Today is a day to reflect on a passage that you read but thought, "I really would like to spend some more time in." Perhaps it's a Psalm that you would like to pray through or a verse you would like to memorize. Maybe it is a particular event in Genesis you want to re-read. Or maybe you missed a day or got started a day late due to the holiday so you want to use today as a catch-up day. Whatever it is, I want to hear about it. So whatever you are reflecting on today, post a comment and tell me what it is! Also, tell me what you are thinking so far as you have completed the first week of reading your Bible! 51 more weeks to go!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Genesis 15-17 & Psalm 6
Genesis 15-17
Abram would love to think that God will make his family into a great nation; but, there is just one minor problem: He has no children! Abram and his wife Sarai were barren from having children. So all of Abram's possessions will have to left as an inheritance to his highest servant. But God told him otherwise. God took Abram out to the clear night sky and said your children will be an innumerable as the stars in the sky. To seal the promise, God offered a "covenant" with Abram. A covenant is known as a promise that is between unequal parties. For example a king and a servant; or, God and man. The covenant was sealed by the sacrifice of animals. There is a prophecy spoken by God in Genesis 15:13-16: Abram's family will be enslaved by a great nation for 400 years. This is a direct prophecy concerning the slavery of the Hebrew people by Egypt in the book of Exodus in which Moses sets them free.
Genesis 16 shows us that Abram is not a perfect man. Soon after he had heard the promise from God that he will have a son, he listens to his wife who says she will never have a son. They attempted to solve the problem by human means rather than by God's means. He married another wife-Sarai's servant woman-and had a son through her. This soon led Sarai to resent her servant woman deeply. So she mistreated her which caused the young servant woman to run away. As she ran, an angel of the Lord appeared to her and asked why she way running. Running from our problems rarely solves them. And so, the angel told her that God was going to bless her with descendants to numerous to count. Christian scholars suggest that this is in reference to the nations of Islam. The son is to be names Ishmael and he will be as a "wild donkey which will never get along with his brothers-they will always be at odds". And so she returned home. Abram was 86 years old when his first son was born.
About 13 years later, God appeared to Abram and God renewed His covenant with Abram. He said to Abram that he will be the father to many nations. So he changed his name from Abram to Abraham which translates in Hebrew to mean "the father of many nations." This was God's part of the covenant. Abraham's part of the covenant was that each male in his household and of his descendents must be circumsised on the eighth day of his birth. In addition, Sarai's name was changed to Sarah which translates in Hebrew to mean "Princess of the nations." Abraham laughed at the thought of a hundred year old man and a ninety year old woman being able to conceive a child. Understand the people during this time lived much longer lives; however, 90 years then is just as long as 90 years is today. The child-bearing years would also have been created the same as God creates them today. God promises a son born from Sarah and he will be names Isaac-which translates from Hebrew to mean "He laughs." It just goes to show that God has a sense of humor to remind Abraham all the days of his life his doubting God. Don't ever doubt God. He will lead you, and you ought to follow! Your life will be richly blessed because of it!
This is the first of seven "penitential" Psalms (Psalms speaking of repentance). It again finds King David crying out to God for mercy and protection from his enemies. The thrust of the Psalm is a crying out to God to rescue him from the anguish he is currently in. What anguish could this be? Perhaps David is still referring to the oppression from his enemies who are attempting to overthrow his kingdom? Maybe David has been caught in some sort of sin that has left him in the anguish of guilt. We all know the guilt that sin can bring us in spiritually before God. Whatever it be that David is battling within, he cries out to God to not "discipline him in anger or rage" (Psalm 6:1). Have you found yourself in a situation where you have cried out to God for mercy in a situation that you felt was too difficult to bear? If so, did you continue your crying out to God? Or did you give up? One thing we will find out about David is that he is consistent in his search for God in his trials and troubles.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Genesis 12-14 & Psalm 5
Genesis 12-14
The book of beginnings (Genesis) will now take a center stage focus on one man and his family-Abraham. Before he received the promise from God, his name was Abram. God told Abram to leave his hometown and go to a place which He will be told of later. Okay, so what if God told you to make a drastic change in your life without clear direction? Would your faith be strong enough to follow? The distance that Abram and his family traveled from his hometown in Ur to the land that God had promised him (Canaan) was nearly 1000 miles. They would have traveled on foot or camel. It would have been a long journey. As they traveled, Abram too regular opportunity to stop, build an alter, and worship God.
