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Set Apart for Holiness

⁷So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I, the LORD, am your God. ⁸Keep all my laws and obey them, for I am the LORD, who makes you holy….

²³Do not live by the customs of the people whom I will expel before you. It is because they do these terrible things that I detest them so much. ²⁴But I have promised that you will inherit their land, a land flowing with milk and honey. I, the LORD, am your God, who has set you apart from all other people.
Leviticus 20:7-8, 23-24 (NLT)

While these chapters may seem tedious, there are several things that I really like about them:

• These chapters are all about God teaching the Israelites how to live a life worthy of being God’s chosen people. The repeated theme is “Be holy.” I love that God teaches us what we need to know. We aren’t expected to always know what is right and what is wrong. When we don’t know, we simply go to God who gives wisdom generously.
• God tells the Israelites, and us by extension, to “set yourselves apart to be holy.” We are to live differently. We are to be proactive about it – we’re not to go with the flow, join the crowd or do our own thing. We’re to follow God’s approach to living. Sure, many of the verses in these chapters don’t apply to us today…but their underlying principles do. We’re to live more circumspectly, always aware that our God lives among us and He is a holy God.
• Not only are we to set ourselves apart, God also makes it clear that He has set us apart. God is always the one who moves toward us first. He sent His Son so that we might have life…long before we were ever thinking of turning to Him. He set us apart to be His very own people…so we’re to set ourselves apart.

God is so good! He didn’t have to set us apart – He didn’t have to choose us. He doesn’t have to help me to become holy, but He does.

Loving Your Neighbor
These are the major principles of the chapters that I like, but there are also some individual verses that jump out at me. Did these verses wake you up as you read them?

“Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”
Leviticus 19:18 (NLT)

A few words catch my attention…Never…bear a grudge…against anyone…OK, Lord. You’ll have to help me with that sometimes. I’ll agree with you, but…please help!

Notice the second half of this verse – This verse didn’t originate with Jesus in the Gospels. He is quoting this verse. You won’t find the phrase “love your neighbor” anywhere else in the Old Testament. Pretty cool, huh? That buried in the midst of all these laws in Leviticus is the law Jesus said was the second most important one (Mark 12:31).

It’s a Life-Giving Law

If you obey my laws and regulations, you will find life through them. I am the LORD.
Leviticus 18:5 (NLT)

Obeying God’s laws brings life. The stereotype, of course, is that God’s laws are restrictive and lead to a life that lacks joy. Not so. They bring life – LIFE! I’m reminded of this verse in the book of James:

But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
James 1:25 (NIV)

When are we going to get it through our heads (and hearts and wills) that making God-choices leads to blessing? I want the blessing. Lord, help me to make Your choices. Today we studied the book of 1 John with a group of friends. One of the promises this book carries is that if we pray anything according to God’s will, we can have confidence that He hears us and answers the prayer. (1 John 5:14-15) Asking God to help me make His choices is undoubtedly a prayer that is within His will. Praise God! I can have confidence that He is answering that prayer!

Living a set-apart life, pursuing holiness and seeking to make God-choices – three different ways of saying the same thing, actually – requires diligence and reliance on the Holy Spirit who is alive in us. He will teach us and enable us to live such a life. I want LIFE – how about you?

One of Jesus’ primary teaching tools was asking questions. In Mark chapter 8, he asks the disciples this question:

⁵“How many loaves of bread do you have?” [Jesus] asked.
Mark 8:5

It’s a simple question, and with that question, Jesus is redirecting the disciples’ attention away from the enormity of the need. He’s saying “don’t look at the need, look at me!”

It’s the story of Jesus feeding the four thousand men, along with unnumbered women and children, with only seven loaves and two fish. Jesus first brings the need to the attention of his disciples by calling them together and saying:

²“I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. ³If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”
Mark 8:2-3 (NIV)

Their response isn’t their finest moment:

“How are we supposed to find enough food for them here in the wilderness?”
Mark 8:5 (NLT)

I hear it as “Are you crazy? How in the world are we…?” And since I know the end of the story, it occurs to me that any time I have that reaction, there ought to be a check in my spirit…because God is setting me up for a miracle! Instead of “I can’t possibly…” or “Are you crazy? How can I…?” I want to be the person that shouts “Yeehaw! A miracle’s about to happen!” OK, not so cowboy, but you get the idea.

I’m not that person yet, but the Holy Spirit & I are working on it. We’re getting closer.

The apostles looked at the crowd and said “we can’t possibly feed these people.” Jesus didn’t look at the crowd, He looked at the resources, knowing that when the resources were fully given to God, God would multiply them to meet the need.

