January 26th One Year Bible Readings

Exodus 2:11-3:22 ~ Matthew 17:10-27 ~ Psalm 22:1-18 ~ Proverbs 5:7-14
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Old Testament - Well, I debated posting up this water color of Moses killing the Egyptian from chapter 2 today, but the image probably captures things accurately enough.  We cannot hide from some of the things in the Bible that are not squeaky clean & perfect.  The Bible is not always squeaky clean & perfect in terms of the behaviors of people in the Bible.  Life is not always squeaky clean & perfect.  However God will ultimately make us squeaky clean & perfect - forever.  And in this life God can even redeem Moses after this act:

Please do read up more on this act of Moses' in chapter 2 at bible.org at this link.  At this link you'll see this line: "We dare not seek to defend Moses in the murder of the Egyptian, no matter how cruel he may have been. Moses’ act was in defiance of the authority of Egypt, and it was premeditated murder (“he looked this way and that,” v. 12). While Moses’ method of dealing with this problem was wrong, we can see that his motivation was commendable. Moses sought to defend the oppressed. When he sought to rebuke his Hebrew brother for wrongly mistreating another Hebrew (v. 13), Moses revealed, once again, the disposition of a deliverer."  Moses was 40 years old when he killed the Egyptian.  Moses then escapes to Midian - an area on the eastern side of the Red Sea that was very dry and desolate.  Moses ends up living in Midian for 40 years:

In Chapter 3 today God speaks to Moses through the burning bush!  What I love about this is in verse 4: "When the LORD saw that he had caught Moses' attention..." It seems like Moses probably could have seen this burning bush - and kept going.  He could have somehow walked on by - maybe because he had to get the flocks back home or he was late for dinner or who knows what.  He could have missed the adventure and the calling of his life.  But he doesn't.  He stops.  He investigates.  He has a conversation with God.  God caught his attention.  And I wonder in our lives today, is God trying to catch our attention?  Is God trying to tell us something important?  And are we just passing God by - or will we stop and investigate and have a conversation with God?

Exodus 3:14 is a biggee in today's readings as Moses asks God who he should tell the Hebrews who sent him: "God replied, "I AM WHO I AM. Just tell them, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" I AM WHO I AM  translates into Yahweh in Hebrew.  I read a great little commentary that said when God speaks of himself, he says "I AM".  When we speak of God we should say "He is."  I like that.  He is.  I actually heard a sermon recently about the unchanging nature of God.  He is omniscient.  Omni-present.  Eternal.  He is wisdom.  He cannot learn anything, because He knows everything.  He is.  The Hebrew letters yud, hey, vav, hey (below) -- often depicted in English as YHWH or Yahweh -- spell the ineffable name of God:

Another powerful thing to note is that Jesus uses this same phrase of I AM and nearly gets stoned to death for sharing this truth in the Gospel of John chapter 8 verses 58 & 59: "“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds."  Do you believe that Jesus is? So - when God says I AM! - what is our response?  He is!  :)  I like that.   He is.  A great commentary on the Burning Bush & I AM in Exodus chapter 3 is at bible.org at this link.

New Testament - Today in Matthew chapter 17 verse 20 stood out to me: ""You didn't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, `Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.""  As I think about this verse, I wonder about my own faith.  How much faith do I really have?  Do I have enough faith in Jesus?  And in all of God's promises?  Or - am I hedging my bets?  Do I also place a lot of faith in my own power?  My own skills?  My own "smarts"?   Do I truly have complete faith in Jesus and Jesus alone?  If so, and if it was Jesus' will, do I believe that I could move mountains?  Could you?   I don't think that this idea of not having enough faith means that I need to "try harder" in any way.  I think it means I simply need to depend more - rest more - relax more - give more - to Jesus.  Trust in Jesus.  Trust that his grace is enough...  As a great Chris Tomlin song goes - "All of you is more than Enough, for all of me."  Is Jesus more than enough for you?

Verses 25 & 26 are awesome as Peter is about to ask Jesus about the Temple Tax: "But before he had a chance to speak, Jesus asked him, "What do you think, Peter? Do kings tax their own people or the foreigners they have conquered?" "They tax the foreigners," Peter replied. "Well, then," Jesus said, "the citizens are free!""  Here we see that Jesus is recognizing himself as the King - and his disciples are his citizens who should not have to pay the tax.  But - as to not offend those who did not realize that Jesus was the King, Jesus tells Peter where to find a coin, in the fish's mouth, to pay the tax. 

Psalms - Psalm 22 is an amazing Psalm!  This Psalm is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament.  Re-read this Psalm again and see if you see parallels to Jesus' crucifixion?  There are a lot in this Psalm.   I'll list a few - Psalm 22:1a was quoted by Jesus on the cross - "My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?"  As we see in Matthew 27:46 - "About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”–which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

Psalm 22 Verse 8: ""Is this the one who relies on the LORD? Then let the LORD save him! If the LORD loves him so much, let the LORD rescue him!"" We see in similar fashion in Matthew 27:42-43: "“He saved others,” they said, “but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”

Psalm 22 verses 16 & 17 make me want to cry... "They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count every bone in my body." The piercing of the hands and feet of Jesus are apparent with how the crucifixion took place.  And these Psalm 22 verses are similar to John 19:33-37: "But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”"

And Psalm 22 verse 18: "They divide my clothes among themselves and throw dice for my garments." Compare to John 19:23-24 - "When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. “Let's not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let's decide by lot who will get it.”"

