Day 41 Bible Reading

Exodus 6: 12-30, Exodus 7-8, Matthew 26: 47-68, Psalm 21: 8-13

Matthew 26: 53-54 (ESV)

“Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?””

Verses 53 to 54 from Matthew 26 remind that Jesus is the model by which we must surrender to God’s will for our lives. Jesus knew he was going to his death when he was arrested, but he submitted it to his fate so what was prophesized in the Old Testament would come true. It struck me one day when I remembered that Jesus was called the “lamb of God” and in Jewish culture lambs have been used a sacrifice, that Jesus was always going to be sacrificed to take away our sins. We had a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death when Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac, but he did not. God was going to sacrifice his only son to free us from sin. Was Jesus always so sure of his submission? No, because he asked on that same night that the burden be taken away from him. The human part of him asked, but the divine in him surrendered to his father’s will. I have never been in the position of having to sacrifice my life for God, but I have had to sacrifice things that sometimes felt just as horrific such as my ego. The death of your ego is like a physical death in so many ways, but it’s not. And when I do manage to give something precious up to me, God always rewarded me in one way or another. And if felt like one door closed and another chapter in my life was closed, so a new chapter and a new door could be opened. And it always worked out if I reminded myself to surrender like Jesus to the plan for my life.

Day 40 Bible Reading

Exodus 4-5, 6: 1-12, Matthew 26: 31-46, Psalm 21: 1-7

Exodus 4: 10-12 (ESV)

“But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.””

Verses 10 through 12 from Exodus 4 makes me think of all the excuses I have given God as to why I’m not capable of some of the tasks he’s give me. I’m not this or that or whatever. But these verses remind us that God created everything and if he is with us, then he can help us figure out how to get the task done if we rely on him for help. It is amusing to think of God doing some earthly mundane task like “asking a boss for a raise”, but if that is the task God wants me to do then he must know the best way to get it done and have the best outcome. And if God helped Moses deliver his people out of slavery in Egypt, then God is surely capable of helping us with our tasks which probably aren’t as nearly impossible as what Moses had before him.

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.