Picture it, 32AD: Four thousand men, in addition to the women and children, were in need of food. The apostles had seven loaves of bread and a few fish. Looks to me like recipe for a personal meltdown!

But God…He gently took the disciples by the hand (metaphorically), turned them from the crowed to look into His face, and redirected their thinking from “How are we supposed to…” to “take a deep breath and look at me. Now tell me, what do you have?” No meltdown. Instead a miracle!

I’m going to go back to that, but first I want to ask my own questions. Update the picture: Think about what you’d like to do for God. Go ahead. Pause here for a minute or two here and answer the question: What would you like to do for God? OK, now answer this question: what are your four thousand people? In other words, what is keeping you from accomplishing it. Is it lack of money? Lack of time? Lack of energy?

Jesus wants to uncomplicated things. He simply asks “what do you have?” Quit looking at all the reasons you can’t do what you’d like to do for God. Start telling God what have and ask what you should do with it. He’ll give instructions, and you’ll be on your way to being part of a miracle.

When we give it to Him, God takes what we have in our hands and He uses it to bless others.

That’s the original covenant of the Old Testament – that Abraham would be a blessing to many nations,
and the awesome privilege and responsibility of the New Testament – “go ye into all the world…”

So God wants to take my resources and your resources and use them not to meet the needs of just our families, but to reach out to others. But if we look at the opportunities, at the enormity of the needs, we become paralyzed because our resources seem so puny. That’s when Jesus asks the simple question “what’s that in your hand?” “What do you have?”

Let’s look at that question a bit more: “What do you have?” We don’t know how Jesus actually asked the question, but one method of studying a verse or phrase in the Bible is to work our way through it by emphasizing each word individually. I found that approach to be instructive in this case:

WHAT do you have? – Tell the Lord. Answer the question. In Resting at the River’s Edge we’ve just started the book of Jeremiah. In this book God is regularly asking Jeremiah “what do you see?” And then a prophetic message comes to him after describing to God what he sees. I’ve found that often God doesn’t begin to give me ideas for serving Him until I’ve started describing the situation to Him.

What DO you have? – This encourages us to look at our resources, not just the need. The apostles were stuck looking at the need and it was so great it paralyzed them. Jesus redirected them by saying, “OK, so you can’t go buy food for everyone, what DO you have.” If we look at the need we become discouraged. If we look at the need, it crushes our faith and we don’t take the first step.

What do YOU have? – Jesus asks us to use our resources. We have to give them before he can multiply them. When we hold on to our resources, there is no miracle of multiplication of those resources.

What do you HAVE? – This is an interesting emphasis. At first glance, I wanted to answer that it’s very much like “DO” – what DO you have? OK, I have this, this and this. Then God asks again “what do you HAVE?” In other words, take another look – what do those things put together make. Perhaps bread and fish make a meal. It’s the synergy part of the sentence. It’s the whole thing being greater than the sum of its individual parts.

It’s also the point where we step back, perhaps acknowledge – Lord, we got nothing…so we stare a little longer (hopefully praying while we stare at what we have) and God’s miracle begins to become apparent. OK, I get it! It’s not just bread and fish, it’s a meal. And perhaps it’s not just bread but it becomes the bread of Life as we give it in Jesus’ name. This could be good… Let’s have the people sit down and start feeding them and see what happens!

And what happens is God’s miracle because we’ve looked away from despair, given our resources to the awesome ministry He’s given us and voila! it’s time for His miracle!

Jesus is a master at asking simple questions. We tend to complicate life by moving to the complex when the simple will suffice. Jesus asks “what do you have?” When life crowds in and your need seems to overshadow your resources, Jesus asks: “what do you have?” We would do well to learn from the Master.

How do you best hear from God? Does He speak to your heart/mind/spirit most often or most clearly when you:

• Read Scripture
• Pray
• Meditate
• Write/journal
• Study
• Discuss Scriptures with other believers
• Serve
• Worship

Of course God can speak to each of us in any way at any point in time, but most people have one or two ways they most often hear from God. Since He created us in our mother’s womb, He knows how we’re wired and He tends to speak to us in ways that are consistent with our personality.

I tend to hear God when I’m writing and when I’m worshipping. Sometimes when I’m meditating on passages.

So, for example, when I read our Resting at the River’s Edge reading for yesterday, a specific verse caught my attention:

“How many loaves of bread do you have?” [Jesus] asked. Mark 8:5 (NIV)

I was tempted to fly past it – I’m familiar with the story, I studied a similar story a couple of weeks ago – but like I said, it caught my attention. So after reading the whole story, I went back and asked God what the big deal with the question was. No answer.

