~ Click on this link for today's readings ~
Deuteronomy 9:1-10:22 ~ Luke 8:4-21
Psalm 69:19-36 ~ Proverbs 12:2-3
Old Testament - Okay, I'm really getting into the New Living Translation little commentary headers before sections of our readings - as I discussed in yesterday's post, these are not from the original text so should not be considered Biblical text. Nonetheless, I personally do find them useful. And I really do like the first header in Deuteronomy chapter 9 today in the NLT - "Victory by God's Grace." You'll note that you won't actually find the word "grace" in any of the verses that follow. However, I think we do get a good overview of how grace works in this section, and verse 6 gives an example of grace - "I will say it again: The LORD your God is not giving you this good land because you are righteous, for you are not--you are a stubborn people." This verse made me chuckle a bit when I read it. Because it is true. The Israelites were a stubborn people, as we've seen in our readings. And yet, God was still showing grace by giving them the Promised Land. This verse primarily made me chuckle because I think that we, today, are still oftentimes a stubborn people. Not a lot has changed in 3,000+ years. We humans are still a stubborn people. And God is still a God of grace. Then and now. God shows us humans his grace. Thank goodness...
Later in Deuteronomy chapter 9 we read about the golden calf, and we get a great reminder of how Moses truly was a mediator between God and the Israelites - in some ways foreshadowing the mediator role that Jesus is now between God and all humankind. Verses 18 & 19 demonstrate Moses' mediator role well - "Then for forty days and nights I lay prostrate before the LORD, neither eating bread nor drinking water. I did this because you had sinned by doing what the LORD hated, thus making him very angry. How I feared for you, for the LORD was ready to destroy you. But again he listened to me." And check out this amazing image below of Moses laying prostrate before God on behalf the Israelites... can you imagine doing this for 40 days and nights for someone? Particularly for someone who just sinned greatly against God? Moses is amazing...
Wow. Deuteronomy chapter 10 verses 17 through 22 are about as inspiring of a speech as any from Moses. What a great exhortation for the Israelites to love and be obedient to God. There are surely some words of wisdom for us in these verses today as well - ""The LORD your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and takes no bribes. He gives justice to orphans and widows. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. You, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. You must fear the LORD your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone. He is your God, the one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done mighty miracles that you yourselves have seen. When your ancestors went down into Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky!"
New Testament - Today in Luke chapter 8 we read the story of the farmer scattering seed. This parable is an opportunity for us to examine the condition of our hearts. Are our hearts rocky, thorny, or are they fertile soil? The condition of our hearts will dictate how receptive we are to Jesus, the Word of God made flesh. Jesus is the farmer still scattering the see of his Word among humankind today. Is your heart receptive to the Word of God? Per verse 15, will you "hear God's message, cling to it, and steadily produce a huge harvest"?
As you are receiving God's Word in your heart, check out verse 18 in today's readings - "So be sure to pay attention to what you hear. To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But to those who are not listening, even what they think they have will be taken away from them." This is a powerful truth. When we are open to God's Word and really study it we will be given more and more insight over time. It should be a lifelong journey of learning from God's Word. I know there are many of you going through the One Year Bible for more than the 1st time - one of you has even gone through the One Year Bible 16 years in a row! And my hunch is that if we were to ask the person going through the OYB for the 16th year if she was still learning and gaining new insights from God through his Word, the answer would be a resounding yes! I do worry to a degree when someone goes through the Bible in its entirety once, and then puts it on the shelf. I think that is risky. I know that we're not all called to read the Bible in its entirety in One Year every year, but I do think it is extremely wise for us to be engaged in the Bible in some way each and every day. Otherwise, perhaps, as the end of the verse above says, "to those who are not listening, even what they think they have will be taken away from them." Let us pray that our love of learning from God's Word each and every day will not be taken away from us. Each day, in some way, let us be like this young person buried in their Bible at Bible Camp... :)
Bible.org's commentary on Luke chapter 8's reading today, titled "Parable of the Soils" is at this link.
Psalms - I love Psalm 69 verse 33 today - "For the LORD hears the cries of his needy ones; he does not despise his people who are oppressed." God hears the cries of his needy ones. Perhaps the question is then, do we hear the cries of God's needy ones? Do we hear the cries of those starving today? Sick from lack of clean water? Suffering from HIV / AIDS? Spiritually poor? Needing a friend? How is the soil of our hearts if we are not hearing these cries? Should we be hearing these cries? And if we do hear them, what then should we do? Remember Jesus' words in Matthew chapter 25 verses 34-36: "‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’"
Proverbs - Proverbs chapter 12 verse 3 is a bit convicting for me personally - "Wickedness never brings stability; only the godly have deep roots." I oftentimes in my life feel a bit unstable. I jump from church to church. Job to job. Interest to interest. The roots don't seem so deep sometimes. I know the roots are deep with Jesus - and that's the one area that really matters - but I do worry about how my roots don't seem so deep in other areas of my life. I appreciate this Proverb. I have something to learn here... How about you? How are your roots? Are they deep? Are they stable? Primarily, how are your roots with Jesus today? Are your spiritual roots in Jesus growing each and every day?
What verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings? Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!
Grace,
Mike
Deuteronomy 9:1-10:22
Mike—I’m going to throw something in the mix, the people who rebelled in the desert did not get in. They may have not been destroyed “immediately” when they sinned and rebelled, but they never got into the Promise Land. Those that were 20 years old and younger when they set up made it, but not their parents. All died off before, including Moses and Aaron, except Joshua and Caleb.
The grace extended to the people who made it in was the grace that the parents’ sins, which affected them—they had to wander for 40 years, did not kill them too. The grace extended was the ownership of the land that was about to be transferred to them without payment, the grace was a true reversal of fortune.
One of the things I noticed this time during the readings that after they sinned and suffered the consequences through plagues, being swallowed up in the earth, dying by snakebites before Moses made the snake to be looked upon, they admitted their sin because they were caught red-handed, however they never repented. That is the danger for me, for us, admitting we have sinned but not following through all the way. Admitting our sin because we have come face to face with the consequences and have been exposed in the media or to the community, but not really sorrowful enough to change or actions, which is really what repentance is. It is not just admitting we were/are wrong.
Sin has its own rewards and the writer of Proverbs recognized that.
His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. (Proverbs 5:22 KJVR)
Let us strive not only to recognize where we have gone wrong but to produce a change in our lifestyles to go in different directions.
A poem by Portia Nelson (in There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk, 1993):
Autobiography in Five Short Chapters*
By: Portia Nelson
1. I walk, down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost... I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
2. I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
3. I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in; its a habit.
My eyes are open
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
4. I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
5. I walk down another street.
Nelson, Portia, There's a Hole in My Sidewalk
Beyond Words Publishing, Inc., 1993
Hillsboro, Oregon 97124
Grace and peace,
Ramona
Posted by: Ramona | March 28, 2006 at 04:26 AM
Regarding reading through the Bible in a year we need to keep reminding ourselves that this is an excellent spiritual practice, but as I was taught reading the Bible is one method of Bible input. One can saturate him/her self with scripture memory,( Ps 119:9,11 "hiding the word in our hearts), with scripture meditation "meditating on the word day and night" (Ps 1), Bible study (acts 17:11--examining the scriptures daily and 2 Tim 2:15 "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth), and there is also 'hearing the word' as in Rom 10:17 "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.') I think the key to all scripture is MEDITATION on the word. Whatever format we choose to use to feed on God's Word, we must make sure we 'chew the cud' as someone once defined meditation. And therein is the challenge with OYB. There is a lot of 'cud' to chew and digest. In time each one discovers how they best connect with the Lord through the means of grace called the Word, but it does take time to get to know what really works in a particular season of one's life.
For example, in yesterday's reading I was out prayer walking and I prayed through Psalm 69. The thoughts in that chapter echoed my own heart cry. On another day, a thought from Deuteronomy consumes my reflection and praying.
Posted by: Luciano Del Monte | March 28, 2006 at 05:32 AM
Deuteronomy 9 (NKJV)
5
It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
6
Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.
~~~
The Abrahamic covenant -- the covenant that God's people have with God because of Abraham's faith and obedience -- is A COVENANT OF GRACE.
Understanding blood, cut covenant is key to this point.
Genesis 15 (NKJV)
4
And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”
5
Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
6
And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
7
Then He said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”
8
And he said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”
9
So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10
Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.
11
And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12
Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.
13
THEN HE SAID TO ABRAM: “KNOW CERTAINLY
that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.
14
And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15
Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.
16
But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THE SUN WENT DOWN AND IT WAS DARK, THAT BEHOLD, THERE APPEARED A SMOKING OVEN AND A BURNING TORCH THAT PASSED BETWEEN THOSE PIECES.
18
ON THE SAME DAY THE LORD MADE A COVENANT WITH ABRAM, SAYING:
“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— 19
the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21
the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
~~~
From the website hebrew4christians.com, I found this very helpful information about "cut a covenant":
"The Hebrew word for covenant is b'rit, meaning a covenant, pact, or treaty. It is one of the most frequently used words in Hebrew Scriptures (appearing some 270 times) and is one of the Scripture's most important concepts."
