Sunday, April 10th: 1 Samuel 4-6 ~ Jay

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is; 1 Samuel 4-6


A few thoughts from the passage today.

1) We need to make sure we continue to worship and obey the creator- with the honor and respect due Him....which includes following his commands.
In reading through the first part of chapter of 4, I was trying to figure out why God would allow the Israelites to be defeated once again.  Typically in the past they had fallen away from God or worshiped other God's but in this case it does not directly mention that. Originally God had provided strict instructions around where the ark was to be kept and who was to be in close proximity with the ark.  The Most Holy of the tabernacle was the location it was to be kept and only the High Priest (Eli) was supposed to enter in and be in proximity to the ark. Yet ...Hophni and Phinehas must have had access to it as they were with the ark when it was brought from Shiloh.  Maybe trying to read too much into this and looking for a "reason" for the loss but perhaps once again Israel failed to follow God's commands.

2) It is somewhat interesting that even non-believers are often mindful of God's power....yet they continue on their current path...following false gods and relying on their own strength. 8 We’re doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. 9 Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!”  
How often as believers do we forget the powerful God we serve, and the deliverance he has provided throughout history and will continue to provide.

3) Eli Fell backwards and died not as a result of hearing of his sons deaths, but rather in hearing of the capture of the Ark.17 The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy. We experience great emotion around the personal loss of family or those close to us....but do we feel that same level of emotion for the things of God?  If someone uses His name in vane, or a fellow believer turns from his/her faith...do we feel that same level of grief.  

4)  Man may have several "gods" but the one true God continues to reveal himself.
Imagine the Philistines having a temple dedicated to Dagon...and placing the Ark next their primary god whom they believed was responsible for weather and crops. Waking up not once but on two mornings to see their all powerful god toppled over and on his face in reverance before the Ark.  God continues to show his power, even though we may try to compartmentalize him with many other important things in our lives (aka other gods like Dagon).   

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage:

Saturday, April 9th: 1 Samuel 1-3 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is 1 Samuel 1-3

There's a lot going on in today's passage but I'm only going to focus on a couple of things.

As a side note, Elkanah's attempt to comfort Hannah during her inability to conceive showed a pretty major lack of understanding women!

Anyway, the first thing that stood out to me was Hannah's willingness to give back to God the very thing she had so desperately wanted in the first place - her child. How difficult it must have been to leave Samuel at the temple at such a young age, particularly with it being common knowledge that Samuel was lacking in the parenting department, to put it mildly. She didn't grasp on to her dream with both hands, going back on her vow, and keeping her son at home with her, as she easily could have justified herself doing. Instead, recognizing that Samuel was not just a gift of God's but that he was God's, she gave Him what was never truly hers anyway.

Do we do that? With our children? Our spouses? Our jobs? Our houses? Our stuff?! Do we grasp them so tight that they are all but useless for Kingdom work? Or do we steward everything God's given us as the temporary gifts that they are, acknowledging that their purpose is to glorify God and they are to be "used" as God intended?

The story of God calling Samuel has always struck me as somewhat humorous, but today I also realized that we all need to be listening for God's voice, even in the ordinariness of life. And then need to be willing to act on it! Relaying God's words to Eli must have been extremely hard for a young Samuel to do, but he did it anyway. Are we willing to live with such integrity and boldness?

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: 1 Samuel 4-8

Friday, April 8th: Ruth 1-4 ~ Conrad

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is: Ruth 1-4

Our unimpressive, ordinary lives make us feel like outsiders in the presence of a star-studded cast with names like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and others.  Often this feeling will prevent us from playing a part that God is calling us to participate in.  We conclude that we are somehow "not religious enough" or "unfit" to take part in this calling.

Welcome to the story of Ruth.  The widowed, impoverished, Ruth is proof of the contrary.  She is an outsider whose life turns out to be essential for telling the entire story of God's way among us.

A couple of verses that stood out to me were:

Ruth 1:16 - But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.

God established His covenant with the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, but His love is universal so that it could one day reach all the nations.  No one is outside of God's love (John 3:16).

Ruth 4:9 - Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon.

We have been called to be witnesses too, just not in a legal sense.   We are required to be a witness for God to others in proclaiming Jesus as being our Saviour, and telling others what He has done for us.  

Ruth 4:14 - The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 

This story revolves around the providence of God for He directed the events.  Naomi and Boaz both acknowledged the presence of the Lord in all that was happening.  This providence goes beyond this story, as the child Obed born to Ruth was an ancestor of Jesus Christ.  God is present in this story carrying forward His plan of redemption, providing the way to freedom from the guilt and power of sin to experience new life in Jesus. 
 

