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BIBLE READ-THROUGH: DAY 26 REFLECTION (JEREMIAH 50 – EZEKIEL 19:14)
“40 Days and 40 Nights of God’s Word”
DAY 26: AUGUST 17
JEREMIAH 50 – EZEKIEL 19:14
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, August 17, 2021 – Today we say goodbye to Jeremiah and hello to Ezekiel. Theirs are thunderous voices. Both prophets lived during a time when God’s mercy came to an end and his judgement began. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, God is patient, but when time is up, it’s up. There’s no wiggle-room after that. God’s judgement is without mercy. We will not be standing before him on Judgement Day expecting mercy, because there will be none. The time for mercy will be over, just as it was for the children of Israel during the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
- The final chapters of Jeremiah talk about the prophecy against Babylon. Remember that Jeremiah had earlier prophesied that the Israelites should surrender to the Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and live in Babylon as captives. Now we see the prophet foretelling the punishment that God will mete out to Babylon for destroying his people. God used the resources of Babylon to punish his people but also to care for them during their 70 years of exile; but that doesn’t mean that Babylon gets off the hook and is free to loot, sack and slaughter with impunity. Nor does it mean that Babylon can sin with impunity. All are punished according to the measure of their sins, even the people God uses to punish others.
- So when God tells you to flee to Babylon, however morally repugnant it is to you, flee there. But when he tells you to get out of Babylon or get caught up in the punishment due it, get out. We’ll read more about Babylon in the books of Daniel and Revelation. For us born-agains living in the Kingdom, Babylon is the earthly realm of sin and plenty that sadly also includes churches. God will support us and sustain us with Babylon’s plenty for a time, but he expects us to keep ourselves separate from its sin and to flee before he finally destroys it.
- The book of Lamentations was written during Jeremiah’s exile from the Promised Land. Remember that Jeremiah, too, was in exile. The whole remnant was in exile. Even so, God fed them and provided for them physically and spiritually, giving them hope of returning to their home if they turned back to him with their whole heart.
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- Ezekiel picks up where Jeremiah leaves off. He is also in exile. But unlike Jeremiah, he is not embedded within the powers-that-be in Jerusalem, because the powers-that-be have all been slaughtered and Jerusalem has been all but destroyed. Instead, Ezekiel prophesizes through visions.
- Ezekiel heard first-hand the horrors that were inflicted on the unrepentant Israelites, particularly during the siege of Jerusalem. Out of starvation, fathers ate their sons, sons ate their fathers, and mothers cooked their own babies. How far from God would you have to be to do those things? THESE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE GOD’S PEOPLE, and yet they were indistinguishable from the demon-worshipers around them; in fact, they did worse than them. When those who are genuinely God’s people are hungry, God provides for them, as he did for Jeremiah and Elijah and David. God always finds workarounds and resources for those who are genuinely his people. The rest are left to take matters into their own hands, and what we get are fathers eating their sons, sons eating their fathers, and mothers cooking their own babies.
- How indistinguishable are Christians today from the demon-worshipers around them? All those who worship anything but God and follow anyone but Jesus are demon-worshipers. This is the world. How indistinguishable are most Christians today from the world? It’s hard not to see, in the description of the lead-up to the destruction of those who definitively turned from God, exactly what is happening in former Christian nations today: “Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none” (Ezekiel 7:24-25).
- I met a man the other day who introduced himself as a born-again Christian. He then went on to say that God had asked him to preach but he had said no, and that he hadn’t read the Bible in years – HE’D DEFIED GOD AND HADN’T READ THE BIBLE IN YEARS, AND YET HAD NO PROBLEM INTRODUCING HIMSELF AS A BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN! This is the absolute state of where we are as a people – Christians today are no different than the Israelites just before the destruction of Jerusalem. They are indistinguishable from the heathens around them.
- As Ezekiel repeats several times: “Neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have pity.” God’s judgement is without mercy and perfect. During the time of mercy, God’s judgement is mitigated. That means he doesn’t give us the full measure of what we have coming; he softens it, taking into consideration all the factors that made us do what we did or say what we said. But at some point, time is up. And when time is up, mercy is removed from judgement; all that remains is an eye for an eye. May you never experience God’s judgement without mercy, because if you do, you are condemned. There is no longer any hope for you. There is no Paradise. There is only the hell of your own making, forever.
- God doesn’t want us to end up in Hell. He wants us to go to Heaven. He takes no pleasure in punishing us or in our condemnation. In Ezekiel 18:32, God says: “I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth… wherefore turn, and live ye.” Until time is up, God is constantly extending his invitation to turn back to him and live. A few chapters earlier, God describes through the prophet how he will bring the dead back to life: “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; that they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances, and do them; and they shall be my people, and I shall be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19-20).
- I don’t know about you, but every time I read the words “and they shall be my people, and I shall be their God”, I hear such longing in God’s voice as well as a promise and a statement of fact. He wants to give us everything, if we would only do those things that are right in his eyes. He’s longing for us to do those things. He’s saying: Here, I have everything waiting for you. Everything that you’ve ever wanted. It’s all right here. All you have to do is say “yes” to me and then keep your promise, and I will keep my promise to you.
One of the early chapters in Ezekiel describes a mark that is given to those who are horrified by the rampant sin they see around them. The mark identifies them as God’s people. All those who don’t have the mark are later slaughtered without pity.