Proverbs - Proverbs chapter 5 verses 12-14 are some sad verses to imagine saying in our lives: ""How I hated discipline! If only I had not demanded my own way! Oh, why didn't I listen to my teachers? Why didn't I pay attention to those who gave me instruction? I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and now I must face public disgrace.""  Do you love or hate discipline?  Do you demand your own way?  Are you listening to your teachers today?  Who are your teachers today?  Who is disciplining you?  For Whom will you not demand your own way?

Worship God:  Based on Psalm 22's look at what Jesus endured for us, it seems appropriate to share Darlene Zschech & Hillsong United singing "Here I am to Worship" which features the powerful line "I'll never know how much it cost, to see my sin upon that cross:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzYWKyACfqY

Do you know how much your sin cost?  Click here for the saving Cross!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today: "God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Exodus 3:14 NIV

Prayer Point: Pray that you would know God truly as the great I AM. Pray that God would be your personal I AM each and every day. Pray that our world would come to know God and Jesus as the only one and true I AM.

Comments from You and Questions of the Day:  I realize that reading Psalm 22 and seeing some of the images I posted up can evoke a lot of emotions.  I am wondering, how often do you meditate upon Jesus' passion and death?  Do you do this just around Good Friday / Resurrection Sunday each year?  Or more often?  How do you meditate upon the Lord's passion and death?  Are passion plays, movies, or books helpful for you to do this?  Or are their other things you read or watch or do?  Do you think we should or should not meditate upon Jesus' passion and death more often than once a year?  Why or why not?  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

p.s. Download our monthly Small Group study notes for our One Year Bible readings at this link.

p.p.s. Download a schedule of our One Year Bible readings for the year in PDF format at this link.

Comments

[Ramona]

Exodus 2:11-3:22

I will probably come back to Mike question/thought of the day this evening, but know I need to address something I’ve just seen in the text, two things, that I’ve never considered before.

Moses, knowing he was adopted, seeing the life he had led as an adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and seeing the life of his biological people, chose to identify with slaves although he had not completely thrown off the comforts of being raised in the household of Pharaoh. Got used his act of murder to begin the removal of his identification to the palace and his privilege, He kicked him out of the “boat.” Moses also must have understood or knew his purpose as Israel’s deliver; however, he didn’t have a clue on how that was to be achieved.

I think many of us have some inkling, some vision, of what our purpose is; however, because we don’t know how that is to be fulfilled, we go off and do our own thing and mess up royally. We then don’t set goals (see Jan. 24th) because we are afraid to mess up again. Based on Moses’ story we see that God can have us go at least forty years to get the Egypt out of us although we are out of Egypt.

I also now think that Moses’ reluctance to go back to Egypt and lead his people out was not based on some self-perceived speech impediment, but based on his knowledge that he was a murderer. Even after forty years, people have long memories and I’m sure if someone in the palace committed murder, even if the people around at the time die off, the records would clearly record that even. After all inquiring minds want to know. People love to see the might fall. Hmmm!

Grace and peace,
Ramona

[Bob Bieberdorf]

I have been haunted for years by the verse in Psalm 22 1a. It draws me into that place where I stand and look at the gap that is impossible to breech. I can see the other side and understand the hopelessness of trying to get there. I am standing in a world of misery, suffering and pain and hear this verse. Then I see this brilliant vision of a man on a white horse riding toward the cliff on the other side and the horse easily jumps the ravine and I jump on the back of the horse and am taken back over the chasm to ride with him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn6Cnbravmw

[Jth]

I often think about the suffering of Christ and that my struggles are so small and insignificant in comparison. I have had many people stand against me, but Jesus had his own creation stand against him, and he was willing to pay the price of their sin with his crucifixion. The love and willingness to do this for our salvation is a true act of love beyond explanation. I cannot say I would die for the difficult people I work with and I am not sure anybody would.

[Dee Dee]

Its nice,even though I am several days behind on reading the one year, but I love it to finish one area and lead to another..leaving, finishing Genesis and starting Exodus is nice, refreshing even..however, every area of the bible no matter when or what time or even if we don't stay on same page so to speak with another believer, each word is read and meditated on at the appropriate time and comes to play at the right appointed time for healing and restoration. So, God is good and His plan is perfect. So Moses flees to Midian today..hmmm my first thought was that old adage "blood is thicker than water" here with Moses rendering himself of old familiarity and taking the place of being Israel's redeemer so to speak. Maybe he didn't know his purpose before now..maybe he realized he had compassion in his heart for the slaves and couldn't understand..maybe it was the few years he was nursed on his mothers breast and taught the word of God that made it all clear at this moment. Whatever the situation or reason..God is about to appoint him higher than he ever dreamed. Now, don't get me wrong at saying..death and murder is wrong..its wrong to kill someone and shed innocent blood at any cost. But he fleed and left the palace and it is somewhat interesting..the woman that he would deem to marry was at a watering well..does that story sound familiar (Abrahams servant..and seeking a wife for Isaac)..anyways he is with this family..away from the palace, away from the slaves, away from any familiarity and duties in Egypt..and then he has a transformation..up close and personal with the Lord..through a burning bush!

back to the thought for the day..do I or should we celebrate the Passion and death, burial and resurrecton of the cross once a year or more often, and if we do, when or what brings up thoughts and remembrance of it? different days and moments trigger the reflection of the Passion, and when I hear a certain song, like "above all" Michael W Smiths song, I realize full throttle what it means, or when the passion movie comes on or story of Jesus, or various moments of despair come my way, I can let my mind wonder back to that day in my mind where I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Christ died for me and for the world, and it brings comfort in place of misery, laughter through tears, happiness through sadness..

Be blessed!