Ruth 4:17 reads, "The women living there said,'Naomi has a son!' And they named him Obed.  He was the father of Jesse, the father of David."

This "outsider" turns out to be the great-grandmother of David and the ancestor of Jesus.  This story provides an understanding of how our ordinary lives play an important role in telling God's entire story.  We all count, just as what we do or don't do counts.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: 1 Samuel 1-3

Thursday, April 7th: Judges 19-21 ~ Jeannine

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Judges 19-21

This story is a bit messed up in my opinion. The horrible act in chapter 19 become a war that results in almost an entire tribe being killed. Only to have the rest of the tribes worried that the tribe they were just punishing would die out. You think they could have thought of that before they killed all their wives and children.

Anyway, I was unsure about what to take away from these verses but I appreciated what my commentary said about the final verse.

"In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes."

Judges 21:25

During the time of judges, the people of Israel experienced trouble because everyone became his own authority and acted on his own opinions of right and wrong.  This produced horrendous results. Our world is similar. Individuals, groups,and societies have made themselves the final authorities without reference to God. When people selfishly satisfy their personal desires at all costs, everyone pays the price. 

It is the ultimate heroic act to submit all our plans, desires, and motives to God. Men like Gideon, Jephthah, and Sampson are known for their heroism in battle. But their personal lives were far from heroic. 

To be truly heroic, we must go into battle each day in our home, job, church, and society to make God's kingdom a reality. Our weapons are the standards, morals, truths, and convictions we receive from God's Word. We will lose the battle if we gather the spoils of earthly treasures rather than seeking the treasures of heaven.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Ruth 1-4

Wednesday, April 6th: Judges 16-18 ~ Emma

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Judges 16-18

I'm taking over for my dad again today, and decided to do a "SOAP" post.

S (scripture) - The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "Entice Samson to tell you what makes him so strong and how he can be overpowered and tied up securely. Then each of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver."

O (observation) - From what it looks like to me, Delialah loved money more than she loved Samson. It seems that anytime money comes up in the bible, people always sin (ex. Judas with the silver coins, Joseph's brothers with the silver coins, etc.). Delilah was using Samson to get money. He loved her but she loved money more than him. How sad is that? Here we have a man of God who loves this woman and what does she do? Betrays him for money (approx. $89,641 in our money). $89,641 was worth more to her than betraying God, and also betraying Samson.

A (application) - How often have we chosen to take the "money" over doing what's right? This could be like betraying my fiends at school in order to hang out with the "popular" crowd, or choosing to watch another episode on Netflix instead of reading my bible. It's like what Pastor Ron said a few Sundays ago, we choose multiple times everyday which box we will check off on our ballots: yes, I will have Jesus as my King and do what He would want me to do, or no, I won't choose Him and I will do what I want to do.

P (prayer) - Lord, help me to be able to choose right from wrong. Lead me in the way I should go everyday. Help me to choose You over me. Help me to make the right decision even if others are pressuring me to do wrong. Help me to live to glorify You. I need You everyday. Amen.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Judges 19-21

Tuesday, April 5th: Judges 13-15 ~ Danae

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Judges 13-15

Today we read about Samson & I'm going to cheat & post what my Application Bible writes of Samson’s life because I think it summarizes him quite well.

It is sad to be remembered for what one might have been. Samson had tremendous potential. Not many people have started life with credentials like his. Born as a result of God’s plan in the lives of Manoah & his wife, Samson was to do a great work for God – to “begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”  To help him accomplish God’s plan, he was given enormous physical strength.

Because Samson wasted his strength on practical jokes & getting out of scrapes, & because he eventually gave it up altogether to satisfy the woman he loved, we tend to see him as a failure. We remember him as the judge in Israel who spent his last days grinding grain in an enemy prison, & we say, “What wasted potential!”

Yes, Samson wasted his life.  He could have strengthened his nation. He could have returned his people to the worship of God. He could have wiped out the Philistines. But even though he did none of those things, Samson still accomplished the purpose announced by the angel who visited his parents before his birth. In his final act, Samson began to rescue Israel from the Philistines. 

Interestingly, the New Testament does not mention Samson’s failures or his heroic feats of strength. In Hebrews 11:33, he is simply listed with others “who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, & gained what was promised,” & in other ways were given superhuman aid. In the end, Samson recognized his dependence on God. When he died, God turned his failures & defeats into victory. Samson’s story teaches us that it is never too late for us to put our complete trust in God. 

