For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    I actually think that the footnote to the NIV makes the most sense of this proverb. When you sit down to a meal with the movers and shakers of this world, pay attention to who else is there and to what they say and do. If you allow yourself to be caught up in the pleasure of eating the food set before you, you may as well kill yourself because you will miss some interaction which is important. Do not become so enamoured of eating with the movers and shakers that you are willing to give up what is important to you.

    God is my helper. He is the one I will call on when trouble arises. I will count on Him when enemies attack me. Those who plot against me because I serve Him will have their plans to blow up in their faces. Even when times are good, I will serve the Lord. I will give to the work of the Lord, not because He demands it but because I love Him.

    Paul points out that whatever others may have to boast about their faith and righteous service of God, he had as much or more. Yet despite all of this, Paul does not want us to believe his message on the basis of any of that. He wants us to judge him on the basis of what God has done through him despite his weakness, not because of his strength. God does not choose us because we are strong, wonderful people. Rather God has chosen us to demonstrate His willingness and ability to heal the weak and broken. It is only my willingness to admit my flaws and failures that has any value to God. If God can use me to accomplish His purpose in this world, then He can surely use you to do even more.

    When Isaiah found himself in the presence of God he was sure that he was doomed. He realized that he was a sinful man in the presence of righteousness. What is interesting is that Isaiah recognized that his sinfulness was expressed by the words he spoke. When Isaiah acknowledged his sinfulness before God, God cleansed and forgave him. Having forgiven Isaiah, God asks who He can send to deliver His message. God is asking this question today. Whom shall He send? Having been forgiven, will I answer as Isaiah did? Whenever I read this passage, I cannot help but imagine Isaiah standing there going, “Me, Me, send me! I’ll go!” Although sometimes I also imagine Isaiah looking around, seeing no one else there and saying quietly, “Well, I’m here, you could send me.” In both cases I imagine Isaiah having some doubt as to whether or not he was truly qualified, if God will really want to send him. We may feel the same way, I certainly do. But God’s answer to us is the same as His answer to Isaiah, “Yes, go, and say to this people…”
    The question is not whether God wants us to deliver His message. The question is, are we willing to go?

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The proverb writer warns against moving boundary markers set up long ago. While this is partially about not cheating our neighbors, it is also a warning about following the rules to which everyone has agreed. The “boundary markers” are agreed upon markers positioned so that everyone knows where the boundary between one property and the next is. If I move one of them to my advantage, how can I tell when someone moves it to their advantage? And what basis do I have to complain when they do so? This applies as much to things like the definition of marriage as it does to physical markers which mark the boundary of property.

    This psalm starts with a very true, and important, statement which often causes us to miss the rest of what it says. Only those who are truly and completely fools believe in their hearts that there is no God. Such people are corrupt and their actions are evil. However, the psalmist goes on and tells us that God is looking on the world looking to see if any are wise. He finds that none are. All have turned away and done evil. No one truly does good. It is only because God is gracious and chooses to restore us that we are able to do any good whatsoever. Were it not for God’s grace I would still be one of those fools who say that there is no God.

    Paul warns here against listening to those who skillfully and convincingly teach a gospel other than that presented here in the New Testament. This passage, combined with my experience in life, makes me suspicious of those who preach a finely polished message. I have learned that those who preach a carefully honed message which has you nodding along and feeling good about yourself are usually preaching something other than a message given to them by God. One sign that such people are corrupt is that they live the fine life with money gathered from those who listen to their preaching. This contrasts to preachers such as Paul, through whom God works great wonders and who refuse to be a financial burden on anyone.

    I read this passage and wonder if Isaiah was talking about our society today. All of those who a society depends on for stability and honour seem to be gone. People seek to oppress one another at every opportunity. The young insult their elders. The vulgar hold the honourable in contempt. Those with the potential to be true leaders will decline to step forward because the people would rather be led by those who seek their own self-interest.
    Despite all of this, God will look after the godly and judge the wicked. When things have reached a point where recovery seems impossible God will raise leaders to bring people back to Him. The leaders will finally turn the people back from where they were. But before that happens, the rich will accumulate wealth while driving others away from them so that they will live alone. The rich will gather land to themselves, yet it will be unproductive. Where God calls for justice there will be oppression. The people will spend their time seeking only their own pleasure rather than on working to serve the Lord. I see it today, those who say that evil is good and that good is evil. Such people will face great sorrow.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    If you guarantee someone else’s debt, make sure that you are able to pay it off, because you probably will.

    We all know, or know of, someone like the person the psalmist describes. Someone who brags about the evil they do, who tells stories about how they did nasty things to other people. Perhaps we have found ourselves doing it. There are those who destroy others with their words and then brag about it. Such people trust in their own might, wealth, and cleverness rather than trusting in God. God will repay them for their sins. If we trust in God, we will not think of ourselves as better than others and will not attempt to destroy them. If we trust in God we will praise His name and lift others up before Him.

    This passage is so relevant right now with the rise of Islamic extremism and other violent attacks on Christians. Those who follow Christ are waging a war and have been doing so since Jesus was raised from the dead. But we do not fight with the weapons of this world, we do not fight with the sword and the gun. Rather we fight with God’s weapons, which are mightier than any wielded by mere man. These weapons will allow us to show the flaws in human reasoning and to knock down the strongholds of belief built upon purely human thought. Such things are necessarily false arguments and contain the seeds of their own destruction within them. With the help of the Holy Spirit we can destroy every idea, thought, and ideology which sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Let us take captive our every thought and make it obedient to Christ, and then, not only our own thoughts but other thoughts as well. If we allow the Spirit to guide us and direct us, He will show us how every human thought, idea, and ideology can be brought around to reveal the true knowledge of God and Christ.

    Yesterday, the theme from 2 Corinthians was being a cheerful giver. However, no matter how much we give to God’s work, it will not make up for doing evil. God does not want our wealth, He wants our obedience. Isaiah warns that for all too many of us our hands are full of blood. God calls for us to give up our evil ways and learn to do good. Let us seek justice, and not just for ourselves, but for others who have not the ability to get it for themselves. If we turn from our sins and begin to obey God, He will wipe us clean and purify us from our sins.
    If we do not turn to Him and accept His grace, we will face His coming judgement. Those who are proud and think that their appearance of righteousness will suffer God’s judgement. On the day of God’s judgement, those who thought they could get by with their own tarnished righteousness will hide in fear. They will abandon the things in which they put their trust in the attempt to avoid the coming judgement. Those who have put their trust in people, whether it be a preacher, or a political leader, will find that their trust was misplaced. No human will be able to save you on the day of God’s judgement.