Through the Bible in one year - Day 64

Psalm 64:1

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;

preserve my life from dread of the enemy.

I notice that this asks for protection from dread – not from the enemy – but actually from the worrying about the enemy. There are many times when the dread of something takes more time and I spend more energy on worrying about something then the actual problem deserves – I rob myself of the present moment and I give up my peace of mind in this worry.

I was just going to post the first verse, but the rest of it has grabbed my attention and I am going to post the entire Psalm for you to read here:

Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,

from the throng of evildoers,

who whet their tongues like swords,

who aim bitter words like arrows,

shooting from ambush at the blameless,

shooting at him suddenly and without fear.

They hold fast to their evil purpose;

they talk of laying snares secretly,

thinking, "Who can see them?"

They search out injustice,

saying, "We have accomplished a diligent search."

For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep!

But God shoots his arrow at them;

they are wounded suddenly.

They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them;

all who see them will wag their heads.

Then all mankind fears;

they tell what God has brought about

and ponder what he has done.

Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lord

and take refuge in him!

Let all the upright in heart exult! (Psalm 64:2-10)

This is good news for those of us who worry that the ‘bad-guys’ won’t get what’s coming to them; here we see that they don’t fool God. The writer here uses words well – can’t you visualize those who use their tongues like swords and aim words like arrows? And then we hear just what we were waiting for – their own words will turn against them – in the end the truth will out. Those who live by lies and deceit will be without friends and no one will trust them – that is the reward for their actions. OK, knowing this, I can leave the dread alone.

Yesterday we had gnats, and today now we have flies. In both cases these are annoying little things that take the joy out of you. Living in the country when the fields are being turned or the manure spread, there are times of flies – and they are annoying – but they are nothing like this plague described; these flies are everywhere, all the time; un-relentless, and so we begin to hear Pharaoh say OK, you can worship this God of yours (notice he really doesn’t believe he is God of everything yet) and only wants them to take a little vacation from being slaves. Pharaoh thinks he’ll just give them a bit of a break and that should suffice. Now the next thing I noticed today, is that this plague on the livestock is the opposite of what Joseph did for Pharaoh in his time; Joseph saved the livestock from famine – and here we have a new Pharaoh forgetting what Joseph had done and for this, his livestock dies. This livestock had been a gift from God in one sense and now, through Pharaoh’s disobedience and hard-heartedness it is taken away. This next plague of boils makes the magicians unable to stand – so no longer can they compete against the miracles of the Lord. They, I am guessing are ready to call for a truce – but Pharaoh is still not willing.

In quick succession we read of one after another who reigned as ‘an abomination’ in Israel. This is what we see in the middle of chapter 36 of 2 Chronicles:

The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy. (verses 15-16)

This sounds a lot like what we are reading about in Egypt in Exodus – this constant disregard for the Lord, and his repeated calling back to us.

Lastly, today, we read in Paul’s letter to the Romans that by our own actions and of our own accord we can never be righteous. This is a short passage today. Luckily there will be more to read tomorrow, and I know that God does not leave us in our unrighteousness – he comes to us as he has been doing in the passages in Exodus and 2 Chronicles and in the Psalms.

Today’s readings: Psalm 64, Exodus 8:20-9:12, 2 Chronicles 36, Romans 3:9-20

Through the Bible in one year - Day 63

Psalm 63:3-4

Because your steadfast love is better than life,

my lips will praise you.

So I will bless you as long as I live;

in your name I will lift up my hands.

Now in our reading in Exodus we begin to see some of the miracles of God and parlor tricks of Pharaoh's magicians...and I have to ask why would you work up a trick that turned the river into blood? YUK! This leaves them with nothing to drink. So, that’s not bad enough, they then get a plague of frogs. Frogs everywhere, in every house and room and on the roads, and even as the magicians could conjure up the frogs, they couldn’t get rid of them, so Pharaoh asks Moses and Aaron to get rid of them with the promise to let the people go. When all the frogs are dead in the land except for those in the river, the land stinks, but Pharaoh doesn’t let the people go. Do we do this do you think? Do we, when we are in distress make promises to God or to ourselves that we will stop something or do something only to forget the promise once the distress has passed? In the end of today's reading in Exodus, the magicians are convinced that this is the "hand of God" but Pharaoh remains unconvinced.

Here today we read of the death of Josiah in our 2 Chronicles passage. All along he has been doing what the Lord said and following his word, but today he decides he knows better and doesn’t listen and is killed. The reading ends with the words that the people to this day lament his passing; for he had been a just and upright king.

We continue reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans today on the same topic he was writing about yesterday, and that is our hearts – our intentions, matter to God. Pretense is not the answer; to look good is not the same as acting according to God’s law.

Today’s readings: Psalm 63, Exodus 7:14-8:19, 2 Chronicles 35:20-27, Romans 2:17-3:8

Through the Bible in one year - Day 62

Psalm 62:8

Trust in him at all times, O people;

pour out your heart before him;

God is a refuge for us. Selah

There is a lot to commend this Psalm – the need for silence in order to wait and hear the Lord; to often are we over stimulated and too busy to hear his call to us, to hear words of peace and comfort. When our world is unsteady and unreliable God is not; he is trustworthy. And the verse after the one above points out that evil people all of them together are lighter than a breath in comparison to God. OH YEAH! That is a big relief when we think of God compared to anything that troubles us. This Psalm ends by reminding us that power is God’s and out of our thanksgiving we offer steadfast love.

