Day 364 Bible Readings – Proverbs 31: 10-12

Nehemiah 11:22-36, Nehemiah 12, Revelation 21, Proverbs 31:10-20

Proverbs 31: 10-12

“An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.”

I love the description of a wife in verses 10 through 12 from Proverb 31. Lemuel tells us that an excellent wife is more precious than jewels, and that her husband will trust her because he will always gain by her actions. A husband can expect an excellent wife to do him good and not harm all the days or her life. I know when I was married, I was not always an “excellent wife” to my husband. We both loved God, but we were not serious about our own individual relationships with God. We could not rely on the word of God for how to guide our actions. I know our marriage fell apart because when things got rough, we had nothing but our love to hold us together and that was not enough. I think if we were stronger people of faith, we would have had God, his words, and the Bible to help us through the difficult task of being in a relationship. Having two people live and try to navigate life together when they’ve both been raised differently, are not of the same age, and are completely different in so many other ways is so difficult. I am now convinced that a married couple can only stay married if they follow and rely on Jesus Christ to help them stay together. From my own experience, it’s just too hard to stay married unless you have God helping you and your spouse to stay together and in love. I think if I was more into my faith when I was married I would have strived to be more of an “excellent wife”.

Day 363 Bible Readings – Proverbs 31: 4-5 (ESV)

Nehemiah 10, Nehemiah 11: 1-21, Revelation 20, Proverbs 31: 1-9

Proverbs 31: 4-5 (ESV)

“It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.”

Verses 4 and 5 from Proverbs 31 is such good advice especially for those who are in positions of leadership. If you are in a position where you need to be called upon to make important decisions or give advice, you always need your full faculties. I cannot imagine having to make an important decision, especially and life and death decision, while under the influence of even a little alcohol. I heard a pastor recently say that he does not drink at all, because he might need to be called to minister to someone in the middle of the night and he did not want to have his mind clouded with alcohol. Some pastors have said that they don’t drink alcohol because they think it is hypocritical to counsel someone on alcohol addiction if they drink alcohol themselves. What if you are a parent and your child needed you urgently, would you be able to respond well to your child if your mind was clouded with drink? What if you made a wrong decision for your child in an emergency because you were a little tipsy? It makes sense to follow the advice of Lemuel if you are in any position of leadership.

Day 362 Bible Readings for December 29 – Revelation 19: 11-12 (ESV)

Nehemiah 9, Revelation 19: 11-21, Proverbs 30: 24-33

Revelation 19: 11-12 (ESV)

“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.”

I love verses 11 and 12 from Revelation 19. Many Bible commentators have said that the person on the white horse is Jesus Christ. The rest of the verses never say that the rider is Jesus Christ, but who else in heaven can be called “Faithful and True” except Jesus. Most of Revelation is about the disasters that will befall planet Earth because of the judgement of God, and I am afraid about these events that are supposed to happen. But reading these verses made me realize that part of Revelation is about the second coming of Jesus Christ, and what an honor it would be to witness Christ coming to earth again. These verses make me look forward to Revelation happening despite the disasters that will come during this period.

Day 361 Bible Readings – Nehemiah 8: 17 (ESV)

Nehemiah 7 & 8, Revelation 18: 18-24, Revelation 19: 1-10, Proverbs 30: 11-23

Nehemiah 8: 17 (ESV)

“And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing.”

In verse 17 from Nehemiah 8, the people who returned from captivity decided to reenact the celebration of booths or the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot. God commanded the people to live in booths for seven days as a reminder of how God provided booths for them when they were wandering in the desert after they left Egypt. The booths are temporary shelters with four sides called a Sukkah with an open roof made of palm branches.

When I read verse 17, I was reminded of how I first saw my first Sukkot in college. A group of students had made these temporary shelters and left them up for seven days in a field that was between the two main college dorms. They called it Sukkot or the Feast of Booths. At the end of the seven days, they threw a big party afterwards and we all celebrated. I wonder now if a revival was going on in campus at that time, like what was going on during the time written about in Nehemiah. Whatever was going on, it’s nice to know that college students celebrated God taking caring of his people when they were wandering in the wilderness. Perhaps they thought of college as a booth or temporary shelter from real life, and was celebrating how God was still taking care of them even in the wilderness of college life.