Category: Uncategorized

Thank you for following BibleJournal.net.  To date, we have 817 journal entries with more than 48,000 views!  Our focus, has been reading entire chapters so that we can experience the Bible in its entirety.  Starting tomorrow, we are going to make a small change.  Our daily scripture reading is going to be drastically reduced.  The goal is intimacy rather than broad understanding.  Our topic for the next 45 days is the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7.  As always, you will continue to receive a link to the day’s reading along with a journal entry from one of our 12 writers.

I hope you enjoy the new format.  Either way, we would love to hear from you.  Leave a comment, or email me directly at bj@bjarmstrong.com.

Blessings,
BJA

2 Samuel 24, Psalms 56

Contracts often include language like “valuable consideration.”  It identifies the price, or the cost (not necessarily in monetary terms) that is required for the exchange of goods.  The amount of consideration provided is dependent upon the item changing hands.  To complete the contract, both parties must agree that the compensation offered will result in full payment for whatever is received. 

Today, in 2 Samuel 24, David receives something incredibly valuable from God.  Forgiveness.  In return, God asks for consideration.  He sends his servant Gad to ask David for the payment.  In this case, David’s payment takes the form of a burnt offering.  Gad instructs him to, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”  Araunah the farmer, attempts to give David the parts for the altar, the wood, even the oxen from his own stock.  But, David knew better.  He knew that any offering without personal cost, would not be an offering at all.  It is, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it, “cheap grace.”  Without payment, David knows that his agreement with God would be null and void.  

So, how is it that we receive forgiveness without a costly sacrifice? the answer is that we don’t.  Thankfully, the full price was paid, for us, in advance.  According to Hebrews 10:14, Jesus is our “single offering” and  “he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”  What does that mean?  It means that our agreement with God is paid in full.  There is no more consideration due.  It is worth pausing here.  Think about how valuable Jesus’ consideration was.  He effectively paid for all sins, for every person for all time.  It is promised in 1 John 2:1-2.  It says, “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

If the valuable consideration for our sin has already been given, then the only thing remaining is our agreement.  How does that work?  Romans 10:9-10 says that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

2 Samuel 21; Psalm 53

This chapter of Samuel begins with a famine in Israel for over three years, with David finally asking the Lord why the famine is taking place in his kingdom. God answers that Saul  had broken a vow (or promise, or covenant) by killing the Gibeonites (see Joshua 9 for the origin of that vow – note that the Israelites were tricked into making the promise, but still God expects them to keep it!).

David approached the Gibeonites on how he can correct the broken promise. They demanded seven of Saul’s sons to be killed as an atonement. David had no choice but to deliver and did as they requested (except for Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, due to yet another promise). It was sad but necessary to stop the famine. After this, David went and retrieved the bones of Saul and Jonathan and buried them in the country of Benjamin with Saul’s father Kish.

The chapter ends with the Philistines going to war against Israel. In the battle, David grew faint and was nearly killed by the sons of the giants. Israel decided then that David should not come out to battle any more, so the light of Israel is not quenched – in other words, they didn’t want to lose their king because he was fighting in wars.  [Incidentally, in this war a man named Elhanan killed Goliath’s brother, and David’s nephew Jonathan killed a giant of Gath who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot.]

David was no stranger to covenants with God, or man, for that matter. The 400 year old covenant broken by Saul caused famine and tragedy in David’s kingdom, even though David was not the one to break the promise. It is a good reminder that God takes our covenants seriously. The promises we make to each other, and the promises we make to God, are known by Him and remembered by Him.  It is comforting to think of that aspect when we think of the good things God has promised us in his covenants with us, but scary to think of that in light of all of the broken promises we see between each other and between ourselves and the Lord.

I cannot think of broken covenants without thinking of the covenant of marriage. We all know, some of us with intimate and first-hand knowledge, someone who is either divorced or going through a divorce. Regardless of who and/or what is to blame, the broken promises between two people that had promised to be together “till death do us part” does not affect only those two people. The children, extended families and even friends are all impacted by the separation of two people once married. Yet, even through the sorrow that follows divorce, we do not have to be separated from God. We can still seek forgiveness for the promises broken, we can offer forgiveness for the betrayal, and set an example to others of mercy and grace through a difficult time. Like David, we can seek out God’s will in the aftermath of the brokenness.

Father, thank you for being a loving God. Thank you for never breaking your promises and covenants with us. Please open our eyes and hearts to your word and allow it to speak to us where we are in our lives today. Help me to be faithful like you are faithful, keeping my promises. God, if there is any promise I have broken, please help me to see that and to make it right. Please help me to turn to you in times of trouble, and to reflect your grace and mercy to those around me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Readings: 2 Samuel 20 and Psalm 52

res·to·ra·tion

ˌrestəˈrāSH(ə)n/

noun

noun: restoration

 

• the action of returning something to a former owner, place, or condition.
• the process of repairing or renovating a building, work of art, vehicle, etc., so as to restore it to its original condition.
• the reinstatement of a previous practice, right, custom, or situation.
• a model or drawing representing the supposed original form of an extinct animal, ruined building, etc
• the return of a hereditary monarch to a throne, a head of state to government, or a regime to power.

