Week 120, Day 2: Watch your path
Today’s Reading: Proverbs 4:1-27
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
There are two points that stood out to me in chapter 4. There are those who are bent on doing evil. They cannot sleep unless they do evil. Only a fool goes through life thinking that everyone is really a good person but they may just be misunderstood. Evil exists and there are those who seek to do others harm, sometimes just for the “fun” of it. We need to be on guard for ourselves and our families.
The second point was in verse 25 where Solomon tells his son to keep his eyes looking directly ahead of him. I like the thought of the different applications for this. We need to have a goal set in life. If you have a goal then you have a direction and a path to travel in order to get there. Those who are off meandering through life won’t ever get to the goal because they get distracted and stray from the path. Also, there is the concept here of not allowing something to pull you off for a “detour” or a sidetrip. Becoming distracted by evil or just temptations to engage in other activities either slows us down or leads us off in another direction, away from being godly. Thus we need to watch the path of our feet. Watch the manner of our walk so that we are behaving in a manner that is becoming of the one who called us.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Week 119, Day 5: The Strange Woman
Today’s Reading: Proverbs 2:1-22
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
One mark of wisdom is to know who or what to stay away from. Solomon warns his son that wisdom will keep him away from the “strange” woman. This is the one who would leave her covenant relationship and the companion of her youth, i.e. her husband and engage in a relationship with another man. Those who pursue that relationship will not return from pursuing her. There is no good that can come from such a relationship. This has been proven time and again and yet men keep going after women who are not their wife. The strange woman is the woman who is not his. She is strange in the sense of being foreign, not belonging to him. He has no right to her and yet man has often chased after such women. You would think people would see the consequences of such actions and turn away from such deeds. I wonder if some of this behavior is not encouraged and instilled in people by the notion of young people “sowing their wild oats”. It is viewed as normal for young people to date around a lot and test things out. At what point in time does that attitude of self gratification go away. If it is encouraged and tolerated among the young people then does it not stand to reason that it will proceed into adulthood. Such foolishness is not something that Christian households should embrace. And yet how many times do Christians think nothing is wrong with the way dating often takes place. Instead of training young people to avoid pitfalls many Christians send them into Satan’s open arms. He is more than happy to seduce them and corrupt their innocence. We need to be wary of such a lite hearted, open approach to training our kids or they may develop the mindset that leads them to welcoming a relationship with a strange woman.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Week 118, Day 5: In God’s book
Today’s Reading: Psalm 138:1-140:1-13
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
I like Psalm 139 a lot. No place can we go to flee from the watchful view of Jehovah. He sees and knows everything about us. He knows us so intimately. That thought is emphasized by the fact that God skillfully wrought us and His eyes seaw our unformed substance (15-16). Wow.
I want to point to what is said in verse 16. I think that it is interesting to consider how the psalmist speaks of God have written in His book the days that were ordained for David. There are several times in scriptures where references are made such as this to God’s knowledge of our days. God has the power to know what will come upon the earth, who will be here and how long we will remain here. The question has always been how much does God chose to know. This passage makes me lean towards God knowing full well how long we have here on earth. We are not explained to what extent God choses to know into the future. He certainly has foretold about the coming of certain men and what they would do in their lives before, such as Josiah or Cyrus (1 Kings 13:2, Isaiah 44:28). I think that many times we shy away from discussing such topics because there is so much uncertain about it. What is certain is that God gives each man choice on how he will live his life. Man is given opportunity after opportunity to receive the gospel and to know God. We should never allow ourselves to fall prey to wondering why someone’s life ended when it did (Why did God take them) or why did things happen the way they did. The whys are not for us to fully understand. It is up to us to chose to seek out our Creator and to work diligently to form our lives around His word so that when our days do come to a close we will be prepared to meet Him.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Week 113, Day 5: Slow to Anger
Today’s Reading: Psalm 85:1- 87:1-7
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
What qualities of God do you think are most important? The answer may depend upon where you are at in your relationship at the time. How would you describe God’s attributes? What is He like? I think David phrases things well in Psalm 86:15. God is merciful and gracious. Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth. Where would we be if God was not slow to anger? I do think that this is an attribute that many today do not think of when they think of how God dealt with Israel during the OT times. But God was very very patient with His people then and is today. He gives us time to grow up. He gives us time to realize how stupid we have been at times in our life. I think many go through a phase in life where we are very self centered. But given time, God’s patience provides us opportunity to grow past those things so that we can become the kind of servants that will be God centered. I think we each should consider how God has dealt with us with such care and patience. And it should be stressed that we continue to be a work in progress. God is not done shaping us. Each day that we live we continue to have struggles and challenges overcoming shortcomings. But God continues to be slow to anger and giving us another 2nd chance and another. I like the phrase from Lam 3:22-23 when Jeremiah says that the Lord’s compassions never fail, they are new every morning. We are so blessed to serve such a good and patient God!
Popularity: 1% [?]
