Category: Year B

Deuteronomy 12:28-32

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            The old phrase “curiosity kills the cat” certainly applies to the ancient Israelites concerning the pagan nations that surrounded them.  The book of Deuteronomy is a re-statement of the law for a new generation of God’s people poised to enter the Promised Land.  The previous generation had experienced a failure of faith and perished over the course of a forty year sojourn in the desert.  But now their children were ready to enter the land and receive the promises of God.
             The Lord knew that the people would be curious, in all the bad sense of that word.  These verses are a clear warning to keep away from the practices of the nations that God was about to dispossess from the land.  Sitting here now thousands of years removed from the Old Testament, we know the end of the story.  The Israelites, although having a remnant of people faithful and devoted to God’s law, as a whole allowed their curiosity to get the best of them and did not follow the Lord.
             Before becoming a Christian thirty-five years ago I did not live according to God’s commands.  Because of that reality in my life, I have always found it “curious” that there are believers who wonder if they are missing out on something, having always been in the church.  They may even adopt some cultural practices, like offering their children on the altar of wealth or sports, serving the idols of security or getting ahead.  We must all have the wisdom to identify the healthy practices of our culture consistent with God’s Word, and the unhealthy curiosity to pursue endeavors uncritically without making sound godly decisions.  
             Ever-present God, you have given me your Word to know and live by.  Strengthen my knowledge of you and my faith so that I will serve you faithfully today and always through Jesus Christ my Lord.  Amen.

Psalm 111

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            The combination of a microwave society and the constant need to be entertained has resulted in a profound lack of wisdom in our culture.  Whether it is politics or theology, at work or at home, everywhere we gravitate toward finding quick solutions given to us in engaging ways.  But biblical wisdom operates a different way.  It is must grow slowly and mature over an extended period of time.  It all begins with a basic reverence of God.  “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.  To him belongs eternal praise.”
 
            Taking the time and the focus to marinade our lives in the praise and adoration of God, even when we do not feel like it, is necessary to living wisely.  Foolishness is in direct proportion to a lack of reverence and awe of God.  Conversely, the attention and recognition of God in glorifying him begins a slow process of lifetime learning that inevitably leads to the humility of wisdom.  Wisdom in the Bible is the ability to live well and flourish as a person by applying God’s revelation to the real concrete situations of life.  That cannot be done apart from praise to the LORD.
 
            In what ways can you praise God today?  What situations are you facing that need biblical wisdom?  Are you following the revealed commands of God in Scripture?  Will you be patient to allow God to help you with your troubles?  Where is Jesus influencing your daily decisions? 
            All wise God, I praise your holy name.  Teach me your ways so that I will know how to live wisely in all kinds of situations to the glory of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

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.