Category: 1 Year Bible Reading Plan

Proverbs 13 shows us once again the differences between the wise and righteous, and the wicked and foolish. King Solomon also offers us a pointed instruction regarding the company we keep. He wrote: ²⁰Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. Proverbs 13:20 (ESV) We’ve all heard this instruction at some point, whether from this very proverb or from our moms when we were growing up. While we are called to share the good news of Jesus with everyone: wise, righteous, foolish and wicked, the company we keep regularly influences us dramatically. Charlie “Tremendous” Jones put it this way: We will be the same person five years from now that we are today, except for the company we keep and the books we read. Jones understood what we put into our minds and hearts influences who we become. If our friends are following Jesus, we will find it much easier to follow Him, too. If we are reading books (or listening to podcasts, watching videos, etc…) that feed our minds and hearts in the ways of wisdom and righteousness, we will become more like that. The opposite when it comes to friends, and the information we put into our minds and hears is also true. We get to choose who we become, by choosing the company we keep and the information we receive.

Once again in Proverbs 14 we read the benefits of wisdom and righteousness, and the consequences of folly and evil. King Solomon mentions the consequences of anger specifically, and because this is an area so many of us share as a struggle, let’s look at it a bit more intently: ²⁹Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.  Proverbs 14:29 (ESV) Notice, those who are slow to anger have “great understanding.” Remember, the man who wrote these words was the wisest man who ever lived before Jesus, and he was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The opposite of being slow to anger is the one with a “hasty temper.” This one exalts folly or foolishness. How much I can affirm that truth from personal experience. A volatile temper is not a blessing. The quicker we blow up, the more often we will find ourselves needing to apologize (if we are seeking the LORD and His righteousness) or to rationalize or justify our behavior. It is easy when we blow up to blame someone else for “causing” us to blow up.  The truth is no one can cause us to do anything. We are accountable for our own actions. We must learn, and in some cases have supernatural resources to live as those who are slow to anger.

Proverbs 15 includes a couple more admonitions against inappropriate anger, and continues to show us the difference between wise and righteous living, and foolish and wicked living. The chapter closes out with this statement:  ³³The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor. Proverbs 15:33 (ESV) Here Solomon ties fear of the LORD and humility together. The tandem demonstrate wisdom and produce honor. We live in a fast-paced culture that doesn’t often lift up wisdom and humility, but the LORD has always done so. If we want our “path” to lead to the LORD, fearing the LORD and living in humility are vital.

As we return to Luke 16, Jesus offers some penetrating teaching, teaching that isn’t intuitively obvious to us, and would not have been to those who listened in His day. The first parable about a steward who cheated his master in order to buddy up to his masters debtors, so he would have a place to work after he was fired, doesn’t make sense at first. That’s especially true when we find the man’s master commended him for his shrewdness. But the “punchline” or explanation Jesus offers tells us something we might not have come to naturally in following Him: We can use the worldly “mammon” or money, which Jesus tells us will be the chief rival god in our lives, to bring glory to God, and to make friends of the Kingdom. The practical living out of that will come in many ways, but as we use the money we have earned, (hopefully from more honest means than the shrewd manager) let’s always remember we are stewards or manager of it, and as we use it in ways that advance Jesus’ Kingdom the more people will come to follow Him!

