Category: Daily Bible Reading Blog

A blog following the daily readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.

Jeremiah 29:1-14

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Whenever I’m in a conversation with a Christian, it’s common for me to ask them what their favorite verse or passage of the Bible is.  Hands down, the most often cited verse is Jeremiah 29:11 –
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (NIV)
 
            It’s a wonderful verse.  Yet, there is a distinct situation and context surrounding that verse about the future.  The verse is very much rooted in the present. The nation of Judah had been taken into captivity to Babylon.  Understandably, the people were longing to go back home; they didn’t want to be in Babylon.
So, Jeremiah (who remained in Judah) sent them a letter, and warned them to not listen to false prophets who would give them an easy answer about getting out of Babylon quickly. Instead, he told them to make a good life for themselves in their captive land.  He essentially told them to “bloom where you are planted.”
God said to the captives through Jeremiah the prophet:
“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (NIV)
 
            Another version says this in verse 7: “Pray for peace in Babylonia and work hard to make it prosperous.  The more successful that nation is, the better off you will be.” (CEV)
            Verse 11 only has solid meaning for us today when we:
·         understand that we are to work hard right where we are in a place we don’t want to be
·         pray for that place and its people and welfare
·         thrive in our presenthard circumstance.
Then, we can look to a bright future.  Our present sufferings do not compare to what glory is coming.  But that occurs only if we persevere and find ways of flourishing right where we are today.  How will you thrive in the place God has you right now?

 

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought me in safety to this new day.  Preserve with your mighty power so that I might not just wish for a different today and are not able to see what you have for me in this place.  May I not be overcome by adversity, but in all things direct me to the fulfilling of your purposes; through Jesus Christ, my Lord in the strength of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

1 Corinthians 7:32-40

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            We understand worry and anxiety.  Its part of the human condition in this broken world.  You may have even woken up this morning with deep furrows of anxiety about the state of your life – and maybe God was lost somewhere in your worry.  The Bible addresses worry many times, and the Apostle Paul brings it out here in our New Testament lesson for today.
            Throughout the letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul dealt with several issues effecting the life and spiritual (even physical) health of the church.  In chapter 7, he discusses the prospect of marriage for unmarried persons (sounds like Paul spoke at a lot of college campuses).  He goes back and forth as if he has a daisy in his hand giving a pre-marital counsel of “she loves me, she loves me not” as he pulls petals off the flower.
            Paul vacillates between whether to get married or not because he’s concerned for the larger issue of worry and anxiety.  “I want all of you to be free from worry.”  This, then, becomes a sage grid from which to make an important life decision: Does being unmarried create worry and anxiety within you, to the point that you can’t think about pleasing God?  Then drop the long engagement and get married; or, put yourself out there to connect in a relationship.  If not being married doesn’t cause you to worry, then stay in your current state and don’t pursue marriage.  Use your station in life to serve God freely, liberated from the worry of caring for a spouse.
            Pleasing and serving the Lord is Paul’s highest good.  If we are in life circumstances which make it difficult for us to serve God, then we ought to work to change the situation so that we can focus better on Christ.  This is one of the most simple and wise ways of making decisions for the Christian, and discerning God’s will.

 

God Almighty, you have brought me in safety to this new day.  Preserve me with your mighty power, that I may not fall into worry – forgetting to please you in every way.  Help me not be overcome by anxiety, and in all I do direct me to fulfilling of your purposes; through Jesus Christ, my Lord, along with you and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Psalm 35:1-10

