~ Click on this link for today's readings ~
Job 8:1-11:20 ~ 1 Corinthians 15:1-28
Psalm 38:1-22 ~ Proverbs 21:28-29
Old Testament - In Job chapter 10 today we read his plea to God, including this in verses 18 through 22 - "`Why, then, did you bring me out of my mother's womb? Why didn't you let me die at birth? Then I would have been spared this miserable existence. I would have gone directly from the womb to the grave. I have only a little time left, so leave me alone--that I may have a little moment of comfort before I leave for the land of darkness and utter gloom, never to return. It is a land as dark as midnight, a land of utter gloom where confusion reigns and the light is as dark as midnight.'"
New Testament - Beautifully true words from Paul today in First Corinthians chapter 15 verses 3 & 4 - "I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me--that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said." And then there are some interesting words from Paul in verses 17 through 19 - "And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ have perished! And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world." He immediately follows up these verses with this statement in verse 20 - "But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again." This is quite a chapter from Paul about the Resurrection of Jesus and the Resurrection of the dead. I think the key question we each need to ask ourselves is: do you believe that Jesus was born on this earth 2,000 years ago, is the Son of God, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for your sins, and on the third day rose from the dead? This is the question on which all of Christianity - and your personal faith in Jesus - hinges. So, what say you?
Bible.org's commentary on today's readings in First Corinthians 15 titled "A Refresher Course on the Resurrection of the Dead" is at this link.
Psalms - Psalm 28 today reminds me of the season of Lent! This Psalm of David is powerful. Verses 4 & 5 speak so much to our human condition - "My guilt overwhelms me--it is a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins." Does this verse speak to you in any way, shape or form? If so, please consider then verse 18 - "But I confess my sins; I am deeply sorry for what I have done." Will you today confess your sins to God? Will you admit that you are truly sorry for your sins? Will you pray for healing from your sins? Will you make confession of your sins to God a regular practice?
Proverbs - Proverb chapter 21 verse 29 today is subtle but powerful - "The wicked put up a bold front, but the upright proceed with care." Have you ever seen folks that put up a bold front, but don't have much behind it all? And then seen those that are so humble and maybe even seem quiet, but then deliver incredible fruits. As Jesus said - you'll know a tree by its fruit. A bad tree cannot produce good fruit and a good tree cannot produce bad fruit. This Proverb is a great reminder that the front / the sales pitch / the first impression is not the fruit. It's what comes next and what is delivered with quality and consistency that comes next. Do you put up a bold front at times? Or do you make it a habit to instead proceed with care?
What verses or insights jumped out for you in today's readings? Please post up in the Comments section below!
Grace,
Mike
Resurrection of Jesus Christ
The belief of some in corinthian church was corrected by Paul that We as christians believe in resurrection as Jesus Christ Himself was resurrected.
All men die due to Adam; All men through Jesus get resurrected.
But oblivious to this fact, they had people in corinthian church who believed that theres no resurrection.
That is inconsistent with our gospel of Jesus we recieved.
I guess, people now in this age, propagate so many kinds of beliefs which are inconsistent with the foundational beliefs of our gospel.
Some preach that Jesus has no power to do miracles now. only in that period he could do but not now. Its a pity that they twist some of the scripture in order to justify their stance.
Jesus, is the same, yesterday today and tomorrow. He never changes, Time cannot limit him. He's the alpha, omega.
Its totally unscriptural to say resurrection is not there and its similarly unscriptural to deny of God's resurrection power and His miracle working power as people are stripping God from His matchless wonder working power as people are propagating this error.
Hey, Lets have our eyes and heart open to God. May He reveal Himself and correct and reprove us when we are wrong.
Posted by: Arun | August 23, 2005 at 12:58 AM
Job 8
1
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied to Job:…
13
Such is the fate of all who forget God. The hope of the godless comes to nothing.
14
Everything they count on will collapse. They are leaning on a spiderweb.
15
They cling to their home for security, but it won't last. They try to hold it fast, but it will not endure.
16
The godless seem so strong, like a lush plant growing in the sunshine, its branches spreading across the garden.
17
Its roots grow down through a pile of rocks to hold it firm.
18
But when it is uprooted, it isn't even missed!
19
That is the end of its life, and others spring up from the earth to replace it.
It takes WISDOM to discern the reality of truth. The fact is, what Bildad says is what the Lord Himself has said in other places, and is irrevocably true:
Jeremiah 17
5
Thus says the Lord: Cursed [with great evil] is the strong man who trusts in and relies on frail man, making weak [human] flesh his arm, and whose mind and heart turn aside from the Lord.
6
For he shall be like a shrub or a person naked and destitute in the desert; and he shall not see any good come, but shall dwell in the parched places in the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
7
[Most] blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is.
8
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and fear when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit.
THEN THE LORD EMPHASIZES THE REALITY OF THE HUMAN HEART:
9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it [perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind]?(A)
10
I the Lord search the mind, I try the heart, even to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
SO...