But that verse sure did intrigue me.

So I began to write. I didn’t know where I was going, but I copied the verse into my word processing program and I started writing. Then I deleted what I had written and started again. Then I left what I had written but skipped a few lines and started over. And a message began to form. Several messages, actually, and the passage came to life. Or should I say God brought the passage to life. Yesterday’s blog was just a snippet from the pages I wrote. I’ll be blogging more from the passage next week after I preach two sermons based on it.

In the process I learned an important point: If I had not made time for God – if I had not stopped reading and begun to write – even when I didn’t know what to write – I would not have heard from God.

So my question friends is simple…do you make time for God? If you want to hear from, it’s imperative that you make time to listen.

By the way… one thing I’ve found is that God most often speaks to me when I ask Him to! Yep. When I ask God to speak to me before reading Scripture, I am more likely to hear His message. When I ask Him to speak to me during worship, I am more likely to sense His heart.

And another thing… if you don’t know how you best hear from God why not ask Him? Then spend a few months focusing on different disciplines each month until you hear God speak to you. Ask Him. He’ll respond.

“How many loaves of bread do you have?” [Jesus] asked.
Mark 8:5 (NIV)

One of Jesus’ primary teaching methods was to ask his disciples questions. In this story, Jesus has pointed out to the disciples that the crowd that has been following Him needs food. The New Living Translation records the disciples’ response like this:

“How are we supposed to find enough food for them here in the wilderness?” his disciples asked.
Mark 8:4 (NLT)

Can you hear their attitude? “What? Are you crazy?” That’s what I hear them thinking. Possibly, though, they’re more defeated than that. “There’s no way we can…” “We could never…” Have you ever heard those voices in your head? I have. Have you ever heard those words come out of your mouth. Uhh…yeah.

Both perspectives provide a wonderful teaching moment for Jesus. He simply looked at the disciples and said “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus didn’t scold them or condemn them in any way. He simply redirected their thinking from “We can’t” to “Give it to God and He can.”

There are many lessons in this Biblical story and I’ll blog more about them next week, but today’s lesson is simple – when you are lacking something important to do what God has asked you to do – whether it’s food to feed your family or food to feed the homeless in your neighborhood – when you feel in need – turn away from “I can’t,” look into the face of Jesus and say “Here are my seven loaves of bread, Lord. I can’t do much with them, but You can. I’ll give them to you. Use them for Your glory!”

Then stand back and watch the miracle!

It’s a simple question that Jesus asks: “What do you have?”

Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet
In August, we’ll spend most of our time at the River’s Edge with Jeremiah. I’ll be honest with you…there are some books of the Bible that don’t make me excited when I think about reading them. Known as the “weeping prophet,” Jeremiah is one of those books. Let me be more honest…I’m so wrong! The book of Jeremiah is full of great material and reveals the heart of God tremendously. Here’s a quote that I love. God is speaking to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah.

This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
Jeremiah 2:5 (NIV)

Do you hear the Lord’s broken heart? “What fault did your fathers find in me…” Now obviously there is no fault with God, just as there is often no fault with parents when their children choose rebellion. And the parents’ hearts break. God’s heart breaks when we stray far from Him. He watches as we follow worthless idols, knowing that doing so we will be come worthless ourselves.

I bet there are other verses in this book that you know but perhaps don’t know the reference. Check these out:

[The Lord is speaking] “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” (Jeremiah 1:5a)

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

¹³You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴I will be found by you,” declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 29:13-14a)

Someday my emotions will catch on that the weeping prophet knows the heart of God and I’ll rejoice at the thought of reading the book of Jeremiah.

Mark, James & Peter
Our New Testament reading will have us in these books:

• Gospel of Mark – We’ll finish the Gospel of Mark, reading chapters 8 through 16.
• James – The book of James is a favorite of many. It was written by James, the brother of Jesus, and many people believe it was the first New Testament book written.
• 1 Peter – This book of encouragement was written to Christians facing persecution. We’ll be exhorted to live a holy lifestyle and submit to authority (and who doesn’t need those lessons?).

The month holds some great opportunities for learning and reflecting as we rest by the river’s edge with God’s Word. I pray that you will come to know God’s heart in a greater way as you read during the month of August.
Blessings, Friends!
Sandy

The recommended reading schedule for August is below.

To download a PDF of the August 2011 recommended reading plan, click here.

