One Year Bible Reading Day 149: The Effects of Pride and Sin . . .

    Wow.  Intense readings today.  As could be expected from Absalom's pursuit of his ego and pride the past few chapters, his sin catches up with him....literally....his beautiful hair that he  admonished eventually became his undoing.  

    The last few days of reading had been very sobering because we see how the effects of David's sin stretch farther than just himself.  Earlier, the prophet Nathan confronts David about him and Bathsheba and says that there will be division between him and his family.  The consequences were huge because David was in a place of leadership both legislatively and spiritually.  The division became so great that his own daughter was raped(Tamar) by her half-brother, then Absalom kills his brother who raped Tamar.  Then Absalom forms a military coup against David which leads to further civil war against Judah and Israel. 

     When we finally get to today's reading, Joab kills Absalom and David mourns over his sons death.  While on one hand I do appreciate David's grace and love for his son Absalom, I have to say that I really do appreciate Joab's boldness & wisdom in rebuking David in verses 5 through 8: 

"We saved your life today and the lives of your sons, your daughters, and your wives and concubines. Yet you act like this, making us feel ashamed, as though we had done something wrong. You seem to love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that we mean nothing to you. If Absalom had lived and all of us had died, you would be pleased. Now go out there and congratulate the troops, for I swear by the LORD that if you don't, not a single one of them will remain here tonight. Then you will be worse off than you have ever been."  

   That is quite a speech by Joab to David!  And I believe he was right.  David's love for his son was admirable in one sense - but it also could be seen as selfish in another sense.  David seemed to care more for his son than for the nation of Israel, and Joab called him out on this.  It is interesting how sometimes our love for one person can cloud everything else going on in our lives.  Love for one person is a beautiful thing.  But it seems that we should also be cognizant of others around us too - and love them.  And sometimes, like David, we may need to realize that there is a greater good - a greater love - than the singular love we have been focusing on.  This is not easy to discern of course...   hopefully this makes some....

God allows us to go through these trials to make us stronger, It was not God's desire for David to sin, but to trust and obey, but thank God there was still forgiveness, grace, mercy, along with the opportunity for repentance and restoration on David's part.  

The last part of our reading today I feel fits well with the others becauseI think the last 3 verses of this Psalm are worth us camping out on here for a moment.  In verses 174, 175 & 176 the author of Psalm 119 closes out the Psalm with what I think is a prayer and a confession all in one - "O LORD, I have longed for your salvation, and your law is my delight. Let me live so I can praise you, and may your laws sustain me. I have wandered away like a lost sheep; come and find me, for I have not forgotten your commands."  Wow... not a bad prayer and confession, eh?

 One Thing Challenge:  

 Is God's Word your delight?  

Do you wish to live so you can praise God? 

 Does His Word sustain you?

Reminds me of this song that reminds of how much we ALL need to be RESCUED by Jesus!

P.T.

One Year Bible Ready Day 127: What God Wants You To Do

 "They replied, "What does God want us to do?" Jesus told them, "This is what God wants you to do: Believe in the one he has sent.""  John 6:28-29


 This is what God wants you to do.  Believe.  That's it.  It's that simple.  Believe.  Not give away all your money to the poor.  Not do thousands of good deeds.  Not become a perfect person over night.  Just believe.  Believe.  Yeah, okay, maybe God will ask you to give away some money and do good and become better person after you believe...  :)  But the key is first and foremost to Believe.  Do you Believe in Jesus, the One whom God sent?  


Why is it so difficult for many to just BELIEVE?  For the logical person, believing can be somewhat daunting because God doesn't always fit inside their nice and neat little logical reasoning abilities. Unfortunately, we, just like the people in NT times following Jesus, often don't and won't believe unless Jesus does something miraculous before our eyes.  "I won't believe it unless I see it" philosophy.  


One Thing Challenge:  Do you BELIEVE in Jesus or just in the IDEA of Jesus and what He can do for you?


P.T.
John 10:10

One Year Bible Reading Day 122: Is Jesus Your Savior?

Today we finish the book of Judges!  What a powerful and telling verse the book closes with in chapter 21 verse 25: "In those days Israel had no king, so the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes."  Unfortunately, so true then.  And perhaps so true for us today if we don't have a king.  Fortunately, we do have the opportunity to have a king - through faith in Jesus.  Otherwise, without Jesus as our king, we will surely do whatever seems right in our own eyes.  


Had an interesting conversation with our students last night regarding the Holy Spirit, well really the lack there of the Holy Spirit is so many peoples lives.  Left to my own thoughts/conscience, I can do some "good things" according to the world's standards, but my BEST ATTEMPT at doing good is but filthy rags to God.  So it was true during the book of Judges.  Too often we do what we want to do without giving God any thought at all in the process of our lives.  So many times, God becomes and "after-thought" or "Well, I've already done this Lord, now would you please bless it?"  


