Category: Year B

Proverbs 8:1-21

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Maybe you, like me, are wary of get-rich-quick schemes.  Those marketing strategies typically involve some path to becoming a millionaire in a short amount of time.  Sometimes it works.  If you look more closely to the success stories, you will almost always find a person who had a laser focus to acquire wealth, and a dogged commitment to seeing it happen.
            There is a get-rich plan in the Bible.  It’s called the book of “Proverbs” and it has something a whole lot more valuable than earthly riches.
“I can make you rich and famous, important and successful.  What you receive from me is more valuable than even the finest gold or the purest silver” (verses 18-19). 
 
Interested?  It’s a great headline.  It’s also very true – no scam.
            So, who can do this? How does it happen?
Wisdom is the genuine path to a wealth that transcends dollars and cents, stocks and bonds, cash and credit, gold and silver. 
 
Wisdom in the book of Proverbs, and throughout the Bible, is the ability to take the truth about God and his world and apply it to actual concrete situations in life.  Just think about that for a moment… Have you ever wondered what in the heck you’re going to do? Do you have times when you just don’t know what your life is supposed to be about?  Are you ever uncertain about how to deal with someone, or a group of people?  Wisdom has the answers.
            How do I obtain this biblical wisdom?  She speaks to that question:
“I always do what is right, and I give great riches to everyone who loves me” (verses 20-21). 
 
There you have it.  Consider that statement from Wisdom for a minute… When we love someone, we desire to spend time with them, to have an intimate relationship, to do anything for that person.
            There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs.  One way of moving through this book of Wisdom is to read one chapter a day for a month.  I do this exercise in reading at least once a year.  I typically pick out one or two verses a day to meditate and contemplate.  The goal is to simply let Wisdom have her way with you – into your heart, mind, and soul – so that she is with you always.  When that happens, you will find the kind of wealth and riches which are far beyond what you could ever dream.

 

Ever-Wise God, you call out at every crossroad and on every hill.  Yours is not a secret wisdom – it is for all to hear and learn from.  May Wisdom fill me to the full, so that I might live wisely, knowing how to live well; to the glory of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Acts 5:33-42

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            People talk about things which are important to them.  Even quiet and introverted individuals will speak at length, barely taking a breath, if you get them on a topic they are passionate about.
            Today’s New Testament lesson has the Apostles speaking incessantly about someone they love to talk about.  In fact, the Apostles (the original disciples of Jesus) talked so much about what they loved that the Jewish ruling council of the time (the Sanhedrin) wanted to shut them up by killing them.  But a wise member of the council saw the foolishness of this and persuaded them against it.  Instead, the council gave the Apostles a thorough whipping, warned them to stop talking all the time, and let them go.
            There is a time to listen, and there is a time to speak.  The Apostles could not keep silent.  They considered their beating an act of solidarity with their Lord Jesus and went right on talking.  The text says: “Every day they spent time in the temple and in one home after another.  They never stopped teaching and telling the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”
            The joy of knowing Jesus – crucified, risen, ascended, and coming again – is such a full experience that one cannot help but talk and speak about him incessantly.  Even in the face of persecution, the ecstasy of knowing Christ transcends physical pain and suffering.
            Consider the Apostles, and think about the church today.  There are places throughout the world where the scenario of constant chatter about Jesus is taking place with joy, despite the presence of persecution.  There are also places, mainly in America, where talking about Jesus does not even take place in the church building where believers gather to worship, let alone out in the public square.
            The great tragedy of the contemporary Western church is that you can talk about only the weather, the latest sports, political happenings, and get away with never speaking about Jesus.
            Today, allow two different emotions to sway your prayers and speech.  First, allow the joy of the Lord Jesus to fill you and give you freedom to speak his Name and the grace he gives to others.  Second, allow a sorrowful lament to rise from your heart and speak it out loudly before God concerning the great silence of the church in the West.

 

Loving Lord Jesus, you save completely those who come to you by faith.  Thank you for the work of forgiveness and healing that takes place in your Name everyday in the world.  Yet, I also lament the many confessing believers in your Name who never speak of the good news in their everyday conversations, even at church.  Lord, have mercy.  Christ have mercy.  Lord have mercy, and grant us peace.  Amen.

Psalm 46

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            We possess the unconditional presence of God.  Yes, there is never a time when God is not with us.  Wow! What a wonderful and radical thought.  But that’s not all!  God helps us.  He doesn’t just stand by and watch us squirm in tough situations.  Because God is present with you, He is able to help you in times of trouble.
            The psalms, as Hebrew poetry, were designed with a certain structure.  Unlike the way we arrange things with a thesis statement said right up front, Hebrew poetry has the most important statement smack in the middle of the psalm.  What comes before that statement is a growing crescendo that is meant to highlight the central idea.  Everything that comes after is the decrescendo pointing back to that idea.
            So, what do we have in the middle of this psalm? What is the important statement of truth that the psalmist wants to draw attention to?  “The LORD All-Powerful is with us.”  Boom!  This reality is meant to drop its weight on us so that we will feel the impact of God’s presence and power.
            Today is a good day to use the statement, “The LORD All-Powerful is with us,” as a point of thought, contemplation, and deep consideration.  When you’re waiting in line, driving in the car, in-between meetings, or just sitting at home, repeat that statement many times to yourself and to God.  Then, allow God’s Spirit to bring the truth of it home to the depths of your soul.  There is no better security, no better hope that to know that God is with us.

 

God Almighty, great upheaval in this world does not make you nervous because you are above it all.  Thank you that you are with me in all the great upheavals of my life, as well as all the little small things of adversity.  Even if all around me changes, you do not; through Christ my Savior.  Amen.

Jeremiah 20:14-18

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Perhaps you feel as though you must put on a good face, a decent front for others to see.  You don’t like other people seeing you upset or cry because it can be embarrassing.  Sometimes you might even put up a front with God.  Maybe you think God wants everyone to be perpetually happy and always come to Him with joy and gladness.  That would not be an accurate view of God.
            One of the most faithful people in Holy Scripture, Jeremiah, freely and unabashedly lamented before God – to the point of wishing he were dead.  That’s right.  Jeremiah, the incredible prophet of God, was so despondent and ashamed that he wished he were never even born.  “Why did I have to be born? Was it just to suffer and die in shame?”
            To say that Jeremiah had a difficult ministry is an understatement.  He had the ministry from hell, ministering and prophesying to people who neither liked him, nor his message to them.  In the middle of it all, Jeremiah through up his hands and let out his complaint to God.  Jeremiah was in such misery doing his ministry that he wished he was stillborn.
            Jeremiah, however, is not alone in the Bible.  David had no scruples about letting God know how he felt about his dire circumstances.  Job, likely the most famous sufferer of all, spent time doing nothing but lamenting his terrible losses for months.  What all three of them have in common is that they openly grieved with great tears, but never cursed God and did not forsake Him.
            Lamentation is the sacred space between intense grieving before God without blaming Him for our losses.  I would even argue that lamenting and grieving before God is a necessary spiritual practice which needs full recognition in the Body of Christ.  Please think about that last statement, and consider how it might become a reality in your own life and context.

 

God of all, you feel deeply about a great many things.  As your people, we also feel a great depth of emotion when our lives go horribly awry from our dreams and expectations.  Hear our lament as we pour out our grief before You; through Jesus, our Savior, with the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.