For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The godly can look forward to good things in their future. The wicked will face judgment. Proverbs like this one are good reminders for us that if we do God’s will, He will reward us and those who mistreat others will pay a stiff price.

    No matter where we are on earth God will hear and answer our prayers. If we present our needs to God and place our hopes in Him, those needs will be taken care of. We have a choice, we can choose to come to God now, or we can come to Him when He summons us. However, everyone must stand before God to account for their actions.
    Yet another psalm where I cannot come close to expressing in words what it says to me as I read it.

    When the man with leprosy approached Jesus for healing, he had no doubt that Jesus was able to heal him. He just was not sure of Jesus was willing to do so. Jesus answered that He was willing and healed the man. God is willing to heal us, the question is, are we willing to be healed? I always struggle with understanding what to believe about God’s healing, but I think the two stories about Jesus healing in today’s passage provide us with some insight into how God heals.
    In the story about the man carried to Jesus, Jesus forgave the man’s sins before He healed him. I understand this to indicate that before God can heal us we need to accept His forgiveness. Of course, before we can accept His forgiveness we need to acknowledge that we need forgiveness. Part of acknowledging that we need forgiveness and accepting that forgiveness is recognizing that we need to change the behavior for which we are being forgiven (and being willing to change that behavior).
    Having said that, I do not understand why we in the Church do not see more of God’s miraculous healing. In some ways this brings me to another aspect of what I think this passage means. My understanding here is less complete. I believe that God has given all who call on Jesus’ name the same power to perform miracles which Jesus had (there are several places where Jesus tells His disciples that they will perform the same sorts of wonders He did). This story seems to me to suggest that we have the power to convey God’s forgiveness to people. We are empowered to say to people, “Your sins are forgiven.” There is a little more to it than that. It is clear, both from the Pharisees’ reaction and Jesus’ answer to them, that Jesus was forgiving the man at that moment. This means that when we offer God’s healing to people, we need to forgive them for their sins. Are we willing to forgive sinners? Even when they have not yet recognized that they are sinners?

    When the Israelites camped on the eastern side of the Jordan River as they prepared to enter the Promised Land, God instructed them to drive all of the people from the land as they entered it. Yet, we know from other passages that God encouraged them to welcome foreigners who chose to worship Him among them. The key to understanding the meaning of this is the sentence which immediately follows that instruction (and is actually part of that instruction). God tells them to destroy all of the idols and shrines where the people worshiped gods other than Him. The essence is of this passage is the opposite of “multiculturalism”. The Israelites were being warned to not adopt any of the cultural practices of the people living in the land because idolatry was so thoroughly integrated into their culture. We face the same problem today. As Christians we need to separate ourselves from the culture around us because so much of it has idolatry and sinfulness “baked in”.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Beauty in someone who is thoughtless and heedless of others is not attractive. Those who think their beauty gives them license to treat others poorly will learn otherwise to their sorrow.

    Those who are evil think they are clever. They believe that their plans are so cunning that no one will catch them out. They may be able to come up with a plan which will hide their evil from their fellow man, but God will see and strike them down.

    I note that in this passage the man possessed by the demon began demanding to know why Jesus was interfering with him before Jesus had made notice of him. I find it interesting how often people today do the same thing with people of faith. I have often seen people promoting sinful behavior. Then, when someone mildly comments that they think such behavior is wrong, accuse the person of interfering with their freedom. Yet if they had not made a point of publicizing their behavior, the person who does not approve would never have known about it.
    To repeat: in this passage, Jesus did not seek out the demon possessed man in order to drive out the demon. Rather, the demon-possessed man made a scene in front of the crowd and accused Jesus of interfering with him. In the same way today, if you take a stand and say that, because you believe a certain behavior is wrong, you will not do it, some people will accuse you of interfering with their freedom to undertake that behavior. I believe that when people draw attention to their sin that it is our responsibility to tell them that it is sin and to call on the Holy Spirit to convict them of its sinfulness.

    I have read over the account of the tribes of Reuben and Gad requesting that they receive their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan River several times today. I feel like there is a lesson there for us, but I just can’t put my finger on what it is. At first I thought about the fact that Moses misunderstood their intentions because of how their parents had responded to the reports of the spies, but I could not actually figure out what the lesson was there. Then I thought about how the two tribes committed to accompanying the rest of Israel across the Jordan to fight, but could not figure out what that lesson was either. So, I guess I will just leave it at that.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The proverb writer spends a lot of time reminding us of the danger of co-signing a loan (or otherwise guaranteeing someone else’s debt). Do not guarantee someone else’s debt if you cannot afford to pay it off.

