Faith!

Key verses
Proverbs 27:17 - As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Luke
I like the imagery God uses even at the death of Jesus. Luke 23:45 says the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  The curtain that separated us from God in the temple was destroyed, and now we can meet with God whenever and wherever we want!  Jesus truly opened the way.

Hebrews
Those people of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 all died and did not receive what was promised to them (v. 13).  That's faith!  Sticking with it and believing that God is going to come through, regardless of what you personally experience.  I'm fairly impatient, so I definitely have a lesson to learn here.  God's in control - he knows what he's doing.  Why don't I just let him do it, and align myself with him, rather than try and push my own agenda at him and hope that he'll do that instead?  We can think we know what's best, but in the end, only God sees the whole picture.

Confidence of Faith

Key verse
Luke 23:43 - Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Hebrews 10:31 - It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Proverbs
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth (27:1).  This verse has me thinking about hope.  I want to hope for things that will happen tomorrow, and talk about them with my friends and family.  What does boasting about it mean?  Taking pride in what will happen, believing that I can bring it about, rather than relying on God to bring about what I'm hoping for.

Isaiah
This passage ties right into Proverbs 27:1.  God is in control, so there is no way we can take pride in what happens, thinking that we have brought it about.  God is in all things and has power over all things.  He will bring down anyone he needs to and raise up anyone he wants.

Hebrews
Encourage one another daily.  This is such a great goal, and one that I aspire to, and yet do I do this?  I get so caught up in my own life that I end up completely ignoring the people that I want to be in community with, like fellow church-goers, immediate family members, friends.
Verse 35 speaks about confidence, having confidence of faith.  I believe I have faith, but there's always doubt because I wonder what I would do if I were in the situation of some of these biblical characters who were persecuted and robbed because of their faith.  Would I stand strong? This is always the question.  So far, I have not been able to irrevocably say yes, I would.  There's always doubt that I am too weak.  I know with God all things are possible, and God works through my weakness, so am I doubting that God would work through me?  I believe that God would become my strength.  I have to forget my doubts, lay them aside, and walk forward in the truth that God is my rock and my salvation.

Wisdom

Wisdom.  Proverbs has been speaking about how important wisdom is and that we should seek it, and that the wise will prosper.  It's not an easy thing to be wise.  Today I will be praying that God gives me wisdom for all of life's circumstances.

Salvation by death from death

Key verse
Hebrews 9:26 - "But now he [Christ] has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself."

Isaiah
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." (43:1-3)

When I first read this passage, I was encouraged by God's salvation.  Then I read it again, and realized that God's salvation comes when we need saving.  Ultimately, we need saving from sin, which he has done for us.  Beyond that, we need saving when we are walking through those trials of life.  We will see terrible times in our day - that's the reality of sin's effect on our world.  Even amidst the suffering, however, God will give us the strength to withstand the evil and be saved.

Proverbs

Verses 4 and 5 of chapter 26 require some thinking in order to make sense of them.  After reading a few things from Clarke's commentary, I have discovered that you have to look at each verse a little differently.  In the first case, you don't want to answer a fool according to his folly in the sense that you don't want to stoop to his level of not making sense, because then you won't make any sense yourself.  However, you do want to use his folly (v. 5) to point out his illogical thinking so that he will hopefully see that he doesn't make any sense.

Hebrews

How did blood and death come to be the means by which we are saved?  What was it about the tree of good and evil that made death the only means to overcome death?  That is, in the Old Testament, other animals had to die to save the Jews from an eternal death, and now Christ had to die in the place of those animals to save all of humankind.  Is this an answerable question, or is it just the way things are?

The infinite God

After a long and exhausting weekend, I am back to the grind.  However, today's post will be a little shorter than normal as I am still recovering.

That passage of Isaiah was uplifting.  The language used reminded me of how great God is and how lowly we are.  In this sense, it was not uplifting, I suppose, but it was still an encouragement to me.  God is so great, so knowledgeable, the essence of everything we know and everything we are, and he is in communication with us, in a relationship with each of us!  This infinite God is our friend.  When I actually sit down and think about this, it's hard to understand, and yet it is so amazing.  I hope today's passage in Isaiah was an encouragement to you as well.  Don't get too proud about your position in life, but take pride in the fact that the God who marked the foundations of the earth and can hold the dust of this earth in a basket has reached out to you personally and is waiting for your response.

Are you obsolete and aging?

Key verse
Hebrews 8:13 - "By calling this covenant 'new,' he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear."

I chose this as today's key verse because it speaks to our technological world.  Our techno-gizmos keep changing and the old ones become obsolete and we never hear of them again.  How biblical!?

A little rest...

Key verse
Proverbs 24:33-34 - "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man."

We can't take this verse out of context because God has decreed for us a day of rest, and we should not feel guilty taking it.  But when hard work is needed, let's get to it.