Category: Year B

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.

Psalm 139:1-6

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            How do you talk to yourself?  You know what I mean.  The kind of speech that goes on inside your head.  The things which you say inside your heart that no one knows but you.  I think you will agree with me that you are rather hard on yourself.  In the reclusive parts of your mind, you speak to yourself in ways that you would never say to others, nor tolerate others saying about someone else.  Only you know the depth of your own sorrows, hurts, fears, insecurities, and worries.  Except….
            God.  He knows it all.  He knows it all intimately.  And He is not repulsed.  You see, God knows that the answer to all the doubts about yourself is His protection.  You have the freedom to plumb the recesses of your heart and soul – to bring out all that is inside the cluttered closet of your mind and lay it out on the floor without fear of God calling you what you call yourself.
            Slowly read out loud these verses for today several times.  Allow the protecting God to wash over you with grace and understanding.
139 You have looked deep
into my heart, Lord,
and you know all about me.
2 You know when I am resting
or when I am working,
and from heaven
you discover my thoughts.
3 You notice everything I do
and everywhere I go.
4 Before I even speak a word,
you know what I will say,
5 and with your powerful arm
you protect me
from every side.
6 I can’t understand all of this!
Such wonderful knowledge
is far above me. (CEV)

 

Amen.

Judges 2:16-23

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Listening seems to be a lost art and a forgotten skill which needs careful development to be good at it.
            The Lord God Almighty is gracious, merciful, and kind.  He hears us when we call to Him, He listens when we incline our hearts to Him.  This is a characteristic of God – He always bends in a posture of listening to his creation.
            This is the reason why, as creatures in the image of God, we were meant from the very beginning of creation to listen.  But after humanity fell into disobedience, people have the tendency to talk more than they listen, to even refuse to hear what another is saying.  People even completely ignore God when He is speaking.
            The ancient Israelites were fickle in their attention to God.  When things were bad, they cried out to Him.  And because God listens, He heard and responded.  But when things were better, the people went about their business and forgot about Him.
            It was God who sent judges, rulers and leaders, to the people for their own welfare.  But we get this comment in the text of today’s Scripture:  they were quick to be unfaithful and to refuse even to listen these judges.
 
            Listening just wasn’t of value to the Israelites.  They talked and talked, and so could not hear what God or his appointed rulers were saying.
            We are to listen well, because God listens well.  We are to pay attention and hear because we are designed by our Creator to do so.  Perhaps our society would not be so perpetually upset and polarized if we would just take the time to listen well.
            Today, take a posture of listening.  Take just 10 minutes and don’t talk, don’t read, don’t check your phone, don’t do anything but just listen to the sounds around you.  What do you hear?  What do you think God is saying to you through those sounds?  How does He want you to respond?

 

            God of all creation, you have made me with two ears for listening.  Help me to so hear and distinguish you through creation and the voices of others so that I will follow you with confidence in my daily life through Jesus Christ, my Lord.  Amen.

Judges 2:6-15

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            The Old Testament book of Judges reads something like a soap opera.  The main characters are the ancient Israelites, fresh from coming into the Promised Land; God, the One who brought them into the land with a series of miraculous events and divine interventions; and, of course, the Judges, the men and women who ruled in the land.
            Moving through the chapters of Judges is full of adventures and misadventures.  It is a sad downward spiral of people forsaking the worship of God; God getting their attention; the people awakening to their dire condition and crying out to God; God sending a Judge to save them; the people slipping into a worse condition; and, the cycle starting all over again with more disastrous results and brokenness than before.
            In chapter 2, we get the clue as to where it all began and why it kept happening.  Tucked away in the middle of these verses is this cryptic and passive phrase: “After a while the people of Joshua’s generation died, and the next generation did not know the LORD or any of the things he had done for Israel.”
 
            There we have it.  The first generation of Israelites just plain failed to pass on their values, their experiences, and their knowledge to their children.  They simply were not intentional about providing the kind of education to their kids that would let them know who God is and what He did for them.
            The next generation will not know God unless this present generation takes to heart the mandate to graciously teach and develop their children in the words and ways of Jesus Christ.  It doesn’t just magically happen.
            What are some ways you can pass on the grace and truth of Jesus to the next generation?  How can you do it in a way that is loving and compelling, and not boring and pedantic?  If you are not confident in your familiarity of God, how might you go on a discovery with your kids or grandkids to find out more?

 

            Lord God Almighty, you have acted in the past with mighty deeds and gracious ways.  Help and enable your people to pass on their love for Jesus to the next generation so that your kingdom breaks into the generations and your will be done here on earth as it is always done in heaven.  Amen.