Just as God repeatedly showed mercy & forgiveness to the Israelites, he showed it to Samson, & will show it to us. God wants to use us.  He will pick up the pieces of our failures (no matter how big or small), reshape us & use us when we return to him. 

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage:  Judges 16-18

Monday, April 4th: Judges 10-12 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Judges 10-12

In today's passage we see the pattern that continues throughout the book of Judges - the people reject God, as promised in Deuteronomy God allows them to be attacked, the people repent, God delivers them by raising up a judge and/or warrior to save them, they follow God until that leaders death and then the cycle begins again.  Basically, they treated God like a genie who could rescue them when they were in trouble.   How often are we guilty of the same?  Life is good and we ignore God, taking all our blessings for granted.  Life goes bad and we either blame Him or beg Him for deliverance, only to ignore Him again when He comes through for us.

A few things jumped out at me from the story of Jephthah, a couple of which were brought to my attention through David Legge's sermon.

Jephthah was the son of Gilead and a prostitute and he was judged for the sins of his father, rejected by his family and by everyone around him. Gilead, to his credit, seems to have taken him in and raised him as his own, which likely kept the situation somewhat in hand.  But upon his death, his half-brothers scorned and rejected him.

This was wrong, plain and simple.

It reminded me of our tendency to do the same thing.  Should a single woman or teenage girl in the church become pregnant outside of wedlock, our reaction should not be judgment and whispering behind her back.  The pregnancy is not a sin.  The baby is not a sin. The sin was the premarital sex.  The pregnancy, though not ideal in timing or circumstance, is still a blessing from God and should be a time of rejoicing.  That life is just as much to be celebrated as any other life, and if we are pro life, we should be just as quick to congratulate her and support her as we would anyone else, perhaps even more so!  It is not the baby's fault that his/her parents wrongly engaged in premarital sex, and he/she should not pay the price or face judgment for their sin.

It is significant that God chose Jephthah, a man rejected by family and society, to be Israel's leader and saviour.  This typifies Christ, who was also rejected and yet became our Saviour and Lord.  In Judges 11:8-10 Jephthah confirms that if he saves Israel he will also lead Israel.  You cannot have one without the other.  Our relationship with Jesus is the same.  I've often thought that people who claimed to be Christians but showed no fruit were simply not victorious Christians, and that they had accepted Jesus as their Saviour but had not made Him Lord of their life.  I realize now that this is false.  Saviour and Lord is a package deal.  You cannot have one without the other.

There is a great article on this here, and in conclusion it says... It will simply not do to claim you believe in Jesus as your Savior. Jesus is Savior only of those for whom he is Lord. You don’t make Jesus your Savior. You are saved because Jesus is your Lord. Those who do not follow Jesus as their Lord are not saved.

Back to our passage... unfortunately, the story of Jephthah does not end well.  After uttering a rash vow, Jephthah has to offer his daughter to God.  There is disagreement over whether that meant actually sacrificing her, or offering her in service to God.  I lean towards the offering her in service to God, as human sacrifice is repulsive to God, and offering her to God for life would still have been a huge deal for Jephthah as she was his only child and he would now have no hope of continuing on his family line.  Either way, the lesson remains that we should never make rash promises or vows to God.

Ironically... remember his background? He was treated with cruelty, he experienced gross injustice by his brothers and townspeople. He had been forced to bear the consequences of an act which he was completely innocent of. Others decided his fate for him, condemned him to it whether he agreed with it or not - and then what happens? In a moment of overzealousness Jephthah does precisely the same thing to his own daughter that had been done to him. She became the sufferer of the lot of the consequences of her father's ill-advised act.

Unfortunately, Jephthah was an imperfect and fallible saviour with no descendants.  
Fortunately, our Saviour AND Lord, Jesus Christ, is perfect and infallible, with spiritual descendants, of which we all are one. And through His Spirit we, who may be rejected by society or those close to us, are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Judges 13-15

Sunday, April 3rd: Judges 8-9 ~ Kelora

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Judges 8 - 9

When I first read these passages my first thought was how much fighting there was in these chapters.  It would so nice if everyone would just get along and follow God’s commands.  Needless to say there were a few things that stood out for me from these 2 passages.  

