Day 26 Bible Reading

Job 4-7, Matthew 19: 1-15, Psalm 17: 1-6

Psalm 17: 3 (ESV)

“You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.”

Verse 3 from Psalm 17 made me pause in thought when I read the commentary on Psalm 17 by Pastor David Guzik (enduringword.com).  Pastor David wrote that David was referring to the test in previous psalms which he said he passed. Pastor David also said that there are three (3) questions that every Christian must ask themselves: 1) Do I allow God to test my heart; 2) Can I be corrected; and 3) Will I listen to others when they tell me I may be wrong?” I believe God has tested my heart and I did allow myself to be corrected, but I don’t think I was very joyful about it. When I experienced God’s testing, it was hard. I knew I was being tested by God, and it pained me because I didn’t know why at the time. And I think testing for my happened when God didn’t answer my prayers right away. It felt like God was ignoring me and it hurt. It was hard to keep my faith in the middle of the test. But God always answered me at what seemed like the very last minute of the very last hour, when I had all but given up hope that I would receive an answer. And when I was in this state of holding on to the slimmest of hope, a sense of peace would always come over me. I knew that whatever happened was always going to be for the best, that it might take a long time, maybe even years to feel that way, but I would eventually come to know that it was all for the best. And when my prayers were answered, most of the time I felt like it happened at the exactly right time and place. It felt like God waited for me to come to a sense of peace so no matter what happened, my faith would still be intact and strong and I would be in a state of total surrender to his will and his plan. It’s a paradoxical state of being to be in surrender to God’s will, because you have to be okay that you might not get what you want but what God does give you will be in your best interest always.

Day 26 Bible Readings - Job 1: 21-22 (ESV)

Job 1-3, Matthew 18: 10-35, Psalm 16

Job 1: 21-22 (ESV)

“And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”

Verses 21 and 22 from Job 1 touched me today. Job’s first test from Satan was to have his wealth and his children taken away from him. Job was upset, but he did not blame God. I haven’t had the level of tragedy that Job experienced in my life, but I know I have blamed God in the past for all the bad things that did occur in my life. What I have uncovered this week is I don’t blame God for what happened to me, but I have anger at God for not stopping what happened. How could he allow me to have suffered so much from two significant events in my life? I didn’t even know I had anger at God for these events, because I had done some much work on them. But the anger is there, and I was holding on to it and resenting God for allowing the events to happen in the first place. I wish I had responded as Job had to this first test. If I find myself blaming God again for an event in my life, I’m going to read Job’s response to his first test to remind myself the correct way to respond. I can be sad and upset, but I cannot blame God. God will use whatever happens to us, good and bad, for our own good. And I have to trust that God always has my good in mind.

Day 25 Bible Reading

Genesis 49 & 50, Matthew 18: 1-9, Psalm 15

Matthew 18:8-9 (ESV)

“And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.”

Verses 8 and 9 from Matthew 18 stood out to me today. I don’t believe Christ meant to literally cut your foot off or gouge your own eye out because of sin. One commentator suggested that Christ is saying we must be willing to sacrifice in fighting against sin. In earlier verses, Christ said that if you sin in your heart and mind it is the same as committing the actual sin. For me this means that if you indulge in even thinking of the sin and do it constantly, then one day an opportunity will present itself to actually commit the sin and you will do it because you’ve already been thinking about committing the sin. What has sometimes shocked me when I watch an Agatha Christie movie is how easily people murder other people in her stories. But if you study the murder scene more closely, the opportunity to commit the presented itself and it was easy to do, that the person couldn’t overcome the temptation. And if we could see inside their heart and mind, I’m sure we would have seen constant thoughts of murder. So Christ is saying the best thing to do is not even think of the sin, so when the opportunity does present itself to commit the sin we wouldn’t even think about doing it because it would never occur to us. We must cut if off at the start, or it will as some people have said, spread like an infection in our heart and mind.

Day 24 Bible Readings

Genesis 47 & 48, Matthew 17, Proverbs 3: 1-10

Proverbs 3: 5-6 (ESV)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Verses 5 and 6 from Proverbs 3 stood out for me today. I think because I consider myself a very independent and smart person, I rely on my own understanding much of the time even though I think I trust in God with all my heart. But I am beginning to understand and to acknowledge that I have an ally in Christ and especially the Holy Spirit. It seems so silly to me sometimes to check with God for every little decision I make in my life. But there are so many stories which show us that it is the small decisions we make in life, and not necessarily the large ones, that truly affect our life. So I’m trying to check in with God more each day for all the decisions in my life. I’m trying not to make it such a big deal, just a quick prayer to ask Christ if I’m making the right choice and then a minute of quiet time to listen for a response. Most of the time I don’t hear much of a response, and I’m thinking probably because I think I use common sense to make decisions. But every once in a while, I think I hear a soft “no” or the word “really?” to a question about something I want or want to do. And when I follow God’s response to my question, it does seem that things really do turn out better. Not in a dramatic way, but in small ways that make me glad I have the Christ to ask for a second opinion, a gut check to tell me if I’m doing the right thing, if I’m going the right way, and most of all, if I’m following God’s plan for my life.