Author: Tim Ehrhardt

I'm just a common ordinary pastor, chaplain, father, grandfather, and dog owner who loves the smell of a genuine leather Bible and the aroma of its message. I'm on a quest to track down the best Bibles, how to best read and use them, and to discover the encouragement inside.

Psalm 99

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            The Revised Common Lectionary daily scripture texts are arranged in such a way as to illuminate the significance of the Sunday readings, to encourage an overall reading of the Bible over the span of the year, and to provide a solid foundation for prayer.  Thus, the three days of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are designed to reflect on the previous Sunday; the three days of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are meant to anticipate and prepare for the coming Sunday.  One psalm is used in the first three days for reflection; and, one psalm is used in the last three days for preparation.
 
            Today’s psalm is designed to help us prepare for Transfiguration Sunday in which we recognize and celebrate our Lord Christ’s bright glory on the mountain in the presence of three disciples.  The pinnacle of the event was God the Father enveloping them all, including Moses and Elijah, in a cloud and speaking to them.  Psalm 99 is meant for praise.  It connects us with the pillar of cloud that occurred when the Israelites came out of Egypt to the cloud that descended on the Mount of Transfiguration.
 
            Just as God spoke and gave his commandments to Moses in the Old Testament, so he has spoken in these last times through his Son, Jesus.  Christ is the fulfillment of all God’s good promises.  Think of these next few days as taking a pilgrimage to the mountain where we will meet with God.  Sing songs of praise.  Read Psalm 99 over several times in a spirit of worship and anticipation.  Orient your heart around Jesus, and be ready to listen to him.  For the Lord Jesus Christ has come to be our hope, our trust, and our life.
 

 

            Lord God Almighty, I exalt you and praise your holy name for you have done mighty things.  Speak, Lord, for I am listening to your voice, and I am attentive to the words of your Son, Jesus.  Spirit of God, illumine my mind and my heart to receive what you have to say to me.  Amen.

Mark 7:24-30

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            There are many times in our lives when not much happens until something becomes urgent.  A doctor, a preacher, or financial planner can tell us something until they are blue in the face, but it will not mean much without a profound inner sense that some sort of change needs to occur – that the way things are isn’t going to cut it any longer.
 
            Today’s Gospel lesson is a story of urgency.  Here is a Gentile Canaanite woman, a person who is about as far from God as one can get in the ancient world.  She was not concerned about appearances, etiquette, or any pretense to hide her pain; she cared about her daughter getting healed of her suffering.  So, she sought Jesus.  And the woman believed that Jesus was the answer to her daughter’s situation.  It was the dogged belief (pun intended) that Jesus will deliver.
 
            Grace is bestowed only to the humble that recognize the urgency of needing Jesus.  It is bestowed only in God’s good timing – not ours.  The real muster of a genuine faith is exemplified by a willingness to beg, and is demonstrated with perseverance in the face of the slimmest of odds.  A superficial reading of the story might lead us to think that Jesus’ initial response to the woman was elitist and aloof.  It seems to me that a better way of looking at it is that our faith will be tested to prove its authenticity.
 
            The woman displayed a raw, real, and persistent faith – the very faith that Jesus commended.  It makes me wonder how urgent I am in prayer.  I wonder what would happen if I prayed for one lost neighbor or relative every day with the same urgent persistence as the woman; or, if I begged God without giving up to heal my grandson’s epilepsy; or, if I persevered in prayer for revival.  Perhaps the real enemy of the Christian life is mediocrity and a false sense of acceptance that all is just fine the way it is – kind of like the Pharisees.
 

 

            Healing God, you are the hope of the church and of all who look to you in faith.  Please turn the world, and my world, upside-down with spiritual power that heals people of disease, depression, and demonic influence so that the kingdom of God breaks into all of life and does its transforming work in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Nehemiah 1:1-11

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Prayer is not a passive activity.  If done well, prayer takes time, a great deal of effort, and a sense of priority.  It is quite possible that biblical praying can be the most challenging, exhausting, laborious, and rewarding thing we do.  Through prayer we can become filled with the Holy Spirit, gain wisdom to make godly decisions, and access spiritual power that can melt the hardest of hearts and change the minds of the most stubborn of people.  In prayer we have the privilege of expressing our concerns and needs, as well as having God’s agenda revealed to us for what to do.  Our personal and corporate holiness is in direct proportion to the great task of prayer.
 