Do you think you have that mark? Do you think that God identifies you as one of his, or is the identification only coming from you? Do you claim to be a Christian but live indistinguishable from the world? Do you claim the blood of Jesus as your justification, even while you continue to do what you know isn’t right in God’s eyes? There are many such Christians, even self-professed born-again Christians, just as there were many such Israelites who considered themselves God’s people simply because they were Israelites.
A label is just a label. You can call yourself whatever you want. But a mark is a mark. Better pray that you have God’s.
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The schedule for the BIBLE READ-THROUGH is directly below.
BIBLE READ-THROUGH: DAY 25 REFLECTION (JEREMIAH 23 – 49:39)
“40 Days and 40 Nights of God’s Word”
DAY 25: AUGUST 16
JEREMIAH 23 – 49:39
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, August 16, 2021 – From a 21st century perspective, Jeremiah was like an embedded journalist in war-torn Jerusalem. He was always in the thick of things when reporting God’s Word, but few wanted to hear what God had to say. They preferred tuning into the fake news from the false prophets, as they promised continued prosperity and peace. As we see in today’s reading, only those who heeded Jeremiah’s warnings survived.
- Like Isaiah and other prophets before him, Jeremiah was also given a word from God about Jesus. Through the prophet, God called Jesus a “righteous Branch” of the house of David, a King who would not only reign but prosper (unlike evil kings) and be known as “The Lord Our Righteousness”. During his reign, Israel will be safe from all its enemies. This, of course, is yet another reference to God’s Kingdom on Earth, which exists here and now and is currently being ruled over by none other than The Lord Our Righteousness himself – Jesus. If you’re genuinely born-again, you’re a citizen of that Kingdom and The Lord Our Righteousness is your King. Amen!
- Lovely line a few chapters later, also in reference to the Kingdom: “I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel….” If any of you have spent time walking by a river, you’ll know that the lushest greenery is next to it, the freshest air is next to it, and a natural pathway is next to it, forged by erosion over the centuries. God promises to be a father to us, protecting and guiding us, fighting off our enemies, and correcting us through appropriate punishment when we need it. Note that Jeremiah says that God will “cause” us to walk by the river. That means he’ll make it so that we end up there; it will be his doing – not ours – that we walk along this naturally-forged path in the freshest of air and lushest of greenery, with abundant fresh water for the taking. This is life in the Kingdom for the converted. God always delivers on his promises.
- Much of today’s reading centers on the political intrigues and behind-the-scenes plots involving the kings that immediately succeeded Josiah and also on the problems caused by the false prophets. Recall that Josiah was the only king during Jeremiah’s time that “did right in the sight of the Lord”; all the rest did evil. (Check out 2 Chronicles, last page, for a run-down of the final kings before the 70-year exile to Babylon.) We read about Jeremiah getting arrested and imprisoned in various places, his papers confiscated and burned, and his reputation dragged through the mud, all for speaking God’s Word to God’s people. God doesn’t promise his servants an easy time of it, but he does promise them that they will be renewed and refreshed by his Word and protected by his Spirit. We see this in Jeremiah, in that he continually gets rescued from whatever’s thrown at him. Even the enemies of the Israelites rescue him. God uses every resource he has at hand to protect and support those who are loyal to him.
- Jeremiah told the people that God wanted them to leave Jerusalem and the surrounding cities, go to Babylon, and put themselves under the authority of Nebuchadnezzar, whom God called his “servant”. To the Jews in positions of power in Judah and Israel, this was treason. In their view, Jeremiah was aiding and abetting the enemy by telling the Israelites to cut their losses and surrender to the Chaldeans and Babylonians. Why would God tell his people to desert Jerusalem, knowing that when they did that, the temple would be looted and the city destroyed?
- Jeremiah is very clear that God needs to punish Judah and Israel for their centuries of sins. The punishment is to live in Babylon as captives for a period of 70 years, after which, if they repented and turned back to God with all their hearts, they could return to their lands. God would then punish Babylon. God always has a plan, and God’s plan is always best. Too bad that so few people go along with it.
- The remainder of today’s reading shows that those who refused to obey God’s guidance, as given by Jeremiah, either died in Jerusalem, died fleeing Jerusalem, or died shortly after if they went to Egypt instead of Babylon. God is always very clear about his directives; he doesn’t leave room for misinterpretation. The people were told to surrender and go to Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar’s authority and all would be reasonably well with them. However, they chose not to heed the advice. They saw surrender as losing face, and they couldn’t conceive that God wanted them to live as captives under their enemies. They took a position of pride and refused to budge, and it was their downfall. Jeremiah survived and actually thrived as a stranger in a strange land.
- The story of the machinations of the evil kings and their princes, priests, advisors, and false prophets is meant for us to learn from. It is a cautionary tale. Sometimes the right way forward is directly into the arms of the enemy, if that’s where God tells you to go. Always go where God tells you to go, not where human reasoning or pride dictate. God makes use of all the world’s resources to support his children, including resources belonging to enemies. What’s theirs, in some cases, is also ours, if God says so.
The book of Jeremiah shows us the day-to-day life of a prophet of God in ancient Israel. Of all the OT prophets, it probably provides the most details, other than for the book of Daniel. The NT, on the other hand, is full of intimate day-to-day details of lives lived in accordance with God’s will, as we’ll see starting next week. The details are important not only to flesh out the people being described and draw us deeper into their story, but to serve as a guide for what to do (or not to do) under different situations.
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The schedule for the BIBLE READ-THROUGH is directly below.