As we begin to prepare for the saving of Israel, we get a picture of who Moses’ forebears were. Yes, God has told Moses he is giving him authority, but even now Moses asks why would they listen to me. God gives this lineage in the middle of that question to let us know, the Israelites know and to let Moses and Pharaoh know who Moses is. Do you remember with me, when we were reading in Genesis, the blessing of Jacob to Levi? That blessing to scatter his tribe; this became a blessing to the people of Levi who learned to trust the Lord rather than the land – and from this tribe come Moses and Aaron. And thus begins the first of the miracles Moses and Aaron perform on behalf of the people in front of Pharaoh. Interesting that it doesn’t work – or they don’t just walk off into the sunset right off the bat; no in this case it is hard won and definitive. At this point in our story Pharaoh and his men would be right after them to enslave them the minute their backs were turned – and so, this miracle is unconvincing; more must come.

In 2 Chronicles we read of the celebration of the “Passover” this is the last and most definitive miracle that the Lord presents to Pharaoh to convince him the Israelites must go free; we haven’t read this yet in Exodus but it is coming. Here is what Josiah did in his time in thanksgiving for the Lord’s saving action in Egypt:

So all the service of the Lord was prepared that day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah. And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept. (2 Chronicles 35:16-19)

This reading in Romans today gives me plenty to think about. First it goes back to the Psalm, the last verse in our Psalm today says that God will give to man according to his work – and this passage in Romans begins by warning against judging others for the things we ourselves are guilty of. Paul’s letter to the Romans goes on from there to say that knowledge of the law makes us responsible for our actions under the law – and that for those who do not know the law, it is their actions by which they will be judged when they meet Jesus. This is an interesting thing to think about – our behavior matters, and why we behave the ways we do, also matters. In fact Paul directly quotes this last line from Psalm 62, when he says in verse 6 “he will render to each one according to his works.” Now we know where Paul got this idea, the question is what shall we do in response? Will we, like the Psalmist trust in God, and pour out our heart to him? Will we offer thanksgiving and love?

Today’s readings: Psalm 62, Exodus 6:10-7:13, 2 Chronicles 35:1-19, Romans 2:1-16

Through the Bible in one year - Day 61

Hear my cry, O God,

listen to my prayer;

from the end of the earth I call to you

when my heart is faint.

Lead me to the rock

that is higher than I,

for you have been my refuge,

a strong tower against the enemy.

Let me dwell in your tent forever! (Psalm 61:1-4)

OK, I don’t know about you but I could stay in this Psalm for a while. Just sit here and BE. Too often we are action beings or thinking beings instead of sitting still and being beings. Maybe that doesn’t make sense to you, or maybe you can relate to this always being in motion either physically or mentally, I have been talking to a young women who is having trouble keeping her mind at peace, and for her she finds that she needs to focus on what she should be doing at any moment rather than getting stuck in the thinking of scenarios or worrying about things to come or...just being all riled up mentally and emotionally, and yet this Psalm talks about something other than the first two alternatives – thinking and worrying or doing something; this Psalm seems to offer a different peace, one in which we are able to rest in safety and just breathe. This seems indeed to be a good place to begin and end the day. Yes, Lord hear my cry, and be my refuge.

Boy, talk about reasons to be worried this oppression the Israelites are suffering under Pharaoh is awful. This is what God says in this circumstance:

Say therefore to the people of Israel, "I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. (Exodus 6:6)

I will take that as a comfort for my own struggles – the Lord hears and will redeem me.

Here in the reading of 2 Chronicles we read of Josiah who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and in his time the book of the Law was found. Imagine, it had been lost. How little care these men had given this gift from God that in some time when they were busy with their own worries or their own plans they mislaid the book of the Law. Without knowing what was inbounds or what was out of bounds it would be hard for a tennis match to be completed, think how difficult it would be to live a life in line with the Lord’s precepts without it. No wonder we kept having these kings do what was evil in the sight of the Lord! Thankfully Josiah got everyone back on track.

This reading from Romans then is the evidence of what we do when we don’t know or care what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

This is what it says in verses 21-23:

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

I think I’ll stick with Josiah.

Today’s readings: Psalm 61, Exodus 5-6:9, 2 Chronicles 34, Romans 1:18-32

Through the Bible in one year - Day 60

 

Psalm 60:4 & 11

You have set up a banner for those who fear you,

that they may flee to it from the bow.

Oh, grant us help against the foe,

for vain is the salvation of man!

This Psalm today is a cry for help and a recognition of a place to flee – and at the last a knowledge that we cannot save ourselves. This speaks to my mind of why we need the salvation that Christ offers freely.

Exodus 4:21

And the Lord said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power.”

This seems to me the setup for the rest of what we will read in this book of salvation – this exit from slavery – make sure to do all the things that God has put in our power – and has charged us to use on behalf of his people. Tomorrow we may begin to read of some of these miracles – but it doesn’t sound as if it will end well for Pharaoh, since from the beginning he will not listen.

Our reading from 2 Chronicles today is one long object lesson on first what not to do, and next how to turn that around. Why, do you suppose it is that we wait until we are in distress before we recognize we need God? Twelve year old Manasseh went to great lengths to make a mess of things to the extent of getting carried away in chains and even then when he cried out to the Lord, he was heard and saved – there was a second chance for him. Wow, when Manasseh dies his son takes up where his father began – rather than where his father ended and is so terrible his servants conspire against him and kill him. Will Josiah be better? Tomorrow we will find out.

Today we leave the Acts of the Apostles and head to the book of Romans, as is fitting since we have been reading about Paul in Rome. But the funny thing is I thought we would be reading from Acts 29 today – but of course there is no chapter 29 in the book of Acts – but the reason it was in my mind is that there is an understanding that we are living in the 29^th chapter of Acts now – this is the chapter where we live out the things that we have seen and read about. And so we begin reading in the letter from Paul to the Romans. This is how today’s reading ends:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." (Romans 1:16-17)

Today’s readings: Psalm 60, Exodus 4, 2 Chronicles 33, Romans 1:1-17