Day 84 Deuteronomy 4:1-49; Luke 6:39‐7:10; Psalm 68:1‐18; Proverbs 11:28 The Blind Leading The Blind Jesus confront us with an issue that scares many of us who are seriously religious – that of being hypocritical and leading others astray. Hypocrites intentionally don’t “walk their talk,” or, keeping with the illustration from Jesus’ parable, they advertise…
Day 83 Deuteronomy 2:1-3:29; Luke 6:12-38; Psalm 67:1-7; Proverbs 11:27 God Chose You Everything is increasingly a la carte. Corporations are continually gathering information on us and developing complex marketing strategies to sell us what we want, even before we realize that we will want it. We like being in charge of making all those…
Day 82 Numbers 36:1‐13; Deuteronomy 1:1‐46; Luke 5:29‐6:11; Psalm 66:1‐20; Proverbs 11:24‐26 Need a Physician? Sometimes we need a physician even when we don’t know it or want to see one… Most of the time, we only see a physician when we feel sick. When Jesus spoke to the crowd which included Pharisees and scribes,…
Day 81 Numbers 33:40‐35:34; Luke 5:12‐28; Psalm 65:1‐13; Proverbs 11:23 Healing From Jesus In the reading from Luke 5, we see that Jesus heals many people as the power of the Lord was present for Him to heal. There are two things that come to mind as I studied these verses. First, how wonderful it…
Day 80 Numbers 32:1‐33:39; Luke 4:31‐5:11; Psalm 64:1‐10; Proverbs 11:22 The Power of Your Words “Let there be light,” and there was light. Do words have power? Do your words have power? Consider the Psalm. In the first verse, the psalmist gives voice to his complaint; he prays telling God his struggles. Is his prayer—is…
Day 79 Numbers 30:1-31:54; Luke 4:1-30; Psalm 63:1-11; Proverbs 11:20-21 Thirsting for Righteousness The reading in the book of Numbers is a reminder of the burden of the Law and the uncertain nature of life in the time of Moses and Aaron. In the later history of Israel, the lot of women had improved somewhat,…
Day 78 Numbers 28:16‐29:40; Luke 3:23‐38; Psalm 62:1‐12; Proverbs 11:18‐19 Time for God In today’s reading from Numbers, we are called to action by and for God. The phrase “Do no regular work,” appears no less than seven times in these two chapters as a way to remind us of the time God requires of…
Day 77 Numbers 26:52‐28:15; Luke 3:1‐22; Psalm 61:1‐8; Proverbs 11:16‐17 Ain’t No Rock Gonna Cry in My Place In the Gospel of Luke, we see John the Baptist challenging the people who approach him for baptism. John, whose primary responsibility was to preach repentance and the coming of the Messiah, pulls no punches as he…
Day 76 Numbers 26:1‐51; Luke 2:36‐52; Psalm 60:1‐12; Proverbs 11:15 God Is Our Inheritance There are several books in the early part of the Bible where it is easy to get bogged down. One of those places is our Numbers reading for today, as it is primarily a list of the tribes of Israel for…
Day 75 Numbers 24:1‐25:18; Luke 2:1‐35; Psalm 59:1‐17; Proverbs 11:14 Make Room In his illuminating book, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Dr. Kenneth Bailey places the events and stories of the gospels within the cultural context of Palestine. We have interpreted the events in Luke to match our nativity sets. But Dr. Bailey insists that…
Day 74 Numbers 22:21‐23:30; Luke 1:57‐80; Psalm 58:1‐11; Proverbs 11:12‐13 An Ordinary Birth? Isn’t it awesome how God intervenes on Planet Earth through predictable and typical events? A child is born to Elizabeth and Zechariah, and their neighbors and family rejoice. Eight days later, the baby boy is circumcised. All expect his parents to name…
Day 73 Numbers 21:1‐22:20; Luke 1:26‐56; Psalm 57:1‐11; Proverbs 11:9‐11 The Sheep Have Teeth “I am in the midst of lions; I am forced to dwell among man-eating beasts, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.” – Psalm 57:4 Before he was the leader of Israel, David penned a lot of…