Abram's fear of the Egyptian Pharaoh caused him to lie. How many times have we been caught in this position? This lie was a half-truth. In Genesis 20:12 we will discover that Sarai was Abram's half-sister (same father but different mothers). Nonetheless, she was still his wife. Due to Pharaoh's unknowingly wrongdoing, God sent a severe illness upon Pharaoh and his whole house-hold. When he discovered the truth, Pharaoh let the leave-he just sent them out as soon as he could.
Abram and his nephew Lot were incredibly wealthy with silver, gold, and cattle. So much cattle, that the land would not support their great number. So Abram offered to Lot to choose which land he would choose. Wouldn't it have been obvious which land he would have chosen? Was Abram testing Lot and his level of respect he had for his uncle's family? Or was Abram truly trusting for God to provide? Whatever the case, God continued his promise to Abram that everywhere the eye can see will one day by the home to Abram's descendants. Again, Abram built an alter to worship God.
Then war broke out in the land where Lot had chosen to live and Lot had been captured along with all of his wealth. Abram heard the news and collected all of the men born into his household (all of the male servants and herdsmen) and put together an army of 318 men. Se set out and successfully rescued Lot and all of his possessions.
It is interesting how so many of the Psalms that King David wrote make reference to his enemies. I am sure that a nation's king would have many enemies. Especially those who seek to overthrow his kingdom. It is also interesting that amidst so many enemies, David continues his steadfast devotion and trust in God. How can we learn from that? Psalm 5:2 reads loud for me: "Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I will never pray to anyone but you." I take this verse but literally and figuratively. Literally I will pray to no other god. Figuratively, I will offer my devotion solely to God. Such a deep devotion is required to make that statement. How many times have I "prayed" to the god of money? How many times have I given time to the god of worry? So many "gods" in our modern world can steal our devotion from our Almighty God! What can we do this year to prevent this from happening? Perhaps our commitment to reading God's word this year is a start!
Psalm 5:3 speaks of an early morning appointment with God. Today I am reading God's word at night because of an abnormally busy day. However, there is such value in reading and praying early in the morning. Your days worries have not yet found you. Your mind is fresh from a night's rest. The rest of the world is still in slumber and you can completely focus all of your attention on God. I highly encourage a morning devotion time. I myself will attempt to recommit to that as well.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Genesis 1-11 & Psalm 4
Genesis 10-11
Yesterday we read in Genesis 9:25 that Noah cursed the descendants of Ham (the Canaanites). Did you recall some terrible places that God destroys later in Genesis in the list of Ham's descendants (Genesis 10:6-19)? Places like Sodom and Gomorrah (10:19)? I know that passages such as this with long lists of genealogies can be a bit boring; however, it is important to read through to aquatint ourselves with Bible locations and families.
The story about the Tower of Babel is common enough that we know the jist of the story. This is a good place to practice looking at the details of the story. Why would God be concerned with the people building a Tower to Heaven? Perhaps it is the pride that is involved: "Come let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches for the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves" (11:4). Perhaps God is concerned that they will forget God in their power? How often do we observe people who when in tough times they turn to God; but, when times are going well, they forget God and go about their own power?
We again come to list of "begets" or the genealogies. Genealogies are important also for keeping a timeline in the Bible. When ancient writings contain genealogies, dates are able to be determined using those genealogies. In this instance, we can learn that Abraham (Abram) who is the central figure of faith in the Old Testament (the Father of the Hebrew People) is born just 9 generations following the Flood. Remember Shem is one of Noah's sons. We can even add the number of years if we follow the genealogy. Approximately 292 years after the Flood, Abram was born!