Week 106, Day 4: Not on your schedule
Today’s Reading: Job 35:1-16
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Elihu goes on to say that Job has multiplied his words because God does not answer his cries and visit him immediately. How often does man become aggrevated or distressed because things do not go as he wants them to go and in the time frame he wants? We have to accept at times that we will have to wait upon the Lord. Even if you don’t understand why things are happening or going badly, be patient. That is not easy for us to do. But certainly we need to guard our tongue during those times lest we speak against God or speak angry words that we will later regret.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Week 100, Day 4: Eliphaz part II
Today’s Reading: Job 5:1-27
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
How would you feel if right in the midst of your mourning someone said, “well you must have deserved this”? Eliphaz mentions in verse 4 that the wicked person’s sons are far from safety. Here Job had just lost all his children and Eliphaz is saying that it is because Job was wicked that his kids all died. I think reading this that we can understand why Job responds the way he does in the next chapter.
To Eliphaz’s credit he does emphasize the need to seek out God. He recommends and encourages Job to turn to God, i.e. repent of his misdeeds. Although mistaken in their assesment, Job’s friends are at least godly people. This to me further stresses what kind of man Job was. He was a devout man. Who would you expect for him to have as his friends? Devout people. It should be out of the norm for Christians to have ungodly and immoral people as their close friends. When a Christian falls on hard times, who do they turn to and who do they look to for advice? Who they turn to may tell you a lot about their devotion to the Lord.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Week 100, Day 3: Eliphaz
Today’s Reading: Job 4:1-21
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Eliphaz now is the first to speak of Job’s friends. He reproves Job for being impatient and dismayed now that calamity has struck him. He then goes into saying that Job must be guilty of some wrong doing. “No one ever perished being innocent, and where were the upright destroyed.” In other words, you must have done something wrong.
Eliphaz also says that he received a message in the middle of the night and it told him that man cannot be perfect before his maker.
From man’s standpoint I can understand how Eliphaz has come to say these things. Every man has his faults and often man thinks that bad things happen because we have done something to deserve it. Kinda like the belief in charma. But I believe that what Eliphaz is missing at this point is gentleness. Even if he had thought this was the case, that Job was guilty of wrong doing, it would make sense to ask instead of accusing. Eliphaz begins his statements with an accusation of wrong doing instead of investigating the situation first.
Question: When we find someone who is suffering or mourning, what should be our approach to helping them? When we find someone who is suffering the consequences from their sinful actions, how should we handle that situation?
Popularity: 2% [?]
Week 100, Day 2: Job finally speaks
Today’s Reading: Job 3:1-26
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
What would you expect would be the first words that someone would say after mourning for seven days? Job has been in such a dire state. He has been coping with the overwhelming flood of bad news that has just hit him and has sat for seven days saying nothing. Job finally opens his mouth and speaks of death. He feels that it would have been better not to have been born than to have experienced these things. He then speaks about how nice death would be by talking about the rest that is found in death (17-18), the freedom (19), and the light given to those in misery (20). Job is longing for death, for it all to be over.
Job states that all his fears have come upon him (25). I find it hard to imagine someone having to suffer more than Job did. But how do you compare someone’s misery to another’s? Regardless of what someone goes through we can certainly gain things from learning from Job’s plight.
Question; Looking back on how things turn out for Job, would it have been better for him to not have been born? Would it have been better for us if he had not experienced all of these things? What can we learn from seeing how Job felt during the time he was “in the valley of the shadow of death”?
Popularity: 3% [?]
Week 96, Day 3: Updating the books
Today’s Reading: Nehemiah 7:1-73
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
Having finished the task at hand, Nehemiah now turns to a matter that is very important to the Jews. He turns his attention to updating their genealogy records. Their people had been scattered to the wind. Their cities and many of their records were destroyed. Now that the city has been made secure Nehemiah can address some of these other important things. Tracing who they are was of the utmost importance to the Jews. The land had been orignally been divided based on which tribe they belonged to and to each family. It is not clear for how long the Jews had neglected to observe the Jubilee, this was the time when the land was to be returned to the original family as an heritage. But it is clear that the Jews still regarded their genealogy very highly. In particular the lineage of the priests and Levites was very important. If they couldn’t confirm their heritage then they were excluded from being able to serve in the Temple.
Question: Why will keeping good records of genealogy become an even more important item later in the New Testament?
Popularity: 4% [?]
Week 95, Day 5: More Conflict
Today’s Reading: Nehemiah 4:1-23
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
The Gentiles in the surrounding area are not satisfied with their previous attempts to halt the progress made in Jerusalem. In particular, those in Samaria hear word of the progress being made in building the wall and begin to plot to come by stealth and attack the Jews in order to stop the work. This is a stark reality. These people apparently hate the Jews so much that they will go to the extent of killing the Jews in Jerusalem in order to put a stop to the building of the walls. These Gentiles realize how important it is to the Jews for Jerusalem to be rebuilt.
But Nehemiah will not be halted. Instead of faltering in his determination and trust in God, he orders that half the people arm themselves and keep watch while the other half continue building. So the Gentiles succeed in slowing down the work but they cannot halt it without outright battle.
Question: How easy do you think it would have been to stop the work? What would have been accomplished by trying to find a compromise with the Gentiles?
Popularity: 3% [?]