I'll have to be honest, this past week has been a struggle to stay continually in God's word and I've slacked off on my One Year Bible blogging, and my P90x workout's each morning.  .....funny thing that just happened.....my wife, Misty just called me as I was typing this blog and asked if I would listen to a NEW song my John Waller called "As for Me" and I think that this song fits what we read today in our Bible reading about serving the Lord with all of our heart and I want you all to enjoy this song also!

One Thing Challenge:  As for you and your house.  Are you serving the Lord?

P.T.

John 10:10

One Year Bible Reading Day 113: The Weaker they are, the Stronger they can become

 “But Lord, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” Judges 6:15  ¹⁶ The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”


I was reading this morning from the One Year Bible Blog www.oneyearbibleblog.com 
and as I was reading through Judges 6, noticed how God chose the weakest tribe and the weakest member of this man's family to do God's work.   

The writer in the oneyearbible blog said, "You’ll notice how this reply of Gideon’s is reminiscent of Moses’ reaction to God’s call to serve in Exodus chapters 3 & 4 – “Why me? How can I?” etc. etc. And I think it is very useful for each of us to note that God often calls the seemingly lowly – like Moses and Gideon – rather than the seemingly mighty to act for him. This should be encouraging to us! I wonder if you and I are sometimes like Gideon and Moses? I wonder if perhaps we are being called to do something incredible for God in our lives, and we are making excuses like Gideon and Moses made excuses?" 

This reminds me of a similar text in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 1:27, "²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Then we see the response of Jesus before Pilate and especially Herod . . . . SILENCE . . . particularly to their requests for miracles.   I wonder if there are moments in our life when we would do well to model Jesus here - to stay silent in the face of a ridiculous request - or in the face of a ridiculous attack on our faith.  Silence may be the perfect thing in the face of ridiculousness...  

Christ's strength was being made perfect through his weakness, because He was submitting Himself to His Father's will, plan and purpose to do for us what we could NEVER do for ourselves, appease the wrath of God and pave the way for us to have a right relationship BACK to God!

One Thing Challenge:  Do I TRUST God to provide even when I'm scared, don't agree or don't understand?

P.T.

John 10:10

One Year Bible Reading Day 112: Godly Women

After reading today's scripture sections, I forgot that it was a woman who led the Israelites into battle and won!  What an awesome testimony of how God used Deborah and Jael to fulfill his victory over an evil oppressing nation.


Never underestimate what God can do through you when you are submissive and obedient to the mission He has called you to.  When God speaks through you, people notice, so much that Barak didn't want to lead the 10,000 troops by himself, but that Deborah would go with him.  


Let us not forget what important roles women have played throughout the Bible.  This is a reminder that God uses ALL of us to accomplish His purpose and will.


One Thing Challenge:  Am I willing to GO THE DISTANCE when God calls upon me?  Even when it's not easy?

P.T.
John 10:10

One Year Bible Reading Day 108: Good Criticism

"If you ignore criticism, you will end in poverty and disgrace; if you accept criticism, you will be honored."  Why is it so hard for many to receive criticism?  Maybe at the very center of people, there is an innate sense of feeling insecure if someone else points out something they may already know or feel internally.  I know in my own life, some of the greatest learning experiences have come as a result of mistakes I've made.  Believe me, I don't go running, looking for critics to come my way, because they'll come sooner or later.  However, I believe that God uses criticism to sharpen us, to humble us so that we can maintain a healthy perspective of ourselves and the world around us.  


The key to receiving criticism is to NOT ignore it.  Even if you feel that you are 99.9% RIGHT, God wants us to look at the .1% of that and evaluate to see if there is ANYTHING within us that can improve because of that criticism.  I know many times, I've become defensive when I'm criticized and allow it to consume me.  Nevertheless, I need to allow myself to be open to being pliable to allow God to mold and shape me into His image, not mine, and if that means receiving criticism then so be it.


One Thing Challenge:  May we not ignore the criticism that God may be using to sharpen us into the image of Christ!


Check out this video that reminded me of how God wants to shape us into His image! :)

P.T.
John 10:10

One Year Bible Reading Day 97: God's Blessing

¹⁸ Then Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? ¹⁹ It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.” Luke 13:18-19


I love this parable because it teaches us how Jesus can take something so small and do such amazing things with it.  When God plants the seed of the Gospel in our hearts at first, it's small and we may not see the impact on others lives around us yet.  But, as we continue to seek God's will for our lives, He will continue to grow that seed within us to continue to bless others with the gift of the Gospel of Christ.


Also, it was encouraging to read the different blessings that God was placing upon the various tribes of Israel in Deut. 33.  Soon, they would be going into the new land that God has promised them and the seed that God had planted within them would continue to grow within many of them.  One person in particular that I think of is Joshua, whom Moses hands the baton over to.


How about you?  Have you accepted the seed that God wants to plant within you?  If so, are you allowing God to grow the seed or are you allowing it to dry up?


May I continue to allow God to water the seed within me.


One Thing Challenge:  Is your seed dry or wet and growing today?


P.T.
John 10:10