This Psalm is probably written shortly after King David's problems with Absalom and his army of 10,000 that were spoken about in Psalm 3. Have you ever faced times that were frustrating or when you were just angry? Of course, we all have. In the midst of those frustrating times, it is not our first nature to pray to God and ask Him to take away your distress. Just like a hot-headed teenager who punches a wall, we would like nothing more than to relieve our distress ourselves. But David offers us a much better approach in Psalm 4:1--"Take away my distress...hear my prayer." That's a better way! Give it to God. In addition to this, heed the warning of Psalm 4:4: "Don't sin by letting anger gain control over you. Think about it overnight and remain silent" (NLT). This will take some great discipline; however, it will be the true ticket to allowing God to take away your distress. Not to mention, it may allow you to see how insignificant your anger really was at the time!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Genesis 6-9 & Psalm 3
Genesis 6-9
This is the account of Noah and the Great world-wide flood. This is a historical event according to Jesus (Matthew 24:37-39) and according to ancient world cultures who retell of a flood that covered the entire world (Ancient Chinese, Ancient Muslims, Ancient African Tribes all retell of this historical event!
The people God created were becoming so corrupted by sin that God found only one man who still worshipped Him-Noah. Notice that God considered the sinful people to be "consistently" sinful in 6:5 (New living Translation) or "only" evil (NIV). So God decided to destroy them all and start over. But God used His patience and gave them 120 years to shape up (6:3).
Noah was an upright and righteous man, blameless in people's sight and (according to the New Living Translation) "consistently" followed all that God said. God sees what is consistent. We sometimes beat up ourselves over one sin (and we probably are okay to do that so long as it doesn't take our attention from God). Rather, God observes the consistency of our lives. Do we consistently honor Him and obey Him? Or do we consistently ignore Him? This was the premise for God's decision to wipe out all the earth!
Once the flood had resided (over one year after it had begun), God issued a promise to Noah's family--"Never again will I destroy the earth with water." This promise is marked by the rainbow after a rain. They were then told to have lots of children to repopulate the earth. Today's text ends with the imperfection of Noah. He drank too much of the wine he made in his vineyard and became drunk. This does not show the allowance of the Bible for drunkenness. However, it shows the shame of drinking too much as Noah passed out naked and it was shameful for him to be seen naked by his son Ham.
Have you ever faced a situation when you felt like all and everyone were against you? It seemed like the world was out to get you? When it seemed like God was not listening to your cries out to Him? If so, then you possibly can understand what David was enduring in Psalm 3. The setting of the Psalm is when King David was running for his life because his rebellious son named Absalom was seeking to kill his father so that he could become king of Israel (2 Samuel 15). Absalom had gathered an army of about 10,000 soldiers to hunt and kill David. In that time, David wrote Psalm 3. His trust in God for protection and peace is incredible. Next time you feel the world caving in on you, read Psalm 3.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Genesis 3-5 & Psalm 2
Genesis 3-5
We begin by being introduced to our enemy, Satan. But as satan is still able to, he uses God's own creation against him. The serpent is not evil (contrary to some people's fears of snakes). However, the devil is shrewd and he tempts Adam and Eve by using the animal they themselves would have named! The dialogue between Eve and the devil to me seems to sound all too familiar. Doesn't it remind you of the conversation in your head when you are being tempted to sin? You hear the little voice saying to you about your favorite sin, "You know you would love to do this..." Then you begin to debate, "No, I can't!" Then the questioning begins, "But it wouldn't hurt anyone will it? No one has to know..." Until before you know, you find yourself in shame because you have done the one thing you knew you shouldn't be doing. And then, do we do as Adam did? He began to blame Eve for she was the one who was tempted. Then he blamed God for creating Eve in the first place. Nevertheless, he never took the responsibility for his own actions. And as we see in Genesis 3:16-17, there are serious consequences to sin. God loves us, but he also hates sin. And sin must be punished. Can you recall ways your sin has brought about consequences that you have had to deal with? Was the sin really worth it in the long run?
