One Year Bible, March 24

DEUTERONOMY 2:1-3:29                                                                              

Chapter 2 covers the journey from Sinai to Kadesh. The whole book of Deuteronomy covers only one month - the 11th month of the 40th year. So it starts with a remembrance of the faithfulness of God. God was with them the 40 years in the wilderness and they "had lacked nothing."                                                                                              

Zared: You can see the Land from there! The new generation are seriously going to do this. In 2:14 we find that the actual wandering was 38 years. That experience actually becomes the Bible definition of "38". The NT reference is John 5:5 where the lame man sat by the pool of Bethesda for 38 years with excuses. The actual reason for his failure was unbelief, fear and disobedience.

Giants:   Fear of giants will keep you from your inheritance. At the entrance to the new thing are the giants:  Anakim, Emims, Horims, and Zamzummin.  One of their beds was 13 feet long! Giants are an exaggeration of our difficulties! They are an excuse for refusing to grow up and go on with God. Jesus Himself quoted Deuteronomy against Satan.  Maybe it's time we did it too. 

RESPONSE:  Mom used to say that an excuse was "a skin of a reason, stuffed with a lie". There really are NO excuses for refusing to do what God said - excuses are a cover-up for unbelief. Delayed obedience is disobedience. So, it's time to just do it!

LUKE 6:12-38                                                                                                   
Blessings & Woes:   Blessings are pronounced on suffering believers, as happy people, though the world pities us. We not only bear things, but we rejoice and leap for joy IN them as a sign of our triumph!   What happens to us here is so far from depriving us of happiness, that it actually adds to it!   Woes are pronounced against prospering sinners as miserable people, though the world envies them. They receive all they're getting in this life, with "woe" to follow.

Enemies:   FAR from vengeance - we must actually do GOOD to people who hate us! Remember the (Phil 2) rules:
(1) Never defend yourself.
(2) Never demands your rights.
(3) Never complain.

But even more than forgiveness, we must show MERCY, which is what will be "given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over" --- not money! To love those who deserve it, does not set us apart as Christians! Even the heathen do that because there is nothing self-sacrificial about it.

WHY should we be merciful to people who hate us? Two reasons: (v.35)
(1) "For He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful."
(2) "Your reward shall be great."

RESPONSE:   Boy! I needed this reminder. The name of the game is "self-sacrifice". It is far better to be a sacrifice than a victim.   We can lay down our lives, or have them taken.   It's all in how we look at it.

PSALM 67:1-7                                                                                                  
Kingdom Psalm #7 - The Nations: God's desire is to bless all the nations on the earth and then "all the ends of the earth shall fear Him."

PROVERBS 11:27                                                                                          
Looking for trouble: Actually, the meaning here is that people who are always doing kindnesses and good things for others, are liked; and those who are always making trouble for others,  make more trouble for themselves.

RESPONSE:   Be sure you will find trouble if you go looking for it.  If no one ever does nice things for you, maybe it's because you never reach out with kindness to others.   Maybe you are like I used to be - I was just too much trouble.   If someone was nice to me, I wondered what they wanted.   If they complemented me, I thought they were lying.   If they gave me something, I refused to take it.   After awhile, people quit trying.  No wonder I was unhappy.  I looked for, and expected trouble, and I got it.   BUT THAT CAN BE TURNED AROUND.