ARE YOU GIVING EVERYTHING TO GOD, OR ARE YOU HOLDING SOMETHING BACK?
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, August 15, 2021 – Are you giving everything you’ve got to God, or are you holding something back? What are you still giving to the world that you know you should be giving to God?
When I was reading the book of Isaiah yesterday, I saw someone standing before God on Judgement Day and God asking the person: “Why did you hold back on me? When you knew you should give me everything, why did you hold back?” His tone wasn’t angry. He wasn’t upset. If anything, he was sad, and he was listening intently to hear the person’s response.
Jesus says that by our words we are justified and by our words we are condemned. If we know that we should do something and choose not to do it, we have no-one but ourselves to blame. When we stand before God on Judgement Day and he asks us why we held back a part of ourselves from him even though we knew we shouldn’t, we will have no option but to tell him the truth. You cannot lie to God. It is impossible to stand before God and lie. You can’t lie, you can’t doubt, you can’t dissemble, you can’t even argue. Any form of communication that is shades of gray rather than plain black or white is disabled when you stand before God.
So what are YOU holding back from God? If you die tonight and the next thing you know you’re standing before God on Judgement Day, what will you say to him when he asks you why you didn’t give him everything?
What will you say?
Will you tell him you were too busy? You didn’t have time? You were working two jobs trying to pay off your debts? That you wanted to think about it for a while? That you’d planned on giving him everything, but you were waiting until the time was right?
That you were waiting until the time was right?
If you’re reading this now and you haven’t yet given everything to God, the time is right. The time will never be more right than it is right here and right now. You will not survive what’s coming unless you are fully under God’s protection as a born-again follower of Jesus, and that means giving everything you have to God, holding nothing back.
BIBLE READ-THROUGH: DAY 24 REFLECTION (ISAIAH 55 – JEREMIAH 22:30)
“40 Days and 40 Nights of God’s Word”
DAY 24: AUGUST 15
ISAIAH 55 – JEREMIAH 22:30
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, August 15, 2021 – The book of Isaiah, as I’ve mentioned repeatedly over the past few days, has Jesus written all over it. Most of the book is about Jesus as God’s servant. The final few chapters of Isaiah in today’s reading are more about the fruit of Jesus’ labours, which is God’s Kingdom on Earth, otherwise known as spiritual Zion, the holy mountain, and spiritual Israel. These are all the same place, and their establishment was foretold in scripture, including and foremost in Isaiah.
If you’re born-again, you live in God’s Kingdom on Earth (i.e., spiritual Zion, the holy mountain, spiritual Israel). Establishing this Kingdom is what Jesus came to accomplish by offering himself as the final and perfect redeeming sacrifice. He aced it, and is now seated at the right hand of God, ruling over us born-agains as our King and High Priest. Being redeemed enables us, as Jesus’ followers, to have the same relationship with God as he had, and as Adam once had (before the fall), and as all true prophets have had throughout the ages.
- Isaiah 61:1-2 is the famous verse that Jesus quoted in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth when he came out as the Messiah. In case anyone in the synagogue was dozing off that day, Jesus forcefully and unequivocally stated that he was the fulfillment of that scripture. He left no room for misinterpretation. Then he went on to castigate the hometown crowd for their spiritual blindness and lack of faith, and in so doing incited a lynch mob against him. But Jesus just calmly walked through the midst of them and left.
- In this reading, the “Great Invitation” that was initially given only to the children of Israel is being extended to everyone else who chooses God’s way over the world’s way. What we essentially see here is God petitioning for new believers outside the 12 tribes of Israel. At the same time, Isaiah gives us a run-down of why God is looking for new spiritual blood – the spiritual leaders are blind and greedy and leading the people astray, and the people themselves are unrepentantly following the demon-worshiping practices of the heathens around them. This, as we’ve seen in previous readings, is nothing new for the children of Israel, but God has reached the end of his patience. If his chosen don’t want what he’s offering, maybe someone else will. As for his children who reject him, “the Lord God shall slay [them] and call his servants by another name”.
- Hence, “Christians”.
- I’m sad to see the last of Isaiah in this read-through. I could scour that book every day, never tiring of it and still finding something I hadn’t noticed before, still hearing an echo from something written elsewhere in the Bible. Jesus, I suspect, knew Isaiah by heart. It was, after all, his script. Note that it even mentions the kings, the shepherds, and the angels (Isaiah 60:1, 2 and 3, respectively) coming to worship him. God laid it all out for Isaiah, and Jesus soaked it up.
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- Jeremiah is considered by some Jewish historians as a “failed prophet” solely because his warnings failed to turn the children of Israel (particularly Judah) back to God. But that’s not the job of a prophet, to force people to worship God. A prophet speaks God’s Word; he/she doesn’t twist arms and coerce people into doing what they don’t want to do. Even God doesn’t do that. Is God, then, by the measure of these same Jewish historians, a failed God?
- Jeremiah is anything but a failed prophet (and God is anything but a failed God!). On the contrary, and even despite being imprisoned for preaching, Jeremiah never swerved from speaking God’s Truth. There were other prophets also prophesying at the time who lied to the people and told them “everything’s going to be OK”, but Jeremiah warned the Israelites that unless they turned back to God wholeheartedly, “OK” was the last thing everything was going to be.
