be more precise, evil will find you. The former is pleasant, the latter, not so much.

    If I ever need to give a toast at some event, I hope I remember the first verse of this psalm:

    This passage contains what we refer to as the “Golden Rule”. I have heard many takes on this rule:

• “Them as have the gold make the rules.”

That is nowhere close to what Jesus taught.

• “Do to others before they do to you.”

This sounds closer, but isn’t really.

• “Do to others what they do to you.”

This is the philosophy most people live by and one which Jesus tells us is not very praise worthy.
    Unlike those, Jesus teaches us “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” He tells us to love our enemies. If we love those who love us, well, even the most evil people in history loved those who loved them. If we do good to those who do good to us, even Mafia bosses do that. We are to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who hurt us. All in all, this is a tough command to follow. We are not just to do good things for the poor and powerless (feed the hungry, clothe the naked). We are to do what good we can for the rich and powerful. We are to show love to those who mistreat and oppress us.

    Moses continued his speech recounting the travels of the Israelites from the time they turned away from the Promised Land until that moment in time. He described how God had forbidden them to make war on, or cause trouble for, the Edomites, the descendants of Abraham through Esau. Nor were they allowed to make war on the Moabites and the Ammonites, descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. However, the Amorites, who were not related to Abraham at all, not only refused the Israelites permission to pass through their land, the mobilized their armies and attacked them. In response the Israelites completed destroyed two Amorite kingdoms.
    Having conquered a foothold on the east side of the Jordan, the Israelites prepared to cross the Jordan and take control of the land there. Moses delegated control over the Israelite fighting force to Joshua and made it clear that Joshua would lead the attack into the Promised Land. God had forbidden Moses to enter into that land, despite Moses’ desperate pleading for the opportunity to cross over and see the land. However, God did send Moses up onto a high mountain and gave him a view over the land He was giving to the Israelites. In some ways, this was a foreshadowing of how the various Old Testament prophets would look forward to the coming of Jesus, the Messiah.