With My Own Eyes

Here is today’s Bible reading:  Exodus 28:1-43; Matthew 25:31-26:13; Psalm 31:9-18; Proverbs 8:12-13.

Proverbs 8:13 (NIV)
To fear the Lord is to hate evil;
I hate pride and arrogance,
evil behavior and perverse speech.

Most of the time I dislike sin.  But sometimes I like it.  But how often do I HATE it?  Do I try to see how close I can get to the line of sin without crossing it, or do I run away from that line as fast as I can?  I can’t love God and love sin.  In what areas have I become too tolerant and too comfortable with sin?

Beautiful rain in Ojai today.

Here is today’s Bible reading: Exodus 26:1-27:21; Matthew 25:1-30; Psalm 31:1-8
Proverbs 8:1-11.

Matthew 25:13 (NIV)
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

What does it mean to “keep watch?”  The two parables that surround this verse talk about living your life in such a way that you expect the master to return at any moment.  There is a state of readiness.  Life is lived with the long view of eternity and not the short view of instant gratification.  How is God challenging you to keep watch?  In what way is the temporal distracting you from the eternal?  Are you living today as if He could return at any moment?

Here is today’s Bible reading:  Exodus 23:14-25:40; Matthew 24:29-51; Psalm 30:1-12; Proverbs 7:24-27.

Psalm 30:5 (NIV) weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

It is guaranteed for God’s children that their weeping will not last forever.  This season of darkness will pass and the light of morning will come.  With the change of season comes renewed joy.  If you find yourself in a time of weeping, hold on.  Morning is coming, and so is your joy.

Here is today’s Bible reading:  Exodus 21:22-23:13; Matthew 24:1-28; Psalm 29:1-11; Proverbs 7:6-23.

Exodus 23:4-5 (NIV)
“If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him. [5] If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it.

Sounds very Sermon on the Mount like doesn’t it?  Matthew 5:44 (NIV) But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.  Who is your “enemy”?  How will you love them this week?  Will you begin by praying for them?

Here is today’s Bible reading:  Exodus 19:16-21:21; Matthew 23:13-39; Psalm 28:1-9; Proverbs 7:1-5.

Exodus 19:16-22 (NIV)
On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. [17] Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. [18] Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, [19] and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
[20] The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up [21] and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. [22] Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”

Let us not become too familiar, too cozy, too comfortable with God.  He is holy, holy, holy.  Let us not forget His holiness and may we treat Him with the reverence He deserves.

Here is today’s Bible reading:  Exodus 17:8-19:15; Matthew 22:34-23:12; Psalm 27:7-14; Proverbs 6:27-35

Psalm 27:14 (NIV)
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.

Waiting is so hard.  We want it now. But if we always got what we wanted when we wanted it we would be spoiled, immature brats.  God is a better parent than that.  He knows we need to grow in maturity, so He requires waiting.  Specifically, He commands us to wait with our focus on Him.  While we wait, He grows us.  Don’t despise the waiting.

How did we get to Thursday already?  I’m looking forward to a good day of study in preparation for Sunday’s message on Romans 12:1-2.

Here is today’s Bible reading: Exodus 15:19-17:7; Matthew 22:1-33; Psalm 27:1-6; Proverbs 6:20-26.

Matthew 22:29 (NIV)
Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

How true this is today.  The topical, thematic, felt-need, seeker driven preaching of the day has produced entire churches that are ignorant of God’s Word.  Too many congregations are a mile wide and an inch deep.  We desperately need a return to the Word of God.  It is no coincidence that the absence of the Word goes hand-in-hand with an absence of God’s power.  The measure of the presence of God and His power in a church is not a crowd hat experiences the warm fuzzy sensation that accompanies a well-performed praise song.  Rather, it is in the radical transformation of lives.  The lost are found.  Sinners become saints.  Those in bondage are set free.  May we truly know the Scriptures and the power of God.

“Moses turned aside to look.  There seemed to be a cause-and-effect relationship between Moses’ willingness to pay attention and God’s willingness to speak.  “When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush” (Exodus 3:4).  God spoke because Moses stopped, paused, noticed, turned aside! (61).”

Here is today’s Bible reading:  Exodus 13:17-15:18; Matthew 21:23-46; Psalm 26:1-12; Proverbs 6:16-19

Psalm 26:2 (NIV)
Test me, O Lord, and try me,
examine my heart and my mind;

Part of my journey for the past year has been about my heart.  God isn’t interested in us just “behaving.”  He wants us to have hearts that are truly like His.  Mine is not.  I knew that.  He knew that.  And so, He has begun the process of spiritual open heart surgery to change that.  The crazy thing about this procedure is that you have to go on living while it is happening.  That is no small challenge.  But it does make you rely on Him even more.   I look forward to having a heart that is pleasing in His sight.

One month down!  Well done.  I love the fact that people are talking about what they are reading.

I came across another helpful resource recently:  bible.is.  It contains text and also the Word read aloud.  There is also an app for your smartphone.

Here is today’s Bible reading:  Exodus 12:14-13:16; Matthew 20:29-21:22; Psalm 25:16-22; Proverbs 6:12-15.

Matthew 20:30-31 (NIV)
Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
[31] The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

When you are desperate you don’t care about your pride anymore.  You don’t care about what others think.  You shout, cry out, and make an ugly scene until you receive what you need.  I wonder if we would receive more from the Lord if we cried out with this same sense of desperation found in the blind men, if we stopped caring about what others think and only cared about what God thinks.