February 3rd One Year Bible Readings

~ Click on this link for today's readings ~
Exodus 17:8-19:15 ~ Matthew 22:34-23:12
Psalm 27:7-14 ~ Proverbs 6:27-35

Old Testament - Today in Exodus chapter 17 we read about the Israelites defeating Amalekites.  We are introduced to Joshua in verse 9.  Joshua is from the tribe of Ephraim and he has a strong faith in God and loyalty to Moses, along with leadership skills.  He will be Moses' successor who leads the Israelites into Canaan 40 years later. Below is a painting from 1915 by Hungarian artist Adolf Fenyes of "The Jews Defeating Amalek's Army":

Verse 12 reminded me of how oftentimes we cannot always do things on our own - we oftentimes need our friends help: "Moses' arms finally became too tired to hold up the staff any longer. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side, holding up his hands until sunset."  Who are your Aaron and Hur?  Who is holding you up your arms when they get tired?  And whose arms are you holding up when their arms get tired?

In Exodus chapter 18 we read about Jethro's visit of Moses and Jethro's wise advice to Moses.  This chapter has been pointed out to me as something I should take heed of a couple of times over this past year or so...  Like Moses in this chapter, I think I have a hard time delegating!  :)   But, indeed, Jethro's advice in verses 17 & 18 about how Moses was settling every single case is something I need to reflect upon often: "This is not good!" his father-in-law exclaimed. "You're going to wear yourself out--and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself." How about you?  Are there areas of your life where you are doing too much?  Where you need to delegate to others?  Where you need to "let go and let God"?  Are you wearing yourself out?  Will you follow Jethro's advice to Moses? Great advice on how to avoid "burnout" in our lives as based on Exodus chapter 18 titled "The Tyranny of the Urgent" is online at bible.org at this link.  Below is an image of Moses as the judge of the people's cases from today's readings:

Exodus chapter 19 is a significant chapter because the Israelites arrive at Mt. Sinai!  Exodus chapter 19 verse 3 all the way through Exodus chapter 24 verse 18 is what is called by many commentators "The Sinaitic Covenant."   You'll recall that we have already read about the Noahic Covenant in Genesis 9:8-17, the Abrahamic A Covenant in Genesis 15:9-21, and the Abrahamic B Covenant in Genesis 17.  Per Zondervan, this Sinaitic Covenant was "made with Israel as the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and as the people God has redeemed from bondage from Egypt.  This Sinaitic Covenant is a conditional divine pledge to be Israel's God on the condition of Israel's total consecration to God as his people who live by his rule and serve his purposes in history."  Tomorrow we read about the Ten Commandments!  Welcome to Mt. Sinai!

New Testament - If you are into memorizing Scripture at all, Jesus' teaching Matthew chapter 22 verses 37-40 is certainly worth memorizing! "`You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: `Love your neighbor as yourself.'  All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.""  So, I think it is fair to say that if you learn nothing else this year in the One Year Bible, please at least learn these 3 verses above. :)   However - I am quite sure you will learn these 3 verses and so much more this year!  Then, of course, to take things beyond just learning - we need to be applying the learnings from the Bible this year in our lives.  How about these two commandments from Jesus above - think you've learned them?  Now, can you practice applying them to your life each and every day?  How will you go about doing this?   How will you love God with all your heart, soul, and mind?  How will you love your neighbor?  Commentary on verse 39 entitled, "Is Self-Love Biblical?" is online at bible.org at this link.

In Matthew 22 verse 44 Jesus quotes and teaches from Psalm 110.  An interesting trivia note is that Psalm 110 is the most frequently quoted Old Testament chapter in the New Testament.  Must be an important Psalm, eh?   It's a surprisingly short Psalm I think, in light of this trivia note.  We'll read this Psalm later this year - or you can read it now at this link.

