In my devotional time today as I read through Genesis 12-15 I picked-up on an idea I had never seen before,

“Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” 14 It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.” (12:10-16)

Of course to our modern sensibilities this story is HIGHLY offensive. No decent man would ever put his wife in this situation. No chivalrous man would ever risk his wife’s reputation for his own life. No loving husband would willingly share his wife with another man. But can we maybe concede that this story wasn’t so offensive in Abraham’s day? Can we concede that this story wouldn’t have the shock factor in the day that Moses wrote it as it does now? Can we concede this isn’t even the most shocking story in regards to a “righteous” man and his treatment of women in the Bible? (Just wait ‘till we get to Genesis 19:4-8).

With all that those concessions verse 17 struck me like it has not before…

“But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.”

I read this text not as God was punishing Pharaoh because of the potential or due to the sin he was committing with Sarai, in other words not as a consequence focused primarily on pharaoh. I read it this time as, “But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues (and then I substituted another meaning for the Hebrew word used for because) “care” of Sarai, Abram’s wife.”

In other words I saw this text suddenly condemning not just the sin but the overall treatment and view of women in that culture. Could it be that God was defending Sarai and her rights because in that culture at that time, no one else would, not even her husband?!? Can you see that? Am I off base?

So that is the largest point that struck me in my study today.

There are several other wonderful lessons, the humility of Abraham in his dealings with lot (13:9); his lack of greed in order to protect the reputation of God, “you will say I made Abram rich.” (14:23); and of course Abram’s righteousness by faith displayed in his trust in God’s promise (15:6).

Oh one other thing I just remembered as I read through my notes again written in the margins in regards to Abraham’s humility with Lot. He gave Lot the choice of the land, his desire was peace and he would trust God to take care of him with whatever land he ended-up in, and here was my thought, I wish conferences, churches would have the same attitude. Who cares who is in which territory, there are plenty of people to witness to and we shouldn’t be so territorial, we should trust God to provide the members and resources for all of us, just as Abram trusted God to bless both he and Lot! Of course one could argue well the whole point they separated was to create boundaries and avoid the fight. So maybe in a town of 500 we need to decide on one church but in a county of 1 million we should probably trust there is room enough for all of us to intermingle.

Tomorrow’s Reading: Joshua 16-20

Just in case you are wondering, the snow has begun!

In today’s posting I want to focus solely on the first 6 verses of chapter 7.

“The law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he (she) lives.” (7:1)

You and I are obligated to keep the law perfectly until we die. The law is a contract with humanity only nullified through the power of death. There is no other way out. Now there are luckily two ways to die, there is the death that all humanity will experience if Jesus does not come in our lifetime, the physical death at this point we are no longer obligated to keep the law because we can’t…we’re dead. Now if you live your entire life in this type of relationship to the law you will die a guilt ridden, miserable, desperate person. Luckily though there is another death that gives us a way out of the demands of the law. The death of self…many Christians call it “being born again.” In order to be “born again” you have to “die to self” if you’ve never been in a church this is all very churchy language. The basic point is this, inside of all humanity is sin, the root of sin is selfishness or self love, or self absorption. The only way to get rid of self is to allow someone else to be in control, for the Christian this someone else is God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit; when we give control of our lives to Jesus then this is what Christian are referring to when they say “I must die to self.” This means when I want to lust I remember that Jesus tells me to lust in my heart is to commit adultery and therefore rather than doing what I want I ask Jesus to give me the power not to lust. When I want to get revenge against someone, I remember that the inspired scriptures said, “do not seek revenge” and therefore rather than doing what I want I ask Jesus to give me the strength to not seek revenge. Really we could use any example. I’m dying to self because rather than doing what “I want” or what my sinful nature wants (see 7:15-24) I allow Jesus to do what He wants in me. Well the law condemns all those things “I want to naturally do” and so I am constantly failing at keeping the law perfectly. But when I surrender to Jesus, I through His power keep the law. Not because I have to but because I want to.

Which is where verses 2 & 3 come in of chapter 7—

“For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. 3 So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.”