- For me, Jeremiah’s is the voice of this present age. I think the times we’re in now, with so-called formerly Christian nations collectively turning their backs on God and adopting demonic lifestyles and laws, is much like Israel just before the destruction of Jerusalem and their captivity in Babylon. Jeremiah was singular in his message but pretty much universally ignored, as are all people who speak God’s Truth today. In fact, speaking God’s Truth today can get you arrested, just like in Jeremiah’s day.
- I particularly relate to Jeremiah’s lack of a bedside manner. When there’s plenty of time, you can be soft-spoken, hold hands, and sing Kumbaya; but when time is almost up, you speak plainly and bark orders. Those who want what God is offering will gratefully accept it; those who object to how the message is being delivered are lost anyway, so don’t waste your time on them. Let them go.
- It might be helpful to take note of the kings under which both Isaiah and Jeremiah were prophesying (you can check the list of kings in 2 Chronicles, towards the end of the book). Isaiah prophesied mostly under kings who “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord”, whereas Jeremiah was stuck with the short stick, except for Josiah. After Josiah, all the kings Jeremiah endured “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord”. This in large part explains both the trouble Jeremiah had (arrests, imprisonment, etc.) and also the spiritual disaster state that was the children of Israel. We get the leaders we’ve earned through our thoughts and actions, and the Israelites at that time had earned some real doozies. So have we.
What are your thoughts about the final chapter of Isaiah and the opening chapters of Jeremiah? Do you object to Jeremy’s lack of bedside manner, or do you find it refreshing? He certainly doesn’t mince his words, and those who prefer to see themselves as victims rather than as getting back what they put out would obviously object. This is so much like today’s society, where perceived (that is, false) victimhood has been elevated to a new form of secular sainthood by the social justice crowd. Don’t give into them and don’t go along with them. Be like Jeremiah, who stood alone on God’s Truth
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For a full schedule of the BIBLE READ-THROUGH, click on the links below.
BIBLE READ-THROUGH: DAY 23 REFLECTION (ISAIAH 17 – 54:17)
“40 Days and 40 Nights of God’s Word”
DAY 23: AUGUST 14
ISAIAH 17 – 54:17
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, August 14, 2021 – I mentioned a few days ago, when we were doing the Solomon readings, that I had to skim through most of the proverbs because the material was so dense. Each line really required a study in itself, which isn’t suited to our current “quick ‘n’ dirty” read-through mode.
Today’s reading is likewise dense, but O Mama! There was no way I wasn’t going to slow down and savour every morsel of what God is feeding us through Isaiah. So instead of the anticipated few hours I’d scheduled for this reading, I took the whole day. Sometimes you just gotta.
- Jesus, as I said before, is all over the book of Isaiah. We can see from today’s reading why Jesus favored this prophet and also why he chose to read a passage from Isaiah at the synagogue in Nazareth when he outed himself as the Messiah. God revealed to Isaiah more about Jesus and the Kingdom than he did to anyone else, and Isaiah also wrote more eloquently about Jesus and the Kingdom than did anyone else. Even in a translation of a translation of a translation, the power of God’s Word is so forceful, it’s at times overwhelming. I always come away from a reading of Isaiah completely exhilarated and with a deeper insight into Jesus and spiritual Zion.
- Along with descriptions of Jesus and the role he would play as Messiah, the book of Isaiah also gives us a run-down of what will happen to those who either fight against Israel or defy God. It isn’t pretty. Reading the passages about what will ultimately happen to Israel’s enemies (even though in the interim they seem to prosper in their evil and get away with it), I couldn’t help but think of those who say they believe in God and yet give only part of themselves to him, holding the rest back. I couldn’t help thinking that these people, by holding part of themselves back, are essentially defying God and are enemies of spiritual Israel. Do you think that people who hold part of themselves back from God, giving it to the world instead, will secure a place in Heaven? That is not a rhetorical question; that is actually a “yes” or “no” question, and the answer is a resounding “NO!”. We’ll read later in Acts what happens to people who claim to love God and follow Jesus but hold part of themselves back. They end up no different than God’s enemies.
- God told Isaiah to get naked and barefoot and walk that way FOR THREE YEARS as a sign against Israel’s enemies, and he did it. We need to be as willing as Isaiah to do whatever God tells us and for whatever length of time. The alternative is losing our place in Heaven. If it means getting naked and walking barefoot for three years, we get naked and walk barefoot for three years, but only if GOD tells us to do it. Personally, I don’t think God will ask any of us to do that. Just before I was reborn, God gave me the choice to forgive or not to forgive, making it very clear that choosing to forgive was the right choice and would lead to the better outcome. What I’m saying is that God didn’t ask me to walk naked and barefoot for three years. That was just for Isaiah. But God might give you the “to forgive or not to forgive” choice, because God doesn’t answer the prayers of people whose hearts are hardened by resentment.
- I’m looking forward to the Isaiah grand finale tomorrow and the start of the book of Jeremiah. Jesus also quoted extensively from “Jeremy”, as you’ll see as we make our way through the book over the next few days.
So what are your thoughts on Isaiah? Do you find the scripture exhilarating, or are you stuck thinking what’s up with God that he made Isaiah walk naked and barefoot for three years? God made his prophets do a few bizarre things (wait until we get to Ezekiel!), but everything was for a purpose and a sign, and was meant either to get his people back on track or to warn their enemies, or both. God knew the more outrageous the sign, the more impactful it would be.
Has God made you do anything crazy yet? If not, watch out for it. The more you say you want to give everything to God, the more he’ll test you to see if you really mean it. As Mary, at the wedding in Cana, said of Jesus: “Whatever he says to you, do it”. Just make sure it’s God you’re hearing from, not some other spirit.
