Day 72 Bible Reading - Luke 1: 19-20 (ESV)

Leviticus 26: 14-26, Leviticus 27, Luke 1: 1-25, Psalm 37: 32-40

Luke 1: 19-20 (ESV)

“And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

I like verses 19 and 20 from Luke 1. The angel Gabriel punished Zechariah for not believing his words. We don’t have angels punishing us for our non-beliefs, but I know sometimes I felt that I was being punished God for lack of beliefs. When I pray for something and Holy Spirit tells me it will come, I sometimes have doubts. When I have doubts, I don’t get the thing I want until the very last minute. At other times when I don’t have doubts, the thing I prayed for comes immediately. So is it a form of punishment from God when I have doubts and the thing I want doesn’t come until I have given up all hope?  I never thought of it in that way, but it might be a form of punishment from God for lack of belief in his promise. What do you think?

Day 71 Bible Reading

Leviticus 25 & 26: 1-13, Mark 16, Psalm 37: 21-31

Leviticus 26: 1 (ESV)

“You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.”

Verse 1 from Leviticus 26 has been part of prayers to God these last few weeks. It feels like the Holy Spirit is convicting me of making idols of people I follow on social media. I love great thinkers and people who predict future trends. I daily read their Substack articles, listen to their podcasts, and read everything they post on X. They have become my new “idols”. But there is no greater thinker than God and no one can predict future trends because God has the final say on what will eventually trend in our lives. I still read their posts on X and read whatever they post on Substack, but I’ve decided to not listen to their podcasts since they take up more time. Do I miss the podcasts? Yes, because I would listen to them while doing other things. Will I go back to listening to them? Eventually, but not until I can listen to what my “idols” say while still remembering that God is ultimate authority in the world.

Day 70 Bible Reading - Mark 15: 39 (ESV)

Leviticus 23 & 24, Mark 15: 33-47, Psalm 37: 10-20

Mark 15: 39 (ESV)

“And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

I’ve always liked verse 39 from Mark 15 because it makes me wonder what the centurion saw while Jesus was dying on the cross to make him utter that statement. I love The Chosen TV series, and there is so much speculation on whether the centurion who is quoted in Mark 15 will be Atticus or Quintus. Was the centurion referring to change in weather that was happening when Christ was being crucified? Was there something specific in Jesus’ face that the centurion witnessed? My imagination runs wild when I think about what the centurion saw at Jesus’ crucifixion. I like that the centurion was another gentile who has recognized the divinity of Christ. I wonder what I would have said had I been there at the crucifixion as a gentile.

Day 69 Bible Reading - Mark 15: 31-32 (ESV)

Leviticus 21 & 22, Mark 15: 1-32, Psalm 37: 1-9

Mark 15: 31-32 (ESV)

“So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.  Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.”

Verses 31 and 32 from Mark 15 remind me of that scene from the movie “The Last Temptation of Christ”, where Jesus steps down from the cross and leads a different life. It’s a fantasy of course, because at the end he gets back on cross and dies. If Jesus had saved himself as he could have, then we wouldn’t have the resurrection and we wouldn’t believe in him. If Christ had gotten down from the cross, there wouldn’t be a Christian religion. I wonder if those chief priests and scribes who saw Jesus die remembered their words when the Christian religion was being formed. They tried to snuff the early Christians out, but it didn’t work. The beliefs of Christ took over the world and we are better because of it.