As we turn to Proverbs 10, we find the “true” format of the Book: a wise saying is offered in one verse, followed by another wise saying in the next verse. The two are typically not related. There is a commonality about all these proverbs, though. They lay out four types of people: 1) Wise; 2) Righteous; 3) Foolish; and 4) Wicked.  We could combine the wise and the righteous, because we’re told righteousness brings wisdom, and we could assume the wise are righteous in the way they live, but King Solomon uses these two categories as he offers us his wise sayings. We want to be found in the categories of the wise and the righteous as we read the proverbs and live the out in in Jesus’ name.  The third and fourth type of people are separate, but the can also be found together. A fool, or foolish person, is not necessarily evil. He or she might not mean to do others harm, but they live in such ways as to do harm to themselves and others. Foolishness causes us to do unwise things, and the consequences are typically negative. While the wise and righteous learn from instruction and change as a result, the fools don’t learn from instruction, and they continue in their patterns of foolishness. The only way to change a fool’s behavior is to give a tangible consequence. While the fool might not learn from the consequence, his behavior will change, at least for the duration of the consequence. The wicked are selfish and plot to do others harm. They care only about themselves and live for their own benefit. Wise people and righteous people avoid the wicked, because they understand the wicked don’t change, short of direct intervention from God.  We have an obligation to tell the wicked about Jesus, but we don’t have an obligation to let them hurt us in the process. As we read the proverbs and other sections of Scripture, as we go about daily life, it is wise for us to ask ourselves: Am I learning from the lessons the LORD is putting before me in His word, in His world, and through His people? If the answer is “Yes,” then praise the LORD! Keep it up. If the answer is, “No,” then it’s time to call on Him to move us from our foolish or wicked ways and back to Him.

Proverbs 11 moves back and forth between telling us what happens to those who pursue righteousness and the foolish and wicked. The contrasts are broad and the implications clear: the LORD rewards the righteous, and punishes the foolish and wicked. As we read these words, they are absolutely true. The wise and righteous will read them, learn from them, and live more fully in the LORD’s ways. At the same time, those of us who have trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord, must always remember living with the Holy Spirit in control takes away the need for us to live according to the Law, to the ways of the Old Covenant. That doesn’t mean we ought to ignore the Old Testament, but as we read it, we read it through the lens of God’s grace demonstrated in Jesus, and His power extended to us through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit helps to bring truth and wisdom to our minds when we need it, as we live in Him and call on His name.

Proverbs 12 moves us once again back and forth between the way a righteous person acts and how the wicked act the opposite. We don’t see so much about the wise and the foolish in this chapter, but we continue to see King Solomon push us toward righteous and virtuous lives instead of wickedness. The final verse of the chapter shows us the ultimate “destination” for the wise and the righteous: ²⁸In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death. Proverbs 12:28 (ESV)

As we return to Luke 15, we read again the parables of the three “lost” possessions: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. The context of the parables is so important: Jesus is speaking to a group of tax collectors and other “sinners,” along with a group of religious leaders. These two groups represented the opposite ends of Jewish society. the religious leader thought of themselves as the wise and righteous ones we read about in Proverbs 10-12. The tax collectors not so much. Jesus made it clear to the tax collectors and sinners that God was looking for them. He is represented by the shepherd, the woman who lost the coin, and the father of the two sons.  He was also making it clear to the religious leaders that God is gracious. Righteousness isn’t only about following the rules. Righteousness is also right relationship with God and others. This is seen most clearly in how the father in the final story goes out to the “good” son, and tells him how important it is to celebrate with his younger and prodigal brother, who has come home.  We can’t live in self-righteousness, or as rule followers and understand the true righteousness of God. As Andy Stanley put it in his new book Irresistible:  Jesus liked people who were nothing like Him, and people who were nothing like Him liked Jesus. As we go about our days, we must seek to live in wisdom and righteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit. As we do, we must also let the power of the Holy Spirit move us to compassion for those who are still lost and who need us to be participants in welcoming them home.

Proverbs 7 is a detailed call from King Solomon for his son not to fall into the trap of the adulteress. He lays out how the adulteress operates, and the ultimate end for those who turn to her: death. The statement seems dramatic in our anything goes American culture of the 21st century. Yet, Solomon was right then, and he is right today. A thousand years after Solomon wrote these words, Jesus would remind us that adultery starts in the heart, and the Apostle Paul would tell us sexual sin is a sin against the “temple” of God, because the Holy Spirit resides with us. Thus, we are the “temple” of God.  As we seek to live holy lives, lives that bring glory to God, one of the chief areas for purity to reside is in our thoughts, hearts, and actions when it comes sexuality.