I wanted to start with this word today to give us some inspiration for the new year. It’s my third year as your Sunday night blogger and therefore my third Easter post! I like to think of the Monday after Easter as the beginning of a new year. The spiritual energy of the Easter season is far more captivating for me than the celebration of Christmas. We’ve just finished celebrating Christ’s resurrection and perhaps more importantly, we’ve mourned his death. I had the opportunity to be on the stage side of Eastview’s Night of Worship on Good Friday. As we lifted our hands and voices in worship, we witnessed hundreds of people literally cry out to God. We heard the sound of the nails being driven through Jesus’ hands and feet. We wept for his pain and suffering on our behalf. That sound of a hammer pounding a nail was so real, so palpable it stuck with me. Tonight, as I read through 2 Samuel 20 and prepared to write to you, that sound came right back to me. As we hear about the Sheba rebels trying to overthrow David we’re suddenly exposed to some really graphic details. First there’s the little encounter with Joab and Amasa:

“When they were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing a soldier’s garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened on his thigh, and as he went forward it fell out. ⁹ And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. ¹⁰ But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab’s hand. So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died.” 2 Samuel 20:8-10

 I know right. Entrails. Not exactly the lily white Easter message you were expecting today. None of this seems very Godly and honestly it’s tough to read. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t get any better! Just a few paragraphs later, Joab is pursuing Sheba in order to restore justice and peace among the tribes of Isreal. A wise woman stops him from destroying the city by promising she will have Sheba killed and his head tossed over the city wall.

“And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.” ²² Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, every man to his home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.” 2 Samuel 20:21-22

 When I first began studying this scripture I really worked at spinning it into a beautiful celebratory Easter message. But the word of God can’t be spun. It isn’t meant to be spun. Joab’s story is messy. His murderous act went unpunished and he went on to be the king of Jerusalem. The world we live in today is the same. There are acts of violence in our city and there are leaders that rise to power despite a sinful past. But there is also grace. 2 Samuel 20 is really about the restoring the stability of the 12 tribes of Israel. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we too have the opportunity for restoration. We can begin our new year by identifying the structural cracks in our spiritual life that need repair. There might be a need for demolition and rebuilding but through Jesus we have the tools we need. Sometimes the details of our human lives are graphic, our truth isn’t always Easter white. By returning to prayer and restoring our relationship with Jesus we can be made whole.

Happy Easter New Year!

 

 

 

Today’s reading:  2 Samuel 17, Psalm 49

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Ephesians 4:31-32).

Bitterness is defined as anger and disappointment resulting from unfair treatment; resentment. The definition of malice is the intention or desire to do evil; ill will.  Our scripture in 2 Samuel 17 today is a great illustration of the destruction caused when people hang on to bitterness and eventually allow it to turn into malice.

Earlier in the reign of King David, Ahithophel had been one of David’s most trusted advisers. In 2 Samuel chapters 15 and 16 this week, however, we saw him begin to take a lead part in Absalom’s revolt against David. What happened to turn Ahithophel from a trusted advisor in to an enemy?  Bitterness and malice.  In addition to being the King’s counselor, Ahithophel was also Bathsheba’s grandfather.  Because of David’s adulterous behavior with Bathsheba, his arrangement of Uriah’s death, and the family heartache it caused, Ahithophel was bitter with David.

In 2 Samuel 17, Ahithophel turned his bitterness into a plan to kill David.  Instead of just executing the plan, Absalom decided to get a second opinion from Hushai.  While Ahithophel’s plan was clearly more logical and would have resulted in fewer casualties, Absalom didn’t choose it.  Why?  Verse 14 tells us the Lord intervened in order to frustrate Ahithophel’s plan and bring disaster on Absalom.  What Absalom failed to recognize was that King David was still God’s chosen leader, and Hushai was still loyal to him.

When Ahithophel recognized that Hushai had outwitted him by getting Absalom to accept a plan that ultimately gave David the advantage, he foresaw the Absalom’s defeat. Verse 23 tells us that Ahithophel responded by going home, getting his things in order, and then hanging himself.  Ahithophel’s bitterness provoked him to create a plan to kill David, but in the end, Ahithophel was the one who ended up paying the ultimate price.

The moral of the story – God’s plans will always prevail.

Do you sometimes feel like you haven’t been treated fairly? I know I do.  Even though I’ve tried to do what was right, it isn’t uncommon for me to feel like I’ve gotten the short end of the stick.  Fortunately I have never found myself being bitter to the point of plotting murder, but overcoming bitterness and resentment after feeling like a victim of dishonesty and manipulation is really hard.  Taking the high road and choosing to forgive over harboring bitterness and seeking some kind of revenge is God’s plan, but often a place I cannot easily get to on my own.

Fortunately we serve an incredibly patient God who loves us and has our best interest in mind.  We can forgive others because he forgave us first.  We can love others because he loved us first.  Hanging on to bitterness and resentment eventually results in self-destruction.  Today, will you let go and trust God to help you make a different choice?  We may not have clarity on what every step of the journey will bring, but the final outcome is definitely certain.  God’s plans will prevail.  Always.

Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall (Psalm 55:22).