Here is how I read this Paul is telling us before Jesus we are married to the law and being married to the law is like being married to a spouse that no matter how hard we try we find we are never quite good enough! We aren’t clean enough, pretty enough, loving enough. Eventually we are going through the motion of marriage not out of a “right” spirit but because that is simply what we must do. But then there is a death and we meet someone else and we marry this someone else and we discover that where we come up short which seems to be everywhere this spouse “helps us out” they don’t condemn (Romans 8:1) because we are ONE with them. We now strive to keep the law not out of obligation to try and be good enough, but because we are in love. (7:5, 6)

But maybe the greatest verse of all in these first 6 is verse 4,

“Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.”

This verse tells me that I deserve that I was made to have the “great” marriage with Jesus! It’s not something I earn, it is something I was made for!

I am glad to be married to Jesus. I want to be a law keeper. I want to obey. I want to be perfect. Not unto salvation but because of my salvation, my new life, my new love, my perfect love in Him!

Tomorrow’s Reading: Genesis 12-15

With a huge snow storm bearing down on today and tomorrow might be the last two posts you read on here for a few days…I’ll still be writing, but one of the latest maps I saw on www.weather.com showed the areas that were LIKELY to lose power. Guess what? My house is right in the heart of that area, so if the power goes out and I’m stuck in my house I won’t have a way of posting my writings. If that happens you’ll have several to read in one day sometime next week. Please pray for our area, people seem to panic with the prediction of snow…yesterday we got an inch and the reports were about how snarled traffic was. Having lived in Ohio, Nebraska, and Michigan I’m slightly amused by this, but I know it is truly stressful for folk and so please pray that everyone remains safe and calm.

Now to Matthew 5-7…WOW! I can read these chapters a thousand times and they are ALWAYS a blessing. These chapters of course are Jesus’ most famous discourse while He walked this earth, the Sermon on the Mount. I could spend a whole week easily just blogging through these chapters, but for my sake and yours I am going to limit myself to four points to share with you about what struck me in my reading today.

1. 5:13-16 is about being witnesses and then without breaking stride Jesus moves straight into upholding the law of God. The thought occurred to me, while we don’t keep the law for the salvation of ourselves, do we keep the law in part to encourage the salvation of others. Is law keeping a way of salting the earth? Is law keeping a way of being a light to the world? Of course the answer is “Yes” but it is so very clear in these verses that to be a true witness of Jesus we need to keep and affirm His commandments, and if we “annul one of the least of these commandments” and by thus doing we are “teaching others to do the same” we are not true salt or light for Jesus.
2. One of the most neglected Christian practices, seeking forgiveness when you’ve done nothing wrong (5:23, 24). Jesus instructs Christians, “if your brother (another believer) has something against you…” Jesus doesn’t say, “If you’ve done something” or “If you injured someone” The only qualification is that they have something against me. We have forgotten how to seek forgiveness even when we’ve done nothing wrong. Jesus in this instruction shows me that the “relationship” between me and my fellow man trumps being right. The relationship is everything.
3. I used to hold grudges. I used to have jealousy in my heart. I used to have enemies, Christina used to say all the time, “be nice” or she’d ask, “Why don’t you like that person?” and I’d say, “I just don’t.” I am not claiming any kind of perfection. I still get mad and people still irritate me, but Jesus through the idea and concept of 5:45-47 has helped me to let slights and grudges, jealousies and malice go with greater ease than when I was young. “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” Jesus then ends this thought with the following statement in verse 48, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” What is perfection? Loving and treating those well that don’t treat you well. When it dawned on me that I couldn’t be a Christian and have so many enemies because those very enemies I was trying to curse by my attitude towards them Jesus is continually blessing just like He’s blessing me. In other words if I’m holding a grudge, having an attitude against, saying things about I am actually working against the very blessings of God. I don’t ever want to be working against God. So I stopped holding grudges, being jealous, having malice towards another and guess what? Not only do I treat people better, I’m actually much happier in my heart! It takes a lot out of us to work against the blessings of God. So be perfect love the people you don’t currently love!
4. 7:24-27 Two groups of people, only two—those who hear the words of Jesus and act (respond by doing what the words tell us to do & those who hear the words of Jesus and do not act. Folk we are reading the Bible through this entire year, but we’re still in the foolish/lost group if the reading and studying and learning does not lead us to ACT in response for Jesus!

