Author: chuck

Exodus
13
– 16

There are three definitive stories in the Bible that are
historical accounts that people question. The first is Genesis 1 where God
creates everything, either God is real or he does not exist. That is the number
1 most debated chapter in the Bible. Coming in tied for second is the great
flood (Genesis 7) and the parting of the Red Sea we will look at today.

Before getting into that we need to look at chapter 13 for a
bit. Verses 13:1 & 2 really get into where we need to be with God:

Eternal One
(to Moses): ^1-2 Set apart all of the firstborn
and dedicate them to Me. The first male offspring—both human and
animal—that opens the womb among the people of Israel belongs to me.

Ever wonder why Cain’s offering was
rejected and Abele’s was not? They both brought an offering to God, yet Cain’s
was not “first” but rather “some of the crops” (Gen 4:3).  See we need to get God first and in
everything we do. I fail at this constantly where I give God my seconds or the
left overs assuming they were not used. Rarely is the first thing I do with
money in is write my tithe. My accountant would say I tithe well, but like Cain
I give what I can. That is the point of the tithe, not that God needs the
money, but we demonstrate He is first; this is the key to this chapter. We are
not to give 1 of 10 dollars, but the first dollar.

One other note about the first born, God
gave his first son, his first born for salvation of mankind. That is a key
point where God is following his own law.

Without any more fanfare time to look at
the parting of the Red Sea. Verse 14:21 really describes what happened well:

Moses then took
his staff and reached out over the sea. The Eternal parted the sea with a
strong east wind, which blew all night and turned the floor of the sea into dry
ground between the divided waters.

One thing that often is missed is the time
the wind blew to dry the ground. Based on earlier verses it blew all night
before they crossed and God kept Egypt busy and confused during this time. It
did not say, the sea parted and they went like Hollywood depicted. God is above
nature and used nature to do the impossible, but there were still limits on
what he could do supernaturally. I have seen models on how this may have been
done, granted not like Hollywood, but cool all the same.

I would love the present day archeologists
to do a deep exploration of the Red Sea to determine if there are a mass of
chariots underwater. This would require ground penetrating sonar, but could
prove that this event happened. Maybe a grant would be in order!!

Verse 16:2 is interesting for two reasons:

As soon as
they got to the desert of Sin, the entire community of Israelites
complained to Moses and Aaron.

First one is the desert of “Sin” I notice
that is in italics so it may be an addition. After reviewing verse 16:2 with
other translations it was clear the name was not included in all but the
Message, which was 1-3 and not just 2 … in looking at KJV verse 1 it states
that they were in the “wilderness of Sin”. So the question is why is sin
named after this wilderness? It’s used before or was it called that due to
their comments?

Second is how quickly the Israelites started to complain.
Think about it, they just have been singing praises on how God did the
miraculous and saved them from bondage and in short order are wishing they had
never left. This shows God’s not always going to give us a freshly paved road
with a fully stocked limo to get to where we are going. Sometimes we have to
demonstrate faith. Unlike Israel, the more you learn to lean into God the less
worry takes over your life.

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1 Corinthians
15
– 16

Verse 15:6 should dispel any ideas that Jesus is not who He
said He was:

If that were
not amazing enough, on one occasion, He appeared to more than 500 believers
at one time. Many of those brothers and sisters are still around to tell the
story, though some have fallen asleep in Jesus.

Now Christianity grew wildly after the
death of Paul and was a thorn in the side of Rome and the established Jewish
system. If any of those wanted to disprove Jesus surely one of the 500 would
“break ranks” and snitch. We don’t see this in history, rather we see it grow.
Remember both parties would have done anything to prove this movement to be
false, it couldn’t.

One quick note on Rome, many believe that
Christianity was a fabrication to control the Jewish people. First off
Christianity was exploding before Rome turned. Second, if it was to control the
Jews, why did they make a story that did not match their “Messiah”. Instead
they went with the most unlikely of storylines that on the surface did not
match their perceptions of who the Messiah was.
Third, if it was to control the Jews, they did not do a very good job,
since the story spread more with “gentiles” than the Jews.

It wasn’t until Constantine in 324 AD that
Rome stated to turn and the Catholic Church was formed. If it was to control
the Jews why did it take 324 years of persecuting Christians, not Jews to turn?
Was it heart or was it control. The fact they quickly ended all translations of
the Bible to Latin leads me to believe it was a control issue, but not by
changing the story but manipulating it to control the people. Wycliffe changed
everything when he produced an English version. By that time the church for the
most part had been to two basic factions until this time, the Roman Catholic
Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. After this it spilt and after the
reformation there are upwards of 33,000 today. I will not judge if this is good
or bad, but it seems to fit the message of Jesus into a package more can
understand.

Paul gets into end times and how things
will finally play out. The key is do you want to be on the sidelines missing
out or in the game watching your friends on the sidelines missing out. The key
here is we need to work more at salvation for our friends than just go on our
own way. I think Paul’s urgency is not to remain self-centered, but rather
focus on God and expanding His kingdom. How are you living? I know I am not
living with passion to save my friends who do not believe.

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Mark
11
– 12

Verse 11:11 has Jesus riding into Jerusalem:

To the sound of
this chanting, Jesus rode through the gates of Jerusalem and up to the
temple. He looked around and saw that evening was coming, so He and the twelve
went back to Bethany to spend the night.

This
is a prophecy that Zechariah 9:9 predicted and was fulfilled. Now the “nay
sayers” will always point to this and say Jesus knew of this prophecy and was
forcing the situation. This may be true, but at the same time God made the
prophecy and Jesus had to fulfill it. Also, most ignore the fact that Jesus
knew where the colt would be showing supernatural abilities.

Verses
11:15 – 17 Jesus clears the temple of money changers (will not print all the
verses) and I wanted to make a quick note of this. One of my favorite plays is
Jesus Christ Superstar and this scene is depicted in the play. In the play the
temple looks more like a brothel than a house of God, where in all the scriptures
the people are just selling sacrifices. Granted both are wrong, but I think the
JC Superstar depiction was over the top to deceive people, or maybe it was just
“artistic license” to make the point of the corruption.

Verse
11:21 is Jesus’ only time he used his supernatural powers in wrath:

Peter (remembering):
²¹ That’s the fig tree, Teacher, the one You cursed just
yesterday morning. It’s withered away to nothing!

Jesus’
response was simply “trust in God” and you can do anything. How many of us have
tried to move a mountain in faith or uproot a tree or heal someone and failed?
I know I have and this honestly bothers me since it implies my faith is not
strong. At the same time is moving a mountain literal, or is there a hidden
meaning lost in translation? Don’t know?

Either
way this was the first time wrath of God rained from heaven and killed a fig
tree. Interesting how Jesus could have done this more for “effect” but did not.
Heck He could have saved himself, but followed God as he should. I wonder if
this was done to show everyone the power He could call on not only for healing,
but destruction also.

Verse
12:6 is part of the story of the vineyard owner:

He had a son whom
he loved above all things, and he said to himself, “When these thugs see my
son, they’ll know he carries my authority. They’ll have to respect him.”

This was pointed right at the religious leaders who were
plotting against Jesus. Jesus is the son and God is the owner, just in case you
missed the analogy. The salves beforehand I assume were the prophets who told
Israel what they did not want to hear.

Verses 12:30 & 31 are in response to a question on the
“greatest” commandment:

³⁰ You
should love the Eternal, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your mind, and with all your strength.” ³¹ The second great
commandment is this: “Love others in the same way you love yourself.” There
are no commandments more important than these.

Why did Jesus not say one, but rather two
commandments? Simple, you follow 1 and 2, the rest come simple. You love God
and the commandments are not some legalistic mumbo jumbo, but something you
know pleases God. If you love your neighbor, murder, coveting and other laws
against others would not be a problem. I like the way the law is love others as
you love yourself. Again this is one of those translational things, I have
heard some equate it to masturbation, but in reality it’s the care for others
as you would yourself.

This is a problem with the “Emo” crowd, who
seems to hate themselves but is an opportunity to show God’s love also.

Jeremiah
17
– 21

As I read through Jeremiah I tend to drift easily, since
there is a bunch of stuff that applied to his time and through the Babushka
Doll Principle could apply to the future and even today. In verse 17:25 you
start seeing how this is:

The family of David
will always reign on his throne here. The kings and rulers of this land will
pass through these gates in chariots and on horses. As for their officers, the
people of Judah, and the citizens of Jerusalem, they will live securely
in this city forever.

This was an accurate prophecy for the time
and future since Jesus now reigns. This is why I get lost reading these … I
look at that and wonder what else I missed, so I reread it … and then forget
the context of the original quote and have to go back. Finally I just start
reading words and get lost in what’s being said. Sometimes I just need to be
spoon fed this meaning.

With that said go to Revelations and I can
say the same thing. I have also been spoon fed many different stories that show
the antichrist is (fill in the blank) and we are in the end times. I agree we
are in the end times, but again I get lost with muti-headed beasts and horns
that talk. But check out TheFuelProjects Revelations playlist. It’s the only
one that applies Revelations to today and makes perfect sense. His main point
is that when it goes down there will be no confusion on who or what is
happening.

Now I need to get back to Jeremiah.

Interesting how in verse 19:5 a favorite ancient god shows
back up:

They have built
high places and altars to Baal where they have sacrificed their own
children as burnt offerings to this dark and pagan god. How could
this be My people? I never taught them to do such unspeakable evil.
It never even crossed My mind.

Again I refer you to TheFuelProject and
their Know Your Enemy play list for an understanding of Babylon and the ancient
gods. But Baal keeps showing up again and again in scripture. I wonder how Baal
is represented today. I often believe science has changed that since Satan
realizes worshiping a lesser god never worked, so if he can’t be worshiped, one
must dismiss the supernatural altogether. And here we are today where science
explains the natural and therefore dismisses the supernatural altogether. Satan
wins.

Verse 21:5 is interesting when you look at
what God is saying:

With My strong
hand and powerful arm I will rise up and fight against you, fueled by My great
wrath, anger, and fury. Do you think I will fight beside you? You
misunderstand.

God
will fight, but not for Israel this time rather against. I don’t want to be on
the other side of God’s wrath and hence why I read the Bible. I want to ensure
I understand the context and what is being said. I am afraid of what is being
taught is incomplete or cleaned up many times in order not to offend someone.

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Job
31 – 32

Job lays out his case before the Lord asking what he has
done wrong. Verse 31:1 is an example of this:

Job: I have
made a sacred pledge with my eyes.
        How then could I stare at a young woman with desire?

Job
uses 8 areas of potential sin in his life and ask why the punishment does not
fit the crime. Over and over Job makes his case before the Lord, questioning
his problems with the Lord. It must be awful to have no idea why you’re being
punished or going through major trials.

I
see this today and have mentioned many before. I keep going to one friend who
has been successful and the prime example I have used for reading the Bible so
much since at the time I started he was on his 8^th read through. During
a fun vacation in the snow his son went off the trail and hit a tree. Since
this accident he has been confined to a wheel chair. We all battle why God
could allow something like this … and I do often, but we also must understand
that we are not immortal and sometimes things just happen.

We
know this is not the case with Job, but often we use this story wondering if
our hardships are Job events.

Verse 31:27 points to a reference we don’t explore often:

If such sights
secretly seduced my heart
        and made my hand throw kisses to the false gods of sun and moon,

We
need to look closely at the sun and moon gods since they really stem from the
time when mankind rebuilt after the flood. Babylon was one of the cities that
came from Noah’s children. Babylon has often been Satan’s city while Jerusalem
has been God’s. Nimrod and his wife Semiramis ruled. Somehow his wife who may
have been the brains behind his rule, was eventually elevated to god of moon.
Nimrod became the personification of the sun god. All this formed what has been
come to be known as the mystery religion. The sun god may be Baal or Ra, but
always exist in some form.

Chapter
32 we are introduced to Elihu, a younger silent observer who had to state his
mind. In chapter 32 he is setting the stage for his comment. He is basically
saying he cannot remain silent any longer since the “wise” have failed to see
the obvious. It will be interesting what he has to say. Again stay tuned!!

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Psalms
45 – 47

One thing as I read the Psalms and hear the how they sound
in English I have often wondered how they sounded in their original language.
Since you would get the tone and flow better since I assume they would not have
used words that did not flow. The one time I did this I was disappointed in the
flow … It may be the one I picked, but it sounded rough.

Verses 45:6 & 7 are ones that makes you wonder if we are
personifying God too much:

⁶ O
God, Your throne is eternal;
    You
will rule your kingdom with a scepter of justice.
⁷     You have loved what is right and hated what is evil.

Is God really on a throne or do we have to
imagine that to understand God? If we tried to understand Him on His level
would it just blow or minds so therefore we must make Him in our image? As you
know I look at God more as a conscious energy and therefore all over the place
like described other places in the Bible. Guess we have to have an interface,
for some it’s a burning bush, for others it a donkey and for me it’s a small
voice I am trying to filter better.

