Tag Archives: Proverbs 26:24-26

November 1, 2015 Bible Study — Today, You Will Hear God’s Voice

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 26:24-26

    There are people who will say nice things about you to your face, but behind your back they are trying to bring you down. Do not be deceived.

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Psalm 104:1-23

    I will praise the Lord with all that I am. He has created the world and the universe. He made the world a place of balance. Food and water for animals in their place. The moon and the sun each playing their role. He established feedback loops to keep everything in balance. The psalmist says it much better than I do.

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Hebrews 3

    The writer continues with his exposition on Jesus as both man and God. In yesterday’s passage, the writer made the point that Jesus was fully human. In today’s passage, he implies that Jesus is God when he says that Jesus is deserving of more praise than Moses just as the builder is deserving of more praise than the house (thus implying that Jesus created Moses).
    However, the part of this passage that really struck me today is where it says: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts…” Part of why this strikes me is that the writer puts it in twice. The first part that strikes me is that we WILL hear God’s voice today. God is speaking to us every day of our lives. We need to be listening to His voice when He speaks. There is another side to this as well. That other side is that we must not harden our hearts against the message God is speaking to us. It is not enough to hear God’s voice, we must also listen to what He says and act accordingly. To reiterate: God will speak to us today. We need to listen to what He says and follow His direction. Finally, if we are faithful and trust in God to the end, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.

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Ezekiel 1:1-3:15

    When God called Ezekiel He told him that he needed to speak God’s message whether the people listened or not. In particular, God told Ezekiel that the people He was sending Ezekiel to would not listen to Ezekiel any more than they had listened to God. The people to whom Ezekiel was sent were hard-hearted and obstinate, but God made Ezekiel just as hard-hearted and obstinate as they. There is nothing wrong with being hard-hearted and obstinate in preaching God’s message. I do not believe that Ezekiel’s call is for all of us, but some of us are indeed called to speak God’s message to those who will not listen. If we are so called, we must not allow their words, nor their scowls, not even their threats to dissuades us from preaching the message which God has given us.
    There is however a point made here which can be easily overlooked, but must not be if we hope to faithfully serve God. When God gives us His message, we must let it sink into our own hearts before we speak it to others. Let us carefully listen to God’s words and live our lives according to them. God has spoken to us today. Let us ask ourselves these questions each day, “What is God saying to me today? What does He want me to do?”

November 1, 2014 Bible Study — Let All That I Am Praise The Lord

For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have been convicted over the last few weeks to seek to develop a disciplined prayer life. It is still a work in progress. Please pray for me, that the Holy Spirit may show me how to pray in a disciplined manner.

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Proverbs 26:24-26

    Your enemies may say pleasant things to you while planning to destroy you later. Do not be fooled by what people say, judge them by what they do. Do not judge people by what they say, whether good or bad. Decide what you think about someone by what they actually do. The well-spoken person may harbor hate in their heart. The person who sounds hostile and angry may do nice things for everyone they meet.

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Psalm 104:1-23

    Let all that I am praise the Lord! This psalm follows the same theme as yesterdays. Let all aspects of who we are praise God. Just looking at the world around us gives us a glimpse into how great God is. He created this world and every aspect of it. Look at how wonderfully made it is. Every piece works together so to maintain things the way they are. There are feedback loops which cause things to stabilize. Our Lord is marvelous.

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Hebrews 3:1-19

    Having established that Jesus was both fully God and fully human, the author points out that this makes Him greater than the prophets. Moses was the greatest of the prophets (to the point that we often consider him a different category all together). Yet Jesus was greater than Moses, just as a son is greater than a servant. Moses was a faithful servant, but Jesus is in charge of the entire house of God. We are that house over which Jesus has charge.
    It is important that we do not our hearts to turn away from God by becoming evil and unbelieving. We must strive to avoid allowing ourselves to justify to ourselves doing wrong. Sin strives constantly to deceive us into hardening our hearts against God. Let us seek out fellow believers to hold us accountable for our actions, and let us encourage them to be faithful, warning them when they start to justify wrongdoing to themselves. The Israelites who listened to Moses, and witnessed God’s mighty acts through him, rebelled against God. Let us not make the same mistake.

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Ezekiel 1-3:15

    Ezekiel describes the vision he had while on the banks of the river near Babylon. His description paints a vivid picture. I have read this passage multiple times, yet every time I do, all it is is a picture. I have heard preachers preach sermons about what this aspect of the vision means. Yet when I read it myself, I see a picture but it conveys nothing more to me than a statement of God’s greatness.
    Then I get to the second chapter and it is as if God is speaking directly to me. He is sending me to a nation of rebellious people (to some degree He is sending all of us to such people). We are to tell them “This is what the Sovereign Lord says.” It does not know whether they listen to what we say or not, so long as we speak the message truthfully. We must live our lives and speak His words so that people will know that we speak the words of God. The people we are sent to speak to are stubborn and hard-hearted. God tells us that they will not listen. That is not our problem, nor our concern. We are not to allow them to frighten us with their words, nor their actions. Let us not allow them to seduce us or frighten us into joining their rebellion against God.
    In chapter three I come to a message that I know is meant for me. I am not sure who, if any, among those of you reading this it is meant for, but it is meant for me. I am not being sent to a foreign people who speak another language, not even to people who speak the same language but use it differently than I do. Those people would listen. Indeed God is sending others to them and they are listening (praise God). The people God is sending me to will not listen to me any more than they have listened to God Himself. They are hard-hearted and stubborn, but God has made me just as hard-hearted and obstinate. Oh yes, I am obstinate and hard-hearted, people often tell me so. In addition, my head is as hard as granite. God has made me this way for a purpose and I will serve His purpose.