Proverbs 8 “personifies” wisdom. Wisdom speaks to us as if we could shake hands when we meet. The benefits of wisdom are the eradication of foolishness, material prosperity, and favor from the LORD. While these benefits are typical of Old Covenant promises: If you do this, then the LORD will do that… the truth is wisdom carries over to Jesus’ teaching, and in his book, James, the brother of Jesus, spoke of its importance as well. Wisdom will not save our eternal souls, only Jesus can do that, but Jesus does point us to Jesus, and offer us clear guidance for daily living.

Proverbs 9 contrasts wisdom and folly. When we read the descriptions, we wonder why anyone would want to follow after folly and become a fool. Yet, folly is popular. She is accompanied by myriads of people, and each of us accompanies her at times. As we read the chapter we see how important it is to avoid folly and to pursue wisdom. The life we long for is found in the “house” of wisdom, not the house of folly!

As we return to Luke 14, we find Jesus once again turning the religious leaders’ world upside down. He heals on the Sabbath. He tells them to invite the poor, the lame, and those who can’t repay them to their banquets. He tells them they must hate their families and loved once, if they are going to love Him. (That last one would have caught even His own disciples by surprise!) As we read Jesus’ words, and attempt to hear them as those who heard them the first time, it is hard to imagine how radical the words would have seemed. Many of us have read them before. Some of us have read them many times. They have lost their shock value for us, if they ever had any. We did not grow up steeped in the Law of Moses. Jesus’ words make sense to us. Who wouldn’t heal a man on Sunday? (The Sabbath) But how many of us invite strangers to our dinner parties? How many of us “hate” our families so we can love Jesus. That last point was undoubtedly hyperbole, but Jesus must be first in our lives if we are going to serve Him as LORD. If He is not first in our lives, we haven’t trusted Him as Savior. Jesus will hold only one position in our lives, the position reserved for God–first!

Proverbs 4 is an integrated whole, in which King Solomon tells his “son” that wisdom is supreme and he must gain it at any cost. Remember, King Solomon was the richest man who had ever lived to that point in history, or at least the richest man in the history of Israel. Yet he said the most valuable “commodity,” the one to be “bought” at any “price” is wisdom. He offers a key truth about wisdom once we have gained it in verse 23: ²³Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) “Above all else.” Nothing is more important that guarding our hearts. As we know from so many passages in Scripture our hearts are the source of our lives, or the “wellspring.” If our hearts are filled with God’s wisdom, we will live that out in our lives. If we allow them to become “polluted,” the result will be lives that fail to honor God, and fail to be lived to God’s best for us.

Proverbs 5 is devoted to another warning against adultery. We are told it leads to death. It destroys our lives. At the end of the chapter Solomon reminds his son, that every person’s ways are in full view of the LORD. This is such a vital reminder for us. I always recommend people have an accountability partner, because they can help us to develop and grow in our walk with the LORD. Yet, at the deepest level the LORD is each of our accountability partner. We are ultimately accountable to Him, and He sees everything we do. I might be able to hide something from my accountability partner, but the LORD knows my thoughts before I think them. That’s a helpful reminder to me, and to all of us, when we consider stepping outside of God’s plan for our lives, whether toward sexual immorality or any other sin.

The first fifteen verses of Proverbs 6 warn us against sloth or laziness. The end of such behavior is poverty and death. In verses 16-19, Solomon warns us of six matters the LORD despises. Obviously, we want to stay away from them! Then Solomon offers another warning against adultery. (Are you seeing a pattern?) While every sin breaks our relationship with the LORD, the Apostle Paul would one day remind us that sexual sin is a sin against “the temple” of the LORD, because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Solomon understood this a thousand years before Paul came on the scene, and reminded his son of the importance of maintaining purity before the LORD.