Matthew chapter 23 verse 5 is referring to exaggerated phylacteries: "Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear extra long tassels on their robes."  From bible-history.com -  "Phylacteries (tephillin) are strips of leather to which is attached a very strong, square box made of parchment and painted black. The box contains four parts of the Torah written on parchment: Exodus 13:1-10 and 13:11-16; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21. According to Deut 6:4-9 two phylacteries were used, one for the head and one for the arm. These (called frontlets in Deuteronomy) were put on in such a way that one box rested on the head, between the eyes (seat of the mind) and the other on the left arm opposite the heart (seat of the actions and the emotions, denoting that one loves the Lord with one's heart)."  This definition and a good picture of what phylacteries look like is at bible-history.com at this link.  And another image is here:

Psalms -  I love verse 11 today - "Teach me how to live, O LORD. Lead me along the path of honesty."   Teach me how to live...  what a beautiful prayer!  God - Teach us how to live!  Lead us along the path of honesty!  Teach us how to live...   And Psalm 27 verse 14 today is wonderful for us to meditate upon: "Wait patiently for the LORD.  Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD."  Is there an area of your life where you feel like you are waiting for the Lord to show up?  Do you believe that the Lord will show up?  I pray that this Psalm will encourage within you the virtue of patience.  The Lord will show up.  Be brave and courageous.  Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

Proverbs - Today in Proverbs chapter 6 verses 27 & 28 we read: "Can a person scoop fire into their lap and not be burned? Can a person walk on hot coals and not blister their feet?" How do these Proverbs speak to you? For me, it reminds me of the old adage – "If you play with fire, you're going to get burned!" And, I believe that if there is unchecked sin in our life, we are literally playing with fire. The sin will burn us. If there is a sin in your life you are struggling with, will you pray unceasingly to God to heal you of the sin? And will pray to God to lead you to any resources or counseling or corrective measures that you should take to facilitate the healing process? Will you allow God to discipline you with his holy and healing love? Will you stop scooping fire on your lap? Will you stop walking on hot coals?

Comments from You and Questions of the Day:  In Matthew chapter 23 verse 5 above, I don't think Jesus was demeaning phylacteries in and of themselves - but, he was demeaning those that used phylacteries only for "show," for the wrong motives - the wrong motive of people noticing us instead of giving the glory to God.  Which can lead us to this question in our lives today - are there any "religious things" that we do in our life just for "show"?  Just so that others will honor us?  I think this is such a fine line and something that we have to monitor all of our lives.  Are you monitoring yourself when it comes to your faith to make sure you are not doing anything for "show" or for the wrong reasons?  Have there been times in your past where you have done things just for "show" when it comes to your faith?  How did you catch yourself / notice that you were doing something just for "show"?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

God bless,
Mike

Comments

[K]

May we all obey the great commandment and love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind.

[Anka]

The two commandments Jesus mentioned are indeed quite deep...to love God with all your heart,soul and mind...God says be a doer of my word,not just a hearer...there are many things we read in the bible we just shrug off and say,oh I'm too holy to do that now or hey,that was meant for Israel,not me.I pray we all allow God to teach us as Jesus said "But (T)do not be called (U)Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.

9"Do not call anyone on earth your father; for (V)One is your Father, He who is in heaven.

10"Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.

11"(W)But the greatest among you shall be your servant.
Different doctrines have divided the body of Christ...I pray we all open our hearts to the One who is our teacher and leave behind our different traditions/opinions.
Love your neighbour as yourself...means dying to self...Jesus left heaven behind to spend 33years here just for us to get saved...we hold on to money,clothes,careers in detriment to our neighbours...that's just mentioning a few...I pray truly to let go and let God in all the aspects of my life.
Doing things before men....so many times,it's hard for me to lift my hands up in worship because I think I'm sooooo unworthy....I think what if someone sees me being so holy in church then sees me in one of my bad days outside of church...I know everyone has bad moments/days...but this is one area that I still struggle with and beat myself up on...I still try to be perfect even when I know I'll never reach God's perfection,then beat myself up on it when I fall short.....
Oh well,God's rest to everyone....God bless you all

[AB]

Responding to the above comment about 'just for show', I often have to challenge myself as to whether I attend services each week because I really want to learn more about my Lord or is it because this is the thing that is expected of me! hence falling into the category of 'just for show'. It is quite challenging to ask ourselves if we are attending 'church' because that is the thing we have always done and somehow it makes us feel safe but dear fellow beleiver attending church in itself is not enough, we have to have a personal transaction with our Maker and not just attend for show. Does anyone else feel challenged in this way?