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Click on the links below for a full schedule of the BIBLE READ-THROUGH on PDF.
BIBLE READ-THROUGH: DAY 22 REFLECTION (PROVERBS 26 – ISAIAH 16:14)
“40 Days and 40 Nights of God’s Word”
DAY 22: AUGUST 13
PROVERBS 26 – ISAIAH 16:14
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, August 13, 2021 – LOVE ME SOME ISAIAH! You know it’s coming straight from God’s mouth when it feeds you in the way that only God can. That’s why Jesus was so effective in teaching and preaching – God spoke directly through him to the people in real-time. Isaiah was one of the “thus saith the Lord” prophets who heard from God first and then relayed what he heard later, but his words still have much of the same immediacy as Jesus’. You get the sense that they were written down as soon as God spoke them to him. That’s why they’re so fresh even after nearly 3000 years.
- Compared to yesterday’s proverbs, Solomon really switches gears here in Ecclesiastes and then again in The Song of Solomon. I find Ecclesiastes very approachable and always learn from it, but the “song” leaves me scratching my head. There’s also a deep sadness that pervades Solomon’s writings. This is particularly evident in Ecclesiastes. I hesitate to call it depression, but it seems that even with all his wealth, power, wisdom and wives, Solomon was not a happy man. Maybe he had too much of everything. And maybe, judging from some of his words, he knew it.
- I also find it very telling that many of Solomon’s proverbs mention how it is better to be poor with few cares than wealthy with many. He seemed to romanticize material poverty the way most poor people romanticize material wealth. In any case, something ultimately drove him into the arms of countless strange women, to be seduced there by their strange gods. This is not a happy ending. Solomon was renowned in life not for his joy and faith, but for his wealth and wisdom. His legacy is the same to this day. A tribute to Solomon in song is below the read-through schedule.
- It’s no secret that Isaiah was Jesus’ favourite Olde Tyme prophet. When he came out as the Messiah in his hometown synagogue, Jesus stood up and read a passage from the book of Isaiah as evidence that God’s Kingdom had come. For his trouble, he was immediately run out of town. We can see even from the few chapters we’ve read in Isaiah today that Jesus is all over it, as are descriptions of the Kingdom as a spiritual realm. Isaiah more than any other prophet made it very clear that Zion was a spiritual safe haven, not a geopolitical one. Jesus’ famous phrase “my kingdom is not of this world” is in large part premised on the writings of Isaiah.
- Jesus learned from God directly what it meant to be the Messiah and what he had to do and accomplish and endure as the Messiah, but he also learned at the feet of Isaiah. Now we’re sitting there learning, too.
- I find the passage about what it means to live in Zion (another name for God’s Kingdom on Earth) particularly inspiring:
16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left… like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
12 And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.
5 Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
Isaiah 11:16-12
- Jesus quoted and paraphrased Isaiah throughout the Gospels. For instance, Matthew 24, which is about the time of tribulation and judgement, includes verses from Isaiah 13, some word for word. We can know which of the prophets most heavily influenced Jesus by how often he quotes them, and Isaiah wins that prize hands down. I’m so looking forward to the next few days of Isaiah readings!
What are your impressions of today’s scripture? Does The Song of Solomon leave you scratching your head, or does it make sense to you? And what jumped out at you in Isaiah? For me, every time Isaiah mentions the remnant, I see him waving to me. We born-agains are the prophesied remnant and we live in spiritual Zion, which is God’s Kingdom on Earth. Jesus made that very clear, and so does Isaiah.
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The schedule for the BIBLE READ-THROUGH is directly below.
BIBLE READ-THROUGH: DAY 21 REFLECTION (PSALM 120 – PROVERBS 25:28)
“40 Days and 40 Nights of God’s Word”
DAY 21: AUGUST 12
PSALM 120 – PROVERBS 25:28
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, August 12, 2021 – Today we say good-bye to the psalms and hello to Solomon’s proverbs. I find the proverbs very rich and, unlike the psalms, quite difficult to do in read-through mode. They’re better ingested one at a time and chewed over slowly. That’s not what a read-through is about, however. I’m not sure how you’re dealing with this dilemma, but I confess that I skimmed over most of the proverbs section of the reading, though I did dig deeper into the passages on lady wisdom and her nemesis, the strange woman.
- I think it’s difficult for us to grasp how unfathomably awful the children of Israel must have felt both individually and as a people when Jerusalem was destroyed. They essentially lost everything except their lives. Psalm 137, which was written during the 70 years of their exile in Babylon, has the feel of a vengeful funeral dirge. Lots of wailing and finger-pointing, but not much self-reflection (that would come later). The line about little ones being dashed against stones gives us an idea of what was done to the Israeli children during the slaughter. It also shows how seriously these people took “an eye for an eye”, even to the point of murdering each other’s children without blinking.
- Thank God (and thank Jesus) we’ve moved beyond that barbarism to loving our enemies. I don’t think I could stomach watching someone dash my child against stones, any more than I could stomach doing the dashing myself with someone else’s child. Even so, a lot of songs have been written using parts of Psalm 137 (though not the kid-dashing part). Interestingly, in the musical Godspell, some lines from this psalm are in a song that’s sung just before Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus. The song is posted here below the BIBLE READ-THROUGH schedule.