Does that mean that Bildad the Shuhite was correct in the way he was talking to Job? It was like he was scolding him. When people get sick, do we automatically ssume, “there must be sin in his or her life”?
Sin, of course, can and will effect every area of life—including the body and the mind—if not repented of.
I like the Weekly Torah Reading from the website hebrew4christians, a Messianic Jewish website where Christians can learn Hebrew for free—and learn the wonderful Jewish roots to our faith. Part of the Weekly Torah Reading
is pertinent to the question about Bildad the Shuhite and, by extension, about all of us:
“In the reading from Mark, the LORD Jesus was asked which of the mitzvot of the Torah is the most important of all? Or, to put it another way, what is it that God requires of us? What is the purpose of our lives, and how can we fulfill that purpose?
Jesus answered this question by reciting the Shema (with the v’ahavta) as the greatest commandment and added the commandment from Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” as the second great commandment:
Jesus answered, "The most important (commandment) is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31)
Va'etchanan means “I pleaded,” which we may now understand as God’s plea that we:
1. Love Him as the Source of all our real and abiding good
2. Love one another as we love ourselves
The love of God and others! Think of it!
The greatest commandment is NOT found
* in the knowledge of
Torah, regardless of how
edifying or noble;
* nor in external
observances, regardless
of how scrupulously or
beautifully observed;
* nor in the practice of
Jewish minhagim
(customs), regardless of
how much they might make
us feel identified with
God’s Chosen People.
No.
==> Jesus' answer is that the greatest duty of our lives is to love God with every bit of our passion, inwardness, and strength, and to extend that same love we instinctively feel toward ourselves to others around us.
When we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit is produced within us, we will not find ourselves walking contrary to the way of the Torah (Gal. 5:22-23), and the inward motivation of the Torah will be written upon our hearts (Jer. 31:33).
As Rav Sha’ul (Paul) wrote in Romans 13:10, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.”
May it please the LORD to give us a heart that can love in the truth. Amen.
We KNOW that Jesus has truly risen from the dead—and thus so have we as God has placed us “IN CHRIST”—and we have trusted and received Jesus as Lord. THANK GOD!
Since we know that, we CAN live the love life that the Father commands, that Jesus commands—through Jesus living HIS LIFE THROUGH US!
I need to spend time before the Lord… being so full of HIS LOVE and HIS PRESENCE so there is no room for any sinful intentions to rule. THEN… I can love as I trust Jesus to love through me.
Vance
Posted by: Vance Brown | August 23, 2005 at 05:51 AM
Job 8-11:20
In the old TV series, Dragnet, one of the main characters use to say, “Just the facts “M’am,” just the facts.” But as we continue reading in Job we will find that facts and truth are not same. Job and his friends are still thinking that God is the one who has brought on this calamity. Job is trying to prove that he is righteous and His friends are trying to prove to Job that he is sinful.
One of the hardest things to do is to try to convince someone who has all ready made up their mind that you are right and or they are wrong. You can wear yourself out trying to do that.
I Corinthians 15:1-28
The very foundation of the Christian faith, is Jesus’ death, burial and Resurrection. Paul puts it like this,
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:1-2 KJV)
We are so caught up in “living” we forget what life is all about. So too with our Christian walk, in trying to be “Christians” we forget what being a Christian is all about. It is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is all about what He has done, not what we have done. When we lose sight of that then we wind up on the road of “strange” doctrine, we wind up arguing over the incidentals and forgetting the foundation, Jesus’ Death, Burial and Resurrection. I believe that message is what Paul is trying to drill into the heads, hearts and minds of all those who say they call on the Name of Christ.
Remember this letter is one of correcton.
Psalm 38:1-22
Someone once asked the question, “Do you have brains?” “How do you know, are you sure?” Well we would say because I can reason and think I know that I have brains. Then the person asking the question said, “If you have brains, when was the last time you felt them?”
Just because you feel a certain way, does not mean that what you feel, or don’t feel is truth.
The title of this Psalm says, “A psalm of David, to bring us to the LORDs remembrance.” God has said He will never leave us or forsake us, (AMP) 1Ki_8:57; Pro_9:6; Heb_13:5; but we constantly find ourselves reminding God what He has said. Truthfully, we are really not reminding God of anything, who we really are reminding is ourselves. We are speaking to ourselves, mediating on the Words God has given us to remind us of what He said, by reminding Him of what He told us to remind Him with, His Words. (Hope this makes sense)
Proverbs 21:28-29
I think the wicked put up a bold front because they are trying to convince everyone, including themselves, that they are right. If enough volume and bravado is added to his words and body language, then he can gain what they want by intimidation and brut force. He operates under the false assumption that “Might makes Right.”
Grace and peace,
Ramona
Posted by: Ramona | August 23, 2005 at 06:56 PM