Verse 47:1 is something we need to do more:

Clap your hands,
all of you;
    raise
your voices joyfully and loudly.
Give honor for the True God of the universe;

We
need to really honor God more and rejoice in Him. I know we sing three songs,
get a sermon and then sing another during the offering, but is that the only
time we do this. I am in a funk where distractions seem to keep me away from
doing this outside the 3, preach, 1 formula weekly. Pray I can regain focus so
I remain true to God.

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1 Samuel
26 – 31

Stories like this in the Bible are great history lessons. We
see David, who is the 25^th great grandfather of Jesus was an
honorable man. In chapter 26 we see he has another chance to kill Saul, yet he
does not and spares his life once again through honor and not murder. I believe
this is why David was blessed, because for the most part his faith was in God
and God’s plan.

I think about how I would go about it. At a young age he was
blessed to be king of Israel, but still had some learning to do. Instead of
being a brash young buck and taking the throne at his will, he actually trained
under Saul and learned how to be king. He trusted God and followed His path
without forcing one of his own. We see this often in the Bible, like with
Moses. God spent 40 years correcting and training him before he was ready to
lead Israel.

I think the key we need to learn is all these stories is to trust God and not
take things into our own hands. Heck, somewhere down the line I had this vision
of being the one to restore our family’s fortune. MY solution was play the
lottery and wait for Ed to show up on my door step. What God wanted from me was
hard work and diligence. What I gave him was a half assed effort, since that
was more than enough in the working world.
I walked away from conflict or strife instead of learning through it. I
question if that was a idea from God or just a selfish young kid who wanted to
race motorcycles instead of working for a living? I don’t know, just do know
where we are today doesn’t suck.

Saul dies with his sons and now we will see the struggle
David has taking the throne. Stay tuned, same bat time .. same bat channel.

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Exodus
9 – 12

This story includes the final six plagues and Israel being
released. I am not going to clip scripture this thought since expanding out
each plague and god associated with that is going to take some space. The next
plague was the death of cattle and livestock which was to show superiority over
the goddess Hathor, which was originally worshiped in the form of a cow. She
was also the symbolic mother of Pharaoh.

The 6^th plague was abscesses’ to break out on all
the people of Egypt. This was a “finger” in the face of Isis. The almighty Isis
(sorry had to – from the 70’s show) was the goddess of medicine and peace and
is the Egyptian equivalent of Semiramis or the Queen of Babylon. The next
plague was fire and hail from the sky to show God superiority over the Egyptian
god of the sky Nut. Also, this plague was an affront to Shu the wind god and
Horace the hot headed sky god. Also, note this was the first plague Pharaoh
starts to negotiate with them and appears to soften his heart.

The eight plague was locusts send from the sky to devour
everything. This was a show of superiority over Seth or the god of crops. Seth
was also abused in the previous plague, but God finished him off here. Again
Pharaoh tried to negotiate the release, but his heart hardened. The ninth
plague was three days of complete darkness and was showing superiority over the
sun god Ra and various other gods. This time Pharaoh set himself up for the
final plague.

The final plague was death to the first born of Egypt, which
was Pharaoh’s own curse trying to destroy Moses kill all first born males. This
was to show superiority over all the gods of Egypt and to show how helpless
they were against God. This was also considered an attack on the god that was
considered the greatest of them all, Pharaoh. We see Pharaoh as the most
dangerous of gods since he is a man being elevated to godlike status and is
where the flaw is in most beliefs outside the Bible. Heck evolution has us
evolving to gods, Satan tempted Adam and Eve to be God-like in eating the
fruit. The current movie/book The Secret instructs one on how to elevate
themselves to a god and get lots of goodies.

All this is an attempt to dismiss the one true God.

Now I lied and will insert one verse, verse 12:6 where God
is discussing the Passover celebration:

Keep this chosen
lamb safe until the fourteenth day of the month, then the entire community of
Israel will slaughter their lambs together at twilight.

Remember the “Last Supper” was the Passover
meal and Jesus was the Passover lamb. I have not researched the exact timing,
but believe it will match the ritual laid out by God here in Exodus. Jesus is
the lamb that was slaughter for our salvation. On judgment with His blood over
our doors (figuratively of course) we will be passed over for eternals
judgment. How cool is that?

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1 Corinthians
13
– 14

All we need is love! This is the famous love chapter where
Paul talks about it in detail so we can understand what it really looks like.
It’s not just a sex act, but much deeper than that. Verse 13:7 I think is
strong on this aspect:

Love puts up with
anything and everything that comes along; it trusts, hopes, and endures no
matter what.

This is tough when you think about it. How many marriages
would “put up with anything”? That never justifies infidelity, but can be
twisted that way. No love is a two way street and putting up with anything has
a different meaning when you are both in the same mindset. “Anything” is life’s
bumps and problems, sure it may be a season of no sex, but can never be
justified to do anything. It loves no matter what comes along in life. Even if
“lust” is a problem, as long as both work on it and not drift it can be
handled.

I would advise everyone read this a few times and see how it
applies to your own context. Consider also the Greek love used here is Agape,
or true unconditional love. So it’s not just Eros or the romantic love, but an
all-encompassing love.

Chapter 14 focuses on prophecy over “tongues”. This is
something we need to be conscious of, tongues are not for public display unless
there is an interpreter. It tends to freak non-believers out and even many died
in the wool believers. Verse 14:4 describes why:

Those who speak in
an unknown language only strengthen themselves, but those who prophesy
strengthen the community.

I am sensitive to this since a few churches
around the south feel that if you do not flop around like a fish and speak in
tongues you are not saved. This is not Biblical and is dangerous.

Verse 14:20 is interesting based on
yesterday’s reading:

Brothers and
sisters, don’t think like children. Be innocent of malice but mature in
understanding.

Jesus says have faith like a child and Paul
says don’t think like a child. What is it? Well two different contexts, Jesus
is addressing how people need childlike faith in their walk, where Paul is
addressing the childish squabbling between people. We need to act like adults
and become mature, but do it as a child with eyes open wide and a pure
questioning spirit.

Paul also goes round and round on verse
14:22 – 25. Paul implies one thing and says another. I often don’t get this but
find it his style to point out the opposite as foolish before stating how it
should be.

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Mark
9 – 10

Once again Peter, James and John get to go on an adventure
with Jesus. I often read this and wonder why all of them did not go. Why those
three? James and John were the sons of Zebedee a well-respected fisherman.
Peter was the one Jesus paid attention to, the only other one to walk on water.
They see Jesus transformed and visit with Elijah and Moses so they can witness
this when he has left. So I guess he kept it with the trusted ones.

In verse 9:23 we once again we stumble upon some misquoted
prosperity gospel verses:

What do you
mean, “If there’s anything?” All things are possible, if you only believe.

This also becomes one of the most abused
verses when discrediting the Bible. Since many awful illnesses have fallen on
Godly people. I know my friend’s son broke his back in a skiing accident. Our
church prayed over him for healing, yet he is still bound in a chair. Did we
not believe or are we delusional in our beliefs? Neither, it’s just the way it
was. God did not use him for his miracle and we are not delusional. Life just
happens.

I get slammed on this from time to time,
but life on this planet is not controlled daily by God. He set this in motion
and gave us free will. Sure earthquakes will kill good people, but we would not
have the Rockies if it were not for violent movements in the earth. That’s by
design. Sometimes God will interject himself in subtitle ways to ensure the one
involved know the truth. And occasionally a miracle will happen, like my friend
who had breast cancer. She was in immense pain one evening and prayed without
ceasing. The morning the pain subsided and the next visit the doctor declared
it was a “miracle” since the cancer was gone. Proof the body heals or in God? I
pick God.

Verse 10:15 is one I love:

Truly anyone who
doesn’t accept the kingdom of God as a little child does can never enter it.

This has a different meaning to those who
have children. They tend to believe anything with blind faith, but at the same
time they ask some pointed questions. I don’t think this means just blindly
have faith, but rather ask deep and honest questions. Don’t come to God trying
to disprove Him, but rather trying to know Him. Keep asking and never stop,
just like any NORMAL child!! Questions are not evil when asked by a child,
where adults often have hidden agendas. Don’t hide your agenda and be bold like
a child.

Verse 10:27 makes me feel better about
money:

For human beings
it is impossible, but not for God: God makes everything possible.

This is the story of the rich man who was
asked to give it all to the poor and walked away sad. Jesus used the camel
through the eye of a needle as an analogy. But did he say the man was destined
to hell? No, this is often forgotten from the story since it is used for giving
to the church. The blood of Jesus saves all, including the poor and rich alike.
Where the problem comes is wealth causes a distraction from God, but if the
person truly seeks God he can help. Remember it is how you use it, not how you
save it that God cares about. And NOTE savings is a component of using.

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Jeremiah
12
– 16

Verse 12:1 opens a huge question:

Jeremiah:
Eternal, You always do what is right
        when I bring a complaint Your way.
    So
now let me put a case before You:
        Why do the wicked prosper so much?
        Why do all the untrustworthy have it so easy?

Or why do bad things happen to good people
and good things happen to bad people? First we have to look at the overarching
factor of nature. We see good people crushed in earth quakes or swept away in Tsunamis’.
Why is that? Nature just is. God designed it that way, if not we would not have
the purple mountains majesty or our swamps would be toxic and not swarming with
life. It’s just unfortunate that people die when things happen.

As for evil prospering, what would you
expect? God is not of this world and is above nature. If we determined our
standing based on our bank account what would that mean? It would mean God is
of this world. Who is of this world? Satan! So sure evil will succeed in the
world, he wants us to divert from God. So what’s the best way to say there is
no God? Have success without Him. Satan loves success for that reason!!  

Verse 13:10 has God saying why He is upset
at Israel:

I will ruin
these haughty and wicked people who ignore My words, who follow their
own stubborn hearts, who run after other gods, who bow down to lifeless
idols. They will end up like this rotten undergarment in your hands—completely
worthless!

The analogy God had Jeremiah do was wear
his underwear for a while, then burry it and then get it back to see the filth
and rot. This is how God viewed Israel. They were once pure, then became
corrupt, then walked away and buried themselves from God. It’s a great analogy
when you look at it in detail. Now I on the other hand would probably was the
undergarment and still find use for it and that is what God eventually does.

Again read this with the perspective of
short term prophecies with a potential longer term one embedded. We need to
know and see this as a potential flashing red signal for today.

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Job
29 – 30

Before we start I just wanted to say I saw my cardinal
yesterday. It was not in a place we normally see birds either, one had flown
into the barn and sat within 10 feet of me. He hung out for a bit and flew
away, never to be seen again. Was I looking for any cardinal or did God say HI
on his schedule and where it was more apparent it was not random like the one
outside my window this morning?

As we start this reading the first thing I notice is Chapter
29 starts with Job’s status in society. Everyone likes to complain about their
“Job moments” but after reading chapter 29 how can any of us keep saying that.
It wasn’t that Job was rich, but he was also compassionate and generous. He did
not use his power and influence to take advantage of people but rather for
good. When we think “Job moments” it’s more selfish and much less catastrophic.

Verse 29:12 is a key to Job’s charity:

After all, I rescued
the poor when they cried out for help
        and assisted the orphans when they had no one else.

Great virtue is often troubled by naysayers
who feel those in need are taking advantage of someone’s generosity. Jesus says
we will always have the poor and that is a reality we must live in. God did not
say judge the poor as to who was capable of working and who was not. God said
be generous and kind to anyone in need. Again as we look at Job’s plight do we
see a rich guy getting his due, or a righteous man being unjustly punished?

Chapter 30 shows how quickly people change.
Verse 30:1 has Job talking about that aspect of humanity:

Job: But
now they mock me,
        these young men whose fathers I hold in such contempt.
    I
wouldn’t trust them with my herds
        as I do my dogs.

We often turn our heads to the down
trodden. Consider the drunks on the corners victims of their own poor choices.
Much of the time we don’t look as them in need. Job was a “pillar” of his
community, yet in a very short time he was mocked. How sad this is and how
quickly we forget the past and focus on the present. I think the saddest part
of this story is where Job would have been compassionate to a person in his
condition, he has none who will comfort him in his time of need.

I think when we have “Job moments” it is
more like Job’s friends than Job himself. I know I find myself on the judgment
side of life more than the grace side. I see a person in need and wonder why
they are not finding work. At the same time I sit in judgment, without a job
and not able to provide.

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Psalms
42 – 44

Verse 42:1 opens my prayers yesterday:

My soul is dry
and thirsts for You, True God,
    as
a deer thirsts for water.

I was in one of those funks where I was
questioning everything including my faith. My prayers included a sign of a
cardinal, which I heard but never saw. I saw blue jays, robins and even a bird
I could not identify but was like a scarlet tanager but inversed. When I read
these Psalms, they stuck to my soul and realized I was not the only one who was
a believer. I didn’t need to see the cardinal, just wanted to.

The voice I got was “you spoiled little brat, I have laid a
huge plan before you and you still want to see a little bird.”