[Sarah]

Just out of curiosity are there any Catholics on here? I just wonder what is to b made of the verse saying not to address anyone here on earth as your Father?? Any ideas on how the Catholic Church interprets this in light of the fact that priests are referred to as father?

Cheers

Sarah

[Gina]

are there any "religious things" that we do in our life just for "show"? Just so that others will honor us? .... I come from a very "religious" and legalistic background so I have to be honest and say that I'm guilty of doing this from time to time. God is helping me, most definitely, in this area and I'm thankful because it's one of the character defects in me that I hate the most!!!

I think I read today's Psalms reading yesterday by accident! But yes, there are 2 main areas in my life that I am waiting on God. I trust that God is totally in control of the situations and has a plan, but right now, I just don't understand it and that bugs me! But I believe the Lord will show up, in His time, not mine and so I continiue to praise Him and wait.

Who are your Aaron and Hur? Who is holding you up your arms when they get tired? .... I'm glad you mentioned this...I didn't even look at it this way, as having someone "help" me through a certain time. But what's really cool about this is that just last night...totally unexpected...I was at my Friday night Life Group/Bible Study and I fell apart...emotionally. I won't get into all the details but my friends rallied around me and I actually took a really huge step last night. They decided to walk with me through this valley but not as spectators, they have agreed to jump in with me and really help out. I thank God for my life group - I praise God that I have God fearing friends who are not afraid to "love their neighbor as themselves".

[Mae]

Verses that stood out for me today:

Exodus 19:5 "Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me".
Matthew 13:11-12 "To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them".
Psalm 27:8 "My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”
Proverbs 6:29 "So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished".

Are there areas of your life where you are doing too much? Where you need to delegate to others? Where you need to "let go and let God. ~ This struggle started a little while ago when relatives of mine came to church. I was happy they choosed to come to God's house. BUT ... there are things I don't understand, for example: my church believes that we have to be reborn in order to go to heaven, accept Jesus in your life, the 3-infinity, well you all know what I'm talking about. At the end of all services the pastor asks for people who want to be saved, so my aunt KNOWS this is a big issue! But she keeps telling everybody "I don't need to be saved, I don't need to get on my knees and do that prayer. I never turned my back to God. So I don't need to be reborn again". Well, it's okay that SHE thinks that way, but now she's talking into all of my other unsaved relatives with that little story of hers! I mean, that's just not right!!!! THIS is what my church believes in and my relatives join this church, so my aunt really should stop convincing everybody that they don't have to be saved! And this passed week I have been suffering with some sort of anger towards my aunt. I had moments that I wanted to call her and lecture her on this. Telling her that she should really LISTEN to the services!!! Telling her that it's not right to tell different things to people, she's joining this church, so she should be gospel the right things! But ... I need to let go and let God ... So I'm breathing in .... and breathing out ... breathing in ... and breathing out ... And I'm praying, praying that I can let go of that uptight feeling I have when I think about my aunt. I don't like that feeling, it's not mine, I need to let it go!

Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. ~ Patiently is a new word in my dictionary since I was saved. I used to be sooooooo extremely impatient! I wanted to sow today and see flowers in bloom the next day. And if there were no flowers in bloom I made something up that would look like flowers in bloom. I needed action, I needed something to be going on in my life. I was a huge drama-queen and actress. I wanted stuff going on in my life from the outside. But now a lot of action is going on in the inside. I'm changing, God is working on me and there's a LOT going on in my head. I'm studying the Bible, I keep myself fresh and I'm more aware of myself and others than I've even been before! There's no hectic in my life anymore, something that I always wanted so badly ... but still, there's a lot going on in my life! I'm patient ... I wait patiently for the Lord. I let Him decide whether we're going to buy another house or live here for a couple of years, when will my husband get his promotion, will Jaden be our only child, will I carry another baby or will we adopt? All kinds of things for my future ... but I need to be patient. And I will be! I've come to learn that me rushing into things will ending up hurting myself and others.

