Thursday, November 29 ~ Miriam

Today's passage from the Chronological Bible In a Year Reading Plan is 1 Corinthians 1-4.

Today's scripture focus is Romans 10:16-21.

¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”^[a]17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.¹⁸ But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.”^[b]

¹⁹ Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,

“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
    I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”^[c]

²⁰ And Isaiah boldly says,

“I was found by those who did not seek me;
    I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”^[d]

²¹ But concerning Israel he says,

“All day long I have held out my hands
    to a disobedient and obstinate people.”^[e]

I don't know what happened to me this week.  I'm behind on the reading.  I am tired.  I forget everything.  I finally managed to get my workouts back on track this week, after 2-3 weeks of not feeling well and/or having so many other things to do that I just couldn't get everything in, and now that I've got one thing back on track, everything else seems to be off the rails.  I can't cook anything without dropping things like raw eggs on the floor.  I start putting dirty dishes into the dishwasher, only to realize that the dishes in it are clean and I forgot to empty it.  This morning I spent two hours fiddling with my sewing machine because it wouldn't sew properly, and it was just FINE yesterday.  Finally I realized that when my needle dropped out due to a too-large thickness of fabric and improper tightening, I'd put it in backwards.  Sigh.  Maybe it's because I'm behind on  the reading.   Hmmmmmm.

None of this has anything to do with today's verses, however, so I'll move on now.

Basically, these verses are saying to Israel "You had your chance.  You had the message first.  You got to know Me first.  You have only to look at the many prophecies I gave you and how they've been fulfilled, but because they were not fulfilled in the way you hoped, you choose not to believe.  You refuse to obey.  Because of this, I extend the message and salvation to ALL people, to anyone who will listen and obey, since you do not."

God reached out to the Israelites again and again, saved them again and again, sent messengers to them again and again, and still holds His hands out to them, as well as the rest of us, for as long as the world stands, and though many hear, they do not understand.  MacArthur says this:

Paul is saying the gospel is not just one more local sect, the gospel is not one more Roman mystery cult, the gospel is not one more local religion, but the gospel is the good news which God has sent over all the world...that's what he's saying. It's a whosoever thing. It goes way beyond Jews to embrace Gentiles. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord. And God showed it by sending His messengers all over the world. Their line and their sound is gone out everywhere. And he's saying to the Jews, as long as you believe that this is unacceptable to you, that you can't take a faith that belongs to others beyond yourself, then you have bound yourself in ignorance because the truth of God extends to the whole world. And sadly, tragically, many Jews rejected the gospel because it involved Gentiles. And many still reject it for that same reason.

Then he goes on to talk about not only Jewish people, but the people of the world in general.

Israel was blind and went around saying, "It doesn't exist...it isn't so," and showed their own ignorance. I pray, God, that you don't have ignorance in that regard because the same ignorance that condemned that people will condemn you. Are you ignorant of the righteousness of God? His holy standard? Ignorant of the provision of Christ? The place of faith? The proportions of the gospel called to the world? Are you rejecting Christianity because there's some people that are Christians that you don't like and you won't accept? Are you ignorant of the predictions of Scripture? Have you missed the prophecies that have been fulfilled to demonstrate the truth of the gospel? You see, it's a message that relates to Israel but has wide ramifications. 

I'm going to go one more step.  Say you have believed the message and accepted that Christ died for your sins.  But do you take it further?  Do you read your Bible to learn more about who God is and what it means for your life to be a Christian?  

We've accepted the message and believed it, but do we obey?  We can't be perfect on our own, it's true.  But do we listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit?  Or do we read that new secular book that breaks down the code for living in the REAL world instead?  Don't we take the word of society over the Bible at times?  Don't we forget to seek the will of God when making important decisions?  Don't we ignore that still, small voice telling us we know better than what we are doing?  

Food for thought.  Have a great weekend!

Tomorrow's scripture focus:  Romans 11:1-6.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage:  1 Corinthians 5-8.