- The rest of the psalms were a bit of a mixed bag. We read some by David but also some that were written hundreds of years after David died. There was another retelling of the exodus story and the time in the wilderness, along with reminders to praise and thank God in every situation and to rely only on him. I’m glad the book of Psalms ended on a high note, praising God. That should always be our default response, no matter what happens to us. Stand up, look up, and praise the Lord!
- As we know from an earlier reading, Solomon prayed to God to be granted wisdom above all else. God was so pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom instead of the usual laundry list of riches and long life, that he gladly gave him his request. The book of Proverbs is the fruit of Solomon’s wisdom. Unfortunately, Solomon didn’t have the same flair for words as his father, which sometimes makes for hard reading.
- As I mentioned, the sections that I spent the most time on in this read-through are those on lady wisdom and the strange woman. The rest of the reading, I must confess, I raced through, and the thought that came to me as I was doing the racing was “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, treat others as you want to be treated, and obey the Commandments”. Most of the proverbs seem to be saying that in different words.
- But lady wisdom and her nemesis the strange woman were much more compelling to me. Solomon gives a good run-down of all the benefits of choosing and cherishing wisdom in comparison to choosing the strange woman. As alluring as the strange woman is initially, she’ll only to lead to your doom. There is no other outcome if you get involved with a strange woman.
- Recall that anyone who was not a child of Israel was considered “strange”, as were prostitutes and women in adulterous relationships. Scripture often conflates the three metaphorically to describe how the children of Israel started worshiping the heathens’ demon gods. Solomon himself married several hundred strange women and ended up being led astray by them, as we read last week. There are many such cases of people who warn against a temptation, only to be snared by the very same temptation they cautioned against.
- Maybe wisdom can only take you so far. Maybe, as Job found out, complete submission to God in recognition of his absolute greatness and your absolute not-greatness is the only thing worth striving for.
What was your impression of this reading? Did any of the psalms or proverbs speak to you in particular, whether in encouragement or correction? Many of the proverbs spoke to me, but I’m not saying which ones or why. That’s between me and God. ;D
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Click on the links below for a schedule of the BIBLE READ-THROUGH.
BIBLE READ-THROUGH: DAY 20 REFLECTION (PSALMS 73-120)
“40 Days and 40 Nights of God’s Word”
DAY 20: AUGUST 11
PSALMS 73-120
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, August 11, 2021 – Unlike the history of people, places and events that makes up the first half of the Bible (yes, we’re now halfway through! Woohoo!), most of the psalms are you talking to or about God. Rather than being spoken to or lectured to, you’re the one doing the speaking. You’re center-stage. The words are coming from you. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why the psalms are so accessible, even to unbelievers. They speak your heart without you having to say a word.
- All of the psalms (except one) that we read yesterday were written by David. Today’s reading is a mixed bag of psalmists that includes David, Asaph, Moses, and a few others whose names are unfamiliar to me. There are also psalms that are uncredited. Determining who wrote which psalm is a whole theological field in itself, which we’re obviously not going to go into here. The only reason I mention all the different psalmists in today’s reading is that the tone and content of a work reflect the author, so having different authors means that we have a broader range of tone and content. It’s all still talking to and about God, but in slightly different voices.
- Lots of retelling about the exodus from Egypt in these psalms. Spiritual rebirth is an exodus out of spiritual bondage to Satan and into the spiritual freedom of God’s Kingdom on Earth. If you’re genuinely born-again, you’re in the Kingdom in the same way as the children of Israel were in the wilderness. You’re supernaturally protected by God and you’re being taught by God, but you’re also being tested to see whether or not you genuinely want what God is offering you – the Promised Land of Heaven. Pay close attention to what happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness and learn from their mistakes so that you don’t end up as most of them ended up. That’s the reason why the story of the 40 years in the wilderness is told and retold throughout scripture – it’s a cautionary tale.
- Jesus is all over these psalms! We either see him in lines that he spoke in the Gospels, or we see him in lines that are written about him. As I mentioned yesterday, the whole Bible is all about Jesus, not just the New Testament. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise of redemption to his people, and the Bible – from start to finish – is the story of our redemption.
- Psalm 91 has been getting a lot of press lately in Christian communities because of the promise that God will not let any pestilence come near his people. But as we’ve seen in earlier readings, God did let pestilence come near those who said they were God’s people but acted as if they were the devil’s. Yes, God will protect his people from everything until it’s their time, as long as they keep his Commandments and treat others (including their enemies) right. If you don’t keep God’s Commandments and don’t treat others right, the protections promised in Psalm 91 will not apply to you.
- Jesus quotes the opening lines of Psalm 110 as evidence of why the Messiah can’t be David’s son. I would reference the same lines as evidence that Jesus can’t be God.
- When I was in high school, I played the role of Mary Magdalen in our school’s production of the musical Godspell. I couldn’t sing very well, and the Mary Magdalen character didn’t have a solo, so that role had my name written all over it in more ways than one. When the call went out for performers, so many kids auditioned that the director decided to have two casts: an “A” and a “B”. The “A” cast was made up mostly of Grade 12 students who already had theatrical experience and were really good singers (some were professionally trained), while the “B” cast was made up mostly of younger students (I was in my first year of high school), and none of us had much by way of training. We were, however, very enthusiastic and loved being in the spotlight. That made up for whatever we lacked in talent and experience.