At the beginning of Chapter 8 I couldn’t understand at first why the Ephraimites and the the officials of Succoth refused to give Gideon and his army food?  I read in a commentary that these leaders felt left out because they Gideon did not ask them to join the battle but they were left “to clean up the escaping Midianites (the gleanings)”.  Gideon explained to them they were the ones who captured the enemy’s generals and that that this couldn’t be compared to anything Gideon had done.  Many times the “behind the scenes” jobs are often thought of as the less desirable because a lot of times these people are often forgotten or feel unappreciated.  Most of these jobs that no one necessarily sees are extremely important.  I need to remember this lesson in my own life when I feel like a job that I might be doing seems unimportant.

It was disappointing to me when I read in Chapter 8:30-31 that even though Gideon had many wives he also had a concubine.  With his concubine he had a son Abimelech.  In my Life Application Bible it stated “Gideon’s story illustrates the fact that heroes in battle are not always heroes in daily life.  Gideon led the nation but could not lead his family”.  As can be seen in Chapter 9 there were a lot of family problems that happened because of this relationship.  The most shocking for me was when Abimelech had his 69 brothers murdered as he wanted to become King.  Abimlelech’s goal was to have power and this unfortunately controlled and unfortunately as a result there was a lot of bloodshed and the only way this bloodshed could be stopped is with his death. 

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Judges 10-12

Saturday, April 2nd: Judges 6-7 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Judges 6-7

It always seems odd to me that Gideon asks for two different fleece miracles AFTER already recognizing he'd seen the angel of the Lord and fire miraculously devour the food he had prepared.  Did he really need more confirmation than an angel of the Lord (thought by some to be the pre-incarnated Jesus)?!

How often do we do the same thing, though in somewhat less dramatic fashion?  We ask for God to give us guidance when He's already given us His answer in His Word - but maybe it wasn't the one we wanted.  Or we ask God for peace about a situation, meanwhile ignoring obvious red flags.  Or we want five confirmations before stepping out in faith to do something God has obviously called us to do.

We can always find an excuse to do the wrong thing, or to not do the right thing. In other words, our natural human inclination is to justify our sin.  Shocker!

We need to continue to put our focus were it belongs - on God instead of on us.  On His plan, not ours.

Really, it comes down to faith.  Do we believe God or not?  Our choices and the way we live our lives will reflect the real answer to that question, no matter what we say with our mouths.  What does your life say about your faith? What does mine say about my own?

Thankfully, Gideon does eventually believe God and steps out in faith and, unsurprisingly, God gives the Israelites the victory, and He does so in a way that makes it impossible to give glory to anyone but Him.  God deserves the glory for every single victory in our lives.  We deserve credit for none of it.  Another important thing for us to remember!

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Judges 8-9

Friday, April 1st: Judges 3-5 ~ Conrad

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is: Judges 3-5

"They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses." Judges 3:4

The Lord tested the Israelite's faith and obedience, just as He tests ours.  In this case, God allowed the Canaanites to live among the Israelites to teach them to take a stand.  Unfortunately, they chose to intermarry with the Canaanites and to serve their heathen gods.  

These Hebrews invited themselves to be in a situation of compromise.  Pleasing their neighbours seemed more important to them than pleasing God, just like many Christians today.  It is always disheartening when I hear of a church or individual compromising their standard or belief, so that it does not offend anyone.  I pray that I will not allow my faith to be compromised, but remain faithful to our God.

Israels' acts of disobedience lead them to fall into bondage of Cushan-Rishathaim, the king, for eight years.  When the Israelites cried out to God, He sends Othniel to the rescue.  The Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel (vs 10), and he was able to overpower Cushan-Rishathaim, and the land had peace for forty years.

All good things come to an end, and eventually Othniel dies, and the Israelites fall back to their evil ways.  Now they are under the dominion of king Eglon for eighteen years.  What's interesting is that in verse 12 it says that, "the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel."  This would reason to say that God is using the Moabites to chastise Israel for their disobedience. 

Once again, the Israelites cry out to God for help and along comes Ehud.  After the somewhat comical story of Ehud taking Eglon's life, the Israelites are fortunate to have peace in the land for eighty years.  Ehud dies, the Israelites fall back to that idolatry thing again, and the Israelites are subject to king Jabon for over twenty years. 

Todays passage directed my attention to some basic truths about us and God:
- The tendency to turn our backs on the Lord and choose gods of our own making is as much a danger to us as it was for the Israelites.  In doing so, we only make more problems for ourselves.
- We cannot expect the Lord to bless us if we reject Him and His will.
- God is faithful to His promises.  Regardless of how badly we mess up, if we truly confess our sins and set our lives in the direction of living for Him, He will forgive us.
- When God gives us His grace and strength, nothing can stand in the way of victory.  The more we depend on Him, the stronger we become.                   

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Judges 6-7