Category: Year A

Joshua 6:1-16, 20

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            Today’s Old Testament lesson is the famous account of the Israelites taking the city of Jericho.  The LORD gave his people the unusual instructions of marching around the city once each day for six days.  On the seventh day, they were to march around the city seven times and then give a loud shout and the walls would come down.  The Israelites followed the command to the letter and, as a result, saw a great work of God.
 
            There are two words in this text that are repeated frequently and stand out:  “seven” and “shout.”  Seven priests with seven trumpets march around the city seven times on the seventh day.  And the people were not just to shout on that seventh day – they were to give a great big ol’ shout together.
 
            The number seven shows up a lot in the Scriptures.  Maybe it is God’s favorite number.  Whenever we see the number seven it is in reference to something God is up to.  The Psalmist makes a reference to seven in Psalm 119:164 and says, “Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules.”  The ancient Israelites took this verse literally and seriously by instituting a daily offering each and every day of prayer and worship and spaced it out over the course of a twenty-four hour time period.  The early church continued the practice, and even today many liturgical traditions still hold to the “Daily Office” which are seven distinct times in the day (and night) of intentionally connecting with God.
 
            In our contemporary evangelical climate of once-a-day quiet times (if that!) perhaps we need to re-connect with the number seven.  Maybe we would see God do the miraculous if we committed to prayer to the degree that the ancient Israelites were attentive to it, and to meticulously following God’s instructions.  And maybe if we followed our prayers with a great shout together that was a confident expression of faith in God we would see the LORD do mighty works in our lives and in our churches.
            O God, seven times a day I come to you.  Surround my enemies and bring them down so that Your great promises will be fulfilled in and through my life to the glory of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Joshua 4:1-24

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            I like coffee.  I like coffee mugs.  I like buying a coffee mug from places I visit.  Although it drives my wife nuts, the mugs serve as a continual reminder of a certain place or event I have experienced.  As we journey with the Israelites in the Old Testament book of Joshua, we experience with them the significant places and events of their taking the Promised Land.  God did a miraculous work by causing the Jordan River to congeal so that the Israelites could cross over on dry ground in entering the land.  Once they were across to the other side, God instructed them to take twelve stones, one for each tribe, and pile them up together.
 
            The purpose of the heap of twelve stones is made clear in the text and had a twofold purpose:  to educate future generations in the reality that God kept his promise to bring them into a land of abundance; and, to educate those outside Israel that God is mighty.
 
            Oftentimes children do not know about how God has worked in the past through their parents.  Mom and Dad may not have been intentional about communicating how God’s grace has influenced them.  But having tangible reminders of God’s past actions not only serves to help us remember, but enables children to know what God has done in their family.  Just as people ask me about why I have certain coffee mugs, so having reminders of God’s grace in prominent visible places serves to aid kids to ask why those reminders are there.
 
            If we do not have such reminders around our house or places of work, it would good for us to think through how to begin having remembrances of grace so that others may know that God is mighty and that he keeps his promises.
            Lord God, I want to experience your miraculous work in my life.  And I want my children, my friends, and my co-workers to know the grace of God in Christ through what you have done.  May my life serve as a great testimony of your mighty work.  Amen.

Matthew 23:13-28

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            Jesus is described in the Gospel of Matthew as gentle and meek.  He is compassionate and gracious, always revealing the true nature and character of God.  That, however, does not mean Jesus never said hard things to people.  In this Gospel lesson for today, Jesus took it to the scribes and Pharisees with a list of woes, or pronouncements of judgment.
 
            The point with Jesus is that the scribes and Pharisees were people who should have known better than to be only concerned with an outward religion and form of righteousness.  Nearly all scribes (people who carefully and tediously copied the Scriptures) were Pharisees (a Jewish sect that was concerned with knowing the Scriptures and carefully obeying them).  The problem was that these people knew every jot and tittle of the Old Testament, but they did not know the true heart of its message.
 
            It is vitally important to cultivate a rich inner life of spirituality.  The Bible is not just a book of information and stories and facts to cerebrally know; we must allow its contents and message to seep deep into our souls so that we have an emotionally and spiritually healthy Christianity.  God seeks to transform us from the inside-out.  If we only seek to know the Bible in order to make a show to others, then we fall under the same condemnation as the scribes and Pharisees. 
 
            A good spiritual practice to allow the Bible’s message to root itself in us is to keep a journal.  Journaling is a healthy and secret way of connecting with God through Holy Scripture.  When we take the time to carefully read a passage of the Bible, allow the Spirit to speak to us through it, and listen to what God would have us do because of it then the act of writing it all down helps to press grace and truth firmly in our souls.  In fact, a primary purpose of this daily blog is to assist you in that process of reflecting on Scripture each day.
            O God, help me to grow spiritually from the inside-out.  Develop within me purity of heart and righteousness of character so that genuine acts of mercy may spring from me.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

Joshua 2:1-14

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
      We may struggle with the notion that persons of ill repute can exhibit any kind of faith.  Yet, in this Old Testament lection for today Rahab the prostitute not only displays faith, but a kind of belief that lands her in the great hall of faith of the New Testament’s Hebrews chapter 11.  She displayed a confident and unwavering belief that God existed and that he would surely overtake her city of Jericho.
            “The LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.”  Rahab’s profession of faith is both sincere and hooked to God’s promise to the Israelites that they would take the land.  Rahab is exhibit A of the kind of person that inherits the kingdom of God; her faith, not her works or reputation, is what spares her life and brings her out from judgment.
            Faith is not a simple checking off a list of doctrinal beliefs that we believe; it always results in confident action based upon the promises of God.  Knowing what those promises are, and living our lives appropriately in light of them, is the kind of faith that pleases God.  Genuine righteousness is never earned; it is given by the compassionate grace of God.
What biblical promise do you need to lay hold of today?  How will that promise affect the way you live your life?  Will you believe God that he always does what he says?

Lord God Almighty, I may have not always lived my life well, yet I trust you today that you can and will deliver me from all my troubles because you are with me.  May your Holy Spirit give me the gift of faith to believe in such a way that it impacts how I live my life.  Amen.