March 19

March 19
One Year Bible Readings:
Numbers 28:16-29:40
Luke 3:23-38
Psalm 62:1-12
Proverbs 11:18-19
Supplemental Reading for The One Year Bible.
The following are excerpts from Mike’s One Year Bible Blog.

Numbers:
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."
Q: How do you see transfers of power in your church take place today? Are they done well and orderly? How can you serve to help in times of transition in your church? Will be a helper?

Luke:
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.
Q: How does today’s genealogy in Luke stand out to you? Do you enjoy reading genealogies in the Bible? Do you trace any of your own family genealogies or family trees? Why do you think genealogies are important to people? Why are they important to God?

Psalm:
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.""
Q: 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."  
Q: 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?
 
Copyright © 2004-2012 One Year Bible Blog