Verse 43:2 caught me and gave me a little voice:

You are the True
God—my shelter, my protector, the one whom I lean on.
    Why
have You turned away from me? Rejected me?
Why must I go around, overwrought, mourning,
    suffering
under the weight of my enemies?

Oh woe is me, I have life so rough. When in
reality my life is going great. Sure I don’t have a job right now, but am being
provided for quite well. The story is long, but it started in 2001 and is still
unfolding to this day. It includes layoffs, failed land deals, huge credit card
debt, getting a job, paying off debt, more layoffs, selling a home and another
land deal. It has been an emotional roller coaster, but didn’t have to be if my
faith was more solid and I trusted God.

I think that’s why I am at peace more
during this time. Because even if it doesn’t go as “I” plan, it IS going as HE
planned!! Worry just wastes energy, I need to trust God more.

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1 Samuel
21 – 25

This has one of my favorite stories between Saul and David
in Chapter 24. Verse 24:3 has Saul in a compromised position:

When he came to
the sheep shelters beside the road, a cave was there, and Saul went inside to
relieve himself. Unguarded, he was especially vulnerable to attack.

David
and his men are in this same cave. So while Saul is taking a poo, David debates
with his men on if he should kill him. First thing I wonder is most caves I
have been in echoed and I wonder how they could have kept this conversation
from Saul hearing it. First thing I wonder is most caves I have been in echoed
and I wonder how they could have kept this conversation from Saul hearing it. Second
thing is how did they have time for this conversation? I mean there were a
bunch of them and to debate where everyone gets their say would take time, more
than a poo would take.

Anyway
as we read David spares Saul’s life and only cuts a small patch from his gown.
Verses 24:9 & 10 have David return this patch to Saul:

⁹ My
lord, why do you listen to those who say I plan to harm you? ¹⁰ Look!
Today the Eternal One placed you at my mercy in that cave. I could have done
anything to you, and some said I should kill you. But I refused. I said, “I
will not raise my hand against my lord, the Eternal’s anointed king.”

Interestingly
for a brief moment this brings Saul to his senses and he has mercy on David. I
find stories like this interesting since it gives us an example to live by and
shows us how David is following God and not his own desires. A “normal” person
would have killed Saul (since he was trying to kill David) and taken the throne
they were anointed to be on. David is not normal, he knows how to honor God and
follow his ways and not those of the world. He also is learning how to lead,
since his men all want to kill Saul.

What would you do in
this position?

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Exodus
5 – 8

Now we get to have some fun and understand why God hardened
Pharaoh’s heart!! After being a Christian and church goer for most of my 50+
years I finally learned this year why God kept hardening Pharaoh’s heart. So
now I get to share that with you!!

Chapters 5 and 6 are the “set up” to the plagues and
Israel’s eventual release. Moses and Aaron ask kindly to let the people go
worship in the wilderness. Pharaoh considers them lazy and ups their work.
Notice even after hard labor and torment the people refuse to listen to Moses
and Aaron (v6:9). Then in verse 7:3 God tells Moses what He will do:

But I am going to
harden Pharaoh’s stubborn heart so that I can perform sign after sign,
wonder after wonder in the land of Egypt.

I use to always think this was only for
show and to prove to Israel that God was supreme, but as you will see it goes
much deeper than that. God says He will do amazing things and will continue to
harden Pharaoh’s heart. Before the plagues, God shows His superiority over the
Egyptian mystics and gods by having Aaron’s staff turn into a snake, when
theirs turned into snakes God’s snake consumed them all.

The first plague God turned the water of
the Nile into blood and in turn Pharaoh’s mystics did the same to the remaining
water. Now two points need to be noticed here, first is the mystics could NOT
change the water back. The second is deeper and showing God’s superiority over
all. God was showing he was over all, including the Egyptian God Hapi and
Osiris. Hapu is the God of the Nile while it is said the Nile is the “blood
stream” of the God Osiris. So God made the Nile real blood for Osiris and
showed Hapi to be unable to stand to God.

The second plague was with frogs which poked the finger at
Heket. The Egyptian god Heket was a frog like goddess who was the god of
fertility, water and renewal. Notice again this showed Heket was powerless and
although Pharaoh’s mystics could make the frogs once again they could not get
rid of them.

The third plague was gnats or lice from the dust of the
earth. Again this was showing the Egyptian god of the earth, Geb, to be
powerless before the Eternal Almighty God. Again Pharaoh’s mystics could not
repeat this plague. Notice how when their god’s have the power to repeat the
plague they cannot reverse them and quickly they cannot even repeat the plague.

The fourth plague and final for this reading is the swarms
of flies. For the most part I never considered this a big deal until we got
horses. Flies BITE, even the small ones!! The gnats were annoying, the flies
stated to inflict some pain I am sure. This was to show God’s superiority over
the Egyptian god Khepri. This god had a head of a fly and was god of creation,
the movement of the sun and rebirth.

Now we see why God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it was not to
show boat but rather to show superiority over all the Egyptian gods. As you
will see over the next 6 plagues God has reason and purpose for this show. It
was to humble Egypt and to show Israel their God is over all.

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1 Corinthians
11
– 12

Context rears his ugly head again in Chapter 11. I was
incredulous reading the first part and thinking Paul was out of line. Katy was
not going to even consider wearing a veil in prayer. So I had to take these
words out of modern day USA and go back to Roman Corinth. First if you read
it’s not all women, just married ones. And it was custom then, because if not
it would be like wearing a t-shirt today that said “I’m a SLUT”. So before you
get up in arms like I did, we must learn context to clearly understand.

Verses 11:28 & 29 talks about our mindset while
celebrating the Lord’s Supper:

²⁸ Examine
yourselves first. Then you can properly approach the table to eat the
bread and drink from the cup; ²⁹ because otherwise, if you eat
and drink without properly discerning the significance of the Lord’s body, then
you eat and drink a mouthful of judgment upon yourself.

I don’t believe the significance of the
Lord’s Supper is stressed. We are symbolically take Jesus’ body and blood in
remembrance of His sacrifice. We need to ensure we are cleansed and in the
right mindset before doing this. Why?

Pastor Miller of West Side Bible explained
it where I could understand. If we continue to partake in the Lord’s Supper
without properly confessing and honoring God, we build scar tissue like a
wound. If a wound isn’t treated properly, it heals wrong and creates scar
tissue which will never be the same without major intervention. More and more
you have the more difficult it is to fix it. So come to the table prepared not
just to eat and drink.

Verse 12:12 sums up the chapter of
spiritual gifts:

Just as a body is
one whole made up of many different parts, and all the different parts comprise
the one body, so it is with the Anointed One.

Spiritual gifts are one of those subjects I
struggle with on many levels. The first is why I cannot develop ones I don’t
have. How many times have we seen the lame or sick and wanted to lay hands and
heal them? How many times have we done this and failed? I have and feel
foolish, but maybe that’s not my thing with God and I just have to find it.
When doing spiritual gift tests, coach seems to rise to the top of ever one. So
maybe I just need to embrace my role as coach and learn to communicate.

The other problem was highlighted in a
church Veronica went to at UGA. They were charismatic and loved to flop around.
Not bashing that at all and believe that the spirit manifests itself in people
many ways. Where it became “dangerous” was when they were telling her she was
not saved and filled with the spirit since she could not speak in “tongues.” Interestingly
ignoring every scripture that says “some can” and “while others can.” While I
do not wish to judge a church in their practices, this was one I was concerned
with since it did not follow Paul’s message in this and other chapters he
writes on gifts.

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Mark
7 – 8

Verses 7:18 & 19 are one of those verses that get my
interest:

¹⁸ Do
you mean you don’t understand this one either? Whatever goes into people from
outside can’t defile them ¹⁹ because it doesn’t go into their
hearts. Outside things go through their guts and back out, thus making all
foods pure.

Think about it you have a nation that has
taken some great guidelines and made the hard and fast sins. Jesus is here to
point out that it’s not a sin to eat outside the Hebraic Law, but rather a sin
to become legalistic and ignore God in the process.

As you know I am a big fan of the food
laws. I believe God passed them to the Israelites and it protected them in
epidemics. If you look at history the Jews were not affected by the “Plague”
mainly because of their dietary and cleanliness laws. God does map out what’s
best for our system, but does not say it’s a sin to go outside that diet. He is
just giving us a way to live life to the full.

Starting at verse 8:14 there is a great
story about food. The disciples are concerned that they forgot to buy
provisions for their journey. In verse 8:17-19 Jesus asks:

Don’t you remember
when I broke the five rounds of flatbread among the 5,000? Tell Me, how
many baskets of scraps were left over?

And remember this was just after feeding
4000 just before and having 7 baskets of scraps. How soon they forget. Was that
miracle a parlor trick or was it God providing? It’s hard to believe that they
would question God’s provision, but they did! How many times have you been
there and forgot that God provides? Let me count the ways!!

In verse 8:29 Jesus asks Peter who He is:

Jesus (pressing
the question): ²⁹ And who do you say that I am?

Peter: You
are God’s Anointed, the Liberating King.

Think
about Peter and this statement. He dropped everything and has followed Jesus as
one of his closest confidants. Yet he still puts his foot in his mouth and gets
things wildly wrong. In this case he “nailed it” with the answer. We all can
see a little bit of Peter in our lives. We make rash statements and decisions,
only to be correct in private later.

Because
of this, Peter is the apostle that most everyone can relate to in their life.
We do not have it perfect. I still read the Bible and learn new stuff, you’d
think after 30 years of doing this I’d have it down! That is the problem with
Satan, he will attacks us on all sides and keep on hitting us. We have to stay
in the word and study His will in our lives always!

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Jeremiah
7 – 11

Verses 7:5 -7 is the start of God chastising His people:

⁵ But
if you genuinely change your ways and stop what you are doing; if you deal with
each other fairly; ⁶ if you don’t oppress foreigners, orphans,
and widows; if you don’t shed the blood of the innocent in this land; and if
you don’t practice the self-destructive worship of other gods; ⁷ then
I will let you live forever in this land I promised your ancestors long ago.

God
is giving the people a way out, over and over again throughout history we see
this happen. God is not one of shunning us away. Think about it, He could
easily commune with nature and enjoy peace on a mountain top but instead is an
integral part of this mess we call mankind.

Verse
8:5 may be another example of the Babushka Principle:

So why have these
people turned away from Me
        and refused to come back?
    They
hang onto lies that lead them further away
        instead of embracing the truth and coming home to Me.

How
many times has he said this to His people? How many times have we seen them
drift away radically before “embracing the truth and coming home”? I see this
being the way again. Israel was restored after this before it happened again
and Rome demolished it. Now once again the nation is reunited after WWII, so
are we on a continuing cycle. In this case I don’t think the people will be
worshiping Baal, but rather just ignoring God with the distraction of
prosperity.

Verse
10:5 is talking about idols:

This is what
they worship? The idol just stands there—
        lifeless, powerless like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch.
    It
cannot speak. It cannot move. They must pick the thing up and bring it along.
        Do you see why there’s nothing to fear from these dead pieces of
wood?
    They
cannot harm you, and they cannot help you either.

To God these idols are nothing, but I get
concerned about possible “demonization” of these objects. We don’t think of
this much in the purchase of daily things for the house. I think of Monster
Energy Drink for one since I consume it often. The claim is the “M” logo is
three instances of the Hebrew letter Vav which is the 6^th letter in
their Alphabet. So 3 of these make the M and the motto is “Unleash The Beast”
it MUST be a demonized product. Is it for real? No idea, but I can say it’s
suspicious. They sponsor a bunch of BMX and motocross riders and their gloves
with the M/666 logo is said to be the mark of the beast.

Dream catchers are another possible
“demonized” product. As with Osiris shoes which Devon is sponsored by, are they
demonized with the Egyptian God Osiris? Or are all these companies taking
advantage of a sensitive mindset to mock or get more publicity? You see “Illuminati
Symbolism” in many of today’s pop artists work. Is that to gain publicity or
are they tools of this ultra-elite to corrupt society for their ultimate take
over? Who knows there, but I tend to believe it’s just an example of us going
the way of Rome, where more and more become acceptable until persecuting those
who are faithful completes the demise of the society.

Read prophecies with the Babushka
Principle in mind, but don’t make that the sole focus.

Job
27 – 28

Verses 27:4 & 5 is the root of Job’s frustrations with
his friends:

⁴     My lips
will not let lies escape them,
        and my tongue will not form deceit.
⁵     So I will never concede that you three are right.
        Until the day I die, I will not abandon my integrity just to
appease you.

In
this case Job is right, but how many times have these words left or lips and we
were dead wrong? I know it has for me on many occasions, where most of the time
I must humble myself and admit the fault. Job has had a ton of dialog between
these three and they just remain trenched in their beliefs. I must commend Job,
since most would eventually say these three says it’s so therefore it must be.

