For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The wealthy believe that their riches will protect them. While there is some truth to that, riches provide less protection than they imagine. The only true security is trusting in God.
    Haughtiness and arrogance will lead to destruction. Those who are arrogant will, sooner or later, overlook a threat because they believe they are too important, or special, to be threatened by it. On the other hand people will be eager to honour those who are humble in their actions and do not seek to be seen as better than others.

    This psalm tells us how to live prosperous and happy lives. The first part of tells us what not to do. Do not follow the advice of the wicked. Do not spend all of your time hanging out with sinners. Do not join in mocking the righteous. The corollary to these is that we should seek the advice of the righteous, we should hang out with the godly (this means those who seek to do God’s will, not those who just attempt to appear godly), we should seek to learn the true facts about those being mocked.
    Then the psalmist tells us what to do. If we wish to live prosperous, happy lives we should delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on His words. Let us seek to be guided in all of our actions, even the most minor, by God’s word. Study scripture and make it an integral part of how we see the world.

    This passage shows us something that is often the case when a mob is roused against someone. Paul had been arrested by the Roman soldiers as the cause of the riot they had deployed to quell. The Roman commander was surprised when Paul spoke to him in Greek because he had thought Paul was an Egyptian revolutionary (based on what he had understood the people in the crowd say about Paul). Then when Paul began speaking to the crowd in the local language (the Greek is ambiguous as to whether he was speaking Hebrew or Aramaic), the members of the crowd were surprised. In both cases, people had formed a false impression about who Paul was and what he stood for. Paul realized this and made the effort to correct the misunderstandings.
    We will often run into similar situations in our lives, where the few people who are angry with us for what we have actually done have distorted our actions so as to cause others to be angry with us. We should seek out opportunities to correct the understanding of those who view us negatively on the basis of a false understanding of what we believe.

    I think that this account is among my favorites. Josiah began by working to restore the Temple. When the workmen found a copy of the Law of Moses as they were repairing the Temple, the priests brought it to Josiah. When Josiah heard what it contained, he was mortified by how badly the people of Judah had failed to keep God’s commands. When God responded to his inquiry about what the scroll said, he did not become complacent. Even though God told him that the disaster was unavoidable but that it would not come in his lifetime Josiah did not become complacent. Instead Josiah became even more determined to follow God’s commands. He led the people to renew their covenant with God. He actively sought out all of the ways in which the people of Judah had incorporated pagan practices into their worship. He sought out the shrines in the high places and destroyed them. He brought the priests who had sacrificed to God at those shrines to Jerusalem. Josiah was systematic and thorough in wiping out pagan practices among the people of Judah.
    Josiah thoroughly destroyed everything that might distract the people from worshiping God and following His commands. Then he called on all of the people to celebrate the Passover in the manner prescribed by the Law. Josiah turned to the Lord with all of his heart, soul, and strength. Let us dedicate ourselves to serving God with a similar effort, destroying anything in our lives that may distract us from God and turning to God with all of our heart, soul, and strength.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Once again, the NIV translation makes sense of this passage for me. The words we speak are like deep waters, containing and concealing many dangers. Wisdom in those words is like a rushing stream, refreshing and transforming the landscape around us.

    Let us praise the Lord. He is great enough to count and name each of the stars, yet He will heal the brokenhearted and bind their wounds. It is not our strength, intelligence, wisdom, or beauty which gives God pleasure. Rather God is pleased when we obey His commands because we fear and love Him. Let us put all of our hopes in God’s unfailing love. I will glorify God, because even though none can stand against Him, He has sacrificed His own Son for each and every one of us.

    There is an interesting story here. A group of Jewish exorcists attempted to use the name of Jesus and of Paul in order to cast out demons. They thought that Jesus’ name could be used as one more incantation in their “magic”. The name of Jesus is not an incantation we can use to get the results we are looking for. If we attempt to use Jesus’ name that way, it will end as badly for us as it did for these Jewish exorcists. However, the results will glorify God, just as the results in this story did. When the believers in the area heard the story of the exorcists they recognized their own sins and the dangers of practicing “magic” and “magical” thinking. They gathered the books and devices they used to practice magic and destroyed them. The key here was not the destruction of these items, but the irrevocable renunciation of the practices they represented.

