Daily Readings for March 3 – 9

March 2, 2025February 28, 2025Todd R Leave a comment

Fellow travelers:

Here is the list of readings for this week. Each week I will post 2 chapters to read per day as the main reading plan, and for anyone who wants to read the whole Bible in 2025, I post the extra chapters needed for that goal. Reading 3 chapters a day on weekdays and 4 on weekends almost exactly covers the 1,189 chapters of the Bible, so the “extra” readings are about 9 chapters per week.

Follow along (or not) any way you choose! I will often re-post old blogs that comment on the chapters in this schedule.

Monday, March 3: Psalm 62, Matthew 12
Tuesday, March 4: Psalm 63, Matthew 13
Wednesday, March 5: Psalm 64, Matthew 14
Thursday, March 6: Psalm 65, Matthew 15
Friday, March 7: Psalm 66, Matthew 16
Saturday, March 8: Psalm 67, Matthew 17
Sunday, March 9: Psalm 68, Matthew 18

Additional readings if you want to read the whole Bible this year:
2 Kings 3 – 11

Rules Aren’t Enough (No Matter What You Call Them) – Psalms of Ascent #2

March 1, 2025February 28, 2025Todd R Leave a comment

Fellow travelers,

Last week I introduced a weekly series on the “Psalms of Ascent”, grouped together from 120-134 and used as a liturgy for pilgrims going to Jerusalem for annual festivals. Before jumping into Psalm 120 next week, today we consider what it might mean that Psalm 119 precedes it. Was this order intentional (as the grouping of Psalms 120-134 was) and for what reason?

Laws, Precepts, Statutes, Rules, and More
Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, with 22 sections, or stanzas, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In it, the Psalmist poetically praises God’s moral law, using 8 different words to describe it, and including at least 6 of these in every stanza.[1] It seems repetitive, but by approaching it from so many angles, the Psalmist is saying “no matter how you look at it, everyone is better off if they know and follow this law.” For example, verse 105 – “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” – says that not knowing the law is like walking in darkness, but that following the law keeps you on the right path. Verse 98 – “Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me” says the law is a reliable source of wisdom, and better than the rules of God’s enemies. There are many such examples in the 176 verses.

But, while declaring that following the right moral law is good for us, Psalm 119 also declares that none keep it regularly. The Psalmist says “My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law” in verse 136, and also that “I have gone astray like a lost sheep” in verse 176. God’s word may be a lamp to our feet, but our feet go elsewhere anyway. Therefore, we mourn sin – that of us and that of others – because we are all guilty and we all suffer the consequences[2]. We take no joy in other’s misfortune because we are not immune. Any moral law – including a perfect one from God – always shows us how far short we fall. Rules cannot make us perfect; they can only define perfection.

Christ Crucified
Therefore, there is another part of God’s law – the ceremonial law – which is never mentioned in Psalm 119 unless you want to include the “freewill offerings of praise” mentioned in verse 108. The Psalms of Ascent follow a Psalm praising God’s moral law because, although His law is good, it is not enough. Only by going to the temple regularly could God’s people see what sacrifices God prescribed to compensate for their failures and satisfy His justice. While these ceremonial sacrifices were insufficient, they always pointed forward to the ultimate, perfect sacrifice of Christ which would fully cover our sin, empower us to grow in obedience to His good moral law over time, but also make the temple sacrifices irrelevant and unnecessary from that time forward.

To today’s Christian, the Psalms of Ascent remind us not only of our need for salvation apart from law, but they prepare us to regularly contemplate His provision to accomplish that salvation. As these Psalms provided instruction on what Israelites should have been thinking about along the way to the temple in Jerusalem, we can benefit from them also as we travel to congregate with other sinners seeking our only hope together. God’s people didn’t just arrive in Jerusalem and become magically transformed by ceremonies. The Psalms of Ascent encouraged them to prepare and participate.

[1] As noted in the Reformation Study Bible.
[2] See this blog’s series on “Blessed are those who mourn,” which starts here.

Sometimes Life is Hard on Purpose

February 26, 2025February 24, 2025Todd R 2 Comments

Joshua, Moses’ hand-picked successor, was very aware of the consequences of failing to trust God. After being delivered from Egypt, Israel was led to Canaan – their promised land – and God had Moses “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel.”[1] The purpose of the spy mission was not to decide whether or not to move into the land. God promised to give it to them. However, when the 12 spies returned, 10 of them said “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”[2] Only Joshua and Caleb said they should take the land anyway, because God’s promise and strength was enough for them. Because the people rebelled, trusting 10 disloyal spies rather than Him, God said Israel must wander the wilderness for years and only Joshua and Caleb would live long enough to enter the land.

After taking 40 years to make what could have been an 11-day journey[3] to the Jordan River where Israel would enter the land, God knew, and Joshua knew, that divided loyalties could doom everyone to another 40-year wilderness adventure.

Arriving at the flooded Jordan River, some people may have doubted whether Joshua get them across. Joshua had just become their leader, and perhaps the failure of Moses, who recently died, meant the failure of their dreams of the promised land. After all, they saw the Red Sea part for Moses. Could Joshua get them over this river?

