March 19th One Year Bible Readings

~ Click here to read today's Scripture on BibleGateway.com ~
Numbers 28:16-29:40 ~ Luke 3:23-38 ~ Psalm 62:1-12 ~ Proverbs 11:18-19
~ Click here to listen to today's Scripture on BibleOnRadio.com ~

Old Testament - I read an interesting commentary today that said the giving of the instructions of the offerings for the festivals in today's readings was done as part of the transfer of power from Moses to Joshua that was coming up soon.  As we saw in yesterday's readings with the census, there are 600,000 men about to enter the Promised Land - potentially 2 million or so total including women & children - who these instructions for the offerings for the festivals were given by Moses from God, as we see in chapter 29 verse 40 today: "So Moses gave all of these instructions to the people of Israel, just as the LORD had commanded him."  Below is a nice image of the Jewish calendar and major festivals that I've posted up before, but I think serves well for today's readings to review again:

An image is below for Numbers chapter 29 verse 1: "The Festival of Trumpets will be celebrated on the appointed day in early autumn each year. You must call a solemn assembly of all the people on that day, and no regular work may be done."

New Testament - You'll notice that Luke's genealogy in chapter 3 today is different from the genealogy in Matthew chapter 1 in a couple of ways: 1.  Matthew starts with Abraham and goes to Jesus & Luke starts with Jesus and goes all the way back to Adam.  This was done by Luke to show Jesus' relationship to the entire human race.  Matthew focused more on Jesus' relationship with the Jews by going back to Abraham.  2. Matthew traces Jesus legal genealogy through his father Joseph back to Solomon son of David, while Luke traces Jesus bloodline through his mother Mary back to Nathan son of David.  This is an interesting slight distinction.  Line up Luke & Matthew's genealogies and you'll see the differences in the names between David & Jesus.  Below is an image of Luke's genealogy of Jesus, from the Book of Kells transcribed by Celtic monks circa 800:

Bible.org's commentary on the genealogy of Jesus is at this link.

Psalms - Today we read in Psalm 62 verse 11 - "God has spoken plainly, and I have heard it many times: Power, O God, belongs to you." This is a powerful verse - no pun intended. . .  :)  Really, think about it. Where does power come from? Who gives power? Who takes it away? I think it is such a blessing when we truly understand this verse and then live it out. When we realize that we really have no power of our own. Any power - any thing - we have comes from God and God alone. And thank God for that. It's when we start believing we create or own or control power that we begin to get prideful or we'll misuse the power given to us. I think a great teaching on where power truly comes from comes from Jesus when he is before Pilate in John chapter 19 verses 10 & 11 - "“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above."" Where do you think your power to do anything at all comes from? Do you believe it was given to you from above? If so, how might truly realizing this change how you live your life? How might it change how you utilize the power given to you?

Proverbs - Today Proverbs chapter 11 verse 18 teaches us: “Those who sow righteousness reap a sure reward."

Worship God: Today's Proverb reminds me of Casting Crowns song "If We are the Body."  Here's a great live version of that song:

Are you the Body?  Click here to meet the Head of the Body! 

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture this week: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

Comments from You & Questions of the Day:  Based on our Proverb today, are you sowing righteousness in your life?  How are you sowing righteousness in your life?  Do you love others at the same level you love yourself?  Are you working diligently for your employer?  Are you serving the poor? Do you believe that the farming analogy of sowing and reaping in this Proverb is true?  And like any good farming analogy, will you patiently sow and patiently await the time of reaping of your sure reward?  Also, what verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

God bless,
Mike

Comments

[Patsy Ray]

My thoughts on the genealogy of Christ: Matthew was an educated member of the Jewish religion and he wrote the Book of Matthew to show Jewish Christians how Jesus fulfilled the prophesies of the Old Testament concerning the Messiah. In the Jewish religion women were considered the same as property and their lineage was not considered important. Therefore, Matthew traced the heritage of Jesus through his early father Joseph, which would be the proper way in the Jewish faith. Luke on the other hand was the only gentile apostle and he wrote the Book of Luke for gentile Christians that did not have a Jewish background. In the gentile world of that day women could hold positions of great power and many of the pagan gods of the gentiles were the personification of women. Luke traced the genealogy of Christ through Mary, the only true human lineage of Jesus, because the gentiles would accept it. The thing that impressed me about reading the genealogy of Matthew and Luke and comparing them is that God removed all doubt in both the Jews and the gentiles that Jesus was the Messiah.

God Bless!
Patsy Ray

[johanna]

why doesn't the listen to the scripture reading match up to the written? If it says todays reading is Numbers 10, 19-35 what is written to follow the reading is not the reading at all, help I'll never make it theough the bible in a year with all this mess up

[angel]

my mother & i really enjoy the service your are providing. we have bonded on deeper level & learned so much since jan 1st. that's why it is frustrating that the podcast has vanished from itunes. the last posting was march 17th. please point me in the right direction. thank you.

[Chris]

I am disappointed that you are no longer offering the podcast. Please think about bringing it back.

[Bob and Bonnie]

We too miss the podcast. It makes studying the His word that much more enjoyable. Please see about finding a way to offer it to readers again.