As we return to Luke 13, Jesus is moving toward Jerusalem where He will be crucified. We aren’t told that directly, but His interactions with the religious leaders show us that. They warn Him that Herod is after Him. Jesus’ response is to note that a prophet can’t die outside of Jerusalem. That would seem an odd response, if we didn’t live on the resurrection side of Easter. Why would Jesus, who was so popular, who was amazing everyone with His teaching, His miracles and His power to cast out demons, say anything about dying? It seemed that Jesus was “on the rise.” Jesus knew otherwise. He had come to die, and the ministry He carried out was leading Him in that direction. Thank God for that reality! If Jesus had followed the easy path of riding His popularity to fame and fortune, we would never have had the opportunity to know God personally, to receive salvation from sin and death, nor to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. All Jesus did points to His Lordship in our lives, but nothing more than His intentionality about moving toward His death on our behalf instead of away from it.

Today, we turn to the Book of Proverbs. Most of these “pithy” sayings are attributed to King Solomon. We can’t summarize chapters in Proverbs as we have done to this point, because for the most part the proverbs are written in narrative form, nor are they poems intended to be set to music. At times one verse has no apparent connection to the next, while at other times a portion of the chapter does relate to the rest of it. The approach we will take is to see the overarching theme of the chapter if there is one, and when there isn’t, we will focus on one, two, or a few of the verses and their points of wisdom. I often recommend new believers read a chapter of Proverbs each day, along with a chapter of the Gospel of Mark, because as we do so, we read through Proverbs once each month (it contains 31 chapters), and Mark twice each month (with a bit of extra reading on the last day of each month). This approach gives us the opportunity to anchor ourselves in Jesus’ life and teaching, as well as to learn the wisdom of one of the wisest men who ever lived in Solomon.

The first seven verses of Proverbs 1, tell us it was written to give us wisdom and understanding. It also tells us the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. What a vital truth! We live in a culture that often diminishes the power and majesty of God, if it acknowledges His existence at all. He is the almighty creator of all that exists. A healthy fear, awe, and reverence are the appropriate attitudes and approaches to Him. Verses 8-19 warn the reader to listen to the wisdom of parents, and not to get entangled with evil friends. I hear my mother’s voice in these verses telling me I would turn out like the friends I kept. The remainder of the chapter offers a simple truth: wisdom is rewarded with good, and foolishness leads us to destruction. We might respond, “Duh!” But the simple truth is we don’t always listen to simple truth. God’s word always leads us to wholeness, healing, and victory over sin, but the sinful natures with which we were born are bent toward sin. Heeding wisdom is simple, but not easy. In truth, without the leading of the Holy Spirit we won’t succeed for long at walking the straight and narrow path that leads to life.

Proverbs 2 summarizes the moral benefits of living lives of wisdom. King Solomon raises a theme at the end of the chapter he returns to repeatedly: He calls men to avoid adulterous women. Why would that be a repeated focus? We could turn to Solomon’s own life. He was a man who had 700 wives and 300 concubines! He ended his life worshiping the false gods of the women he married rather than the true God. Personal experience might well have been Solomon’s guide. He was also being guided by the Holy Spirit as he wrote, so he was guided to this theme. In every era, sexual immorality has been a stumbling block to living holy lives, so Solomon warns against it repeatedly.

Proverbs 3 offers additional benefits of wisdom. Proverbs 3:5-6 and two of the most quoted verses in the Bible, and we will examine them here: ⁵Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) Notice, King Solomon tells us to trust in the LORD will all our hearts. He also tells us not to lean on our own understanding. This can mean many things, but let’s consider this one meaning: At times, it won’t make sense to trust the LORD. What He calls us to say or do won’t go along with conventional wisdom, or with the will of the majority. In those times, it will be easy to go along with the crowd, but especially in such times, we must trust in the LORD, in His wisdom, in His ways. You have probably heard the saying, “What is popular is not always right, and what is right is not always popular.” Proverbs 3:5-6 will lead us to some of those right, but not popular, moments as we trust the LORD and let Him make our paths straight. The longer I live, the more clear I become on how important it is to look to the LORD for wisdom rather than to the internet or the latest opinion poll.