Think
about that today, in the world of “propaganda” it’s called “the bandwagon”
where everyone is “jumping on” since that’s the truth. We see this often used
in elections where the right view will be suppressed, since the other candidate
creates a “bandwagon” that is going the wrong direction but is too pretty not
to want. Unfortunately you say “propaganda” and you imply Nazi, because of
their effective use leading up to and in WWII. Study what all the techniques
are and you’d be surprised how they are used today, by almost everyone wanting
your money.

Verse
28:28 talks about wisdom:

And to humankind,
He said, “Now, the fear of the Lord is wisdom,
        and to depart from evil is understanding.”

I think the most undervalued gift of God’s
is wisdom. We see Solomon can be granted anything he wanted by God and he asks
for wisdom. He saw its value! With us on the other hand, we tend to ask for
stuff. Wisdom is something that age doesn’t bring, especially if wasted in
life’s purists. No we must strive for obtaining it. Sure in my case I may have
some wise thoughts, but most of mine are from a “wise guy” and have little value.

The best way I have found to gain wisdom is
to read, and read a bunch. Each night I have put aside the television and
focuses on reading my Bible and other helpful books. It’s amazing the peace you
have sleeping after doing that. Avoid the idiot box, and learn everything you
can!!

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Psalm
39 – 41

Verse 39:12 stood out to me this reading:

Right now I
can’t see because I am surrounded by troubles;
    my
sins and shortcomings have caught up to me,
    so
I am swimming in darkness.
Like the hairs on my head, there are too many to count,
    so
my heart deserts me.

Think about what David is saying here, he
feels deserted by God, yet as we know in the reading prior as a young man he
was anointed by God and His spirit fell on him. Imagine this, a person who had
limitless access to the spirit of God, yet feels alone. Imagine how the other
billion or so people around the world feel who do not have an anointing from
God or His spirit with them. Sure we have been anointed and have the Holy
Spirit, but I believe David’s relationship is different.

So if David can complain, do feel so bad
when you complain. Just know much of our complaining about God not being there
is RIGHT TO HIS FACE!! And since the conditions are not what we expect they are
therefore without God’s guidance … IN OUR MINDS!!

This has been revealed to me sometimes
decades later and we just live to live without realizing or faith should be in
God and HE is always right.

Verse 41:1 shows sometimes there are
spiritual truths in the Psalms:

Blessed are those
who consider the helpless.
    The
Eternal will stay near them, leading them to safety in times of bitter
struggle.

The key is the word “blessed” here. Think
about David whining about now having God do what HE wants while pondering this.
Now think about what “blessed” means in our world. Finally think of “blessed”
in the apostles world.

What images do you get? Our world “blessed”
mean tons of money, spare time and stuff. In the apostles world it was constant
work for the kingdom with an occasional beating and finally martyrdom. We tend
to believe the world view since the kingdom view sucks to the world. But we
must be able to give away our lives to gain life. I bet the ones blessed by the
kingdom view were at peace where the world’s blessing caused strife.

Think about it, are you blessed by the
world or the kingdom? What’s you focus? I will say mine is changing rapidly!!

1 Samuel
16
– 20

This reading has one of the famous stories of the OT, David
slaying Goliath. But something gets missed here. Chapter 16 God has given up on
Saul and has Samuel anoint David as the new king. As we see, the youngest of
Jesse needs some training. But verse 16:21 has Saul actually requesting David:

David came to Saul
and served him. The king loved him greatly and made David his armor-bearer.

David was the youngest of 7 sons, therefore
not the most prominent in the family. From this God chose him to lead Israel as
king. Because Saul was still king, this was done rather covertly without the
kings knowledge. Once the spirit of God came on David, scripture says it left
Saul. He was tormented by God with evil spirits and sent for David to soothe
his mind with a harp. So David went from the youngest of 7 out in a field
shepherding sheep to the court of King Saul.

God works in amazing ways, not just with
David against the giant. Sure we look at that since Goliath can represent our
fears, concerns or mountains of debt yet David being quickly ushered into
Saul’s court is just as incredible. It’s not like there were just a hand full
of people to pick for the task, I am sure they had plenty yet David was the one
God moved Saul to pick.

We see through this story how Saul’s
tormenting becomes worse as he grows jealous of David. Through this he tries to
impale David with a spear more than once. It’s amazing that David hangs tough
and does not try to defend himself. He quickly learns to humble himself before
God and his king. Notice this throughout the story of Saul and David, he never tries
to take what is his.

We look at Easter and
many images come to mind. Honestly thanks to effective marketing the Easter
Bunny is the iconic symbol on the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus. As harmless as this little
bunny may seem, it has pagan underpinnings and may have evil attached. Think
about how almost everyone focuses on the egg hunt, a celebration of the
fertility god and not on what happened today some 2000 years ago. You can dress
it up with all the prayers you want and make it as fun as you can, Satan would
not making something unappealing.

A stone was rolled
from a tomb and Jesus was alive. This was the conclusion that had to be to show
that He was the pure sacrifice for all our sins. It’s that simple!! Jesus came,
taught, lived and was crucified like many before Him, the difference was he was
God in flesh! He was a pure sacrifice and by his empty tomb proved this to all
mankind.

Remember today is a
celebration not of eggs, bunnies, chocolates, dresses, hats or even the cross.
Yep, the cross led us here, but the stone rolled from the empty tomb and Jesus
being alive should be our focus today. It’s not a solemn event, but a
celebration that Jesus is who He said He is and is alive in all of us today.
All you need to do is accept this as true and confess your transgressions so
you can follow Jesus with a redeemed heart.  

PRAISE GOD!!

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Exodus
1 – 4

All Jacobs brothers are dying away leaving their children to
multiply, which they do quite well! By verse 1:11 the king of Egypt is
concerned:

When you arrive in
Egypt, I want you to pay Pharaoh a visit. Make sure you perform all the wonders
that I have entrusted to your hand. But I am going to harden Pharaoh’s stony
heart, so that he will not free the people.

So we see how the people become enslaved.
It was not from Egypt conquering them, but rather the king getting worried they
would revolt. When rulers throne is threatened they tend to do stupid things,
as seen throughout history. In this case it was all part of the plan.

Think about it Jacobs 12 sons would have
all died in their land if Joseph was not sold into slavery. They would have
remained in comfort in Egypt and not inhabited the Promised Lands as God
promised if they were left to grow. No, we look at God’s plan in very short
time slices, not generations. God works wonders over time and you just have to
open your eyes to see this. My story over the last 15 years may be proof of
that, life was not smooth at all, but we are in a wonderful spot today.

Verse 2:9 shows the funny way God works:

Pharaoh’s
Daughter (to the nurse): Here! Take this child and
nurse him for me, and I will pay you for your services.

So the woman took
the child—who was secretly her own son—and nursed him just as
Pharaoh’s daughter had instructed.

Here
she abandons her child to spare his life and God arranges it so she can raise
him in the palace. How cool is that?

Verse
3:14 is one that we need to really absorb:

Eternal One: ¹⁴ I AM
WHO I AM. This is what you should tell the people of Israel: “I AM has sent me
to rescue you.”

First “The Eternal One” is derived from the
Hebraic word meaning “I am”. This is one of the most powerful statements when
you think about it. Who is God? You can write a novel and just scratch the
surface of who God is or just say “He IS”. God is so far above our
understanding, yet can be described so simply.

Now this is part of the Bible that excites me because we get
to see God triumph over lesser gods. This will unfold over the next few
readings from Exodus and understand more fully verse 4:21 where Pharaoh’s heart
is hardened:

When you arrive in
Egypt, I want you to pay Pharaoh a visit. Make sure you perform all the wonders
that I have entrusted to your hand. But I am going to harden Pharaoh’s stony
heart, so that he will not free the people.

Why would God harden Pharaoh’s heart and
allow such destruction? Wait and see!! It’s COOL!!!

1 Corinthians
9 – 10

Interesting how Chapter 9 opens with Paul asking for pay, or
at least justifying it for pastors and then saying he is not asking for it
since he was called directly by God. Verse 9:24 has an analogy I get:

We all know that
when there’s a race, all the runners bolt for the finish line, but only one
will take the prize. When you run, run for the prize!

Fortunately, salvation in a way is outcome based, since we
will all work for the prize and obtain it. This is a great analogy, but at the
same time when you think about it, it’s kind of odd. The race of life, we are
“bolting” for the finish line which in life’s case is death. How many can say
they are racing for death? I can’t but when you think about it our salvation
and the salvation of others IS a life and death struggle. The finish is death
and communing with God in eternity.

Verse 10:13 is always one we look at in hope:

Any temptation you
face will be nothing new. But God is faithful, and He will not let you be
tempted beyond what you can handle. But He always provides a way of escape so
that you will be able to endure and keep moving forward.

How many have said, “God must think I can
handle a lot” in their lives? I sure have. I think many read this as “trials”
and not “temptations” and that’s the hook. We all like to think this is trails,
which since God has let his followers be martyred shows that is not the case.
NO this is just “temptations” which can be easily dealt with. The next verse
has the key work to dealing with “temptations” and that is “RUN”.

As a married guy a fear I have had is an
attractive woman coming on to me, I pray I could handle that pressure. And the
second verse shows I can and studies show I have a 3 second window to act and
that action is “RUN”. Don’t think about it again and just run, it’s that
simple. I know PK tells the story about a woman who came on to him early on and
he did just that. Left her, ran out the front door and went home, without telling
anyone, he just RAN. Nothing tempting us is so great we can’t run from it!

Verse 10:31 is one of those “anything goes”
verses:

Whatever you
do—whether you eat or drink or not—do it all to the glory of God!

I really don’t think Paul was saying its ok
to do anything; rather legalistic stuff from the Law is no longer need to be
adhered to “religiously”. Also, once you open the door to gentiles, who don’t
live under the law things like eating pork, does not suddenly become a sin. No
Paul did not say party down in the glory of God, but rather don’t get stuck on
the Law, but do what is right and give glory to God.

As you may know I am an odd one on the Law.
I look at the food laws as important, not as sins, but rather as a way to fuel
or bodies. God gave us the perfect foods for our bodies to be at their optimum,
sure we don’t have to abide by the food laws but it is what is best for our
health. The key is whatever we do, do it to honor God. If you think pork is ok,
and give it to me for dinner. I will thank God and enjoy the meal. Paul is just
saying don’t get hung up on the small stuff and focus on the one true prize of
salvation for all.

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Mark
5 – 6

I have always loved the story that opens chapter 5, with
Jesus casting “Legion” from the crazy man in the cemetery. Verse 5:13 points
out one of the most telling verses on this story:

Jesus granted the
request. The darkness swept up out of the man and into the herd of pigs. And
then they thundered down the hill into the water; and there they drowned, all
2,000 of them.

Interesting through this story Jesus
addresses and talks with the demons and actually grants their request to go
into the herd of pigs. Now the big question is did they go into the pigs and
Jesus made them drown or did they make the pigs drown? The end result was amazement,
but eventually running Jesus out of town because a large part of their
financial holdings were laid to waste. It’s logical that Jesus would not have
done this since once the host dies, the demons just move on. Also, the demons
knew that the loss of capital would discredit Jesus. The only question is if
Jesus knew this why did he allow it?

Verse 5:42 Jesus raises a dead girl:

Immediately the
12-year-old girl opened her eyes, arose, and began to walk. Her parents could
not believe their eyes.

The first question I had is why did He only
take Peter, James and John? Also, I read this and often wonder why it’s not
happening today? Why if we are commissioned to cast our demons and raise the
dead is it not happening? I think that is one of the biggest killers of faith
today, sure you can talk all you want about God’s providence but when a friends
son becomes crippled and no matter how many hands are laid on him, he remains
in a wheel chair. This hurts the faithful!

I cannot explain why, I just know life sucks
sometimes. At the same time if you watch Wanderlust Productions videos, they
follow healers who do actually heal. So it is happening, just not on the scale
I think it needs to. But I am not God and therefore know my opinion is just
that, mine.

Verse 6:44 has Jesus feed 5000:

That day,
5,000 men ate their fill of the bread when Jesus fed the hungry crowd.

I
read this and can’t help but remember the debacle we had a few years back. 12
Stone used the Gwinnett Braves Stadium to “feed the 5000” which brought out
many. The traffic jam made the local news and many waited for hours only to be
turned away. Why were we not able to feed everyone? That, like healings,
becomes a problem with the faith of many.

It hurts my faith
often, since it’s very hard to explain. That could lead into a book, or
actually has many already. Harold Kusher’s book “When Bad Things Happen To Good
People” is a good one to start with. His son was diagnosed with a degenerative
disease and this is his walk. Don’t know if it answers all the questions you
will ask, but it will help understand the journey we are all in.

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Jeremiah
1 – 6

Learned a new theological concept yesterday and it applies
immediately to today’s reading. It is called the Babushka Principle. To boil it
down God gave the prophets visions that most often had a short term fulfilment,
which gave the prophet credence. At the same time these prophecies often would
have a broader scope and a long term fulfilment. There are two ways to look at
this, one is God is setting up history and giving us clues on what to watch
for. The other one is man is just stupid and keeps repeating history and never
learning from it.