Then in Joshua 3:15 we find this note: “(now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest)”. Why is this phrase important? Israel arrived at the Jordan at the most difficult time to cross. The river would be as deep and as wide as ever, and likely the current would be stronger as well. A sensible person would avoid crossing at this time, but God chose the most “difficult” time to perform this miracle to show that nothing is difficult for Him. This phrase is there because entering the promised land should glorify God and God alone.

By coming to the Jordan specifically when it “overflows all its banks” God wanted to remind His people that only He can and will deliver them. The Red Sea wasn’t parted because of Moses; it was parted because of God. God could deliver Israel without Moses, but Moses couldn’t deliver Israel without God. It was never about Moses. Likewise, Joshua wasn’t going to get them to their land; God was. The flood gave the people no reason to credit Joshua for their success.

As instructed, this is how they crossed the flooded river: “as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.” – Joshua 3:15-17

Joshua was very clear about giving God credit, and it’s a lesson for Christians in all times and places. When God raises up leaders, He also reminds us that they are but men and tools in His hand. They are also profoundly fallible. 10 out of 12 human leaders being wrong left Israel wandering for 40 years. Only God leads anyone to salvation and only when they trust Him alone for it. He often works through fallen human leaders, raising them up to lead His people, not because He prefers sinful leaders over virtuous ones, but because there is no other kind of person and because He is jealous for His own glory.

Is there a flooded river God wants you to cross? When we attempt things that only make sense because God told us to do them, we may be more likely to do or witness something that glorifies God and God alone, because only He could do it.

Are there rivers you have crossed in the past? Like God told Joshua after this crossing to lay memorial stones so they would never forget (see Joshua 4), make sure to keep a record of God’s power and faithfulness in your life.

Sometimes life is hard on purpose.
Sometimes the river is flooded because God wants to show you something awesome.

Therefore, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9b

[1] Numbers 13:1
[2] Numbers 13:31
[3] Deuteronomy 1:2

Strength in Trials: A Quint of Quotes

February 25, 2025February 24, 2025Todd R 3 Comments

Dear fellow travelers,

Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection, on the theme of suffering and trials:

“God had one Son without sin; but He has no son without temptation.” – Charles Spurgeon, on Luke 11:4

“When God permits His children to go through the furnace, He keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat.” – Warren Wiersbe, on 1 Peter 1:6-7

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” – C.S. Lewis, in The Problem of Pain

“Some things in the economy of grace are measured; for instance our vinegar and gall are given us with such exactness that we never have a single drop too much, but of the salt of grace no stint is made” – Charles Spurgeon

“Cheer up; you’re a lot worse off than you think you are, but in Jesus you’re far more loved than you could have ever imagined.” – Jack Miller

“Consider Well Her Ramparts”: Participating in the Psalms

February 24, 2025February 23, 2025Todd R Leave a comment

Reading the Psalms is a great devotional habit, and every now and then a Psalm or a section of a Psalm gives instructions to its reader. The author is inviting us to participate in something about God that they have experienced by taking specific actions. Earlier posts on participating in the Psalms (here, here, and here) have covered Psalms 96 and 100, which asked us to sing a new song and to give thanks, respectively. Today’s post is about Psalm 48, which is a little harder to see how to participate. Most of the Psalm praises God by talking about His city, Jerusalem, and His mountain, Mount Zion. If our God’s dwelling place is worthy of praise, then He must be as well. The “participating” part comes at the end, with verses 12-14:

“Walk about Zion, go around her,
            number her towers,
consider well her ramparts,
            go through her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
            that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
            He will guide us forever.”

The Psalmist wrote in ancient times that it was worth it to take the time to walk around Zion, to consider the things of God and not just gloss over them quickly, but how do we do that when Christians do not consider Jerusalem and Mount Zion to be the dwelling place of God? How do we “consider well her ramparts”?

Currently, what was represented by the temple in Jerusalem on Mount Zion is represented by His body of believers, indwelt by His Holy Spirit. Peter wrote that members of the church, “like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”[1] Therefore, do we participate in this Psalm by considering God’s strength through the church throughout history? When we consider the “towers”, “ramparts”, and “citadels” of the church, do we consider the great “cloud of witnesses” listed in Hebrews 12, in addition to the faithful members of the church through the centuries since then?

Do we consider well not only the strength God has given His church through history, but also the strength that He protects it with even now? Do we consider our own “ramparts” – the armor of God listed in Ephesians 6:13-17 –

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Consideration takes time, so to participate in this Psalm take some time, if not today then soon, to consider God’s strength as shown through a person in the Bible, in church history, or even your own community or family. Praise God for His strength and protection over His faithful!

As the “Sons of Korah” who wrote Psalm 48 believed, it’s worth the time and effort to:

Many of this blog’s posts on History (click here) are a decent starting point.

[1] 1 Peter 2:5

Driving Toward the Morning Sun

What "Not Yet" Means for "Now"

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