Show Notes
Welcome to Day 52 of Reading the Bible Cover to Cover in 365 Days!
Let us pray:
O Lord, help us lean into You and Your Word today. Help us learn more about You and more about Your ways. Help us receive more of Your love and grace as we read about Your great love for us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let’s see what’s happening in Luke chapter 8!
Jesus is teaching and preaching in many different towns and villages. If you have ever wondered how Jesus was cared for financially in His ministry, we are told part of that here in verses 2-3. Women who were cured of evil spirits and disease, women from Herod’s household, and many others “ministered to and provided for Him and them out of their property and personal belongings.” There were some very – what we could call – high society women financing Jesus’ ministry. They followed Him closely and were so very grateful for His healing them.
Then Jesus goes on to tell the parable about the sower who sowed seeds. We read another rendition of this parable in previous gospels. I want to point out verse 15 here in Luke. “But as for the [seed] in the good soil, these are [the people] who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in a just (noble, virtuous) and worthy heart, and steadily bring forth fruit with patience.” With patience. We are a high-speed culture and expect most things to happen fast. However, this verse reminds us that the fruit of the Spirit will happen over time – with patience. We can expect to wait for God to do the work in us we need to have done so that He can use us as He has planned. We can also pray for patience while we wait. We actually need to pray for patience because the fruit hasn’t appeared yet. So, we make mistakes – the same mistakes we’ve made over and over. But with time – time spent with God, time spent in His Word, time learning about God – He changes our hearts, minds, and then finally our actions. So, give yourself grace and time to become all that God desires for you. This leads us to verse 18 which says, “Be careful therefore how you listen. For to him who has [spiritual knowledge] will more be given; and from him who does not have [spiritual knowledge], even what he thinks and guesses and supposes that he has will be taken away.” As we learn more about God and His ways, He teaches us more. Lean into that understanding – the understanding that God is equipping you more and more every day.
An important part of this chapter is when Jesus was in the boat with His disciples and a whirlwind caused the boat to fill with water. The disciples woke Jesus who rebuked the wind, and it calmed right down. Of course, the disciples were frantic when they thought they were perishing. I’m sure we would have been too. However, Jesus questioned them about their faith in Him – about their lack of confidence in Him. He was physically with them and yet they still didn’t fully understand the power He operated in. Let us keep our eyes on the Lord during our storms. Easy to say, more difficult to do. He is a God Who calms the storm and asks us to stay in faith and have confidence in Him while in the storm.
One of my very favorite passages is at the end of the chapter when a man pleads for Jesus to save his only daughter. Jesus was on His way when He was interrupted by the woman with a life-altering blood flow which she’d had for 12 years. This also meant she was considered unclean for 12 years according to the Law. She must have been destitute in ways we cannot imagine for she was unable to have human contact or enter into the Temple. Her belief in Jesus’ ability to heal her gave her the courage she needed to get close enough to Him for her to touch Him. She believed if she simply touched Him, she would be made well. And she was. In verse 48 Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith (your confidence and trust in Me) has made you well! Go (enter) into peace (untroubled undisturbed well-being).” Here it is again – faith, confidence in and trust in Jesus. We read and reread these stories – and Jesus’ response to people to remind us the power He has – the power to heal us and our responsibility in it. Our responsibility to believe in Him, have faith in Him, be confident in Him, and trust in Him. Getting back to where Jesus was going – He was going to heal a daughter – a daughter who had actually died while Jesus was on His way. If we haven’t already fully seen this in this chapter, here is another reminder. When He and the father of the daughter heard she was dead, Jesus said, “Do not be seized with alarm or struck with fear; simply believe [in Me as able to do this], and she shall be made well.” When Jesus arrived at the house, He put everyone out – everyone who didn’t have the faith that He could bring her back to life. A great demonstration about how we should stay strong in our faith – hang out with those who have it. Communing with people affects us, so we need to be careful who we spend time with. Of course, Jesus brought this little girl back to life because that’s Who Jesus is – the giver of life.
Let’s see what Paul is writing about in I Corinthians chapter 8!