Often times I get the argument that the Bible is an antiquated
book and it does not apply to today. The claim is we have “evolved” past this
book. On the contrary we have not evolved past it, but rather have just made it
easier to do as thou wilt while in the comfort of our jammies. We no longer
have to pursue someone outside a relationship by going out, but rather can do
so through online dating or chat rooms. Our lustful desires can be feed via a
myriad of porn sites. War can be waged from a “game” console and with no fear
of looking at your enemy face to face. About the only thing we still have to do
by hand is murder, but with the onset of personal drones it only a matter of
time before that is done remotely.

No this book and the prophecies in it apply today as much as
they did 3000 years ago. People have not changed just the technologies that
enable us. The closer we get to understanding God the further we seem to get
from Him. Science is a perfect example; the Theory of Evolution which tends to
show God’s creative powers is being used to pull people away from God. There is
a “U” on understanding where each end is knowledge and distance from the truth.
The pure theologian ignores science and claims the Bible as fact. The scientist
ignores the Bible and claims random acts of nature as fact. Balance realizes
both prove each other.

Today’s reading is full of nuggets about what was happening then and what
appears to be happening today. Verse 2:11 is one that can apply to many times
in history:

Has a nation ever
exchanged its gods for some others,
        even if they weren’t really gods in the first place?
    But
My beloved people have done just that: they have exchanged their
glory
        to pursue worthless idols in their vain attempt for greater
prosperity.

This can go on so many different levels
today and being a conspiracy theorist with the foil hat, I will explore that
rabbit trail. There is an idea that a group of rich globalist is controlling
society from the shadows. These men are Satanist or Luciferian in doctrine and
have replace their idols of Baal and Ra, with trinkets from Porsche and Nike.
We have replaced God with naturalism and worship the successful and their
stuff.

I hate to admit I still get that idol
worship with people sometimes. Devon is friends with some of the top BMX pros
in the world. They are much younger than me, but I still stammer around them. I
was working parking at an event last week and PK drove by and said thanks, I
stopped what I was doing (directing a busy intersection) to say something dumb.
We do this all the time without thinking, PK rides a Harley like everyone else,
slowly!! He is a talented speaker trying to keep our focus on God and not him.

The key is learn from the past so we don’t
repeat it and when we notice the present fulfilling prophecies we need to
ensure others understand our faith in God.

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Job
25 – 26

Verse 25:2 has Bildad keeping on point with his misguided
beliefs:

Bildad: God
rules over all things;
        dread is His domain,
    God—who
makes peace and order on His own heights.

Blah, blah, blah … this is almost getting
old now. Job tells his friends they are wrong, they ignore him and ratchet up
their opinions. The problem with theology outside the Bible is truth can be
twisted into false beliefs very quickly. God is over all, this is true, but God
did not afflict Job. So it becomes a back and forth between them.

Verse 26:2 has job respond and notice how
this translation states his response:

Job (sarcastically):
What a great help you are to the powerless!
        How you have held up the arm that is feeble and weak.

Sounds like the way I would get after this
much repeated “help” like this from my friends. It’s draining sometimes when
things are now simple and what seems logical is not right. In this case Occam’s
Razor is not correct since the simplest explanation is not right. So on we go.

One interesting thing you need to look at
is the notes The Voice have after verse 26:2 … the section they add talks about
hell, sheol and Abaddon. This is something I want to start exploring, if hell
is real or something from pagan religions since many of the words translated as
hell are not true translations. Like Lucifer being a Latin transliteration for
the Morning Star, eventually becomes a name of Satan. May not be 100% correct
when you really start parsing it out. So be on the lookout for verses that
address, hell and the lake of fire.

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Psalms
36 – 38

Verse 36:1 speaks to all:

Sin speaks in the
depths of the soul
    of
those who oppose God; they listen closely to its urgings.
You’ll never see the fear of God
    in
their eyes,

The Psalmist continues to ensure we
understand sin will not remain concealed. This is one of those major problems
with character where we let sin slip into our lives. We never think we oppose
God, nor do we think it is that big of a deal. But as I learned with DEBT,
things tend to snowball when not addressed immediately. The inadvertent click
on a porn video ends up being watched, which results in more clicking and
thinking its ok. I have seen relationships demolished because what started out
as innocent ends with an empty savings and broken trust. Character matters even
when you are alone!

Verse 38:13 is an attempt to make me feel
better:

The righteous are
better off with the little God blessed them with
    than
living under the curse of the wealth of the wicked.

I read stuff like this and think great I am
ok not being where I want. At the same time I have recently been laid off and
because of a rental home sale we are going to survive for a while. In my eyes
we are struggling, in the eyes of many we are “living under the curse of
the wealth.” I tend to think of it as a curse and less like a blessing, since
my focus is on the lack and not on the plenty. This is the fundamental problem
with today, people think $1M is enough, then $10M, and then that greed
snowballs. In this country CEO pay to worker ratio is 475:1 which is over 10
times any other industrial nation. The “blessing” has become an insatiable
curse which is snowballing into hurting nations and not just the little guy.

Verse 38:1 is something I wish I could have
controlled:

O Eternal One,
please do not scold me in Your anger;
    though
Your wrath is just, do not correct me in Your fury.

As Vern and Devon grew up I tended to lash
out at them in anger way more often than I should have. I would blow my top and
spank in anger, not in correction. I have learned to catch the blood boiling
before it blows and release the pressure. Unfortunately it has only started to
happen in the late teens and early 20’s.

God on the other hand does not freak out
like I have, I think God is more a slow boil. He will eventually get angry, but
it’s from a loving way. Again character ensures one does not lose their cool
quickly, which I hope I am gaining. Just in time for the grave .. ouch, I sound
like Solomon now;-)

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1 Samuel
11
– 15

We see the problems when Saul moves from following God. His
story interests me since he blows it and begs for forgiveness, yet God blesses
him, he does not keep the blessing. I know this sound odd, but Saul never
really wanted to be king. Chapter 11 opens with “the king” plowing his field
and finally having to take the position. He quickly messes up by not waiting
for Samuel and taking things into his own hands.

I have always found it odd that a king could not handle the
offering, only a priest. Either way it took the God’s favor from Saul. Now as
we read he continues to do as he wishes and does not kill everything in a
battle and spares the king and his heard.
Again Saul ticks God off.

Verses 12:14 & 15 are straight forward commands:

¹⁴ If
you will revere and serve the Eternal, if you listen to His voice and do not
disobey His commands, then you and this king who rules over you will follow the
Eternal One, your True God, and all will go well with you.

 

¹⁵ But
if you ignore His voice, if you disobey the commands of the Eternal, then His
mighty hand of judgment will be raised against you and against your
ancestors.

I wonder if Saul was doing this out of pride, forgetfulness
or just impatience. I read stories like this in the Bible and see their
importance, but often don’t get them. Why was Saul in so much trouble? Why was
he not forgiven? Why did they have to kill off every part of this kingdom? Were
the animals “demonized” having been for offerings to other gods?

Also, he makes his troops not eat by cursing anyone who
does, and inadvertently curses his son who did not know the “rule”. Again this
is another story that I don’t always get. In the end, it is a set up for David
to come on the scene and as we will see God needs to grow David to be king
before allowing him to take Saul’s spot.

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Genesis
48 – 50

We finish out Genesis with Jacob and Joseph’s last days. We
also see how the 12 tribes changes slightly, at least for land ownership, since
the Levites cannot own land. I don’t understand why Joseph gets edged out, but
his sons Manasseh and Ephraim take Levi’s and Joseph’s places in the inherited
lands. Interesting how the 12 disciples lose Judas but add Paul to keep the
number at 12. I assume Joseph being removed was since his two sons would each
get the inheritance.

Anyway when Jacob is blessing his family, he runs through
each one with their flaws and virtues. Verses 49:10 & 11

¹⁰     The
scepter will not depart from Judah;
        the ruler’s staff will rest securely between his feet.
    Until
the One comes to whom true royalty belongs,
        all people will honor and obey him.
¹¹     He ties his foal to the vine
        and his donkey’s colt to the choicest vine.
    He
washes his clothing in wine
        and dips his robe in the blood of grapes.

From Judah comes King David and eventually
Jesus. It’s amazing how God inspired Jacob to speak these words so far in
advance of either person walking the earth. This is what I talk about when it’s
cool to see how this all connects between the various books and times.

Genesis ends with Joseph’s life ending and
Israel living in peace in Egypt. We will see in Exodus how this changes
quickly, all because of paranoia. Keep reading!!

1 Corinthians
7 – 8

Chapter 7 is the sex chapter, you know the one either the
preacher will never touch or have a bunch of fun with. Or sometimes they just
focus on the abstain parts and ignore the have sex parts. Either way I am going
to just make a comment that sex in a marriage is ok and healthy; outside can
get you into trouble. The Biblical idea of the union has been proven in the
secular world, just look at how many “just sex” relationship have issues with
emotions. That bond is more than just a penis into a vagina; there is an
emotional aspect that one cannot escape no matter how cold one may be. It is
God’s programming in our lives and why it should never be taken lightly.

Verse 7:19 is key to following Jesus:

You see, whether
you are circumcised or not—these outward signs aren’t the issue—the way you
live out the commands of God is what really matters.

To a Jew this may seem contradictory since
one of the “commands of God” is to be circumcised, but it’s more than outward.
He gets into the food laws and basically everything else in pointing out the
proper focus. See it’s not what we eat, or how we slice up our pee-pee’s but
rather the inward love and thanks for God. If you love God and are thankful for
the pork plate before you that is ok, if you abstain from pork to honor God
that is fine to. Oddly neither is wrong until you apply the must do this for a
proper relationship with God.

I’ll pick on pork since I don’t normally
eat it. My belief is pigs are designed to be the processor of waste and toxic
stuff in our environment. They produce waste that is purified and can be used
as fertilizer for our lands. They also feed our animals. The problem with this
is their digestive tract is so simple, the environmental toxins they consume go
right to their flesh and eating pork means you’re consuming those toxins. Do I
do it because of the Law? No I feel the Law is a guideline for living healthy.
If someone serves me pork, I eat it. It’s not going to kill me and I do not
want to make a person feel I am pious because of my eating habits.

Paul moves back to marriage and sex and
then back to food in chapter 8. Honor God as you feel led, assuming it falls
under the fundamental path God has set for us. Don’t become like the Pharisees
thinking that your outward acts bring you closer to God while others are not.

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Mark
3 – 4

Verse 3:5 shows Jesus has emotions and sometime ones we
today call “negative”:

Jesus was furious
as He looked out over the crowd, and He was grieved by their hard hearts.

Jesus (to
the man with the withered hand): So be it. Stretch out your
hand.

The man stretched
forth his hand; and as he did, it was completely healed.

I think of this and the WWJD (What Would
Jesus Do) wrist bands and I bet not one person though getting “furious” was an
option. I like it though since in this case he heals a person’s hand. So when
wearing the WWJD band don’t get “furious” and act, if you don’t follow it up
with an act of compassion. See in this case Jesus got mad, but he also did
something amazing at the same time. I know when I get mad, its most often used
as a bad example … also it is most often for selfish reasons.

I wanted to make a quick comment on verse 5:22 where the
scribes accuse Jesus’ powers “by the power of Beelzebul—the
ancient Philistine god—the prince of demons.” We read this and think a
false God, but I question if there is not a demon called Beelzebul. We seem to
dismiss the idea that all those fallen angels with Satan may have been these
false gods.

Also, this made me think of a movie
Beatlejuice, where then messed up calling for Beelzebul. Instead they get this
humorous character who eventually does good. I wonder if this was not
Hollywood’s evil calling Satan in a roundabout way. Think about it if Satan
where before you, he would most likely not be noticed and maybe attractive. In
the end the family welcomed Beatlejuice into their home, don’t make that same
mistake!

Verses 4:18 & 19 is where I feel I am
sometimes:

¹⁸ Still
others are the seed tossed among weeds and brambles. The word has
reached them, ¹⁹ but the things of this life—the worries, the
drive for more and more, the desire for other things—those things cluster
around close and choke the life of God out of them until they cannot
produce.

This does not happen slowly for me, no I
get caught up fast and sucked away from God. I have found my daily reading and
this ramble is the only thing that keeps me centered on God. Otherwise I tend
to wander and go astray quickly, following whatever butterfly Satan puts before
me. I like to think the word is in fertile soil, but honestly I have to wonder.
I feel like I am pulling weeds and hacking thickets with my machete all the
time.

I argue creation often with evolutionists,
but wonder if I am doing it to find proof in God and not just live in faith. I
can take any of the possible scenarios and show God’s hand, or is it to satisfy
my doubt? Evolution can be shown to be God inspired and if creation just
happened I can show old earth and young earth models that prove both having
Genesis 1 100% correct. My latest is praying to see “behind the veil” into the
“second heaven”. I know of a few that can do this and believe it would help my
ministry, but at the same time the “I” and “mine” are still too prevalent in
this discussion. So my question to myself is do I have strong faith or do I
just have strong justifications for my beliefs, while waiting for indisputable
proof?