A Season for Praise & Reading

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
Ecclesiastes 3:1

And the month of July, in addition to falling during our Summer of Praise, is the season for reading Ecclesiastes this year! We’ll follow that up with several minor prophets – Joel, Amos, Obadiah and Jonah. In late July, we’ll relax with some Psalms.

In the New Testament, we’ll read Galatians, Philippians and begin the Gospel of Mark.

Here are just a few great Scriptures from the passages we’ll read this month:

To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 2:26

Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence.
Ecclesiastes 8:3a

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand.
Joel 2:1

And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.
Joel 2:28-32

Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.
Amos 3:7

The day of the LORD is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.
Obadiah 1:15

Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD.
Jonah 2:8-9

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11

We’ve got some great reading ahead of us,  friends! Enjoy it!

Sandy

The recommended reading schedule for July is below.

To download a PDF of the July 2011 recommended reading plan, click here.

Messages, Prophecies & Revelation

We’ll be reading only two books throughout the month of December – Isaiah and Revelation. They are books that I pray will give us a Christ-centered perspective during the Christmas season. We’ll read both Isaiah and Revelation.

Isaiah – A Timely Message and Abundant Prophecies About Jesus
I often read various commentaries before writing my monthly Resting at the River’s Edge reading schedule article. I take bits and pieces from each and hopefully provide something that draws you into that month’s reading. Well, maybe I’m tired this morning (which is quite possible) but the following narrative from The Believer’s Study Bible seems so compelling that I’m including large portions of it. Read what the authors have to say about the book of Isaiah:

[Isaiah’s] message is presented against the background of Israel’s greatest period of prosperity after the “Golden Age of Israel” under David and Solomon. Prosperity, the promotion of agriculture, the enlargement of the kingdom, the strengthening of the fortifications of Judah, the reorganization of the army, and the commercial activities in Arabia and elsewhere precipitated immorality, excessive drinking, display of wealth, ritualism, idolatry, perversion of justice, oppression of the poor, false prophets, immoral priests, greed, hunger, and a great chasm between rich and poor. Therefore, Isaiah stressed (1) salvation by faith, (2) the holiness of God and ethical living, (3) the offense of man’s sins, (4) the certainty of judgment, and (5) the assurance of redemption for a repentant remnant.

Does that sound like a message we in America need to hear today? Yes, the economy has been difficult for many of us over the past couple of years. Still, we live in a prosperous and strong nation, and many (all?) of the sins described as prevalent in Isaiah’s time are prevalent in today’s American culture. Isaiah’s message to the Israelites is clearly a message we need to hear as well.

The Believer’s Study Bible continues:

Of all the books in the Old Testament, only the Psalms contain a larger number of messianic predictions than Isaiah. Isaiah sets forth every aspect of the glory and ministry of Christ: (1) His incarnation, (2) His youth, (3) His mild manner, (4) His obedience, (5) His message, (6) His miracles, (7) His sufferings, (8) His rejection, (9) His shame, (10) His vicarious death, and (11) His resurrection and ascension.

Sounds like great reading for the month of December!

Revelation – “The revelation of Jesus Christ”
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines “revelation” as an act of revealing or communicating divine truth, something that is revealed by God to humans, and an act of making known.

The Apostle Paul writes in the first verse of the book of Revelation that it is “The revelation of Jesus Christ.” It’s such a significant verse! First, we are being given a revelation – God is revealing something to us. He is communicating something to us. He is making some thing(s) known to us. That’s pretty exciting. I love it when God reveals something to me. Even when it is revealed to me by reading His Word (which thousands and thousands of other people also read), I often feel like it is something He has whispered in my ear and it’s a secret between Him and me. The book of Revelation is just that – a revelation. Who wouldn’t want to read it?

Interestingly, it is a revelation of Jesus Christ. That little word “of” can mean two different things – about or from. So, is the book of Revelation revealing things about Christ or is the revelation come from Christ? The answer is both! As you read the book, you’ll see Christ reveal Himself as He addresses the seven churches, gives us glimpses of the throne room of heaven, and then begins to unveil things which are still to come. The month of December is a great time to receive a greater revelation of Jesus Christ.

Caution: Don’t get bogged down in trying to figure out the things that are still to come. God will give revelation when He sees fit. Without that revelation, we are only wasting time speculating about things we cannot yet understand.

The third verse in the book of Revelation gives us another reason to read it: Multiplied blessings.

Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

To receive the multiplied blessings, don’t just read the book, take it to heart! (You might even consider reading it aloud so you can hear it as well – or read it to a partner or friend so that you’ll both have multiplied blessings).