November 1, 2013 Bible Study — Listen Carefully to the Words of God

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. In order to make that possible I read the passages and write my thoughts a day in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

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Ezekiel 1-3:15

     Ezekiel was with the Judean exiles in Babylon when he received a vision from God. There are times when there is much to be made of the symbolism of Ezekiel’s vision. However, today what I saw was that when God speaks to us, He makes Himself clear. If we are not sure what God is saying to us, it is usually because we do not want to hear what He has to say.
     I saw something in this passage that I have never seen before. Something that is vitally important to us as Christians today and is a word for me (and perhaps for me to share with another). God tells Ezekiel to first listen to His words and apply them in his own heart. It is only after the words which God is giving to Ezekiel have sunk into his own heart and wrought their changes there that Ezekiel is to speak them to his fellow exiles. The same applies to us. When God gives us a prophetic word or vision, first we need to let it sink deep into our own heart. Before we speak to others about the visions, prophecies, or messages that God gives us we need to think about how they apply to us, because, in one way or another, they do apply to us.

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Hebrews 3:1-19
    
     Today’s passage is a reminder to listen when God speaks to us. We must be careful not to harden out hearts when His Spirit convicts us of sin. It is all too easy to try to justify our sins and refuse to acknowledge that they are sin. Every time we do that we make it harder to hear and respond to God’s voice.
     We must spend time with our fellow believers who can warn us when we start to justify our wrongdoing as the right thing to do…and we must call out our fellow believers when they start to justify their sin as God’s will. There is a give and take in this. We must be willing to listen when others point out that we have sinned and turn back to following God’s ways, but we must, also, be willing to point out to our brothers and sisters in the Lord when they are sinning and call them back to following God’s ways. Both of these must be done with love and humility.

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Psalm 104:1-23

     Today’s psalm continues the theme of praising the Lord. It lists the ways in which God has displayed His power and His glory. It reminds me how much spending time in natural surroundings brings me close to God.

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Proverbs 26:24-26
    

     Today’s proverbs continue the theme of how evil people disguise their wickedness by deceitful words and actions. We are warned not to be deceived by their charm. We are also told that despite their deceitfulness and prevarication, their evil will be revealed to all.

November 1, 2012 Bible Study

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. 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.

Magrat Poses

Ezekiel 1-3:15

     Today I begin the Book of Ezekiel, which contains imagery that has been poured over by many people. The prophet starts by describing the vision he had at his commissioning as a prophet. He describes a fantastic scene involving four humanoid creatures with wings and wheels, with the wheels described as being in an arrangement similar to a gyroscope. Above the four creatures, as if being carried by them, was a being that resembled a man. Ezekiel describes this whole scene as being the glory of the Lord. There are many different interpretations that could be made of this scene, but the key one for me today is that Ezekiel fell face down on the ground before it when he saw this.
     A voice spoke with Ezekiel and told him to stand up. The Spirit entered into him and stood him on his feet. The voice then told him that he was being sent as God’s messenger to the nation of Israel, which had rebelled against God. Ezekiel is told that he is not to worry whether they listen to his words or not. He is to speak the words of God to the people of Israel so that they may have no excuse. God instructs Ezekiel to not be afraid of what the people say or do. He is to give them God’s message whether they listen or not and God tells him that they will not listen.
     God then gives Ezekiel a scroll that is covered with funeral songs, words of sorrow and pronouncements of doom. God instructs him to eat the scroll. Ezekiel follows the instructions and eats the scroll, telling us that it tasted as sweet as honey in his mouth. God tells Ezekiel to let His words sink deep into his heart and to listen to them carefully before he goes forth and tells them to the people of Israel.
     This is the symbolism that speaks to me today. We are to take the words of God deep into our hearts and digest them and make them part of who we are before we attempt to tell others to follow them. If I am going to be an effective minister to those around me who do not yet know the Lord, I must take His words into my innermost being and feed on them. I have been lax on doing this my whole life. I will try harder going forward to make God’s words my food.

Jehan Poses

Hebrews 3:1-19

     Jesus was God’s messenger and high priest. He served God faithfully just as Moses had served God faithfully. Jesus is deserving of even more glory than Moses because while Moses served faithfully in God’s House (or perhaps, as God’s House), Jesus was with God as the builder of God’s House. Jesus, as God’s Son, is in charge of God’s House. And we, if we are courageous and keep our confidence in our hope in Christ, are God’s House.
     Today when we hear God’s voice, we must not harden our hearts in the manner that the Israelites did in the wilderness. We must turn away from evil and make sure that we do not turn away from God. If we are faithful to the end, continuing to trust in God, we will share in God’s glory. We must remain vigilant so as to not be deceived by sin. We must both warn each other of the deceptions that we each fall into and be open to being warned by others so that we do not fall into sin. We must strive continuously to avoid sin and to warn our brothers and sisters so that they also may avoid sin, listening to their warnings as the very words from God.

Po Poses

Psalm 104:1-23

     Let all that I am praise the Lord. He has created the universe in all of its wonder. Each thing has its place and they are designed to interact in a finely tuned manner. Despite man’s attempts he has failed to disrupt the way that God designed the earth to work. How can I do other than praise God with all that I am when He has created such a wonderful world.

God clothed the earth

Proverbs 26:24-26

     People may cover their hatred with pleasant words, they may pretend to be kind. They may conceal their hatred with trickery, but in the end their wrongdoing will be publicly exposed. Do not be fooled when people’s actions do not match their kind words.