I can say over my life that have been so
many odd events that I can say that there is as close to 100% belief as one can
have. But I still want that .00001% proven! I want a vision, I want God’s
voice, I want a burning bush, I want … I want … stronger faith! That is where
reading the Bible over and over has helped, I see every time the intricate
details that only God could have inspired in these 66 authors!

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Isaiah
62 – 66

As we finish out Isaiah we get a glimpse of hope, but at the
same time one has to wonder if this is a promise already met or if this is
still in our future? Verse 62:1 opens the reading with hope Jerusalem will be
restored:

I will not keep
quiet for Zion’s sake;
    I
will not remain silent
Until Jerusalem’s justice shines like the light of a new day
    and
her liberation blazes like a torch in the dead of night.

I look at verses like this and 62:8 only to wonder if these
events happened and Israel blew it again. In reading it sounds like after the
“end times” when the earth will be restored to its intended glory which have
not happened yet. At the same time knowing how man messes things up I wonder if
we are on the restored earth and just blew it again. Sure God is all powerful,
but Adam was as close to God as one can get and he blew it, so why not a
redeemed man who came in flawed?

Chapter 63 starts God vengeance on Israel’s enemies and that
goes for a few chapters. Into verse 65:9 we see Jacob’s people regaining their
lands:

But I will bring
up children from Jacob’s line to inherit this land.
        To Jacob’s son Judah I will give My mountains.
    These,
My chosen ones, will inherit it;
        these, My servants, will live there and call it home.

He is promising, but has not delivered and it verses 66:7
& 8 we see it will not be easy:

    Have you ever heard of a woman who gave birth before she went into
labor?
        Have you ever seen a woman who delivered a son without feeling a
thing?
    Do
you think it’s possible for the land to go through labor in an instant,
        or to bear a nation, to be new and strong, in a single day?
    Nevertheless,
Zion suffered only a moment
        before she gave birth to her children!

This is what many know as “Jacob’s Trouble”
or the tribulation before the lands are restored. I often wonder where the
Gentiles who believe in Christ will go during this time. Some believe in the
rapture while others believe that is a metaphor for the ones who die. In the
end we will find out, until then I am not going to worry too much about it
since it’s nothing I can control anyway!!

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Job
23 – 24

Verse 23:2 has Job starting to rebuke his friends for their
misguided ideas:

Job: So
once again you are telling me my complaint amounts to rebellion,
        that the heavy hand I feel upon me is smothering my groans?

Everyone always tried to voice their
opinion when things are bad, not taking into account what is really happening.
They assume that since their view and beliefs say it must be, that an objective
view is often impossible. God says “judge not lest ye be judged” (Misquote of
Matthew 7:1 KJV) but we still tend to judge situations without knowing the full
story.

Verse 24:5 seems to be reflecting today’s
environment:

Look at how the
poor are forced to live!
        Like wild donkeys in the desert,
    They
spend all their energy scrounging for food,
        hoping the desert provides enough to feed their children!

The whole of chapter 24 seems to talk about
society in the world today, it’s almost creepy. We tend to keep the poor down
more than try to lift them up. Look at how this started in the New Deal and one
had to work for their handouts, now one does not have to do anything more than
place their hand out to survive. Unfortunately, the system no longer shows how
hard work can make significant gains, it shows a system gamed into keeping you
down. This removes the desire to work and only play the lottery.

Our prayers then focus not on blessing
others, but winning the big game so you can THEN bless others. If you do not
forget to bless others first, then blessings MAY come our way. I don’t want
this to become a give to win, but rather a give to learn to manage money, if
others come first then we must live to win for others. It then naturally falls
into place. When we can be trusted with a little then we can be trusted with
more.

Verse 24:10 again makes me think of today:

They force the
poor to wander naked, no clothing to be had,
        carrying the very bundles of grain they long to eat.

Think of how many the “uber-rich” could
feed and house if they just sacrificed a small percentage of their wealth?
Instead they live for themselves and ignore the poor altogether assuming their
taxes are helping. What they do not see is the truly poor that have benefits
reduced since a large number are gaming the system.

I am sorry for taking today’s reading into
a rant on our social ills, but we see this over and over again. There is one
thing the OT surely has taught us is the history keeps repeating itself. This
is why the Bible is such a relevant document. Many argue that we have evolved
past it, but at its root man’s nature has not changed from the Garden, we have
just become more sophisticated at how we sin. The only read difference is Baal
and Satan has replaced worshiping them, to worshiping the dollar.

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Psalms
33 – 35

Verse 33:12 stood out to me today:

The nation whose
True God is the Eternal is truly blessed;
    fortunate
are all whom He chooses to inherit His legacy.

I thought about our nation today and how
blessed we were in our founding and how far off track we have gotten. Israel
has gone through many cycles of prosperity and failure and it seems today we
are going through the failure cycle in the USA. Unfortunately, because of the
global climate we are no longer the shining light, but rather the torrent seas
that sink all boat. Our economy props up so many third world nations as we
abuse their poverty and sink them back into it as we struggle.

We lost our focus on God and are focused on
the “almighty dollar.” We are not worshipping Baal but rather dead presidents,
aka dollars. Satan has won a major battle, instead of having us worship him or
one of his demons, he has taken away worship of God by distracting us will
stuff. Our definition of blessing in the church today is based on the dollar.
It’s creeping in everywhere and is dangerous. Our government has lost sight of
who is in control and thinks they have the only input.

Verses 34:13 & 14 hit home with me:

¹³ Take
care with the things you say.
    Don’t
lie or spread gossip or talk about improper things.
¹⁴ Walk away from the evil things of the
world,
    and
always seek peace and pursue it.

There is a whole bunch here that needs to
be considered, much of which James deals with in his book. First is controlling
your BS! Why do we need to lie or gossip when there is so much cool happening?
Also, it says “walk away from the evil things”, I say run! We do not need to be
absorbed in what distracts us from God, no we need to pursue Him whenever we
can.

This makes me think about a story our
pastor, PK, told. It was early on in our church and he was counseling a woman,
who suddenly turned and propositioned him. He just left, ran out of the
building and ran home. No telling anyone what was up. Fortunately for him he
did not have a Joseph moment where she accused him of wrong doing, but he ran
and did not just walk. See I think walking is casual, where running is on
purpose and that is what we should be in fleeing evil.

Verse 35:18 brought an interesting
question:

Then I will praise
You and thank You at the great gathering,
    in
the company of the entire congregation.

 

I wonder why just there? Why not always?
Why not when you are alone in prayer? Also, it sounds like he is “bargaining”
with God when you read the verses before. We don’t need to do that and should
never use something we should do anyway as a “bargaining chip” with God!

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1 Samuel
6 – 10

The Philistines are trying to decide what to do with the
Covenant Chest and in verse 6:6 the priests and fortune tellers give their
view:

Why would you be
as stubborn as the Egyptians and their Pharaoh were? You’ve heard the
stories, haven’t you? When this God had taught them a lesson, didn’t they
release the people of Israel? Didn’t they go?

Think about what they have been enduring
and what they know. Then consider why they are even thinking about keeping it.
At this point logic should have taken over and the only option would be return
the chest. But no, they have to rely on mystics to give them the ultimate
decision.

Now the meat of this reading is in Israel
getting a king. Verse 8:20 has the people ignoring what Samuel is telling them:

so that we will be
like all other nations and will have someone to judge us and to lead us into
battle.

Sometimes I wonder if this was not the best
thing for them, because left on their own they tended to drift to other gods
and practices. At the same time once you allow this, the king has the power to
be a tyrant, removing all freedoms. This is why when the USA was formed the
leaders wanted limited power and election by the people of the “kings” to
represent them. When you think about it this model is ideal where people have
freedom yet are lead to stay on track. As we will see with Israel and all other
systems in history, they get corrupted and rarely survive unless a sharp turn
to the roots is made.

In chapter 9 Saul is selected by God and
anointed by Samuel which is something we often forget. I have heard from many
churched people that David was the first anointed king, but we see Saul is
really the first. But where the problem comes in is in verse 10:22 when Saul
rejects his calling:

So they asked the
Eternal One if the man had yet arrived.

Eternal One:
Look! He has hidden himself among the baggage.

Saul was anointed king before this and hid from
his God given responsibilities. How many times have we done that? I still kick
myself for that one prompt where someone had come to the front during an alter
call. The pastors were all busy and she kept searching right in front of me. I
was called to speak to her, but instead hid in the baggage and continued to
worship and sing. She left shortly after and I have no idea if she ever
resolved her salvation, but I hid. And this is the real problem with Saul!!

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Genesis
44 – 47

As we move forward in Joseph life we now see how they became
slaves in Egypt. Joseph again attempts to trick them, but this time He sends
someone after them to accuse them of thievery. Verse 45:5 is after he reveals
his identity to his brothers:

Don’t be upset or
angry with yourselves any longer because of what you did. You see God
sent me here ahead of you to preserve life.

If you think about the sequence it’s very
odd, but it becomes amazing at the same time. His brothers are going to kill
him for being a bit pompous and braggadocios. Instead they sell him into
slavery. He rises to serving in a very high place, yet while he remains true to
God he gets falsely accused and tossed into prison. Even there he remains in a
good spot and grows to eventually be second in command to the Pharaoh, which
puts him in a position to save his brothers.

God did that!

Verse 46:2 has God addressing Jacob/Israel
as Jacob, but in verse 1 he is mentioned as Israel. How confusing does that get
when his name is interchanged even after God changed his name. Wonder why that
is?

As we close out the reading you see the
Pharaoh trusts Joseph and protects his brothers. It’s also unclear if all the
people end up in slavery to the Pharaoh or if his brothers are protected, but
either way most of the people end up as slaves to Pharaoh. The other thing I
notice in verse 47:26 is the first mention of a tax system:

So Joseph made a
law regarding the land of Egypt—which stands to this day—declaring Pharaoh is
due one-fifth of all the land produces. Only the land of the priests
remained personal property.

Here you have the start of property and
income tax with the church exemption.

Notice how when things get tough people have
no problem submitting to authority and becoming slaves. Once that is done they
have no problem paying taxes to maintain that authority. I wonder if we are
seeing this today. Think about when the economy failed in the 30’s and
Roosevelt enacted the New Deal, much of the nation submitted to programs like
the WPA to become slaves for the USA. They were fed and housed, for labor.

We see this in our relationship with God,
we need to completely submit to his authority and become a slave for Jesus.
Once you become dependent on God, you find yourself being less dependent on
man. Look at Joseph and his brothers, they depended on God and in a twist of
events God showed His faithfulness.

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1 Corinthians
5 – 6

Verse 5:1 hit home to many churches today:

Because of my
deep love for you, I must express my concern about the report brought to me
regarding the lewd and immoral behavior exhibited in your community.
This scandal has come to my attention because this kind of thing is unheard of
even among the outsiders around us: I understand a man is having sexual
relations with his father’s wife.

This is something I can see happening often
in churches. We get into a trap where say someone is a great teacher and then
divorces for an affair. Do we just say ok, he’s a great teacher and ignore that
sin or do we oust him from his position? As you read deeper Paul is not saying
salvation is lost, only that Satan is in control of this man and that his
spirit “might” be saved on Jesus’ return (v5:5). Again it’s not clear his
salvation is secure, just that he is following the wrong leader.

Verse 5:10 is interesting in this
translation:

Don’t
misunderstand; I’m not telling you to hole up and hunker down from the rest
of the world. That’s impossible. The world is filled with immoral people
consumed by their desire for more; they steal from one another without
hesitation and will worship man-made idols with no shame at all. If
you attempted to avoid these people, you would have to leave the world itself.

I can’t imagine Paul saying “hunker down” without
a deep slow southern drawl. I first read this and got an image of “Larry the
Cable Guy” speaking. I did go back and check the NKJV, NIV and NLT to
ensure something was not being lost or added. In this case the italics help
clarify the meaning quite well. Paul is not saying avoid the sinful in the
world, heck we have to interact to ensure salvation of the lost. They key is
not to allow the evil to corrupt the body. Again I use the example of pastor
who commits adultery, giving this a pass in the body is like allowing a wound
to fester. If you go too long it will kill you, it’s best to clean it out
immediately before allowing it to destroy anything.

We have to wait 8 more months before I get to talk about
Malachi, but you may want to read it now. You will see a church that has disintegrated
because of allowing just this action. It’s an interesting book to review in
light of what Paul is saying today.

Verse 6:2 was on that got me wondering and concerned:

Don’t you know
that His people are destined to judge the world? If you have the authority to
judge the world, can’t you handle these small matters and render a better
judgment than the civil courts?

