One Year Bible - October 21, 2010

JEREMIAH 37:1 - 38:28                                                                                                         

PRISONER:  Instead of trusting God, Judah had made a secret alliance with Egypt against Assyria, even tho' Egypt had already been marked for destruction by God.  During the Babylonian (Assyrian) siege, when the Babylonians had temporarily withdrawn, Jeremiah tried to go home to Anatoth. He was caught trying to get out of the City by a Jewish sentry, who suspected him of being a traitor, in cahoots with the Babylonians.  Later (chap 38) wicked men lowered Jeremiah into a DUNGEON (a hole in the ground in the palace courtyard). As Judah and Zedekiah sank deeper and deeper into sin, Jeremiah sank in the miry pit without food or water or adequate clothing (38:6). A boulder was placed over the hole and he was left to die. (38:7-13): An old Black man (Ethiopian) pulled him out. King Zedekiah (a weak, puppet king) allowed Jeremiah to be under house arrest.  Jeremiah's final speech to the King was to beg him to surrender to Babylon, but the king refused.  However, he did protect Jeremiah in the prison court until the city fell.

RESPONSE: Going to prison for telling the truth - now there's a bad idea. It sort of does away with the teaching that when we obey God our lives will go smoothly.  However, when we obey God, our lives will not be boring.  Being saved is an adventure!  Darkness always gnashes on Light.  For some reason, they just can't leave us alone!  They are afraid of us.

1 TIMOTHY 6:1-21                                                                                                              

"FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF THE FAITH":  Godliness does not come naturally. It isn't even a "fruit of the Spirit".  Godliness must be pursued and rigorously trained into us (1 Tim 4:7-8).  And so 1 Timothy tells us how to train to be godly by fighting the fight of faith.  A life of godliness is one that lives to please God, in the fear of God, and in submission to all He says. (please see entries for Oct 16-21)

CHAPTER 6: The key to a life of godliness is CONTENTMENT. (6:6)  Both Phil 4:11 and Heb 13:5 tells us to be "content with such things as ye have" and furthermore "in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content".  The word "contentment" means to be fully satisfied (to have enough) in our inner man. It is a habit of mind.   Therefore, we are NOT MOVED by envy, greed, anxiety, or discontent, strife, suspicions.  We have Jesus, (Heb 13:5; 2Co 9:8) and He is enough (being the Source of Life).  We may enjoy life freely as we please the Lord (1 Tim 6:17).  We trust God, not ourselves, not money, or the things that money can buy.

RESPONSE:   I can remember attending a church where if you had money and dressed real uppity, it was assumed that you were real spiritual.  After all, God had "given" you that wealth. Only wealthy people were on the church Board, because if you had money, it was assumed you had knowledge and wisdom, too.   Eccl 9:16 says that a "poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard."  No one listens to a poor man.  You can be rich and still not be content.  Contentment is a settled HABIT in the heart that Life from God and in God is SUFFICIENT, no matter what.  Contentment is a choice. A habit of mind.

PSALM 89:38-52                                                                                                                   
Even if our present circumstances contradict what God has promised, God's Word and God's Covenant are still absolutely reliable. Therefore, I must reject anything/anyone that: (Psa 89:38-52)
(1) Weakens my confidence in God's sufficiency.
(2) Distorts my understanding of God's ways.
(3) Dulls my discernment or weighs me down.
(4) Is a reliance on a substitute or a counterfeit for God.
(5) Takes me captive to the world's systems.

The sun and the moon are witnesses to God's faithfulness.  V. 30-31 speak of God's law, God's judgments, God's statutes, God's commandments:  Their purpose is to teach us the will and ways of God.  To break them, or not keep them, is to walk contrary to God and to deny His authority.  The misery we feel is not because God is punishing us, but is because we are walking in opposition to the way things really are. 

PROVERBS 25:28                                                                                                           
SELF-DISCIPLINE:  When we DO NOT use self-control (denying our "lives" - our SELVES), we are vulnerable to our enemies: the world, the flesh and the devil. We become fair game for something else to control us.  Self-discipline is another term for the crucifixion of "the flesh with its affections and lusts".  (Gal 5:24)  When what we WANT dominates our lives and we blindly follow the impulse of our unbridled flesh, we are plundered and destroyed by our own selfishness.