If you spend all of your time with fools, you will not learn anything useful. Think about the consequences of your actions carefully. Otherwise you are fooling yourself into thinking you are a good person because you “mean well”.
The first psalm tells of God’s great power, how His mere presence causes destruction to those who oppose Him and the things which might impede His will. Those who worship something, anything, other than God will be disgraced because that which they worship will be forced to submit to God. God is supreme over all the earth and far more powerful, and worthy of worship, than any other god, or anything we might worship.
The first psalm ends by reminding us that those who worship and serve God will rejoice and be filled with joy. This is the perfect transition into the second psalm, which calls on everyone and everything to praise God. Yes, I will do as this psalm recommends. I will sing and shout to God in praise. I will use whatever tools are at my disposal to express my praise and worship to Him.
The two criminals crucified alongside Jesus show us two types of sinners in this world. The first is the one who mocks God, and those who strive to serve Him, right up to the end, even as they suffer the consequences of their sin. The other recognize that their suffering is the natural consequence of the life they lived and something they deserved. The latter also recognize that those who have striven to serve God do not deserve such suffering and attempt to protect them, even to the very end, from being mocked by others. This passage shows us that there is hope for the latter right up to the very end. As long as one yet lives one has the opportunity to accept God’s forgiveness and serve Him, even if only in a small way.
When Gideon raised his army to fight against the Midianites, God told him that he had too many men. God insisted that Gideon reduce his forces so that everyone would know the victory came from God. This contains an important lesson for us. God does not call us to tasks which are easy, tasks which we can accomplish through our own strength and ability. He calls us to tasks which demonstrate His power and will in this world. He calls us to tasks which we can only accomplish through the power of God. If your thought when you fell called to a task is, “I’ve got this,” you are either badly overestimating your abilities, or you have misjudged the task to which God has called you. The appropriate response when confronted by a task to which God has called you is to cry out to God for help because the task is beyond your ability, while doing the best that you can.
Stay away from those who have an opinion on everything and knowledge of nothing. Carefully consider what the results of your actions will be. Do not be foolish and trick yourself into thinking that because you want to do something that it will produce the results you desire.
God is supreme in all of the earth. As I seek to love Him more, I need to seek out those places in my life where I harbor a love for evil and sin. The more I come to love God, the more I will hate evil in all its forms. Let us take joy in worshiping the Lord and sing songs, both new and old, to Him. As I read Psalm 98 it causes me to break forth in joy and wish that I had musical talent (or even ability). I want to sing out with whatever words come to me. I will sing and shout and praise the Lord.
Jesus prayer as He hung on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing,” is one of the most powerful, and convicting, passages in Scripture. As Jesus hung on the cross in agony, He did not rage against those who had put Him there. Instead, He begged the Father to forgive them. If Jesus, as He experienced the agony of the cross, could forgive those who had put Him there, how can we fail to forgive those who have done us wrong?
When Gideon gathered his forces to drive the Midianites out of the land of Israel, God told him that he had too many men. God told Gideon that if was victorious with too large of an army, he, and the people, would take credit for the victory rather than giving credit to God. Gideon culled his army down twice until only 300 men remained. This is a lesson we need to remember. When we are seeking to do the Lord’s work, more is not necessarily better. It is important that those who witness our success in carrying out God’s will know that it was not through our might that we succeeded. Let us make sure that everyone knows that our success was only possible because God fought on our side.
I am still trying to adjust my writing to the fact that the computer I usually compose these blogs on is down, but God has blessed me in going over these scriptures in this time. Of course, adjusting my writing to using a different computer is the fact that there have been problems at work that have disrupted my schedule as well. I hope that this has not led to a reduction in the quality of my posts (and overall I don’t think that it has, but I’m not a good judge of that).