This thread is logical since we, as a body
of Christ, should police our own before going to the “earthly authorities” but
what got me was the first sentence of this verse. Where does it say that “His people
are destined to judge the world”? Where? I tend to like the KJV more that say
“the saint will judge” and not the people. Sorry, but I don’t think any living
person is really qualified to judge the world outside of Jesus! This has been
one of the only points in the Bible I have to take Paul to task for and believe
it’s was wrong to say.

In context we need to judge our own, to a
point. But we are in no way “destined to judge the world”. Heck we can’t even
come to a consensus on what is wrong in the world right now. Homosexuality is
one that gets everyone’s knickers in a twist. The Bible is clear it’s a sin, in
the OT and NT, but it breaks down from there. If it was a sin that why did God
make people that way, since it does appear to be something people are “born
with”? Or we are not to judge others (directly in conflict with this
statement). I have even heard that Paul was not talking about loving homosexual
relationships, but rather promiscuous “bath-house” acts. Heck, I have even
heard the “thorn” in Paul’s side was homosexuality.

I pick this because I don’t know the
answer. I am leaning towards it being a sin since the fall created a sin nature
and flaws in our character, doesn’t matter if we are born with it or not, we
need to control it as Christians. Now if I am not a believer or follower of
Jesus is this allowed? Or is this part of the world we block for our walls?
Again, I am personal not sure since I know a few homosexual who profess Jesus,
but not the church.

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Mark
1 – 2

Verse 1:13 shows the differences between the Gospels:

and there in the
desert He stayed for 40 days. He was tested by Satan himself and surrounded by
wild animals; but through these trials, heavenly messengers cared for
Him and ministered to Him.

Mark is more a “Reader’s Digest” version of
the Gospel of Jesus. He first chapter says nothing of the virgin birth or his
early days, it starts with John the Baptist. The 40 days in the desert has no
mention of the three temptations or fasting. This book is just simple and to
the point. You will notice it’s more for a “spiritually educated” audience,
since a new believer should work with Matthew or Luke as their first Gospel.

Notice the “first” miracle in Mark is not
changing water into wine, but casting demons and healings. So did Mark figure
the water to wine thing was a parlor trick?

Verse 1:37 gives people an idea of the life
Jesus lived:

They finally tracked
Him down.

People:
Everybody wants to know where You are!

How would you feel if you could not even
slip away to pray in the early morning? If you had someone who was ill and you
know a man had God given ability to heal, you would do what it took to get them
to this man. So even early morning before dawn he is tracked down and bothered.
Just because Jesus is God in flesh doesn’t mean his flesh does not need sleep,
He has to live the same rules of food and rest that everyone else does or the
flesh will die before His work is complete. So he could not rest and that
frustrated Him.

Verse 2:22 got me thinking (and many now
cringe;):

And nobody puts
new, unfermented wine into old wineskins because if he does, the wine
will burst the skins; they would lose both the wineskins and the wine. No, the
only appropriate thing is to put new wine into new wineskins.

I have read and listened to this Parable
many times over my life and now wonder the wording. The context is Jesus is
being questioned by the scribes about his not adhering to Hebraic customs. He
is talking about the new things he is teaching and in context it could be
implied that the new teaching will not work on old beliefs. So His teachings
could be for the new covenant which differs wildly from the old one.

Could Jesus be saying the old covenant and
the new covenant do not mesh at all and those who live under the OC are fine
and should not mesh the NC doctrine, if they do it will cause problems. Or are
we all to become NC wineskins? Out with the old altogether?

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Isaiah
56 – 61

Verse 56:1 opens with an awesome comment:

Eternal One:
Take care that you do what is right and fair,
        because before you know it, I will come to save you;
    Soon
you will see how I rescue.

This is something we all need to consider;
when the chips are down and we are in a hole God will rescue us. Not saying it
will be tomorrow, we see that is never the case with God. The second 40 years
of Moses’ life he was stuck in the desert learning to humble himself. Joseph
was sold as a slave for 20 years before his purpose was revealed.

Life often sucks and we seem to think God
is silent, we are in bondage with debt or in a dead end job. What is God’s
purpose? Maybe God’s purpose is to teach you something or develop a necessary
skill. I know recently during my trials, God has been teaching me to be more
faithful that he will provide.

In 2007 we saw the economy turn and tried
to ride it out on credit, not thinking it would go as long as it did. I had
been out of engineering for 7 years and had little hope getting back into that
game. In 2008 our debt peaked in December and at the same time I got a junior
engineering position (most of my peers could have been my children). Today
after long hard struggling with paying down debt and settling obligations, we
are now out of credit card debt!!

As we dive into this prophecy we see two
distinct splits, the chastising the ones who left and giving hope to the
faithful. Verse 57:8 God calls out hypocrisy:

You declare
your obedience to Me, but all hidden away—as if I couldn’t see;
        behind the very door and doorpost, you set up your shrine.
    You
turned your back on Me and snuck off to be intimate with other deities;
        you made promises to them and bound yourself to them all tight and
close.

I think we tend to believe there is one
God, which there is, but the “deities” may in fact be fallen angels and not
just manufactured idols. Follow me here, Satan and his cast of many wants to be
worshiped as God so they will do what it takes to distract us. The newest one
is “The Secret” which did explain God to me, but has a hidden danger of trying
to elevate us to a “god”. See if you can use God’s natural laws to your
advantage, suddenly God is less important.

They key is don’t put a façade of following
Jesus and then worship some idol or yourself in the background. This is the
danger that God was chastising Israel about, they lost focus. DON’T DO IT, KEEP
IN THE WORD!!! Test everything outside of the Bible on pure scripture and not
feelings. Feelings will get you in a bunch of trouble, into bad relationships,
debt and idol worship. Learn to test them also!!

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Job
21 – 22

Verse 21:7 is a question all must ask today:

Why do the wicked
live
        on an ever-upward path to long life and riches?

This is a fallacy that riches and long
lives are the means to success. As the Beatles say, “Money can’t buy you love.”
Or for that matter it can’t buy happiness. Our earthly mindset is the hot car,
big house and fancy toys are the measure of a successful life, where God shows
that most are not so successful financially and often die young. The key to
significance is what matters after you die? The car or the souls saved?

Focus on God, if money comes thank Him! In
today’s society we see the “banksters” destroying our economy while living
large at our expense. The idea they would fraudulently make loans, package them
with a false rating, insure them and get rich while at the same time evicting
the person who bought the home and taking that asset to boot, is awful. Then to
do this without acknowledging God, or if they do it’s not the God of Israel. We
must realize money is a tool for God’s work and not something we just have fun
with. Just because some wicked make it hand over fist does not mean God condones
their actions.

Verse 21:26 goes back to my initial
comment:

But they lie down
together in the same dust,
        covered by the same blanket of worms.

We all end up in the ground! The only ones
I know that are remembered are the ones who made a significant impact on
society. The ones who got rich and then committed suicide because of their
fraud are forgotten the next day (note the 12 bankers who committed suicide in
recent weeks, name one). Significance comes from what is left behind, a legacy of
kindness and service or greed and debauchery. The kind will honor your death;
the greedy will just look for what you left them. Look for what matters on the
last days, not what makes you happy today.

Verse 22:3 has Eliphaz continuing to ignore
what Job is saying:

Is the Highest One
made happy if you are righteous?
        Does He profit from your perfect ways?

After some time I am even upset at Job’s friends. They
are limited in their scope and looking at the world. They believe their pious
remarks are true and cannot see past the reality. Don’t do this no matter how
much you know about God and the Bible, you will never know enough!!

Psalms
30 – 32

Psalm 30 appears to be written at one of David’s low points,
most likely when being chased by Saul. Verse 30:3 gives on this impression:

You lifted me from
the grave with a mighty hand,
    gave
me another chance,
    and
saved me from joining those in that dreadful pit.

One only has to look back at how many times
Saul nearly killed David or at least had the chance to. Also, this could be his
asking forgiveness for his transgressions with Bathsheba. Either way we get to
see the forgiving grace of God and how he’s not ready to strike us down for our
sins, but rater wants to embrace us. The key is respect and honor in this
relationship. Treat your earthly father like crap and he may write you out of
his will, although he will still love you. It’s no different with God, He wants
respect and dignity.

Verse 31:2 is something to note:

Hear me, Lord!
Turn Your ear in my direction.
    Come
quick! Save me!
Be my rock, my shelter,
    my
fortress of salvation!

If the phrase “turn Your ear” sounds
familiar, David uses it 6 times in the Psalms. Each time I read it I think the
same thing. God is always listening, it’s the response we expect that is the
idea we are being ignored. Often we pray and don’t get the response we expect,
and assume God is not listening. Many times it is decades later that it becomes
clear that God WAS listening, He just knew better. So when you think you are in
“winter” or God is not listening, know that His lack of response does not mean
he is not listening.

Verse 32:3 is a key to our relationship
with God:

When I refused to
admit my wrongs, I was miserable,
    moaning
and complaining all day long
    so
that even my bones felt brittle.

We must be in a constant state of
confession, not just a pray once and all will be forgiven. Also, repentance is
more than just praying for forgiveness, but not continuing in the sin. I think
about how many times I confess and continue, thinking somehow I am blessed. In
reality it’s not about the words, but the actions or lack there of. Jesus said
“go and sin no more”, not you are forgiven over and over again … have fun!!
David knows this an is showing in his prayer. Notice most of the times David
sinned, it was the only time. Sure he and his family paid the consequence many
times, the sin was forgiven.

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1 Samuel
1 – 5

Hannah was childless and was in turmoil about not having
children. Interesting how they start this story focusing on her despair, but as
you will see like everything God does it has a purpose.

Verse 2:7 has her praying:

The Eternal One
makes both poor and rich;
        some He humbles, and others He honors.

When you think about it we often place God
as being in total control of the world, when I think He is more hands off. More
like a director of a crazy free form orchestra. Only when things get way out of
hand does He jump in. Also, when the sting section needs some guidance he may
nudge them from time to time. But I don’t think God makes the poor, He just
gives us the environment to be either way. I know that many say being born poor
is so much more difficult to pull yourself out, but that is more generational
in problems than God making people poor.

Anyway as we see with Hannah, God may have
made her barren for a season to get His end result. Hannah made a promise to
give this child to the church and after she did verse 2:21 shows God’s
response:

The Eternal One
showed his favor toward Hannah again, and she conceived and gave birth
to three sons and two daughters, and her son Samuel grew up in the presence of
the Eternal One.

This is a key point, never once did God
promise this nor did Hannah expect it. She was made a promise and kept it. This
is a trap with tithing, since most pastors’ promise a blessing or that
Malachi’s “testing” will show God’s blessing on you if you tithe. Hannah is the
example of how life should be done, in pure obedience without expectations.
Sure it would be nice to have a ton of money, but don’t expect it dropping that
10% in the plate. We not only do things out of obedience, but joy. Why should
we expect something on the “flip-side”?

The rest of the reading focuses on Eli’s
sons, who are taking advantage of their positions and end up paying the
ultimate price. I find it interesting how Eli dies shortly after his sons and
often wonder was he paying the price for their sins? One of the problems was
they lost the “covenant chest” which caused problems for those who had it.

Verse 5:12 shows why it was a “hot potato”:

and those He did
not kill, He struck with swollen, painful tumors. Their suffering was
so intense their cries could be heard in the heavens.

City after city the chest gets moved and
they fall into the same despair. It will be interesting to see what becomes of
this chest. Stay tuned and in 7 days (or readings) we will find out!

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Genesis
40 – 43

Joseph is in prison and things get interesting. Verses 40:2
& 3 talk about his new guests:

^2-3 Pharaoh
was angry with his two attendants, and so he put the chief cupbearer and the
chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the same
prison where Joseph was confined.

During the time these two were in prison,
both had a dream. Joseph interprets both dreams for them and quickly the dreams
come true. Unfortunately for the baker, his dream was fatal for him. Although
the cupbearer did promise Joseph to mention him immediately like he promised, this
did not happen until two years later where in chapter 41 he finally does.

Verse 41:16 has Joseph addressing the
Pharaoh:

I cannot do this,
but God will answer Pharaoh’s request and relieve your concerns,

Think about this, he has an ability to get
out of prison. The Pharaoh is asking to interpret a dream and a “yes” would get
him out, instead he say “I cannot”. Think about this, in the 20 years away he
has learned to humble himself before God and give God the credit. Think about
how God choose an arrogant young buck to save Israel, but first he had to
humble himself. And that took 20 years!!

As you read this story it is amazing how
circumstances are set in place for Joseph to save the nation of Israel. If
Joseph had been a humble servant to his older brothers, he would have never
been sold into slavery. If the queen had not been manipulative he would have
never been tossed in jail. If he had not been in jail the cupbearer would never
had known God would interpret dreams through him. If the cupbearer had
instantly got Joseph out, he may not have been in the position to interpret
Pharaoh’s dream, which put him in the position to save the nation of Israel.

Think about this the next time you are in
need and living in a low spot. God may just be molding you for something great,
if not he may just be correcting a behavior not pleasing to God. Either way,
like Paul, we should be joyful in all things, because there is an ultimate
purpose in everything even though we may not see it in the moment.

