March 14 – Day 74 – 1 Samuel 4-7; John 21 Day 349 – 2 Timothy 1-4; Luke 8

[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 349 – 2 Timothy 1-4; Luke 8 summary!]

1 Samuel 4-7 records the Philistines’ attack on Israel, their victory over Israel, their capturing of the Ark of the Lord, their ultimate return of it, and the Israelites eventual defeat of the Philistines with Samuel as their leader. As we read the events that took place, we find God’s promises always come true, and His power is amazingly great. First, God had promised Eli his sons would die, and his descendants would never live to old age. After the Philistines had defeated the Israelites a first time, the Israelites decided to take the Ark of the Lord into battle. The Philistines were terrified when they heard that news. They realized the ark represented the God of Israel who had sent plagues on Egypt and delivered the Israelites from bondage there. Their terror turned to resolve, and they defeated the Israelites, killed 30,000 troops, along with Eli’s two sons and captured the Ark of the Lord.

They soon found the Ark contained power. When they placed it in the Temple of Dagon, one of their gods, they returned the next day to find the idol had toppled over. They stood it up again, but the next day the idol had fallen again, and its arms had broken off, and its head as well. The symbolism can’t be missed. The LORD is powerful, more powerful than any idol. Next the Philistine people started to experience a plague. The Ark was moved from once city to another and everywhere it went the Philistines experienced the plague. Eventually, they decided to return the Ark. When it was back among the Israelites, seventy of the men of Israel looked into the Ark and died. God is holy. The Ark represented Him and was only to be handled by priests from the tribe of Levi. The Israelites’ disobedience was judged, just as the Philistines had been judged for assuming their gods were “bigger” than the LORD. Eventually, the Ark was moved to Kiriath-jearim and Samuel organized the army of Israel to go against the Philistines. He called on the LORD for help and the LORD provided victory over them for many years.

While our modern sensibilities may be offended by some of these events, the lesson is once again: The LORD is holy. We must never assume we serve a weak God. God’s love is never weak.  God’s wrath is real. Jesus came to redeem us from sin and death, to restore us from God’s wrath, but short of a relationship with Him, we stand condemned, and will one day be separated from our holy God forever. Thank God He loves us so much, He has made a way for us to experience His salvation rather than His wrath!

As we return to John 21, we again read of Jesus’ “reinstatement” of Peter, as it is called. Peter had denied Jesus three times, in a moment when Jesus needed him most. Yet after enduring the crucifixion and rising from the dead, Jesus’ goal was to restore Peter to his place of leadership among the apostles. Jesus never holds a grudge. Jesus never gets even with us. Jesus always offers us forgiveness and restoration. That’s what His life, teaching, death and resurrection emphasize from beginning to end. I once had a young father whose child had been born with multiple birth defects ask me, “Do you think God ever gets even?” I asked him what he meant. He said he had lived a sinful life in his younger years and turned his back on God many times. He wanted to know if his daughter’s condition was God’s getting even with him.

It wasn’t a moment for platitudes. I told him all our actions have consequences. His drug use in his early years could potentially have had an impact on his daughter. But that was not God “getting even.” God’s desire was for him and his daughter to experience His truth, love, and salvation. Over the next several months, as I visited the man and his wife, and his daughter’s condition worsened, he came to a realization that it was God who was giving him the strength to face the situation. Romans 8:28 assures us, “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” We all make sinful choices and commit sinful actions. God’s purpose is to redeem us from those. That’s what Jesus’ death on the cross tells us. It’s what Jesus’ meeting with Peter on that early morning by the Sea of Galilee show us. God has promised never to leave us, nor to forsake us, and all His promises are true.

Day 349 – 2 Timothy 1-4; Luke 8

Today we move to 2 Timothy. Here Paul continued to mentor his young son in the faith, and as we move through the letter, we see Paul becoming more purposeful as he realized the time for his earthly life to end was drawing near.

In 2 Timothy 1, Paul starts by exhorting Timothy to be strong in his faith. He reminds Timothy that the faith he holds was first held by his mother and before that his grandmother.  Paul also reminded Timothy that God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of love, power and self-discipline.  Paul reminds Timothy that he was a herald, an apostle, and a teacher. One of my mentors, Arthur Pace, preached on this passage of Scripture at my ordination. He said Paul was a preacher, a reacher, and a teacher. He charged me to be and do the same. Now, it’s been nearly thirty-five years that I have been being and doing those things. I’m sure Timothy took Paul’s words to heart as well, and they motivated him to keep the faith.

In 2 Timothy 2, Paul offers Timothy a model for equipping and passing the faith along. He reminds Timothy to take the message he received from Paul and pass it on to faithful leaders, who will pass it on to others. Thus, we see a “four generation” model of ministry. I was reminded of the truth and power of this model through the book Hero Makerby David Ferguson and Warren Bird. If we are leaders in the church, we must always be equipping others who will equip others. In this way, leaders are equipped, and the Kingdom multiplies.  Paul reminded Timothy to always be diligent to be a worker who stands approved. We must avoid godlessness and idle chatter, keeping focused on what matters. He again offers examples of those who had become side-tracked by the world and its desires.

In 2 Timothy 3, Paul admonishes Timothy that as the time draws closer to the end, people will become more and more resistant to the truth. He says they will become lovers of money, and they will not listen to faithful teaching, but only to what they desire. He reminds Timothy of the source of truth: God’s word. He reminds Timothy that all Scripture is breathed by God and is fitting to teach and correct us, and to train us in God’s ways. What a powerful reminder to us! As we look around and see so much utter nonsense going on in the world, and people believing just about anything, how important it is for us to keep ourselves focused on God’s word and His truth.

In 2 Timothy 4, Paul closes with a charge for Timothy to keep the faith. In the midst of an increasing propensity for people to hear only what their “itching ears want to hear,” Timothy is to continue to teach the truth in season and out of season. He reminds Timothy that he has run the course and kept the faith. This is reminiscent of the words Paul wrote to the Philippians in chapter 3, but there he told us he was running the race. Now, he saw the finish line, and he wanted Timothy to know he had kept the faith. He closes with a couple of requests, and some personal greetings. Among these, Paul mentioned that Mark was useful to him. This is the same Mark, who Paul was unwilling to take with him in Acts 15. Thankfully, Barnabas gave Mark a second chance, and thankfully Mark and Paul had reconciled in the intervening years. We see Paul’s growth from that time in Acts 15 to this point in 2 Timothy 4. That reminds us that each of us is called to continue to grow throughout our lives, and only when we see Jesus will our faith be perfected!

As we return to Luke 8, Luke starts with an interesting detail: Jesus had women in his group, and some of them provided the financial means for the group. That was so uncharacteristic of rabbis in Jesus’ day. After this we read the Parable of the Sower, which was followed by Jesus telling the disciples why He taught in parables. After this Jesus told the brief parable of how no one puts a lamp under a basket. Next, Jesus mother and brothers came looking for Him. When they couldn’t get near, because the crowd was so big, some people in the crowd told Jesus His family was looking for Him. Jesus responded by saying His mother and brothers were those who do His Father’s will.

After this the disciples took a boat across the sea of Galilee. A storm came up, but Jesus was sleeping. When the disciples woke Jesus, He calmed the storm. They were amazed. Jesus wondered why they had so little faith!  After that Jesus healed “Legion,” which is an account we find in Mark 5. This was followed as it is in Mark 5, by Jesus healing a woman with an issue of blood, and Jairus’ daughter who was dead, before Jesus healed her. What an incredible Savior and Lord we serve. Take a moment to review this chapter and realize this was all in a day’s “work” for Jesus. Amazing.