"Ancient covenants were often made by animal sacrifice. To 'cut a covenant' demonstrated the earnestness of the parties involved in the agreement. YHVH (Yahweh) chose to cut a covenant with Abram in this manner (Genesis 15:7-11, 17-18). Thus, the word B'rit implies the shedding of blood in the process of ratifying a covenant."
Normally, both parties would cut the animals in half and both parties would walk in between. By doing this, they were in effect say, "May what happened to these animals happen to me if I do not keep this agreement."
A COVENANT IS A VERY SERIOUS AND BINDING thing.
Notice how God views covenant with His people in Jeremiah 34 (Amplified):
18
And the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not kept the terms of the covenant or solemn pledge which they had made before Me,
==> I WILL MAKE THEM [LIKE] THE [SACRIFICIAL] CALF WHICH THEY CUT IN TWO AND THEN PASSED BETWEEN ITS SEPARATED PARTS [SOLEMNIZING THEIR PLEDGE TO ME]--I WILL MAKE THOSE MEN THE CALF!
Notice in Genesis 15:17 and 18 in particular. Notice that ONLY ONE PARTY passed between the cut animals. IT WAS NOT ABRAHAM, but it was theophany of God.
According to the Miriam Webster online dictionary, a theophany is defined as: "a visible manifestation of a deity."
GOD HIMSELF WAS PASSING THROUGH THE ANIMALS CUT IN TWO. In effect, He was saying, "MAY WHAT HAPPENED TO THESE ANIMALS HAPPEN TO ME IF I DO NOT KEEP MY WORD!"
Do you get it! THIS IS GRACE, and the covenant with Abraham was ROOTED IN GRACE.
Later, the covenant in Deuteronomy was added to show the importance of obedience and the SERIOUS consequences of disobedience. (The wages of sin is death)
YET, THE COVENANT IN DEUTERONOMY is ROOTED IN, AND BASED UPON, the covenant of GRACE given to Abraham.
SINCE GOD'S WORD NEVER FAILS BECAUSE GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS COVENANT, we can have absolute confidence in His Word!
~~~
Now, connect this with the covenant of circumcision.
THIS, TOO, WAS A BLOOD, CUT COVENANT. They were, in effect, saying, "May the cutting in two in circumcision happen to me if I do not surrender to God's covenant and do God's will."
Add to this the cut blood covenant in the NT. JESUS HIMSELF -- GOD IN THE FLESH -- cut a blood covenant IN OUR PLACE so we would not have to die.
ALSO, He cut covenant WITH US so that our old man died with Him on the cross.
Colossians 1 (NKJV)
21
And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22
in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—
23
if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
~~~
Colossians 2 (Amplified)
11
In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but in a [spiritual] circumcision [performed by] Christ by stripping off the body of the flesh (the whole corrupt, carnal nature with its passions and lusts).
12
[Thus [g]you were circumcised when] you were buried with Him in [your] baptism, in which you were also raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God [as displayed] when He raised Him up from the dead.
13
And you who were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (your sensuality, your sinful carnal nature), [God] brought to life together with [Christ], having [freely] forgiven us all our transgressions,
MAY WE TAKE OUR PLACE IN HIS CRUCIFIXION, AND IN THE BLOOD COVENANT that seals us in Christ.
May we take our place in THE NEW CREATION that God made us IN CHRIST when Jesus as Lord rose from the dead!
Vance
Posted by: Vance Brown | March 28, 2006 at 07:29 AM
Deut 10:15-16
"Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer." NIV
Since we had verses from John the Baptist back in Luke, I wanted to mention this passage as regarding "circumcising" the heart. John preached repentance and turning back to God. Here in Deut. is the first mention of changing the heart - how? - by circumcising.
Up to now circumcision has been the act done on males eight days after their birth.
Gen 17:10-11
"This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you." NIV
The cutting away of flesh is a sign of the covenant with God for the Jewish nation.
"Circumcision of infant sons did not save them but evidenced the faith of the father and mother in the God of Abraham. As that young child grew up, his circumcision was a sign to him that he was different from other boys—he belonged to God."
http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=96
This cutting of the flesh is perhaps symbolic of removing the flesh - or things of the world - so that you are in a spiritual state (covenant) with God. Some rabbis see it that way.
If so, then circumcising the heart would be symbolic of cutting away the flesh part (of the world) of the heart and leaving the spiritual core. The part that does recognize God and would be able to worship him in truth.
This way the people will not be stubborn any longer, and go chasing after idols, women, or things of the world at the first (or perhaps fifth :) opportunity.
Also and this may be a stretch - it is not easy to turn when you are stiff-necked, but with a circumcised heart and no longer being stiff-necked - it is easier to turn back to God.
[NOTE: Last paragraph is purely conjecture on my part}
Posted by: John | March 28, 2006 at 04:23 PM