Category: Daily Bible Reading Blog

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

Psalm 62:5-12

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            The Old Testament book of Psalms is the church’s prayer book.  Each psalm has been carefully crafted and designed for repeated prayers by the faithful.  Today’s psalm needs no comment.  Read it slowly and deliberately as many times as you need, allowing the words to wash over you and fill you with the grace and peace which can only come from God alone:
Only God gives inward peace,
and I depend on him.
God alone is the mighty rock
that keeps me safe,
and he is the fortress
where I feel secure.
God saves me and honors me.
He is that mighty rock
where I find safety.
Trust God, my friends,
and always tell him
each one of your concerns.
God is our place of safety.
We humans are only a breath;
none of us are truly great.
All of us together weigh less
than a puff of air.
Don’t trust in violence
or depend on dishonesty
or rely on great wealth.
I heard God say two things:
“I am powerful,
     and I am very kind.”
The Lord rewards each of us
according to what we do.
(Contemporary English Version)
 

 

Amen, and amen.

Genesis 16

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            I’m blind as a bat without my glasses.  They’re the first thing I put on when waking in the morning, and the last thing I take off before retiring at night.  Without them I can’t distinguish anything well.  I can’t see others unless they are inches from my face.
            As bad as it would be if I didn’t have my glasses, it would be even worse if you were not seen by anyone.  I believe that one of the great tragedies of modern Western civilization is that we can live among so many other people, yet not be seen by so many of them.  The loneliness of not being seen is a terrible situation.
            The ancient woman, Hagar, certainly felt that way.  She felt an even worse circumstance: Hagar neither believed that anyone saw her and cared, nor that God saw her at all.  It was as if God lost his glasses somewhere.
            In a convoluted series of decisions, mostly outside of her control, Hagar became pregnant with Abraham’s son.  Then, Sarah, Abraham’s “real” wife got pregnant with another son.  It got complicated.  Dysfunction was all around, leaving Hagar and her young son out in the wilderness all by themselves with no one to help.  Hagar simply expected the two of them to die.
            You can feel Hagar’s despair and desperation.  She saw no hope, and nobody saw her… but there was someone watching: God.  He saw everything that happened to her – all the craziness, and all the mistreatment – and he stepped-in and acted on behalf of Hagar and her son.
            As a result, Hagar began to call God, “The God Who Sees Me.” She never again had to wonder or doubt whether she was seen.
            You might feel today that God doesn’t see your pain, is aloof and distant from your hurt, and is blind to your deep wounds.  But he sees.  He sees it all, everything.  God may not be working on the same timetable as you and me, but nevertheless he sees you.  You never have to wonder about it.

 

God of Hagar, just as you saw her in the desert and the desperate position she was in, so I ask that would see me and act according to your great mercy; through Jesus Christ, my Savior, with the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

1 Samuel 15:10-31

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
“Does the LORD really want sacrifices and offerings? No! He doesn’t want your sacrifices.  He wants you to obey him” (verse 22), so said Samuel to King Saul.
God had given Saul explicit instructions on how to handle a group of people called the Amalekites.  Saul obeyed… some of the instructions, but not all of them.  He rationalized his behavior as worship.  But God would have none of it.  The Lord rejected Saul as king; He wanted no monkey business when it comes to obedience.
            I’d like to think I’m not like Saul.  But I sat a bit with this verse, and realized I sometimes do the same thing:
·         Whenever I say I’ll do something and then get busy and not do it, I sometimes rationalize my lack of follow through by explaining what good things I was doing with my time instead.
·         I sometimes justify a purchase of something I don’t really need but want with the excuse to God that I put a lot of money in the offering plate for Him.
·         Occasionally slandering another person, even though it is forbidden by God, with the knucklehead notion that I’m protecting and helping others from that person’s evil ways.
·         I sometimes keep quiet in the face of a bad situation when I should be speaking up, and dismiss the lack of engagement and involvement with the fact that I need to save my energy for people who want it….
I got too convicted to keep thinking about it anymore, but I could have kept going. *Sigh*
            Before we get too uppity about saying we are not like Saul and would never be like him, perhaps we ought to sit with this story and this verse of Holy Scripture for awhile and allow a mindfulness of any unacknowledged disobedience.
            Rationalization is the way of sinners.  Repentance is the path of saints.  Which road will you choose today?

 

Holy God, you expect obedience to clear instructions.  I’m sorry for all those times I’ve found creative ways to circumvent your teaching.  Help me not to avoid your good commands, but to own them with vigor and vitality through Jesus Christ my Lord in the power of your Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Psalm 86

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            What is your view of God?  For some, God is up there, somewhere, like some white-bearded old guy who is aloof to what is going on down here – there is neither anything personal nor personable about him, at all.  For others, God is a force which binds all things together; he’s there, but you’re never quite sure how to get in touch with him – it’s like a crap shoot trying to connect with him.  For yet others, God is perpetually perturbed about something; he’s got a bee in his bonnet and its our job to figure out what he’s sullen and upset about all the time so that we might appease him in some way.
            But the psalmist, David, sees God in wholly other ways than this.  For David, God is personal, knowable, and very reachable.  Reading this psalm tells us a great deal of how David thought about God.  Notice what we learn about God from the way David describes him: “You willingly forgive,” “your love is always there,” “you listen,” “you perform great wonders,” “you protect me,” “you are kind and merciful,” you don’t easily get angry,” and “you help and comfort me.”
            Now this is a God you can sink your teeth into.  He’s attentive, engaged, and anything but upset all the time.  This is the reason why David has no problem asking God to: “please listen and answer my prayer,” “save me,” “make my heart glad,” and “teach me to follow you.”  With this God, David willingly states without being coerced: “I will serve you.”
            If your view of God cannot support and bear the weight of your life’s hardest circumstances, then you need a different view of God! I invite you to see the God of David.  This God has the ability within himself to satisfy your life’s greatest needs.

 

Great God of David, you are above all things and beside all things and with all things.  You are uniquely positioned and powerful to walk with me through all the situations of my life.  Thank you for sending the Son of David to make real your promises to me.  Amen.