As we return to Luke 12, we find Jesus offer much guidance that goes against the world’s understanding. For example, when a man came and asked Jesus to  help him divide the inheritance between him and his brother, Jesus instead offered a parable about a rich man, whose crops were so bountiful he had to tear down his barns and build new ones. Everyone listening to the parable would have been thinking, “What a blessed man! This is the kind of life I want to live.” But Jesus’ punchline was, “But that night (the night the new barns were completed), the LORD told the man, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you.'” Then Jesus said the same will happen to anyone who is rich in the world’s ways, but not rich toward God. Jesus turned the conventional wisdom on its head. God doesn’t bless us in material ways so we can hoard our wealth. He blesses us so we can steward those blessings well, and use them to “store up treasure in heaven.” When we trust in the LORD, we will use our resources so differently than when we trust in ourselves, or in the world’s ways. As we go about the day, let’s remember to focus on trusting the LORD and His way of living, rather than gaining deeper understanding from our own stores of “wisdom”!

 

We could call Psalm 148 “Praise the LORD!” Over and over the psalmist proclaims, “Praise the LORD!” and then gives us one reason after another for why we ought to praise Him. He also tells us the creatures of the earth praise the LORD, the creation praises the LORD, every animate and inanimate object praises the LORD! This truth must not get by us in those times when we don’t feel like praising the LORD. In our darkest moments, in our deepest pain, the LORD is worthy of our praise. Thanks to this unnamed psalmist for reminding us of this timeless truth!

Psalm 149 starts out quite similar to Psalm 148 with a proclamation to praise the LORD! It continues in that vein, but adds a twist: Let those who worship and praise the LORD slay those who don’t. Okay. That’s not something we’d expect to hear in a contemporary praise song, but it is something we’d expect to hear in King David’s time, and in the immediate future after his time. The people of Israel were surrounded by idol worshiping nations. Those nations still claimed the land the Israelites had taken from them. The worship of the one, true, and living God was not done without struggle. In our day, we also live in a society rampant with idolatry. Our “sword” is not a literal one, but as the Apostle Paul reminded the Ephesian believers, it is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” As we live into God’s word, and live it out in our daily lives, we are still “slaying” the spiritual forces of evil that would do us harm.

The Book of Psalms closes out in Psalm 150 with a call to praise the LORD with our voices and with our instruments. The LORD is worthy of our worship and praise every moment. We praise Him in the morning when we wake up. We praise Him throughout the day, because He is always with us and deserves our worship and praise. We praise Him together with music, dancing and singing, because–He is worthy of our worship and praise!

As we return to Luke 11, we find it full of teaching as well as Jesus’ interaction with the religious leaders. That interaction was mainly negative, because Jesus chastised them for teaching the truth, but living in contradiction to it. That style of living: teaching one thing and living another is hypocrisy. Let’s focus on that for a moment. In our day, the church is often accused of hypocrisy. When I was fifteen years old, I stopped attending church, because of all the hypocrites there. I continued to read my Bible, to pray, and to tell my friends at school about Jesus. My life wasn’t always what I read and “taught” to my friends. My anger often spilled over into daily life. My language wasn’t pure. I was being a hypocrite myself, but it’s always easier to see the shortcomings in others than in ourselves. We tend to judge others on their actions and ourselves on our intentions. A couple of years into my boycott on attending any church activity with the “hypocrites” there, a new pastor came to our church. Pastor Andy Weigand started coming to dinner at our home. He was a single, young man who had recently graduated from Harvard. I was  intrigued. Why would a Harvard graduate “waste” his time serving as a pastor in a tiny church in Gipsy, Pennsylvania? After a while, I started meeting with Andy to study the Bible together. Then about six months after he came, Andy asked me why I didn’t go to church? I told him it was because of the hypocrites. Andy proceeded to ask me a series of questions about whether there were hypocrites on the football team at school, in the cafeteria, and then he asked, “Do you ever do anything hypocritical yourself?”

I had to say, “Yes,” but then I added, “What’s your point?”