            When faced with the reality that Jerusalem was in trouble, Nehemiah prayed.  In prayer he owned the problems that Jerusalem faced.  He owned it through a prayer that emphasized and reminded God of his covenant with his people; he confessed the sins by which Israel violated that covenant; and held onto the promise that God would lift the curse on the city if the people would repent.
 
            Nehemiah had a compassionate heart that did not ignore what was going on in his native land, but wept, mourned, fasted and prayed.  He had a deep concern for and was profoundly disturbed by the news that Jerusalem was in trouble.  Rather than being preoccupied with himself, or turning his back on what was going on and focusing on his own new life in Babylon, he sought to do something about the security and spiritual health of his people.
 
            In his prayer to God, Nehemiah was genuine, persistent, confident, humble, and submissive to God.  He did not distance himself from the sins of the people, but clearly identified with them through a prayer of confession.  That confession was intense, honest, real, and urgent.  Sin always needs to be identified, acknowledged, and pardoned.  If it isn’t, there is no hope for things to be different.
 
            There is a season for everything.  Deer season may come and go, but it is always open season for prayer.  And Nehemiah’s prayer is a solid biblical model for us to emulate.  We all have our challenges to face.   Like Nehemiah, let’s own those challenges through prayer that is biblically focused, compassionately offered, and spiritually curious to know and do God’s agenda for our lives and for God’s people.
 

 

            Most merciful God, I confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.  We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.  I am truly sorry and I humbly repent.  For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Jonah 4:1-11

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Today in my home state of Iowa the presidential campaign gets its official start with the caucus, a time of conversation and interaction on candidates concluding with a vote.  It seems that this presidential cycle will be one of the most rancorous and cantankerous ones in American history (probably not to be outdone by the campaign of John Adams versus Thomas Jefferson, which was fearmongering at its highest).  There is, unfortunately, enough anger to go around on both sides of the Democrats and Republicans.  Fear and anger always go hand in hand.  The fear of which direction our nation is headed has led to vicious vitriol not only in public displays but in private conversations at workplaces and even churches.
 
            All this fear and anger is quite reminiscent of the Old Testament prophet, Jonah.  The powerful Assyrians were the terrorists of the ancient world.  They inspired fear wherever they went, which meant Jonah’s anger was not far behind.  In an incredible divine intervention, God used Jonah to preach against them which resulted in a national repentance.  Yet, instead of joy and gratitude for God’s mercy, Jonah wanted some payback.  He seemed to believe that the Assyrians needed judgment, not grace.  So, through an object lesson with a vine, God taught Jonah what was most important:  “Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left?”
 
            We ought to not be too quick to see the hate and discrimination in Jonah.  When our fears turn to anger and we believe that God should bomb Muslims off the face of the earth; when we think our neighbors might be harboring ill-intent just because they are of a different race, ethnicity, or religion; when we have become bitter because of real evil present in this world and want at least a little payback; then, we are no better than Jonah and look just as ridiculous sitting at the edge of the city pouting like a little child.
 
            Let us rise above the current rancor and be concerned for the billions of people on this earth who need divine intervention and the grace of repentance that leads to new life.  Let us reflect our Lord’s ways by praying for our enemies and doing good works to those who oppose us.  Let us gain the heart of God for the nations of the world and remember what is really important in life.  Any fool can rant against another; but the wise and gracious follower of God patiently and carefully prays and acts in ways that brings Jesus to others.
 

 

            Merciful God, your presence of love in this world is truly amazing.  Despite the real existence of evil on this earth, your grace cuts through it all and has the last word.  Work in my life in such a way that fear is done away with and sinful anger vanishes, to be replaced with the love of Jesus Christ.  Amen.