Day 334 Bible Reading

1 John 1: 5-6

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

1 John 2: 9-11

“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

These two passages from 1 John 1 and 2 caught my eye today. “God is light” and with him, we live in the light. Living in the “light” means for me that I do not get caught up in the “dark” emotions and thoughts of depression, envy, anger, paranoia, etc. But sometimes I do walk in darkness, and I feel that it cannot be helped because this is life and “stuff” happens.

But then I feel the whisper of the Holy Spirit in my ear saying “Look up, there is a light to guide your way. Jesus is there to light your way out of the darkness.” The blinders are then dropped from my eyes, and the dark tunnel that I dove into head first doesn’t seem so dark. I slowly climb my way out of the darkness, I see solutions I wouldn’t have seen in the darkness, a different way of looking at things, and gratitude appears like steps that I can climb out of the darkness and into the light. Having faith is like having an emergency light that you can turn on to find your way out of the darkness, if you remember that you have that light. And even if you forget, Holy Spirit is always there to remind you, that Jesus Christ is the light you need to find your way out of the darkness. 

 Day 333 Bible Reading

Psalm 135: 15-18 (ESV)

“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths.

Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.”

I love this passage from Psalm 135 as it gives us such a poetic description of money, which was silver and gold at the time this Psalm was written. We sometime worship money as idols, and treat them like they are like people, but they aren’t. But what is very interesting is how the Psalmist says that those who make “money” and those who trust in “money” become like them. So nations and people cannot speak, do not see, do not hear, nor are they alive. Does this sound like people and nations you know? I know when I’ve become obsessed with money, I did so the exclusion of all else. I thought I was living, but I think deep down inside I knew I was literally dead. Money never made me happy for long, and I found that out the hard way. I have only found lasting happiness in my faith and Jesus Christ.

 Day 332 Bible Reading

Proverbs 29: 1-9

"He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

He who loves wisdom makes his father glad but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

By justice a king builds up the land, but he who exacts gifts[a] tears it down.

A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

An evil man is ensnared in his transgression, but a righteous man sings and rejoices.

A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.

Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath.

If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet."

For me The Proverbs have always been interesting. They seem to be rules for how to be happy in the world, how to live a "Godly" life. Do this and this happens, do the wrong thing and this happens. 

For me, the value of Proverbs is that I often see myself as the person doing the things you're not supposed to be doing. And I'm like, duh, if I had just remembered the proverbs telling me not to the wrong thing, then X would not have happened. And yes, I often do the good things that Proverbs tell you to do but I don't remember them as well as I bad things I've done. I am thinking when I do one of the good things that Proverbs tell you what do, I need to write it down so I remember them. And when I feel I'm always doing bad things, I can look back on my notes and remember that most of the time I do the right things, and it's only once in awhile I do wrong things. 

Day 331 - my bible readings for today.

Daniel 2: 24-49 (ESV)
27 - 30: “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days ...But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind."

What struck me about this passage is how the prophet Daniel acknowledges that everything comes from God:

• God reveals the mysteries or dreams to the dreamer
• God reveals the interpretation of the mysteries of the dream to one who interprets them.

I don't remember my dreams very much, and when I do remember a dream it is a "big thing" for me. This Bible passage reminds me that everything comes from God, and perhaps when I remember a dream it is because God is trying to reveal something to me that maybe I couldn't have gotten any other way. Was it because I was not listening or paying attention? Or is having the dream just the start of perhaps God hinting to me that he has the message, and the dream is my first hint.

I try to interpret my own dreams, and I love the thought that God is involved in this process as well. That God is guiding me on how to interpret my dreams. For me there is a comfort in knowing that God is in charge of all aspects of life, but it is a fact that I often forget or ignore because I want to be in charge of my own life and decisions. But I have learnt the hard way over the years, that my way is often the hard way, the round about way, and that God's way is always better.

2 Peter 1 (ESV)
21: "For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

What I like about this line, is that it is another reminder from the New Testament, that God is in charge of all things. That the Holy Spirit revealed to prophets the visions they saw and their interpretations. All things come from God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, to teach us something, good or bad. Sometimes, or maybe all the time, this is hard for us to remember. If there is such a thing as a "Matrix", perhaps we are in God's matrix because he created it, and God is always trying to reveal himself to us in all things, all circumstances of life, good, bad, and the indifferent.

God is in everything, the micro ,the macro, and the details.