Andy answered, “I always figured I’d rather go to church with a hypocrite than to hell with him.”  I was in church the next week.  Jesus called the religious leaders hypocrites, and they were. They weren’t seeking to change, though. We all have some hypocrisy that’s obvious to others, or maybe hidden under the surface. I’m grateful to Andy for challenging me in love about mine. It has given me the opportunity for more than four decades to mingle with other hypocrites in the church, who are seeking to let Jesus transform us from the inside out, so when we see Him face-to-face one day, He will affirm our faithfulness and not our hypocrisy!

In Psalm 144, King David opens with a truth about God that we might question: He tells us the LORD trains his hands for war. Really? Our God, the God who sent His only Son, Jesus, to die in our place? Yes, the very same God. He used David to protect His people. He has used many people through the ages to do the same. Jesus’ purpose was to die for our sins and rise again to demonstrate His victory over sin and death. He tells us He will return to conquer His enemies, and to establish His reign on the earth forever.  God’s goodness requires punishment for evil. He made it possible for us to be forgiven, but if we reject that offer, our punishment will come, too.

In Psalm 145, King David offers an extended psalm of praise to the LORD. He lists dozens of the LORD’s attributes, each of which is a reason for our praise and thanksgiving toward Him. In verse 20, David briefly addresses the harsh reality that God destroys the wicked. It seems out of place in a psalm so dedicated to telling us of God’s goodness, love and mercy. Yet at the same time, His goodness requires judgment of evil.

Psalm 146 is anonymous, but it sounds a great deal like many of King David’s psalms of praise. The psalmist tells us of the LORD’s many actions on our behalf, and briefly about the LORD’s judgment on evil.

In Psalm 147 we read again of the LORD’s love for Israel, and for His creation. The LORD cares about humanity more than anything else He created, but He also loves the other creatures of the earth. He feeds and cares for them. As we consider how we are to steward or manage the LORD’s “property,” starting with the earth and moving all the way to our own families, let’s remember the  example He has given us by His great love and concern for us.

As we return to Luke 10, a chapter filled with interesting accounts from Jesus’ life, let’s turn to His words to the lawyer who wanted to know what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked the lawyer what he thought, how he read the Scriptures. What a great tactic! The lawyer wanted to trap Jesus, but he fell into Jesus’ trap, when he answered Jesus’ question. The lawyer summed up the entire Law and the Prophets the way Jesus had done in Matthew’s gospel: Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.  Jesus affirmed the response. In fact, Jesus told the lawyer if he did this he would live. But the lawyer wanted to “justify” himself. He asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” The religious leaders had answered the question. My neighbor is my fellow Jew, who is following the Law of Moses. Jesus had a different answer. He told the lawyer his neighbor was a hated Samaritan, who Jesus turned into the hero of a parable that has forever left us with the paradigm for helping others who are in need: The Good Samaritan. We even have “Good Samaritan” laws, which prevent someone who stops to help someone in a dire situation from being prosecuted for attempting to help. Jesus wanted us to understand being a neighbor is not about ethnic similarity, or family connection. It is about being ready to serve the LORD by helping those in need. Some days we might not “feel” neighborly. Feelings don’t have anything to do with it. Jesus didn’t offer someone with warm feelings as the example of a neighbor. He offered the example of someone who no one would have expected to offer help, but did. As we seek to be neighbors in this sense of the word, let’s remember our goal is not to be liked,  or to help those who are like us, but to be faithful to offer help when the opportunity arises.

 

Psalm 140 is a psalm of King David. It’s content is familiar to us: David calls out to the LORD to protect him from his enemies. In this psalm David calls more directly for the LORD to eliminate his enemies and to “pour coals on their heads.” While such language can be offensive to modern ears, as the King of Israel, David had many enemies. He relied on the LORD for protection, as he had all his life.

Psalm 141, another psalm of King David, starts with David calling on the LORD to protect Him, and to keep him from sin. David wants the LORD’s strength and power to keep him faithful. Then as the psalm progresses, it moves again toward calling on the LORD to protect him from his enemies. If we did not know David’s history from having read 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 Kings, we might think he was being paranoid, but we know David both needed and relied on the LORD’s protection in his life. We also need his protection in ours, even though our lives might be quite peaceful by comparison.