[SissySue]

Many Roman Catholics do not read scripture; they have "missiles" and pray the Rosary and attend mass. My uncle and grandmother were Roman Catholic and believed that the lay people could not interpret scripture correctly; they needed a priest to interpret for them.

I do not know if that still holds true today. I have a cousin who is Roman Catholic, and she attends church regularly and sews baby blankets for unwed mothers at her church, but tells me she does not read. :(

[Bill]

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY:
…Which can lead us to this question in our lives today - are there any "religious things" that we do in our life just for "show"? Just so that others will honor us? I think this is such a fine line and something that we have to monitor all of our lives. Are you monitoring yourself when it comes to your faith to make sure you are not doing anything for "show" or for the wrong reasons? Have there been times in your past where you have done things just for "show" when it comes to your faith? How did you catch yourself / notice that you were doing something just for "show"? …”

One area where this could be a problem is being asked to pray in public. You start worrying about how eloquent your prayers sound to others and you tend to want to rehearse them beforehand. As an usher in a church I once attended I had to do that occasionally before taking up the offering and I caught myself thinking along those lines. There is a time and place for public prayers but, personally, I have always felt more comfortable praying alone with no one around except God. Jesus said:

“And WHEN THOU PRAYEST, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to PRAY standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, THAT THEY MAY BE SEEN OF MEN. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
- Matthew 6:5-6 ( KJV )

EXODUS 17:8-19:15
I agree that this passage is teaching us that we often need support from other believers even as Aaron and Hur so gave to Moses ( 17:12 ). As the Word of the Lord says in Ecclesiastes 4:12, “ And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

The wars with the Amalekites continued until the time of David who finally destroyed them ( 1 Samuel 30:1-17 ) in obedience to God’s command. However, God said that He would have wars with them from generation to generation ( 17:16 ). Therefore this could also apply to all of the nations that have come against Israel in their history up to modern times. I see the Amalekites as being the prototype of all enemies of Israel.

What should be the Christian attitude toward Israel? The same as Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, who “…rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel,…” ( 18:9 ).

I like what God said by Moses to the children of Israel, “…I bare you ON EAGLES‘ WINGS, and brought you unto myself “( 19:4 ). God also said later through the prophet Isaiah:

“ But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up WITH WINGS AS EAGLES; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. “
- Isaiah 40:31 ( KJV ).

MATTHEW 22:34-23:12
The Pharisees often tried to trip Jesus up with their endless questions. Here Jesus stumped them and silenced them by asking some questions of his own. They knew that the Messiah would be the “son of David “ ( 22:42 ) and they were well aware that multitudes in Israel were calling Him that. In quoting Psalm 110:1 Jesus was teaching them that the Messiah would also be God and they well knew that is what Jesus was saying of Himself. This left them speechless ( 22:46 ). I would have liked to have been there to see the look on their faces.

Jesus acknowledged the God-given authority of the Pharisees ( 23:2 ) and instructed His disciples to take heed to their teachings on the law of God. However, Jesus also exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees ( 23:3 ) and their seeking glory for themselves ( 23:5 ).

Jesus also warned His disciples of ecclesiastical elitism and to refrain from giving their leaders such titles as “father” and “master “ which exalt clergy over the laity ( 23:8-12 ). Yes, there is God-given authority in the Church but then on the other hand there is a kind of authoritarianism which can be abusive as in the case of the Pharisees.

PSALM 27:7-14
Verses 13-14 ties in to Exodus 19:4 and Isaiah 40:31 regarding soaring on “eagles’ wings.” When we “wait on the Lord “ ( v.14 ) our faith is strengthened by Him and we will not faint ( v.13 ).

PROVERBS 6:27-35
Could there be any stronger warnings from God against committing adultery in these Scriptures? Even thinking about it or entertaining it in our hearts is playing with fire because sexual lust is like a burning fire inside of us which will get hotter and consume us if it is not put out ( v.27-28 ). Yielding to it is self-destructive ( v.32 ). Not only will we be held accountable by God ( v.29 ) but we may also have to contend with a jealous spouse which could even get us killed ( v.34 ).