Four points from today’s reading, we could have had 40 points! What were some of yours?

Tomorrow’s Reading: Romans 7-8

Greetings from the London Heathrow Airport…

Today’s reading is Isaiah 12-17

Right in the midst of this reading is one of the most illuminating passages on the character of Satan and what is his ultimate end.

“They will all respond and say to you,
‘Even you have been made weak as we,
You have become like us.
11 ‘Your pomp and the music of your harps
Have been brought down to Sheol;
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you
And worms are your covering.’
12 “How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the earth,
You who have weakened the nations!
13 “But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,
To the recesses of the pit.                                                                                                                                                      16 “Those who see you will gaze at you,
They will ponder over you, saying,
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,” –Isaiah 14:10-16

Verses 10-12 seem to be parallel to verses 15 & 16.

These five verses speak of a humiliating result which is in great contrast to the desire and focus of satan’s heart which are seen in verses 13-14.

Notice in just those 2 verses (13 & 14) all the times the pro-noun “I” is read…

Five times in the NASB! Five times!

Notice too where all sin originates…we can be tempted by outward issues, but ultimately sin will result when something happens in our heart, just as it happened in satan’s heart, “You have said in your heart…” (14:13)

Here is the ultimate reality of sin folk. It starts in our heart w/ “I will…” and always ends with “you will be thrust down.”

Sin has NO UP value! None!

See you back in the States!

Tomorrow’s Reading: Matthew 5-7

I share one point with you from today’s reading that just moved my heart. Job has a wrong conception about what is taking place in his life,

“For the arrows of the Almighty are within me…the terrors of God are arrayed against me.” (6:4a/c)

He sees this all as an attack from God.

Which then is what makes Job’s faith even more amazing,

“But it is still my consolation, and I rejoice in unsparing pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.” (6:10)

In spite of all his suffering and pain he remains steadfast and true.

One other thing I like even though Job sees this as an attack of God against him, he won’t accept that it is due to some evil in his life and he won’t allow his friends to say such either,

“Now please look at me, and see if I lie to your face. Desist now, let there be no injustice; (the injustice is the way his friends are accusing him) Even desist, my righteousness is yet in it.” (6:29)

A quick post tonight. We’ll see you tomorrow…I’m going to bed…can’t wait to get home tomorrow! It has been a blessing to learn some things here in Croatia and to be a part of the discussion regarding one of the most important justice issues of our time, caring for the Syrian Refugees but to hug and kiss my wife and kids will be a sweet blessing!

Tomorrow’s Reading: Isaiah 12-17

Since this endeavor to blog the through entire Bible in 2016 is in a part a personal journal then I should be honest. Should I not? And if I am being honest I will tell you there are days I read and there is not a great deal that resonates within me. There is always some nugget, but not always the big “aha” moments. I have to be honest this mornings reading through Psalm 6-8 was one of those days. In fact I’ll share another little insight into me, while some peoples favorite portion of scripture are the Psalms, for me they are not typically what stirs my soul. Maybe because I am not a musician? Maybe because I learn best with story? I am not sure why. I could try to force something, I know how to do that, I am after all a preacher and unfortunately we are able to do that, but I want this blog to be an honest reflection of my daily devotion. So with honesty I only have two things that I wrote in my Bible with today’s reading, and here they are…

“Return, O Lord, rescue my soul; Save me because of Your lovingkindness.” -Psalm 6:4

I wrote in my margin,

“Always remember! Not my merit, but the lovingkindness of God that saves me.”

I am like all the rest of Christianity I struggle with trying to work my way into God’s good graces and because of this I believe God always helps me to see the reminders in scripture that point out that flawed thinking.

The second item I wrote in the margins was next to the Psalm 8 which begins with,

“O Lord, Our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth.” -Psalm 8:1 (anyone else start singing the Sandi Patty Song?)

And when I read the 8th Psalm I thought of the Ten Days of Prayer that our church just completed. Every night we would start with praise to God and while we tried…I wrote in my margin,

“I wish we (Adventists/North America/Me personally) knew how to praise God in this way.”

Those are my thoughts this morning. Maybe some of you resonate more with the Psalms, I would LOVE to hear from y’all!

Tomorrow’s Reading: Job 5 & 6