Category: Daily Bible Reading Blog

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

Psalm 28

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            In today’s psalm, David cries out for help and for God to hear his prayers.  Later, David exclaims:  “Blessed be the LORD!  For he has heard the voice of my please for mercy.  The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.”
 
            We are not told, however, of any kind of answer to prayer or of some miraculous deliverance.  David did not convey what kind of circumstance was going on.  As I pondered this psalm and its lack of life-detail, I wondered about David’s situation with several questions:  Could it be that David gave God praise just for being heard by him?  Was David cured in some way, or was he healed from the need to be healed?  Was there even any deliverance that occurred?  Did David come to praise God in spite of a lack of deliverance?  Was David’s joy in his relationship with God conditional, or unconditional?
 
            If we are blatantly honest with ourselves, we need to admit that far too often we have a particular outcome in mind for God to do with us.  Our hopes and expectations are usually tethered to God doing something very specific so that, if it does not come to pass (or not come to fruition quickly!) we become discouraged and disillusioned.  So, here is another set of questions I am asking myself:  If my adverse circumstances do not change, can I praise God anyway?  Can I, like David, take joy in simply being heard?  Can I find gratitude in all situations?  Do I only express thanks and praise to God when things are going my way?  Am I open to whatever God wants to do in my life, even if it is not what I would choose?  Do I feel that I am above having to put up with the wickedness of this world?  Am I expecting heaven on earth, or am I willing to suffer as a believer in Jesus?  The answers to those questions will determine the trajectory of our Christian experience.
 

 

            I praise you, O God, in the good and the bad, the easy and the difficult, the failures and the victories.  You are Lord over all things.  You are my strength and shield in every circumstance.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  Amen.

Isaiah 59:9-19

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Living in America, one would never know that the U.S. presidential election comes a year from now.  The debates, candidate commercials and endorsements have already been in full swing.  Needless to say, it is going to be a long year in 2016.  Isaiah the prophet may have spoken over two millennia ago, but his words smack just as relevant today when he said “truth has stumbled in the public square.”
 
            Politics, today as in Isaiah’s day, has become less about the concern for the common good and promoting the welfare of citizens and more about winning elections and possessing power.  A party spirit rules the day, where Republicans and Democrats are more polarized than ever with less and less ability to truly listen to one another in order to advance genuine justice, ethical righteousness, and social peace among the nation and the world.
 
            We, as citizens, must all eschew getting sucked into the vortex of acrimonious speech and hate-filled rhetoric.  Christians, especially those who desire to live and love like Jesus, need to be at the forefront of forsaking the hypocrisy of saying one thing and doing another; of envying power in order to satisfy personal agendas; and, of believing that malicious talk is justified if it accomplishes my wants and needs.  In other words we are not to keep looking for everyone else to repent and change, but are to practice repentance ourselves.  If what we speak in the public square is selfish and deceitful, we have no further to look than within when it comes to turning from evil.  A slow, careful, and serious reading of the prophet Isaiah is quite necessary.  If it does not lead to repentance, we only have God’s displeasure to anticipate.
 

 

            Just God, you have every right to judge the world.  Yet, instead of destroying the earth, you sent your Son to redeem lost humanity back to yourself.  May I, along with every creature you have made, come to our senses and speak truth with grace so that there is again righteousness throughout the land.  Amen.

Hebrews 7:1-10

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Typewriters have become obsolete.  The computer has now completely superseded them because the new technologies are vastly superior to the old aggressive punching of keys and use of whiteout.  Rotary phones are now only found in antique stores.  Cell phones, with their ease of mobility and multiples functions, are superior to the old.  When it comes to the book of Hebrews, the author comes from a variety of angles to demonstrate that Jesus is far superior to the old Levitical priesthood to the point of completely doing away with it.  In fact, Jesus is so great that he has a permanent priesthood that will never end.
 
            To bolster this approach, the writer of Hebrews goes to the example of the Old Testament figure of Melchizedek.  Mel was a priest and a king all rolled into one.  The greatest patriarch of all, Abraham, paid deference to him.  This is a typological look at Scripture, which simply means that Mel foreshadows Jesus – he is a type of Christ – a model of something better which is coming in the future.
 
            Since Jesus is better, superior, and has a permanence that will endure through the ages, he is worthy to receive all the glory, praise, honor, devotion, and commitment that we can give him.  Far too often, Christians place work, family, and hobbies at the center of their lives and expect Jesus to revolve around these, as if he is some cosmic Santa Claus who exists to give them what they want.  But the author of Hebrews will have none of this.  The situation must become flip-flopped in which Jesus is at the center and all the responsibilities and relationships of our lives revolve around him so that Christ speaks into everything as the rightful King of the Universe.  The book of Hebrews is a call to commitment.  It is a call to forsake the old obsolete life and embrace the superior new life in Christ.  How are you doing with this commitment?
 

 

            Lord Jesus, you are my great high priest and the Sovereign over all creation.  I belong to you, body, soul, and spirit.  I devote myself to you so that your majesty might be reflected in all I do and say.  Amen.

John 13:1-17

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Feet are important.  An Illinois podiatrist, Dr. Paul Brezinski, says, “The health of your feet, despite their distance from your heart, can affect your overall health.”  Turns out we should not tip-toe around attention to feet – Jesus certainly didn’t.  Despite the fact that feet, especially in the first century, were perpetually dirty and stinky, Jesus took the posture of a servant and washed each and every gross foot – including Judas Iscariot’s.
 
            This act absolutely blew the minds of the disciples who could barely fathom that Jesus would do such a thing as wash feet.  What is more, Jesus went on to tell them, “If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”  I imagine the disciples’ jaws had to be picked up off the ground over that zinger from Jesus.
 
            Here’s the deal:  unhealthy Christians and churches do not pay attention to foot health; but healthy Christians and churches give intentional focus to serving in the lowest capacities to the lowliest in the Body of Christ and in society.  They even serve their enemies – the ones whom they know have it out for them.  Healthy disciples do such things because they have the distinguishing mark of their Lord pulsating through their lives:  love.  Love motivated Jesus to serve, and, as his followers, the same motivation exists to serve the church and the world.  Mother Teresa got it right when she once said, “Not all of us can do great things.  But we can do small things with great love.”
 

 

            Loving Lord Jesus, you are the perfect model of service.  Help me to pay attention to the all the people in my life and all the responsibilities I have with the love you give me, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.