Day 46 Bible Readings

Exodus 17-18, Mark 1:1-28, Psalm 24

Exodus 17: 3 (ESV)

“But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?””.

Verse 3 from Exodus 17 made me ponder how often I have asked God for a miracle thinking it would solve my problems, only to find out that I was saddled with new problems that again needed prayers. I know it comes off as ingratitude by people of Jacob but isn’t that the way of being human. We want our freedom, but when we get the freedom we realize there is a whole new set of problems. I admire people who start their own businesses because I know I couldn’t do it. I liked the comfort of having a regular paycheck, not having to worry about health insurance, getting paid for sick time, and all the other perks of working for someone. When you work for yourself, you become responsible for everything including the work that brings in the revenue. I think my mistake in the past is I didn’t have a Moses in my life to talk to God about my new set of problems after my miracle. I figured that well, I asked God for that one miracle and he came through and I can’t turn around and ask him for another one. Now it was my turn to solve it on my own. But I see now that my attitude was wrong. I should have kept relying on God for guidance in my life and not feel embarrassed to ask for another miracle. Not that my own decision making was that bad, but I’m sure with God’s guidance my life would brought me closer to him and may not have taken so many years for me to want to be closer to him.

Apologies for the delay in Bible Reading posts. I picked up a cold somehow last week, and by Saturday the symptoms kicked me big time. First with extreme tiredness on Saturday afternoon, then I was feverish on Saturday night. Finally went to sleep, but I woke up on Sunday still not feeling all that great. About mid-morning I vomited and the mucous started. I spent most of Sunday day and night trying to sleep. I woke up Monday still not right, but I managed to finally get a meal down so I could take some night-time cold capsules. I woke up this morning feeling better, and I took some cold medicine to clear up the lingering cold symptoms. I did listen to my Bible Readings, but when I’m not feeling well the urge to think and write is just not there.

But I’m feeling better tonight, so I will try to get caught up as I’ve missed four days of Bible Readings.

Day 45 Bible Reading

Exodus 15 & 16, Matthew 28: 1-20, Psalm 23: 1-6

Psalm 23: 1-4 (ESV)

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Psalm 23 verses 1-4, some would say, are the most recited lines from the Old Testament. I love the imagery of God’s people being sheep, and God as the good shepherd. This is a God that give us a good place to sleep and takes us to water to drink. But this is also a God who restores our soul and makes us feel less fearful as we face death, and protected as well. I have recited Psalm 23 many times when I’ve needed comfort from the Bible. Someone should do a survey of how many times Psalm 23 is recited in a movie or tv show, because I bet that number will be high.

Day 44 Bible Reading

Exodus 13-14, Matthew 27: 45-66, Psalm 22: 22-31

Exodus 14: 22-23 (ESV)

“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.”

I was listening to a bible commentary by Davidd Guzik on Exodus 14 verses 22-23, and he talked about every Christian having their “Exodus” moment. The “Exodus moment” is the moment in a Christian’s life when they felt that God had freed them, from whatever was enslaving them. For some that could have been a sin, for others it was an addiction like alcoholism or drugs, and for some that moment could have been when you realized Christ was your savior and had taken on your sin. Do you have an “Exodus moment”? My “Exodus moment” happened to me at a very young age, when I felt very unloved by the people who were raising me. It happened so long ago that I don’t even remember the exact moment, and I was so young as well. But what I do remember is hearing a voice inside my head telling me that I was loved, and that voice telling me he was Christ from the church. That’s all I remember, and it’s probably a fragment of a memory, but I remember the feeling I had afterwards that everything was going to be okay. I don’t remember much of church as a child except that we went every Sunday. And that experience of Christ speaking inside of my head would occur now and again when things weren’t going very well in my life. It wasn’t until these last few years that I felt like God was asking me to develop a deeper and more mature relationship with him, by reading the Bible every day, by getting into a good church, and by writing down daily what I’m grateful for and the miracles that I saw happen that day. It’s been an interesting journey and I cannot wait to see where it leads me.