Category: Daily Bible Reading Blog

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

Mark 3:13-19

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Jesus calling the original twelve disciples may, at first glance, seem like a bore.  Yet, like everything our Lord did, Jesus acted with grace and sensitivity to the Father.  This list of names of the people Jesus would spend the next three years with is nothing less than a motley crew of disparate individuals who have nothing in common other than being Galilean Jews.  For example, putting Simon Peter and Simon the Zealot together on the same team would be akin to having Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and CNN’s Bill Maher paired-up for a three year task force on political action; having James and Judas Iscariot linked in a small group is not much different than thrusting Sarah Palin and Nancy Pelosi in the same group.
             If we were to judge Jesus on his team building skills based upon contemporary conventional wisdom, this would be a disaster.  The issue would not only be that it is unlikely that they could ever work together, but also that it would create a potentially explosive situation where they might literally ring each others’ necks.  Yet, it was this crazy lot of men that ended up turning the world upside-down after Christ’s resurrection and ascension.
             Jesus knew what he was doing.  The glue that held them together was the person of Jesus himself.  And today’s church must be knit together not on the basis of shared politics, the same ideas of how things should go, or even around who the pastor is.  No, the church is and ought to be centered completely in the person and work of Jesus.  When individuals and churches explode or implode it is because Jesus has ceased to be both the subject and object of worship and ministry.  It is to Christ we must continually look to in order to work together and experience genuine life change as Christians.
             Father, Son, and Spirit, Blessed Holy Trinity, the God whom I serve, may my life totally revolve around you, especially the person and work of Jesus.  Help me to put aside my personal agenda so that I might clearly understand your will for me.  Amen.

Genesis 45:25-46:7

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            The patriarch Jacob had lived years with the belief that his beloved son was dead and gone, having been the victim of a horrible mauling.  But he was amazed to find out that Joseph was not only alive but in charge of all Egypt.  By this time in Jacob’s life he was an old man with not many years left.  He must certainly have had some fear about going to Egypt and what that would mean for him and his family because God came to him and said, “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation.  I myself will go down with you….”
 
            Fear is likely one of the most pervasive commonalities of people of all ages from all eras – which is why the most repeated command in all of Holy Scripture is the exhortation by God to not be afraid.  The prescription to not fear always contains the reason:  God is with us.
 
            If the Bible were to have an actual title, it would not be inappropriate to have the title “God With Us.”  The story of Scripture from beginning to end is one of humanity having a love/hate relationship with God and often fickle in faith.  But, in contrast, God continues to be the same.  He maintains his covenant loyalty no matter people’s failures of faith and commitment; his presence is with them.
 
            The height and fulfillment of that divine presence came with the sending of the Son, the Lord Jesus.  His name is Immanuel, God with us.  The closer we get to Jesus, the more we realize God is near and the less we have to fear.  Even despite suffering, pain, and, in the case of the ancient Israelites, slavery in Egypt, God is with us through the hard circumstances of life.
            Father God, thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus.  Help me so to know him so that I will live in faith and confidence no matter the situations of my life.  Amen.

Psalm 46

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            For centuries the psalms have been the beloved prayer book of God’s people.  Pious Jews would know all one-hundred fifty of them by memory; medieval monks would recite them all over the course of a week, going over each one fifty-two times a year.  The psalms do more than present sound theology for modern humans; they give voice to our deepest feelings and greatest fears.
             Psalm 46 is one of the finest pieces of Hebrews poetry you will find.  Its message is one of comfort; its God is one who is in control; its prose is simply beautiful.  “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.”  The psalms inspire trust in God, and help relieve the chaos that seems to envelop all around us.
             It is therefore a small thing to recite this psalm many times, and allow it to become part of memory.  Being able to draw from its well in times of trouble and meditate on it can be significant in the heat of a situation.  Knowing this psalm intimately is not a shot that inoculates us from difficulty and brings instant deliverance.  But it can point us to a faithful and trusted God who knows what he is doing and is always with us, even in the cataclysmic events of our lives.
             O God, you are my refuge and my strength.  Bolster my faith in all the difficult situations around me so that I might not fear, but trust you.  I will be still and wait for your deliverance without trying to orchestrate my own.  In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Jeremiah 19

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            There is a prophetic rhythm in the Old Testament between judgment and grace, wrath and mercy.  This chapter in Jeremiah is clearly in the groove of judgment:  “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel says: ‘Listen!  I am going to bring on this city and the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.’”
 
            Judah and Jerusalem had the Temple, the covenant, the promises.  The problem was not that they had forgotten these realities because they continued to offer their sacrifices and attended much of their religious practice.  The issue was that they sacrificed to other gods and practiced the ways of religions other than the worship of Yahweh.  The ancient Jews used the worship of the one true God as a sort of rabbit’s foot to do whatever they wanted.  They believed that since they offered worship to the LORD, the rest of their time and money was theirs to do with however they chose.  They were wrong.
 
            Jeremiah prophesied judgment on them for not giving their whole selves to God and for not listening to God when he repeatedly called them to repent from such proclivities.  What we must continually grasp is that God is the Lord over all our lives, not just part of them.  God cares deeply about everything we do and say.  It is a travesty and offense to God when we have an attitude that we put in our time going to church and give a portion of money in the offering plate, and the rest of our lives is for us to with as we please.  Everything belongs to God, not just the “religious” parts.  This is a message not just for ancient people, but for all of us today who claim the name of God. 
            O God Almighty, all things belong to you, and you deserve my exclusive praise and adoration.  I unreservedly give my life to you, body and soul, so that I will serve my faithful Redeemer, the Lord Jesus, every day in every way.  Amen.