Below are the chapters to read this week if you’re following along in my Bible in a year schedule, divided into morning and evening readings. Follow along any way you want: you can just do the evening reading, flip the morning and evening, or read it all. Whatever works for you and your schedule! It doesn’t have to be Bible in a Year for everyone.
Monday, June 3 Morning: Proverbs 6, Matthew 8 Evening: Deuteronomy 2
Tuesday, June 4 Morning: Proverbs 7, Matthew 9 Evening: Deuteronomy 3
Wednesday, June 5 Morning: Proverbs 8, Matthew 10 Evening: Deuteronomy 4
Thursday, June 6 Morning: Proverbs 9, Matthew 11 Evening: Deuteronomy 5
Friday, June 7 Morning: Proverbs 10, Matthew 12 Evening: Deuteronomy 6
Saturday, June 8 Morning: Proverbs 11, Matthew 13-14 Evening: Deuteronomy 7
Sunday, June 9 Morning: Proverbs 12, Matthew 15-16 Evening: Deuteronomy 8
God’s people – His church – is the living temple in which He chooses to dwell by His grace and mercy. While nobody but Jesus will consistently “hit the mark” of holy perfection until eternity, Paul urges us to “cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”[1] But this fear should not be a dissatisfied, joyless obedience. Instead, look at Psalm 149:1-4 for an example of how to build life in Christ:
“Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly! 2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! 3 Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! 4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.
The 2nd verse says to be glad! But why should we be glad? Because we have a loving Maker and King who died that we might live as His children. None of us are random accidents with no creator and no purpose. In response (3rd verse), we offer our creativity and energy to God as worship, in all forms available to us (including but not limited to dancing and music!) and within our area of influence. Accepting us in Christ as we humbly are (4th verse), the Lord takes pleasure as we offer what we have to His service and rewards us with His blessings. This verse reminds us that God likes us; He wants to be with His people and see them succeed. He takes pleasure in our praise and enjoyment of Him.
When we acknowledge our Maker and King as the protagonist of our life story, we know that we have an origin, a purpose, and a destiny, and that our lives can have eternal value, beyond all “random acts of kindness”. Whether our community and culture are crumbling or thriving, the call of God to live in the Spirit can bring “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control.”[2]
However, if we insist on being the protagonist and following the idols we create, our worldly altruism and good intentions will never be enough, and our works will always fall short of the mark. God has better in store for us.
A New Song Now we return to the 1st verse of Psalm 149: “Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly!”
The Psalmist asks us to publicly sing “a new song”: something that’s creative and offered in praise. It’s an invitation from God to think expansively under the Spirit’s guidance, not restrictively under laws and regulations. It doesn’t mean we all need to be extroverts, or become what people consider a “creative” person. You might be a tax collector or a soldier[3]. You might be a clerk, accountant, lawyer, politician, engineer, housewife, mechanic, or anything else. It doesn’t matter. It’s about knowing who you are and dedicating that to the Lord and to others.
Therefore, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” – Colossians 3:23-24
Soli Deo Gloria
[1] 2 Corinthians 7:1 [2] Galatians 5:22b-23a [3] See Luke 3:12-14
Below are the chapters to read this week if you’re following along in my Bible in a year schedule, divided into morning and evening readings. If you’re interested in jumping in late, this week isn’t a bad time. On Wednesday, we finish Psalms and Nehemiah and begin Proverbs and Matthew, our first New Testament book. Sunday we move from Numbers to Deuteronomy in the evening reading.
Follow along any way you want: you can just do the evening reading, flip the morning and evening, or read it all. Whatever works for you and your schedule! It doesn’t have to be Bible in a Year for everyone.
Sometimes the Bible asks us to do things that are hard to take literally. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul writes that we should “pray without ceasing.” Other translations say “pray continually,” the same basic message. But what does it mean? We can’t kneel, fold our hands, and repeat the Lord’s Prayer all day every day. Paul wasn’t asking us to do the impossible, but how does one actually do this?