Verse 43:30 has this odd game Joseph is playing with his
family:

 Joseph
hurried from the room because he was overwhelmed with affection for his
brother and was afraid he would cry in front of everyone. So he went
into a private room and wept there.

I am not sure why he did not initially come
out and disclose who he was to his brothers, but his emotions got the best of
him often. This was the second time he ran from his brothers so not to cry in
front of them. I assume he may have been worried that they were going to do him
harm, or maybe he just wanted to ensure his family would be fully reunited. Whatever
the reason, this is an interesting one as to the workings of God in saving
Israel.

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1 Corinthians
3 – 4

Verses 3:1 & 2 talk about growing:

¹ My
brothers and sisters, I cannot address you as people who walk by the Spirit; I
have to speak to you as people who tend to think in merely human terms, as
spiritual infants in the Anointed One. ² I nursed you with
milk, as a mother would feed her baby, because you were not, and still
are not, developed enough to digest complex spiritual food.

This is critical in churches today when you think about it.
Think about the pews today, there are a huge range of people with knowledge.
The preacher has multiple audiences from never hearing the Gospel, to ones who
have read the Bible multiple times. Who does the preacher teach to? If I taught
about healings and tongues, it may help the seasoned believer but the new one
will hit the doors running. So preachers teach to the “lowest common
denominator” in churches today.

The problem is the preacher gets a glazed over crowd who has
heard the salvation message hundreds of times. The church never grows and
stagnates like Paul is seeing in Corinth. How do we as parishioners fix this?
We either sit and glaze over or take an active role in the church, building
every deepening small groups and study on your own. The church is restless
today, it’s your job to personally change this and grow the old as well as the
new. Small groups and community is where this has to happen!!

Verse 3:21 is a warning on pride:

So there is no
reason for anyone to boast in human leaders. You already have it all.

We have to watch ourselves and ensure we
don’t allow our leaders to become higher than God. I see this at 12 Stone with
PK, who is a great teacher. But often the growth may not be changing him, but
in talking many times the conversation is PK and not Jesus. I often get
concerned that the larger a church gets and the better the teacher is, the
message gets watered down. Now I will say PK has fired some sermons that
surprised me the pews weren’t empty the week later, so he remains hard hitting
and in your face.

Verse 4:15 sums up where our focus should
be:

You may have
10,000 instructors in the faith of the Anointed One, but you have only
one father. In Jesus the Anointed I have become your father through my
efforts in spreading the good news.

Who cares if there are thousands of
teachers, we should focus on the word of God and not the personalities.  I believe that is a trap we all fall into.
Heck I confess some “idol” worship with PK myself. I think I could come up and
talk with him like he is a friend, but he would not know me from Adam. Well he
may know about Adam much better than he would ever know me. The key is focus on
God and not the talking head; they will not always be there for you, where God
will!!

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Isaiah
51 – 55

Verse 51:6 mentions events to happen:

Don’t worry—look
up at the sky and down at the earth.
        The sky will disappear like smoke; the earth will wear out like a well-used
garment;
    Every
last thing may perish and dissolve, but My salvation is for all time.
        My justice will not end.

When he says “sky” does he mean the
atmosphere, the sun or cloud cover? Now we could say this will happen, but at
the same time he may just be using a metaphor to ensure we understand God is
unchanging. We cannot imagine anything so catastrophic that would cause any of
these events to happen, unless you listen to the “Climate Change” scientist,
who imply we will do this to the planet. Either way, my belief is this is not
an event in the future so much as it’s showing God’s never ending justice.

This is the problem with reading prophetic
writings, first trying to understand what they mean and then always trying to
apply it to today. Sure many can be traced back in history, but most are vague
and often open to interpretation. I liken this to the “sky is falling” crowd in
the stock market. I have been watching the market since 1980 and have seen its
ups and downs. There has always been people predicting a major crash and
depression since I have been watching. I did allow them to influence me a bit
and therefore did not ride a market that was under $1000 to over $16,0000.

Verse 55:2 makes me think he is talking to
us today, me specifically:

I don’t understand
why you spend your money for things that don’t nourish
        or work so hard for what leaves you empty.
    Attend
to Me and eat what is good;
        enjoy the richest, most delectable of things.

The corner “convenience” store is the
biggest culprit. You get your gas and a snack. Something that is “empty” in
calories and does nothing for you is often purchased. I personally spend over
$100 a month on crap from the local QT and justify it by running. But imagine
if we just ate what God said was good for us! We would all be in much better
shape. I wonder if the people had the same problem with snacks when Isaiah
wrote this or if he was targeting the 7-11 generations.

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Matthew
26 – 28

This is the first of four times we get to relive Jesus’
death on the cross. Chapter 26 has a bunch of stories including the last
supper, praying in the garden, Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denials. Each verse
could be deconstructed into a book or sermon easily, so excuse the short and
choppy thought today.

Verse 26:37 caught my eye in how it was worded:

Then He took Peter
and the two sons of Zebedee with Him, and He grew sorrowful and deeply
distressed.

Why did Matthew not say John and James the
two sons of Zebedee? I think it’s interesting how different details are
mentioned in each account and often wonder if there are significant meanings or
it’s just the way he described John and James.

Verse 26:75 ends with Peter realizing he
did what he denied he would:

And Peter
remembered. He remembered that Jesus had looked at him with something like
pity and said, “This very night, before the cock crows in the morning, you
will deny Me three times.” And Peter went outside, sat down on the ground,
and wept.

In the moment he was protecting his life
and not denying Jesus. But when the cock crowed the third time he did this he
realized that Jesus was more. Jesus saw the future and Peter could do nothing.
Even knowing the future did not change it!

Verses 27:9 & 10 are interesting to me
since they talk about prophecy:

 And
when the priests bought Potter’s Field, they unwittingly fulfilled a
prophecy made long ago by the prophet Jeremiah: “They took 30 pieces of silver,
the price set on the head of the man by the children of Israel, ¹⁰ and
they gave them for the Potter’s Field as the Eternal One instructed.”

There reference is in Jeremiah 32:6 -9 and
I don’t necessarily get this from my reading of different versions. To me
Jeremiah is describing a specific transaction and it does not seem to match the
one in Matthew. Now I am not a scholar in anyway and rely on Google for my
checks and cross checks. One has to jump around a bunch into different chapters
before it’s clear, but this and the Zechariah reference you can quickly see the
prophecy, it’s just not crystal clear in the reading and reference.

Verses 27:51 & 52 are noted of
interest:

⁵¹ At
that instant, the temple curtain was torn in half, from top to bottom. The
earth shook; rocks split in two; ⁵² tombs burst open, and
bodies of many sleeping holy women and men were raised up.

Verse 51 has to be mentioned since it
referrers to the veil between man and God. Once Jesus died that veil was torn
from God to man or top to bottom. But rest is what gets me. We often read it as
these are the events compressed between his death and resurrection. Yet when
you read this it says “bodies” and not Jesus. What is being described here
sounds like a horror movie and not something I would like to be a part of. Who
were the “sleeping holy women and men” anyway? And notice “women” are first, is
this evidence that the women can’t preach mantra is false?

This is the part of the story that is hard
for most to get, until it resides in their hearts. That is the key about all
this … either it is real to you personally or it’s just a story; a bad one at
that when you think about it. Imagine selling this as a movie or book today!!
No way would they buy it.

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Job
19
– 20

Verse 19:2 shows Job’s frustration with his friends:

O how long! How
long will you torture me and pound me with your chatter?

Here he is continuing to endure his friends
(and find out they are not done) and their opinions. When you think about what
his friends are doing, the phrase “opinions are like as….., everyone has one”
comes to mind.  Imagine being in misery
and having these guys just telling you what you did wrong.

Verse 19:25 made me notice a reference to
the future:

Besides, I know my
Redeemer lives,
        and in the end He will rise and take His stand on the earth.

In reading this it talks about a redeemer
who in OT times would buy one out of slavery or buy something back that was
taken away. I note a few things that make me think Job may be talking about
Jesus. First the “Redeemer” is capitalized indicating a specific person, this
along with the two capitalized He/His references later tend to indicate Jesus.
Second “He will rise” implying Jesus who rises again. Finally “take His stand”
implying ruling over the earth, again implying Jesus.

Now in all fairness this may be an
implication or bias in this translation since most of the English versions are
mixed with person reference to a general one. We like to read in a messianic
reference when we can, but sometimes we may force it when it’s not there. In
this case maybe Job is just looking for someone to vouch for him.

Verse 20:5 is not always the case:

The celebrations
of the wicked have been brief,
        and the joy of the profane lasts only a moment.  

Honestly I have known people for decades
that have lived lives which would be perceived as wicked, yet are successful
throughout their lives. I dread that they are doomed, but often wonder if it’s
just luck or if God is really in the mix of prosperity? It’s always been one of
those things we assume and can point to major celebrity “flame outs” but often
it’s not the case.

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Psalms
27 – 29

Verse 27:1 is the hope we all should have and believe:

The Eternal is my
light amidst my darkness
    and
my rescue in times of trouble.
    So
whom shall I fear?
He surrounds me with a fortress of protection.
    So
nothing should cause me alarm.

Often we go through life wondering if God
is with us. We give names to these seasons, summer when things are groovy, fall
as we slip away, winter as we fell abandoned and spring as our relationship
blossoms.  Often we feel we are in
“winter” since God is not doing what we assume He should. David knows this and
knows God is with him no matter what. Think about David’s “winter”, he went
from the king’s right hand guy to being the king’s most wanted. Heck the king
poo’ed on David in a cave, so he has been in darker spots then most of us.

We need to realize that winter is just a
time where we need to recognize God is working in our lives, just not in the
way we expect. When you are broke and pray for a lottery win, just because God
does not answer that prayer doesn’t mean the stage is set for you to rise out
of poverty. We just have to learn patience!

Verse 28:2 has me reviewing translations:

Listen to my
voice.
    You
will hear me begging for Your help
With my hands lifted up in prayer,
    my
body turned toward Your holy home.

I wanted to see if “hands lifted up” was
translated as “worship” in other translations, since we translate this for 4
words, being everything from hands lifted up to face down on the ground. All
translations that I checked were consistent, so off this rabbit trail and
figure what it means. How many times have we asked God to listen to our voice,
again assuming we are knowing what is best. So when thing don’t go as expected,
like getting poo’ed on by our king, we assume God is not listening.

Through many of David’s Psalms or prayers
we see his asking for help like God is not listening. We cannot judge God’s
ears based on actions we are expecting. Heck after 6 years I now see why our
farm did not sell when it did. I though God was ignoring me or I had sinned to
“blow” the deal, but rather all along it was his timing. Since if it had sold
we would own junk now and not learned important lessons. Also, if the deal had
not happened at all we may have walked on the property for short term ease.

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Ruth
1 – 4

The story of Ruth is a sad one with Naomi losing her husband
and two sons. Her daughter in law latches on to her and works tirelessly in the
fields. Verse 1:14 starts with Ruth clinging to Naomi not wanting to leave:

At this Orpah and
Ruth wailed and wept again. Then Orpah kissed Naomi, said goodbye, and
returned the way she had come. Yet Ruth refused to let go of Naomi.

For whatever reason, she felt obligated to
Naomi and would not go back to her family. They lived life together after Naomi
accepted her resolve. During this time Ruth was sent to gather the gleanings
from the fields during harvest. One of the field owners took notice of how she
worked and insisted she work with his workers who were instructed to leave a
little extra for Ruth.

After this went on for a while, Ruth and
Boaz became closer. Verse 3:3 Naomi instructs Ruth to pursue Boaz, since he
could rectify her son’s death by marrying Boaz:

Bathe and perfume
yourself. Put on your best dress, then go down onto the threshing floor. Be
careful, though. Don’t let him know you are there until he has finished
eating and drinking.

In the next verse Naomi instructs here to
“uncover his feet and lie down.” This has sexual connotations but as you will
see they do not consummate the relationship. Instead Boaz, knowing the law
first offers her to another younger family member. When he rejects the offer,
Boaz marries her and they have a son.

All in all this story is just interesting,
but appears to have no significance. We saw that yesterday with Chapter 38 of
Genesis where plopped right in between the story of Joseph is Judah sleeping
with an assumed prostitute and conceiving twins. It didn’t make sense why this
story was there, until verses 4:18-22, where all is clarified.

You read that Boaz was in the blood line of
one of Tamar and Judah’s twins, Perez. Verse 4:22 shows the son of Ruth and
Boaz, Obed, was significant:

Obed was Jesse’s
father. And Jesse was the father of David.

Yes if this odd story hadn’t happened as it
did, the great king David would have never been and with that the savior Jesus
would not have lived. I have read these chapters 4 times now, once in the same
order, and never noticed the connection between Genesis 37 and the story of
Ruth. Both just seemed to be odd stories that were just dropped into the Bible,
until you actually see the connection.  

HOW COOL IS THAT?

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