Day 90 Bible Readings – Luke 8: 25 (ESV)

Numbers 30, Numbers 31: 1-24, Luke 8: 19-39, Psalm 55: 1-11

Luke 8: 25 (ESV)

“He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

In verse 25 from Luke 8, Jesus scolds his disciples for their lack of faith when they awoke him because they were afraid of the storm. Jesus and his discipled had gotten into a boat with Jesus telling them “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.”  In a Biblical commentary I read on this verse, the author stated that Jesus had promised that they would go across to the other side of the lake. The author noted that Jesus scolded his disciples for their unbelief, when he had promised them that they would go to the other side of the lake. This Biblical author made it clear that the difficult storms in life are not evidence of unbelief; “Unbelief is the rejection of a promise or a command of God relevant to a particular situation.” I think this definition of unbelief makes it clear that having difficult situations come up in in your life doesn’t mean you have an “unbelief”. Having an “unbelief” comes from when you hear the Holy Spirit tell you everything is going to be alright, and you still have doubts that what the Holy Spirit said is true. I find it so easy sometimes to slip into “unbelief”, despite the fact that I have so much evidence in my life that Holy Spirit is always right about everything. I have to keep remembering that it is always my sinful nature that whispers doubts in my mind, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden. That serpent never seems to shut up and I have to ask the Holy Spirit for help every time. I sometimes feel such a sense of shame that my doubts never go away, but that is what having a sinful nature is all about – having a doubt-filled mind. I am so grateful that I have the Holy Spirit to help me quiet the doubts long enough for me to see and experience the daily miracles God gives me in my life.

Day 89 Bible Readings – Luke 8: 18 (ESV)

Numbers 28 & 29, Luke 8: 1-18, Psalm 54

Luke 8: 18 (ESV)

“Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

In verse 18 from Luke 8, Jesus tells his disciples to pay attention to how they hear his teachings. If they take the teachings of Christ into their heart, mind, and soul then more will be given. However, if you don’t pay heed to Christ’s teachings then all that you have will be taken away. Some Biblical scholars suggest that you cannot just passively listen to the teachings of Christ, your actions must also reflect Christ’s teachings. When your actions reflect God’s teachings, then you will more have more hunger for the teachings of Christ and more of God’s blessings will come to you. And if your life doesn’t reflect the teachings of Christ, then even the blessings they think they have from God will be taken away. For me the hardest part is to have my life reflect God’s teachings, especially when it comes to sharing my faith. We live currently in a culture where faith in Christ is looked down upon, and faith is too controversial a subject to be talked about in polite company. I don’t want to be type of Christian who just vomits their faith over everybody because when it’s been done to me I was repulsed even as a Christian. I want to instead rely on the promptings of the Holy Spirit when to share my faith because that means to me, Holy Spirit has created an opportunity for faith sharing to happen. I know that by myself I can do nothing without the Holy Spirit’s help, and this especially applies to sharing my faith with people I don’t know and even family and friends who do not yet know Christ.

Day 88 Bible Readings – Numbers 27: 12-14 (ESV)

Numbers 26 & 27, Luke 7: 36-50, Psalm 53

Numbers 27: 12-14 (ESV)

“The Lord said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)”

When I read verses 12 through 14 from Numbers 27, I felt so sad for Moses. God told Moses to go up a mountain to see the Promised Land, and then said to Moses he would die afterwards. God then reminds Moses that he wouldn’t see the Promised Land because Moses failed to uphold God as Holy in the wilderness of Zin. These verses make me wonder what Moses must have thought when he found out about his fate. Moses had led the people of Israel out of Egypt and then stayed their leader as they wondered through the desert for forty years. The next few verses show that Moses did not question or complain to God about his fate. He did not try to change God’s mid. Whatever Moses felt, he was obedient to God in all things. But as faithful and obedient as Moses was to God, he was not spared punished for his failures. Moses shows us that we need to be obedient to God as well as faithful to him all things.

Day 87 Bible Readings – Numbers 24: 17 (ESV)

Numbers 24 & 25, Luke 7: 11-35, Psalm 52

Numbers 24: 17 (ESV)

“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.”

When I first read verse 17 from Numbers 24, I immediately saw these words as a prophecy of the future King David. But then I thought about the “star” reference, and I saw the “star of Bethlehem” that rose when Christ was born. This prophecy from Balaam, who wasn’t even Jewish and whom God spoke to, was for both King David and Christ. Jesus came from the House of David, so this prophecy is also a reference that a messiah would come from the line of David. When I read through the Bible commentaries on this verse, the authors noted that early Christian and Jewish writers understood that verse 17 was a reference to the coming Messiah. I love how God talked and used a pagan seer to speak prophecy about his plans. God uses believers and non-believers as part of his plan. I think as people of faith we tend to think that God has no use for non-believers, but that’s not true. God created everyone, so why wouldn’t he use all of us to fulfill his plan on earth? What this verse tells us is we must never think we are not part of God’s plan. If God can use the pagan prophet Balaam to further his plan, he will surely be able to use someone who has faith in him.