- I mention this because most of David’s Psalm 103 (which, by the way, I just realized today was written by David) is a song in Godspell called “Bless the Lord”. So when I read Psalm 103 today, I got to thinking about our “B” cast in high school. Everyone in it eventually came to God. The guy who played Jesus gave up his rock band and the lifestyle that went with it and became a pastor. He was older than the rest of us in the cast (I think he was in his second or third year of Grade 12), but if ever anyone “looked like Jesus”, that guy was a dead ringer – tall, lanky, bony-faced, long hair, and a way about him that just naturally drew people. Whenever I saw him in the school hallways, he had an entourage trailing behind him. Like me, he wasn’t much of a singer, but his natural charisma and enthusiasm for the role made up for it. He ended up marrying his then-girlfriend, who was also in the “B” cast (a beautiful girl and beautiful singer).
- As I said, everyone in that cast eventually came to God on some level. I’ve posted the Psalm 103 Godspell song below, for anyone who’s interested in hearing it.
- I don’t know about you, but whenever I read the “long psalm” (the one that’s divided under the letters of the Hebrew alphabet), I want to do and be everything it says. I want to completely and entirely live in God’s blessings and within his boundaries. I don’t want to stray even one inch outside them. That’s the beauty and the power of these psalms that are written in first person: The psalmists’ words become yours.
So what jumped out at you today? Are you as enamored with the psalms as I am? Do they speak your heart, too? Which psalms in particular had something to teach you this time around? And have you ever written a psalm?
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The schedule for the BIBLE READ-THROUGH is on PDF directly below:
BIBLE READ-THROUGH: DAY 19 REFLECTION (PSALMS 1-72)
“40 Days and 40 Nights of God’s Word”
DAY 19: AUGUST 10
PSALMS 1-72
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, August 10, 2021 – I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’ve skimmed through what I call fly-over scripture, particularly in the genealogies and parts of the law pertaining to animal sacrifice and so on. But today’s reading I soaked up every word. Maybe it’s the former literature major in me, but I can’t get enough of the psalms, especially David’s (no surprise there! ;D). They’re like poetry to me. I’m like that deer that pants for God’s Word and then finds a cool, clear, pure running stream of it in the psalms. This morning I lapped it up and then plunged my whole face into it, coming up only to breathe.
- The psalms are probably the most accessible part of the Bible to believers and non-believers alike. Even as an atheist, I had a nodding acquaintance with “the Lord is my shepherd”, though I had no idea what it meant. Now I’m living it.
- At some point, while there’s still time, I’d like to go through all of David’s psalms and write a reflection on each one in my blog, but for today I’m just going to cherry-pick either whole psalms or lines that jumped out at me for whatever reason.
- If you didn’t have the time or inclination to lap up every word of today’s reading, let me give you the Coles Notes version: Those who put their trust in God will be protected by God and blessed by God. God himself will go to battle for them. If you love and trust and obey God, enemies will be all around you all the time, but God will protect you; you will have afflictions, but God will get you through them. No matter how bad things are, praise the Lord and give thanks to him, and he will rescue you. There is no down-side to trusting and serving the Lord.
- I hadn’t noticed before that Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 are the same psalm with only slightly different wording. All the years I’ve been reading the psalms, and I just noticed this morning they were both the same. Not sure what the story is there, but I thought it was interesting. Lines are often repeated from one psalm to another, but not the entire thing. Maybe there will be more instances of this in the rest of the psalms. We’ll find out over the next few days. By the way, all of the psalms in today’s reading were written by David, except for one that was written by Asaph.
- Jesus quoted the psalms a lot, even as he was dying on the cross. Psalm 22 pretty much lays out the crucifixion scene, with Jesus’ dying words “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?” as the opening line. Jesus quoted the psalm to show all who were present that what was happening to him had to happen according to scripture. Some people have taken it to mean that David saw the crucifixion scene in a vision and that Jesus cried out in actual despair, but Jesus was very clear about doing things in accordance with scripture (and he was never in despair). He purposely did and said certain things because scripture stated that the Messiah would do or say this or that, and so he did and said this or that. And he also purposely quoted the opening lines of Psalm 22 to let those within earshot (as well as those reading about the crucifixion years later) know that it had to happen the way it did in order to fulfill scripture as pertaining to the Messiah.
- It’s worth noting that only Matthew and Mark mention Jesus quoting the opening lines of Psalm 22. Luke mentions Jesus quoting another line (“Into thy hands I commend my spirit”), which is also in today’s reading (“commend” is translated to “commit” in the KJV), along with the Messiah being given vinegar to drink (done to Jesus on the cross).
- In fact, there are numerous references to Jesus in the first 72 psalms. I’m not going to go through them here, but if you’ve done the reading today, you’ve likely seen them yourselves. As I said, at some point over the next few months I’m going to do a reflection on each of the psalms and talk about how they relate to Jesus. The whole Bible, in fact, relates to Jesus, but some lines and verses are more overt.
- I love all the psalms, but those that speak to me in particular are Psalm 27, which I learned to sing in ancient Hebrew without understanding a word (lol), except for ADONAI; Psalm 30 (“O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me”), which is one of the first psalms that spoke directly to my heart when I was a bouncing baby newborn-again; and Psalm 68, which I mentioned in an earlier reflection, quoted Moses in the opening lines (the same lines which terrify the fallen beings whenever they’re spoken in sincerity). I also like Psalm 23 for its simplicity and brevity (which makes it easy to memorize and recite when you need it most), and because it pretty much describes the life of a believer. Which psalms are your favorites or speak directly to your heart in some way?