    Yesterday’s passage told us that Amaziah ruled Judah and did what was pleasing in God’s sight. Today we learn that his son and his grandson did likewise. However, none of the three kings destroyed the shrines in the high places. In the meantime, king after king rose to power in Israel and did evil in God’s sight. The kings of Israel abused their power and practiced idolatry. When Amaziah’s great-grandson, Ahaz, took the throne in Judah he began following the pagan practices which were practiced at the shrines in the high places and treated his subjects the way that the kings of Israel did. He actively imitated the pagan practices of the peoples surrounding Judah, going so far as to replace the altar in the Temple with one based on an altar set up by the Assyrians in Damascus. The implication of the description given is that King Ahaz transformed the Temple worship from worship of God to worship of the Assyrian gods.
    The failure of Amaziah, his son, and his grandson, to root out pagan practices from among those who worshiped the Lord led to King Ahaz preferring those practices to the worship of God. We can see the same thing in the Church around us. When we look the other way when people fail to remain faithful to God, people will gradually “move the line” further and further from where God really wants us to be. When the Church in the United States stopped condemning divorce, it reduced the Church’s ability to defend God’s will for marriage. We need to relearn how to condemn sin without condemning the sinner. The failure of Amaziah, Uzziah, and Jotham to lead their people to complete faithfulness led to Ahaz, who sacrificed his own son in the fires of a pagan god. Yet Ahaz’ son was Hezekiah. God will use our failings to bring about revival. Let us pray that a spiritual leader arise today to lead us in a revival like the one which Hezekiah led.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    This is an important proverb to think about. When I talk to people I disagree with, am I having the conversation in order to increase my understanding? Or am I only interested in telling others what I think?

    I will praise God as long as I live. Others may put their confidence in their connections and the people they know in high places, but I will put my trust in the Lord. Powerful people will die, but God will help me for all of eternity. Let all that I am praise the Lord until after I breathe my dying breath.

    We have two references here to believers who only knew “the baptism of John” and had not yet received the Holy Spirit. Apollos was an enthusiastic speaker who became a powerful voice for the Lord once he received the Holy Spirit. The believers whom Paul met in Ephesus were genuine, yet it was not until they received the Holy Spirit that they gained the power to perform wonders. Is the lack of miracles in the Church in America because not enough of us have the Holy Spirit? How can we bring the Holy Spirit to more people of faith? What do we need to do differently in order to encourage believers to receive the Holy Spirit?

    In today’s passage we read of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, who did what was evil in God’s sight. Yet, when the land of Israel was being badly oppressed by the king of Aram, Jehoahaz prayed for God’s help and God delivered the people of Israel from the king of Aram. Despite God delivering them, they did not turn from their sins. We also read of Amaziah, king of Judah, who did what was pleasing in God’s eyes, but not as David had done. Amaziah allowed the people to continue worshiping in the high places where they combined worship of God with pagan practices. Amaziah became arrogant and went to war against the king of Israel. As a result, he suffered a terrible defeat. As I read this I see that God will some times come to the aid of those who sin, and those who usually do what is right will not receive God’s aid when their actions do not align with His will.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Those who are truly wise do not have a lot to say, even a fool will seem wise if they keep silent most of the time. You can gain a reputation for intelligence and wisdom by not speaking. Learning to keep your temper will make it easier to avoid speaking up in situations that will make you seem foolish.

    As I read this psalm, I recognized it as being appropriate in my current situation. I am in a new job where there are people with whom I find myself battling as I seek to do the best job that I can. I need to remember that God will give me the skills needed to fight these battles in the proper ways. As I serve God and do as He directs, He will be my ally in the battles I face. It is not up to me to win these battles. God will win them for me. If I am careful to only fight those battles which God commands me to fight, I will find myself in a position of strength when I face those who oppose me.
    I have recently seen how true this is, and it leads me to praise God. He is indeed my rock and fortress.

    As I have been reading through Acts this year I noticed something. On multiple occasions, when opposition to Paul’s preaching arose in a town, the believers sent Paul out of town. As I read, it became more and more clear to me that Paul did not deal with disagreement well. Paul did not know when to back down, when to move on. Others had to tell him, “This is not your battle to fight.” This is not to say that Paul was wrong to fight the battles he fought, just that it appears that sometimes others had to tell him when there was nothing more to be gained from continuing the fight.
    We often forget that there is only one person in the Bible who we are supposed to imitate. That person is Jesus. The Bible accounts tell us about the good things and the bad things which people like Paul did. All too often, we see the accounts of Paul and think that his confrontational style is something we are supposed to imitate, even the parts where he got it wrong. If we are faithful to God as Paul was, we will face trials and persecutions. However, sometimes we are supposed to “leave town” when we have stirred things up through our faith. We need to listen to our fellow believers when they tell us it is time to move on.

    The family of Ahab ruled in Israel and did evil in the sight of the Lord. As a result of their evil, Ahab’s entire family was killed. We often think that their sins were about idolatry, and this is not wrong. However, it is not complete. Ahab and his descendants abused their power. They mistreated the weak and powerless in order to satisfy their own pleasures. Their failure to honour God and follow His commands led them to believe that it was their right to treat others as objects who existed purely as a means to satisfy their lusts and desires. They chose to worship “gods” who they could manipulate to get what they wanted. Ultimately they were unwilling to accept that God was sovereign over themselves. They denied that they were accountable to anyone or anything for their actions. Ultimately, that is what idolatry is, the refusal to accept that we are accountable to anyone outside of ourselves. They discovered, when it was too late, that they were wrong. Will we make the same mistake? Or will we recognize that God will hold us to account for our actions?