Enjoy Resting at the River’s Edge during the month of December – it’ll be a daily fifteen or twenty minute respite from the busyness of the season, and I believe it’ll enhance your joy of Christmas.

Blessings, Sandy

The recommended reading schedule is below.

To download a PDF of December’s recommended reading plan, click here.

³While he [Jesus] was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

⁴Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? ⁵It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

⁶“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. ⁸She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. ⁹I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
Mark 14:4-9

What surprised me the most as I read this story last week was Jesus’ reaction. I began to think over other stories and parables and it seems to me that Jesus always commended extravagant actions of worship and faith!

While it was customary to anoint the heads of important guests, this woman’s action went above and beyond. The IVP Bible Background Commentary on the New Testament points out that “Her anointing of Jesus represents a major sacrifice and indicates the depth of her love.”

Upon reading the commentary, the Holy Spirit brought two questions to mind:

How long has it been since you gave Jesus a gift that represented a major sacrifice?
Or have your gifts indicated that the depth of your love for Him has grown shallow?

And so I pose the question to you, dear reader:

How long has it been since you gave Jesus a gift that represented a major sacrifice?
Or have your gifts indicated that the depth of your love for Him has grown shallow?

It seems like a long time since my gift to Jesus has represented a major sacrifice. My service has been steady, but my sacrifice has been light. Steady service is good, and we probably can’t live our lives in “major sacrifice” mode all the time. But if our love for Jesus is genuine, there will be times when our actions are extravagant and represent a major sacrifice.

During this holiday season, I encourage you to seek God with a sincere heart.

Ask Him what gift He would like you to give Him for His birthday.
Ask Him what He wants from you in 2011.

And celebrate the season with extravagant praise to the One who is worthy of more than our greatest sacrifice and our greatest extravagance.

¹During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ²“I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. ³If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

⁴His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”

⁵“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied.

⁶He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so. ⁷They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. ⁸The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ⁹About four thousand men were present. And having sent them away, ¹⁰he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

…

¹⁷Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? ¹⁸Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? ¹⁹When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

“Twelve,” they replied.

²⁰“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

They answered, “Seven.”

²¹He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
Mark 8

As I read this story, the disciples come across as pretty dense! I mean isn’t it obvious that you can’t feed four thousand men (and the women and children present) on seven loaves of bread and a few small fish? Just for fun, I did some calculations. If it were only the men you were feeding, that would make each loaf of bread capable of feeding 571.4286 men. That’s a mighty big loaf of bread! If you’ve somehow been able to accomplish that, you surely can’t pick up seven basketfuls of broken pieces of bread when you’re done! Yet that’s just what you’ve done. Don’t you think that you’d realize the tremendous miracle that had just occurred? Somehow the disciples didn’t see it.

It got me thinking: how many “obvious” miracles do I miss in the course of my everyday life? I’m betting there are LOTS of them. I’m going to look for them this week. In invite you to do the same.

Lord, help each of us see past our busyness and our preoccupation with self and see the miracles You’re doing every day. Help us to see You at work each day this week. Give us a sense of anticipation even before we see our first miracle. Thank You, Lord, in advance, for opening our eyes to see You.

Psalms, Prophecies & a Final Gospel

I am more than ready for some Psalms, how about you? This month we’ll read what is often referred to as Book 2 of Psalms – Psalms 49 through 72. I’ve jumped ahead and have read the first half dozen – and have thoroughly enjoyed them. Here’s a taste of what’s to come:

I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.
I will praise you forever for what you have done;
in your name I will hope, for your name is good.
I will praise you in the presence of your saints.
Psalm 52:8b-9

We’ll also read the first third of Isaiah where we’ll find some good prophecies about the birth of the Messiah – great reading as we prepare for the Christmas season. And we’ll have a privileged look at the throneroom of God through the eyes of Isaiah. I love this passage:

¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
Isaiah 6:103

The Gospel of Mark is the only gospel we haven’t read yet, so we’ll tackle it in November. Mark is the fast-paced gospel – only 16 chapters, but he moves quickly from one scene to another.

And on the last day of the month, we’ll begin the book of Revelation, preparing ourselves to end the year with John’s Revelation of Christ.

I hope you’re continuing to rest at the river’s edge with us. Don’t give up when you fall behind, and don’t restrict yourself to our readings if you want to move ahead. The purpose of the plan is to keep us reading, and to help us read systematically through the entire Bible.

Enjoy this month’s time with God!

The recommended reading schedule is below.

To download a PDF of November’s recommended reading plan, click here.