Chapter 4 introduces to us Adam And Eve's first children, Cain and Abel. The children learned early on in life that giving an offering to God was very important. How are you training your children to give offerings to God? As Abel offers his offering of meat and Abel offers his offering of grain, God accepts Abel's but not Cain's. We don't understand such a rejection do we? Although the details are not presented completely, we must assume that God has given some sort of instructions on giving to Him. Perhaps Cain gave with the wrong motive? Perhaps Cain had sinned in his heart when he gave for in 4:7, God told Cain that "sin is waiting at your door waiting to attack and destroy you." This is the posture of sin in our lives, it is always lurking for the attack! We too must be careful. Whatever the reason, God rejects Cain's offering and this drives Cain to sin-murder.
Psalm 2
This Psalm has two meanings. First, it was written by King David who ruled Israel for nearly 40 years as one of the most God-fearing Kings Israel had ever seen. This Psalm reflects upon David's coming to power. Secondly, it reflects on Christ's coming to power in heaven as God's Son. It is what we call a Messianic Psalm. This means it is written as a prophecy looking forward to the coming Messiah. As the nations rage and the non-believing kings of the earth plot for more power, God laughs because he knows he is truly in control and truly all-powerful. Since we know that today, heed the warning in verse 12--"Submit to God's son...what joy for all people who find protection in him!"
Genesis 1-2 & Psalm 1
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I know that this first blog is hitting a day late...all of the New Year's festivities found me sleeping all day.
Genesis 1-2
Genesis 1-2 are well known chapters in the Bible. Some of the most memorable events for Christians and some of the most debated among non-Believers. We find that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. That is presented in the simplest of ways as if to say, "DUH! Of course there is a God." There is no discussion, no debate. We move on. The earth, as God first created it, was formless and empty. And as we read the rest of the creation account in Genesis 1, we see that God took six days to create. The first 3 were to create form from the formless. The next 3 days were to fill what was empty. And on the last day, God rested! This is important for us to ponder on. If the creator God took time to rest from his labor, then it might be a good idea for us to learn from His example. Rather than look at days off as an opportunity to do the things that need to be done but you never have time to do them, maximize opportunities to rest! We need it!
Chapter one of Genesis is written as factual..."this happened, this happened, then this happened, etc." But chapter 2 takes a completely different approach. Genesis 2 is written as a personal account. Adam becomes the central figure and the creation event is told from his point of view. It becomes less factual, more relational. Notice the reference to the two trees in the Garden of Eden. The "Tree of Life" and the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil". Two trees possessing so much power and opportunity. Genesis 3:22 will teach us that if you eat from the "Tree of Life", you will live forever and never die. And as we learn from Genesis 2:17 & 3:11-12 that when you eat from the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" you will know not only good but also evil. This causes man to die. It introduces the first sin. And it drives a wedge between man and God. Since Adam and Eve had no prior experience with death nor evil, perhaps this is why they chose the power of knowledge over eternal life!
Psalm 1
I love the Psalms. I once heard from a wise friend that when he struggled with reading his bible and "feeling" close to God, that he would read from the Psalms and it always brought him back into an attitude of worship! Interestingly enough, we read Psalm 1 on the first day of our One-Year challenge! Six simple and short verses, yet filled with so much wisdom. Psalm 1:1 offers us counsel of who we make company with. We need to spend time with non-Christians in hopes of sharing the Good News with them; however, too much time can produce the opposite effect if we are not careful. God blesses those who notice the boundary and keep it! Secondly, the one who makes boundaries when spending time with non-believers also is blessed when He spends time in God's word. The "Law of the Lord" is common Old Testament language for God's Word, or the Bible. Meditating on God's word is more than just a quick reading. Meditation involves you reading the sentence and thinking on it, wrapping your life around the verse, and applying it to your life. The person who does these two things will be firmly and deeply rooted and not easily blown astray. Hold tight to this promise this year as you read your Bible.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)