Day 39 Bible Reading

Exodus 1-3, Matthew 26: 1-30, Psalm 20

Exodus 3: 11-12 (ESV)

“But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”  He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.””

I like verses 11-12 from Exodus 3 where Moses asks God a “why me?” question along the lines of ‘I’m a nobody with no power and you’re asking to me to this impossible task.” God tells Moses that he will be with him. I think of the many times I feel that God has asked me to do something that was not impossible, but was definitely not something I would normally do. I would pray and say to God that maybe I wasn’t the right person for the task, and that he picked the wrong person. But in my head God would always laugh and say “I will be with you, don’t worry.” And as always, God was right. I was able to do the task. It wasn’t pretty or perfect, but I tried my best and I completed the task. For myself I have to remember that whenever I am fearful of doing something, I need to pray to God for his advice and encouragement. To always ask if I’m doing the right thing, if I’m doing something that is part of God’s plan, and to ask for God’s help and his presence with me during the task. If I feel that God is with me, I know I can do anything.

Day 38 Bible Reading

Job 40-42, Matthew 25, Psalm 19: 7-14

Psalm 19: 14 (ESV)

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

Verse 14 from Psalm 19 seems like such a good prayer to say to God whenever a person needs to say something important, before doing a teaching, or even before speaking to a loved one about a contentious item. By repeating verse 14, we are praying to God that whatever we are about to say to another person meets with God’s approval. And perhaps if it is not, then we are asking God to speak through us. I like the idea of thinking of each person we are speaking to as God, so whatever we say to them is kind and thoughtful and not mean or thoughtless. It would be great if we could have this thought every time we speak, but that would be hard. Not impossible but hard and would take a certain amount of discipline. But I feel we need to repeat this verse for the times we when speak to someone that are important and/or stressful.

Day 37 Bible Reading

Job 37-39, Matthew 24: 32-51. Psalm 19: 1-6

Matthew 24: 42 (ESV)

“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

Verse 42 from Matthew 24 I believe is a message for all Christians that can apply not only to when Christ returns but to our death. We do not know when our time will come to depart from the earth and we will meet Jesus in heaven, so we must prepare daily that our hearts are clean. We must ask nightly for forgiveness, tell God all that we have done good and bad, and be strong in our faith. I don’t want my last thought to be “am I right with God?” as I lay there dying. I want to wake up every morning knowing I am right with God. Every year I also think about everyone I know and ponder that if today was my last day, if there is anything I need to any of my friends that I would regret I didn’t say. I’m pretty much a straight shooter so I believe I’ve very honest with people, probably much more than they would like. But there are always a few things I know I hold back just because it’s not the right thing to say. I always ask myself if these things I’m holding back from a friend or relative, something I would regret not saying to them if I had the chance. Then if the Lord comes or my time comes, I know I will face either even with a clear mind and heart.

Day 36 Bible Reading

Job 34-36, Matthew 24: 1-31, Psalm 18: 43-50

Matthew 24: 4-7 (ESV)

“And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.”

Verses 4-7 from Matthew 24 made me think about whether we are now living in this time described by Christ. Because of social media we live in a time when people can become famous very quickly. Something they’ve said or done goes “viral” and they get millions of views. I don’t believe anyone has said that they are “the Christ”, but they come very close in terms of their influence and fame. People follow them until something happens and their new “idol” becomes tarnished. We hear rumors of wars, and sometimes it feels like nations are ready to go to war with each other. There are famines but they are not widespread yet, but there does seem to be a rise in earthquakes around the world. Are we in the end times? I don’t know. All I know is our world is shifting quickly and because of social media, we know about it in “real time”. I think what we need to hold onto in our seemingly “chaotic” world is The Bible and the teachings of Christ. They have survived for over 2,000 years in a world that is always changing and in times of world wars has been even more chaotic than they are now.