- As we know, David was a musician as well as a poet, and the psalms were sung in performance, not spoken. They certainly weren’t written solely to be read silently. The original music is no longer available to the general public (although some people may have access to it still). To make up for that loss, a few musicians have set the psalms to their own compositions. I found a recording of Psalm 27 in ancient Hebrew on a YouTube video a few years ago, and set to learning it. I did (mostly) learn it, but I have no idea what I’m singing without sneaking a peek at the English translation. Even so, it’s fun to sing along. I’ve posted the psalm below for anyone who wants to try their hand at singing ancient Hebrew!
What jumped out at you today? Did you notice something in these 72 psalms that you hadn’t noticed before? Share it with us, if you feel so inclined.
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A PDF schedule of the BIBLE READ-THROUGH is directly below:
BIBLE READ-THROUGH: DAY 18 REFLECTION (THE BOOK OF JOB)
“40 Days and 40 Nights of God’s Word”
DAY 18: AUGUST 9
THE BOOK OF JOB
GREENVILLE STATION, Nova Scotia, August 9, 2021 – Where rebellion ends, fear begins; where fear ends, knowledge begins; where knowledge ends, wisdom begins; where wisdom ends, faith begins; where faith ends, trust begins; where trust ends, love begins; and where love ends, humility begins.
- Job loved God. The scripture in our reading today says that Job was upright before the Lord and did nothing wrong. Job even tried to cover the sins of others (his children) with constant sacrifices, knowing they weren’t right in their hearts before God.
- And yet God still permitted Satan to have his way with Job, first by killing his children and taking away all of his wealth and possessions, and then by plaguing Job with open running sores so that he was able to do nothing but sit in a pile of ashes and scrape the pus off with a piece of broken pottery. That hardly seems a fair way for God to reward someone who is blameless and upright. Surely God overplayed his hand with Job? Or maybe Job wasn’t as blameless as God and scripture lead us to believe? Maybe Job had earned all his misery?
- Like the book of Esther that we read yesterday, the book of Job has a whiff of the fairy tale about it, as if some details were pumped up and highlighted, while others were subdued or left out altogether because they didn’t support the narrative. Everything in God’s Word is meant for our edification, and if we approach it that way, we will be edified. So if things were puffed up or left out, it doesn’t matter: God will teach us what we need to know if we are willing to learn.
- God has made us to be curious and to want to know things. That’s how we’re hard-wired as his creatures. We can see that same inbuilt curiosity and desire to know things in animals as they try to figure things out. Our curiosity and desire to know things (i.e., figure things out) has been given to all his creatures by God. He doesn’t want us not to be curious, but like the sea, our curiosity needs to have boundaries, so God has limited our knowledge and understanding to certain bounds.
- Trying to understand God within the bounds of our limited intelligence will only get us so far. We can have an inkling of God, but we can’t possibly know everything about him, including how and why he does what he does. In earlier readings, we see that God rewards right behavior and punishes wrong behavior. This makes sense to us. These are rules we can follow. But God allowing us to be punished for a whim of Satan? This goes beyond the bounds of our understanding.
- Job’s friends tried to help him figure out what was happening to him and how he could get out of his dilemma, but their advice was premised on the simple equation of do good, get good; do bad, get bad. This equation does apply in most situations, but not in all. The friends assumed that Job wasn’t as blameless as he seemed and that he had done something bad to bring the bad on himself. I think most of us would assume the same. But Job stands his ground against their accusations and can think of no word or deed he’d done that would have brought this level of calamity onto him.
- AND THEN IN COMES GOD LIKE A TIDAL WAVE.
- We learn best when our focus is entirely on the situation at hand. If that situation is painful, we learn even better and faster. The desire to learn amidst the sensation of pain is solely to find a way to make the pain stop. In this regard, Job is fully open to this teaching moment arranged by God.
- And what a teaching moment it is! God pushes the limits of Job’s understanding of his situation by bombarding him with example after example of what he, as God, has done and is able to do. Wave after wave of evidence of God’s unfathomable power wash over Job until all he can do is cry out for mercy and humble himself before his Lord and Creator.
- Humility before God is not the same as being humiliated by God. In another part of scripture we’re told to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, resist the devil, and he will flee. We’re not told to have faith in God or even to love God, but to humble ourselves under him. Humility before God is an even greater level of submission than faith or trust or love. Humility presumes nothing and asks for nothing. It’s a simple open acknowledgement of your total powerlessness in the face of God, and an acknowledgement that everything you are and everything you have comes from God. Yes, you have free will as your sole possession, but you wouldn’t even have that if God hadn’t given it to you. Humility signifies that you acknowledge God’s superiority and infinite power in every regard, and that you wholly submit to him. Full stop.
- Humility means not demanding to know why God does what he does. Knowledge + wisdom + faith + trust + love (minus rebellion) = humility.
- Like Esther, Job also has a happy ending. The devil flees as soon as Job humbles himself under God’s mighty hand, as promised by scripture. God then gives Job even more wealth than he had before, along with a good long life.
What did you think of today’s reading? Do you consistently humble yourself under God’s mighty hand, or are you always trying to figure out why God does what he does? God gives us leeway to ask questions and even to (foolishly) question him at times, but every now and then he needs to remind us who’s boss and why, so that we don’t get ahead of ourselves.
Humility before God is the most underrated of virtues and also the most important, if we’re to have the kind of relationship with God that he’s inviting us to have.
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The schedule for the BIBLE READ-THROUGH is directly below:
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 