Psalm 142 is another psalm of King David. We’re told he was in a cave when he wrote this psalm. He cries out to the LORD for protection and deliverance. This grouping of psalms follow this general theme, and this one helps us to understand why the concern for his safety. After all, when you are hiding in a cave from your enemies, it makes sense to call on the LORD for help!

In Psalm 143, King David calls out once again to the LORD for protection and deliverance from enemies. If we look at all the psalms of David we know he praised the LORD with an eloquence unsurpassed by others. He also cried out to the LORD for protection and deliverance with a passion and energy unsurpassed as well. We are told David was a “man after God’s own heart.” That doesn’t mean David never sinned–far from it. We know he committed adultery and had a man murdered to cover it up. Yet, out of that experience David repented from the depth of his being. His psalms show us whatever condition of life we experience, we can turn to the LORD in praise or petition. The LORD is faithful in every situation to hear us, and to guide us.

As we return to Luke 9, let’s consider Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand, the only miracle recorded in all four gospels. As we read the account, one thing that stands out is Jesus knew the crowd was massive. It included five thousand men, so it must have been at least fifteen thousand including women and children. He had only five loaves of bread and two fish. Yet, when he received that small gift, He looked up to heaven and gave thanks. Let’s stop right there. The need was massive, the supply was limited, a fraction of what was needed. Yet, Jesus didn’t look to heaven and beg His Father to supply more. He gave thanks. Gratitude is such a powerful force. Gratitude issues forth in generosity in our lives. Here the gratitude preceded the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish. We would do well in our lives, to start with thanksgiving when we face a need. Giving thanks opens us to the realization that we serve a God who is more than enough for us, and for all our needs.

If we learn one truth from Psalm 136, this is it: God’s steadfast love endures forever. This is the refrain after every line of the psalm. The psalmist rehearses God’s creation of the universe, His forming of the people of Israel and delivering them from slavery in Egypt, His protection of them in the wilderness and as they move into the Promised Land, and His overall goodness. After each line we read: His steadfast love endures forever. The New Testament tells us: God is love. The psalmist tells us the same thing. God doesn’t have love, or exhibit love. He is love. What an amazing promise for us all–the God of the universe who has the power of life and death over every being loves us!

Psalm 137 is one of the saddest psalms of all. The writer is in exile in Babylon with the people of Israel. He tells us their captors tell them to sing one of the songs of Zion, a song of joy and praise to the LORD. It is torment to be given such a command.  How can one sing when in captivity in a foreign land? Yet, it is a call to remember Jerusalem, and in the midst of torment the psalmist lashes out for the LORD to repay their captors even to the point of dashing their babies’ heads against a rock. The violence of such a prayer is complete. Yet it shows us the LORD receives even our prayers for vengeance without being offended. He wants us to come to Him whatever our condition, whatever the state of our minds or hearts, and to rely on Him, to remember He is our God period. He isn’t our God when all is well, or when we are polite. He is our God in the good, the bad, and the seemingly insufferable.

Psalm 138 is another psalm of King David. It is a brief and powerful psalm of praise. It seems all the more powerful given that it follows Psalm 137. After reading about the depths of the people of Israel, we turn to the greatest king in their history praising God for His constant presence and work in His life. Sometimes our lives feel like that, too.  One moment, we are singing and praising God for who He is, thanking Him for all He has done. The next moment, we are crying out for deliverance, or even calling on the LORD to destroy our enemies. In it all, the LORD is with us, and His steadfast love does endure forever.

Psalm 139, a psalm of King David, is one of the most beautiful and powerful of all the psalms. David reminds us of the omnipotence of God, and of His all-knowing nature. We cannot hide from Him, nor ought we desire to do so, because He is for us and with us every moment. Even when we were in our mother’s womb God knew us, in fact, He created us there and made us “fearfully and wonderfully.” As we read this record of the LORD’s presence and power in our lives, and ultimately of David’s calling out for deliverance from His enemies, we realize our God is, indeed, for us. As the Apostle Paul would remind us a thousand years later, “If the our God is for us, then who can be against us!”

