March 28

March 28
One Year Bible Readings:
Deuteronomy 9:1-10:22
Luke 8:4-21
Psalm 69:19-36
Proverbs 12:2-3
Supplemental Reading for The One Year Bible.
The following are excerpts from Mike’s One Year Bible Blog.

Deuteronomy:
Okay, I'm really appreciating 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 manuscripts 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!
Q: Are you righteous? Are you stubborn? How are you made righteous in Christ?

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...
Q: Can you imagine doing this for 40 days and nights for someone? Particularly for someone who just sinned greatly against God? Do you pray with intercession for others?

Luke:

As you are receiving God's Word in your heart, check out Luke chapter 8 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.
Q: Are you enjoying this process of reading the Word daily this year? Are you learning and growing? Do you think you’ll read the Word daily next year and future years?

Psalm:

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.
Q: 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?

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...
Q: 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? Do you want your roots to grow? Also, what verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?

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