    When we as a people turn away from God He will bring trouble upon our land. Trials and tribulations will be all around. However, in the midst of that trouble, He will raise a banner for us to rally around. Are we prepared to rally around God’s banner at a time when all around us are fighting against Him? Will we make our way through hostile forces in order to make a stand with the people of God?

    Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem each year for Passover. That would probably be a three day trip each way. As I think about it, it strikes me that it was probably an approximately two week vacation each year. Which suggests that the trip to Jerusalem was probably a pretty big deal for Jesus. It is also interesting that He spent four days in the Temple without His parents. Where did He get food during that time? Where did He sleep? Someone, probably more than one someone, clearly shared meals with Him. Were the religious teachers in the Temple that absent minded that they did not notice this twelve year old boy spending all of this time in the Temple? Or maybe it was not that uncommon for young men to spend time listening and learning? Luke tells us that what stood out to the people in the Temple was His understanding. Do we encourage our young people to spend time learning about God the way the people in the Temple clearly encouraged Jesus?

    I always struggle to find something useful in passages like this one. I skimmed through this, then I read through it, then I read through it again. The first thing that struck me was that the tribes were all divided into clans. The next thing that struck me was that the second largest tribe, Dan, consisted of just a single clan. I am not sure if there is any significance to these facts, but they are what struck me.
    Another thing which struck me as I read this, (it was something I had known, just never thought about) was that when you count the two tribes descended from Joseph as full tribes, and you only count the “warrior” tribes, there are twelve tribes of warriors. When you add in the tribe of Levi, you get thirteen tribes. What struck me was the connection to Jesus and His Twelve Disciples. The tribe of Levi were the intermediaries between the rest of Israel and God, just as Jesus is the intermediary between the Twelve and God (and between all of us and God). I am not sure there is significance to that, but it struck me as I read this passage.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    If a nation’s leaders are not wise, that nation is doomed. On the other hand, a leader who listens to many advisers, and knows how to decide which of their advice to take, is guaranteed to lead the nation to safety. When deciding whether to follow a leader, consider not just their wisdom, but the wisdom of their advisers.

    This psalm contrasts the actions and thoughts of those who are evil with the actions and thoughts of those who serve God. Those who are evil come out at night. They speak cutting words. Most importantly, they believe that they will never be held accountable for their sins. Those who serve God praise Him in the morning. They sing with joy about God’s unfailing love. Most importantly, they recognize that it is God who keeps them safe and protects them from their enemies.

    One of the most significant parts of this passage is the fact that the angels made their announcement to the shepherds. I have trouble imagining what group today would be the equivalent. The closest I can come is migrant farm workers, or perhaps carnies (the people who work the traveling carnivals). Few people from the rest of society interacted with shepherds and most people could never imagine doing that job if they had any other choice. Those were the people to whom God chose to send the angels to announce the birth of the Messiah.
    I want to point out their reaction to the announcement. When the angels were finished, the shepherds said, “Let’s see this thing that has happened.” Would we have reacted the same way? Or would we have said, “That’s neat, but I have to get some sleep?” As I write this I am reminded of how I react to stories about strange events. If I did not witness the actual event, I am cautious in what I say about it. This is appropriate. Many people are easily fooled by scam artists into thinking something amazing happened when it was merely a trick of some sort.
    However, when we hear that God is doing wonderful things, we should take time to check it out. We should find out if it is really God doing wonderful things…or is it just a scam artist preying on the gullible? Let us go, see for ourselves, and, if it is indeed God doing wonderful things, tell everyone what it is that we have seen.

    The passage tells us that when Balaam realized that God was going to insist on blessing Israel, he did not use his normal methods for discovering God’s will. That sounds to me like Balaam was going to attempt to make up a curse on his own. However, the Holy Spirit came over him anyway and caused him to speak yet another blessing. The Moabites had failed to gain victory over the Israelites by having them cursed, so they turned to other tactics.
    After the failure of Balak’s attempt to have the Israelites cursed by Balaam, the Moabites tried a different strategy. They began to try to assimilate the Israelites. Some of the Israelite men found some of the Moabite women attractive and began having sexual relations with them. The Moabite women encouraged the Israelite men to join them in the sacrifices and worship rituals to the Moabite god. As a result of this activity a plague began to spread among the Israelites.
    I am a strong believer that we as Christians need to be involved with the society around us. However, this passage is a reminder of the dangers of doing so. As we become involved with the society around us it is all too easy to allow that society to draw us away from serving God and from doing His will. We can become seduced into worshiping the gods of those around us rather than converting them to worship our God.