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Sometimes you just have to tell it like it is.  There is a time to do your best in putting up a good face and dealing with people who don’t ever stop gossiping, slandering, and trying to get their way.  But there is also a time to call such behavior “evil” and cry out to God for help.
            Psalm 35 is a classic prayer in the category called “imprecatory psalms.”  The term “imprecatory” means to call down a curse on a person or group of people.  Maybe this surprises you that there is such language in the Bible.  In fact, there are 18 such imprecatory psalms which make a clear petition to God for him to turn the evil back on themselves that they inflict (or try to inflict) on others.
            I’m a believer in making simple observations about the biblical text.  Let’s observe a few things about such psalms:
1.      David asks God to deal with the evil behavior of powerful people.
Unlike most of us, David went through a time in is life where there were powerful people who were literally trying to hunt him down and take his life.  As much as we might speculate whether David wanted to take matters into his own hands, the fact remains that he didn’t.  David relied on God to execute judgment.
2.     David did not hold his feelings back in describing exactly what he wanted God to do.
There is nothing sanitized here in the psalm.  David was understandably upset.  He did nothing wrong, yet he was being chased like an animal.  David said it plainly to God: “attack my attackers;” “aim your spear at everyone who hunts me down;” “send your angel after them;” “surprise them with disaster;” and, “let them fall and rot in the pits they have dug.”  Whatever you might think about how a proper Christian ought to say and pray, imprecatory curses might not be your first thought.  But here they are, out there for us to read in the Holy Bible.
3.     The psalms are the prayer book of the church.
That includes the imprecatory psalms.  Yes, they ought to be prayed by us right along with psalms of praise, thanksgiving, and song.  I want you to think what might be a radical thought for you: We ought to include imprecatory prayers in our regular rhythms, routines, and rituals of prayer.
 
            Evil will not have the last word.  God opposes the proud and the arrogant who step on others to get their way.  But he gives grace to the humble, that is, those who look to him for justice and righteousness; are open about their feelings of hurt and upsetedness; and, lift-up imprecatory prayers which are biblically consistent.

 

Saving God, you protect the helpless from those in power and save the poor and needy who cry out to you.  Mighty God, turn back on those with slanderous tongues, gossiping words, and sinful actions the evil they intend to inflict on others.  Let them fall into a deep black hole for which they cannot get out and harm anyone again; through King Jesus, our Savior, in the assistance of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

1 Corinthians 8

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Consider an issue you care about.  Likely, one of the big reasons you care is that you either see some abuse, neglect, inattention, or lack of love applied toward someone or a group of people.  So, you want to see it be different.  Now, here comes the interesting part: We are motivated by love, but we often end up addressing the problem or issue in the realm of thought and/or belief.  We rely on the political, theoretical, and intellectual to solve the problem.  In other words, our hearts are attuned but we turn to knowledge and rules to achieve a change.
            The Apostle Paul knew that we are primarily lovers – not thinkers or believers.  Thinkers and believers traffic in knowledge and faith in belief systems.  These are of great significance, yet they are not the primary or ultimate ends for Paul.  Instead, Paul took on a divisive issue in the Corinthian church (whether one can eat food which was originally sacrificed to idols, or not) by saying this:
“Knowledge makes us proud of ourselves, while love makes us helpful to others.”
 
Paul begins with love and ends with love.  This issue of certain kinds of food was neither an intellectual nor a faith issue – it was a love issue.  Paul’s answer to the problem dividing them on food was that food is a secondary issue.  To look at it through the lenses of love makes it clear what you ought to or ought not to do.  This doesn’t make thinking and believing irrelevant, it just places it in its proper place and supports love.
            Whenever our opinions and thoughts, and our faith and belief structures are handled without love, then special interest groups begin to form.  Then, division occurs based upon what we think and believe about certain things.  But when love is supreme, knowledge is no longer the tail wagging the dog.
            Love is meant to enlighten us not only to the problems among us; love is also the answer to those issues we care about most.  Let that statement be added to your knowledge so that you encourage and build-up others, and not discourage and tear them down.  It really is all about love.

 

Loving God, you demonstrated your own love for us through sending us your Son, the Lord Jesus, who is the perfect embodiment of love.  May He be so manifested within me that love becomes not only the motivator to change, but also the answer to change; through the power and help of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.