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
After receiving the signs of the fleece, Gideon led his army out towards the Midianites. However, when they camped within striking distance of the Midianite army, God told Gideon that he had too many men. That if he went to battle with such a large army and was victorious, the Israelites were likely to take credit for the victory themselves rather than praising God. So Gideon told the army that anyone who was nervous or afraid about the coming battle should go home. This reads to me as if he said that anyone who was there because they felt an obligation to be there, but were frightened by the prospect of battle, was not obligated to remain and indeed should go home. We are told that 22,000 men left, leaving an army of 10,000.
God told Gideon that his army was still too large, so, inspired by God, Gideon devised a test. He took his remaining men down to a stream and had them drink. Those who leaned down and lapped the water out of the stream with their tongues were sent home. Those who cupped their hands and brought the water up to their mouth to drink were asked to remain. With these remaining 300 men, Gideon came up with a battle plan.
Gideon was still nervous about the attack, so he snuck down to the enemy camp. When he got close, he overheard one man in the camp tell another about a disturbing dream he had just had. The second man interpreted the dream to mean that God was going to hand the camp of the Midianites over to Gideon. Thus encouraged, Gideon returned to his camp to put his plan into action.
Gideon carefully positioned his men around the Midianite camp and had them simulate an attack by a much larger group. The Midianites panicked and began attacking one another while Gideon’s force watched. Those who were not killed fled in disarray. Gideon summoned the warriors of the surrounding Israelite tribes to pursue them. As part of this, Gideon called upon the warriors of Ephraim, who he had not summoned to his earlier muster. The warriors of Ephraim responded, controlled the crossings of the river Jordan, killed a large number of the Midianites and captured two of the Midianite leaders. When they brought the heads of the Midianite leaders to Gideon, they challenged him because he had not summoned them to his earlier muster. Gideon soothed their anger by praising their effort in holding the Jordan river and pointing out that what they had done in a supporting role was more than what he had done in the main role.
Gideon then led his 300 men in pursuit of the remaining fleeing Midianite leaders. When he crossed the Jordan, he asked for supplies from two cities on the other side (the passage is not clear, but I read these as being cities occupied by Israelites who had settled east if the Jordan River). Both cities denied him aid, saying they would give him aid when he had captured the Midianite leaders, Gideon told them that when he had defeated the Midianites completely, he would return and punish these cities. Gideon continued his pursuit of the Midianite leaders and overtook them as they camped. Gideon attacked the Midianites from an unexpected direction and defeated the remaining 15,000 men with his force of 300. Gideon then returned and carried out his promised punishment of the two cities which refused to provide him with supplies.
When Herod returned Jesus to Pilate, Pilate told the Jewish leaders that he found no basis for executing Jesus and neither had Herod. He said that he would have Jesus flogged and released. The crowd that had gathered demanded Jesus’ death. Pilate attempted twice more to ask them why they wanted Jesus killed, but the crowd got louder and more out of control. Finally, Pilate gave into to their demands and ordered that Jesus be crucified.
The soldiers took Jesus out to be crucified along with two convicted criminals. As they put Him on the cross, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Those watching sneered and said that if He was the Messiah, He should be able to save Himself. One of the two criminals being crucified with Him joined in the mockery by telling Jesus that if He was the Messiah He should save all three of them. However, the other criminal rebuked the first, admitting that he deserved to be crucified, but stating that Jesus did not. He then turned to Jesus and asked Him to remember him when He came into His kingdom. Jesus told him that he would join Him in paradise.
These two psalms are great songs of praise to God. God’s power precedes Him and destroys His enemies before He even approaches them. God does not have to take action to defeat His enemies, their destruction is a product of His essence. We should praise the Lord because His very essence spreads joy to those who love Him. If we love the Lord we will hate evil.
Let us sing a song to God, telling of His wonderful deeds. I will praise the Lord because He has done marvelous things. God will judge the world with justice and fairness bringing joy to those who love Him. These two psalms bring joy to my heart and lift me up when I feel down.
The writer advises us to stay away from fools because what they say is devoid of knowledge. He continues by telling us that the prudent look ahead carefully to see where the road they are on ends up, while the foolish convince themselves that the road they are on goes where they want to go without ever looking to see if that is so.