The life of Nehemiah, partially recorded in the Old Testament book bearing his name, may provide a good example for us. Around 445 B.C., Nehemiah was part of the third group of exiles in Babylon to return to Jerusalem. About 90 years after the first group returned, he heard Jerusalem’s walls and gates were still in ruins. He returned to lead the rebuilding of the walls, meeting opposition along the way from those who moved into the area during the exile as well as some of the Jews themselves.
Scattered throughout the book are several brief prayers, what Warren Wiersbe called “telegraph prayers,” [1] in 1992, but we might call them Twitter prayers now. These very short appeals to God are often made quickly and quietly, and you might say “continually.” I’ll put them in 3 categories:
The first group of these prayers are prayers for strength. Early in the story, Nehemiah was serving as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes and had to work up the nerve to ask the king to let him return to Jerusalem and take on the work of rebuilding the walls. Nehemiah 2:4 says: “Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.” We don’t know what exactly he prayed, but he must have done it silently and quickly during his conversation with the king, otherwise the king might have been offended. Prayers can be dropped right into any conversation![2]
Second are prayers for justice, which are similar to the “imprecatory,” or cursing, Psalms, such as Psalm 58. In these prayers and Psalms the writers curse the enemies of the writer and of God. Instead of taking time away from the work on the wall, or vowing to take vengeance themselves, Nehemiah trusted God to righteously judge all evil. In Nehemiah 6:14, he prays this about his opposition: “Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.” Nehemiah is honest with God about his frustrations but turns them over to God to take care of them.[3] We too can pray for God to handle any scores we feel we need to settle during the day!
The third category are prayers of dedication, reminders that the work is being done for God and asking that He bless the outcome, as well as the workers, including Nehemiah personally. In Nehemiah 13:14, after the walls were rebuilt and he oversaw the collection of the tithe, he prayed: “Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.”[4] God does not forget any service given to Him, but we can pray to remind ourselves who we serve and trust that He will remember!
Nehemiah’s constant life of worship was made up of more than just short prayers made in the moment. Longer prayers (all of chapter 9) and fasting are recorded, and along with these short prayers are a clue as to what it means to “pray without ceasing.” It means to always keep the lines of communication open, to consider that God is there, willing to listen, and lovingly able to bless His people any time. Even a split second in the middle of something is a good time to pray because His love for us is steadfast. We always need Him, and He is always able to meet our need!
Therefore, we can repeat the prayer of Psalm 66:20, which says:
“Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!”
Coda
Steven Curtis Chapman’s 1996 song “Let Us Pray” captures this idea of “pray without ceasing” beautifully. In it he sings that we should pray “every moment of the day,” because “the Father above, He is listening with love and He wants to answer us”
You can read the song’s lyrics at this link. Or listen to the full song at this link.
[1] Wiersbe, Warren. Be Determined (Nehemiah) (1992). P. 34. [2] Nehemiah 6:9 is another example. [3] Nehemiah 4:4-5 and 13:29 are similar prayers. [4] Nehemiah 5:19, 13:22, and 13:30-31 are similar.
Some say that grace stands for God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense, but what are these riches? David says at the end of Psalm 144 that:
“Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!”
The desire of the Lord is to bless His people, in part in this world, and fully in the next. The verse above follows verses 12-14, which list three specific blessings: family, prosperity, and safety:
“May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace; may our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce; may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields; may our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing; may there be no cry of distress in our streets!”
These things aren’t guaranteed to us in this world just because we know God, but we may ask Him for them, and know that when we do receive them, they come from Him. He has paid for our riches and our blessings in full on the cross, so that in Paradise we will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5), be eternally His family (Ephesians 1:5), and our pain and tears will be wiped away forever (Revelation 21:4).
Today, count these blessings, praise God for them, and pray that His people will hope in His provision forever!
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 