As we return to Luke 8, let’s focus for a moment on the woman who touched Jesus’ robe and was healed of a bleeding disorder that had ruined her life. In the culture of Jesus’ day, anyone with a bleeding disorder was “unclean.” That meant she could not be near other people or touch them. Otherwise, they would become unclean as well. She had spent all her money on doctors, but she didn’t receive the healing that would have restored her life. Some would say she touched Jesus’ robe in desperation. After all, it was perhaps her last chance to be restored to health. In addition, she was making Jesus unclean by her touch. While she was desperate, it wasn’t desperation that caused her to touch Jesus. It was faith. She believed Jesus would heal her. She believed more than that. She believed all she had to do was touch Jesus’ robe and she would be healed. What faith! Jesus soon affirmed her faith. He felt the power leave Him, that the woman knew was there. She felt it, too. She knew she was healed. When the woman confessed what she had done, she knew Jesus could reprimand her for her action. Instead, He called her “Daughter.” Scour the gospels and you will find this is the only woman Jesus called daughter. The name is significant. It is a term of close, personal endearment. Jesus didn’t know the woman, but He did. She was a child of Abraham, the father of the Hebrew people, and a man of great faith. All who live in faith are children of Abraham. Ask Jesus or the Apostle Paul. They both say as much in their messages. Let us live as sons and daughters of Abraham, and thus of Jesus as we live in faith regardless of the dis-ease we face in our lives today. A touch from Jesus is all it takes to be restored!

 

Psalm 130 is a cry for the LORD’s forgiveness. Remember, these songs of ascent were offered to the LORD as the Israelites walked to the Temple to worship. Each of us needs the LORD’s forgiveness to be restored to relationship with Him. His forgiveness is the center of our lives. As we receive it we receive the new life He gives. As we give it to others, we show the world what redemption does and how it feels.

Psalm 131 is quite brief, and yet powerful. It reminds us of the humility required to be in relationship with the LORD. As we rely completely on Him, we have peace and contentment, and our lives bring Him honor.

Psalm 132 offers a cry for the LORD to remain King David’s commitment to Him, and then to honor His commitment to place one of David’s descendants on the throne of Judah forever. This is another psalm where the details are precise, and the psalmist seems to be “reminding” the LORD of His promises, but as we have seen in past psalms, it is rather a reminder to the psalmist and his readers of the LORD’s faithfulness.

The theme of Psalm 133 is unity. The psalmist reminds us how good and pleasant it is when the LORD’s people dwell together in unity. As we live in an increasingly fragmented society and world, it is more vital than ever to live in the unity of the Holy Spirit with all who call on the LORD.

The final song of ascents, Psalm 134 is a brief song of praise to the Lord, and a call for Him to bless those who praise Him.

Psalm 135 could be a song of ascents except for its length. It starts with a powerful offering of praise to the LORD. It recalls the LORD’s faithfulness in the past, and it also reminds us of the futility of serving idols. They have all the parts of a human body, but they do not function. Only the LORD is worthy of praise.

As we turn again to Luke 7, let’s focus again on John the Baptist. He had been imprisoned by Herod for renouncing Herod for taking his brother’s wife as his husband. As he served his time, he wondered where Jesus was, what was He doing? After all, John expected Jesus to be a conquering Messiah, who would conquer Rome and right the wrongs in Israel. Certainly, one of those wrongs would be eliminating Herod as king. He sent some disciples to ask Jesus the pointed question, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus’ answer was straight from the prophet Isaiah. He quoted to John a passage that listed the deeds the Messiah would perform, and then entreated John not to fall away, because He wasn’t everything John expected. We need to hear that entreaty. After all, Jesus doesn’t always seem to be or do everything we expect. As we wait for Jesus’ return, all is not well in the world nor in our lives. The key is to wait, to let Jesus be who He is, and to remember when He comes again, He will be a conquering king. He will right all wrongs, and establish that just reign forever.