Paul is writing about food. Food that had been sacrificed to idols – so-called gods other than the One True God. We have learned that some believers were vegetarians because they didn’t want to eat the meat that had been sacrificed to idols. They felt it was a sin. So, Paul writes to them again with a new perspective. He flavors his advice with love. Verse 2 says, “If anyone imagines that he has come to know and understand much [of divine things, without love], he does not yet perceive and recognize and understand as strongly and clearly, nor has he become as intimately acquainted with anything as he ought or is necessary.” So, he is asking the people to do what they do in love – treat others with love instead of judgment. He goes on in verse 3 – which is underlined in my Bible, “But if one loves God truly [with affectionate reverence prompt obedience, and grateful recognition of His blessing], he is known by God [recognized as worthy of His intimacy and love, and he is owned by Him].” To be known by God. These are precious words. We can be thankful God made a way for us to be worthy of intimacy with Him. That He made a way for us to be His, to be owned by Him and not owned by the world. The world is in direct opposition to God just as it was when Paul was writing to the Corinthian church. Their part, and ours, is to love Him. Love Him with our whole heart, mind, and soul. And how could we not? Verse 6 says, “Yet for us there is [only] one God, the Father, Who is the Source of all things and for Whom we [have life], and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through and by Whom are all things and through and by Whom we [ourselves exist.]” Paul goes on to point out that not all people were filled with all the wisdom and discernment in equal amounts and that some who were younger in their faith could be easily tempted to sin. They just did not have the time they needed to act in the maturity as some of the believers who had grown up in their faith. With that, Paul implores the older ones to not be a snare to the younger ones. For if they tempted someone who was less mature in their faith to sin against their own hearts, then they sinned against Christ, Himself. So, we are to be careful around younger and less mature people in faith so as to not lead them astray – astray in their own minds and hearts.
Let’s see what’s happening in Leviticus chapter 13!
God talks to both Moses and Aaron again. He tells them about leprosy, namely how the priest is supposed to deal with this situation. Notice how many times the word unclean is used in this chapter. Leprosy seemed to be more of an unclean state rather than a disease as the priest was tasked with dealing with it. God gives extremely specific instructions about how to deal with it. If a person was identified with having leprosy, they were put out of camp and only had contact with others who had also been determined to be unclean. It must have been a terrible thing to be banished from the people, the temple, and potentially all things related to God. The Israelites weren’t grown up in their faith, and the unclean would have no further experience or education regarding God. They were outcasts at best. I even wonder how they would have existed in terms of food and all other means of living. Did they take their tent with them? I doubt that was an option since their families would have needed the tent to live in. So, how would they have even survived? A difficult existence at best. When we read about Jesus curing the lepers in the New Testament, I can only imagine their delight as they could live among their people, celebrate together, enter the sanctuary, and do all the things they had been unable to do for however long they were inflicted.
Chapter 14 continues on with leprosy and how to be declared clean when the leprosy was gone. God advises them of all the offerings that need to be made in order for the person to be considered clean.
In verse 34, there is a new distinction – one where God puts the leprosy in someone’s house – literally in the bricks or walls of the house. This distinction is important for 2 reasons. One is that God tells them this for when He gives them the land of Canaan. He is speaking of the future which assures them He still plans to give them the land of milk and honey. Secondly, God says, “I put the disease of leprosy in a house.” God let them know He would be the One Who put the disease in someone’s house. And then He gave them the steps for purification for the house. And the chapter ends with, “This is the law of leprosy.” They were to follow the law God gave them to deal with leprosy exactly as God commanded them.
Let’s see what King David writes about in Psalm 52!
We change course here from yesterday’s psalm of repentance. Here David is not King yet. He is still being pursued by King Saul. And an Edomite went to tell Saul that David had gone into the temple to ask for the showbread for he and his men to eat. He was also given Goliath’s weapon to fight with.
The first part of this psalm shows David’s disdain for the unrighteous actions of those in pursuit of him. Again, imagine you are being pursued unjustly for years, and the ones pursuing you desire your death. David must have been tired. Obviously, he was hungry because he asked for the showbread – bread that was supposed to be untouched or eaten except by the priests. In the last part of the psalm, he writes that he is “like a green olive tree in the house of God.” He trusts in God and the loving-kindness and mercy of God. He offers up thanksgiving to the Lord and knew the Lord had kept him safe. And he ends the psalm waiting, hoping, and expecting in God. He demonstrates so beautifully how we are to act, think, and behave when things are going wrong for us.
Let us pray:
O Lord, thank You for Your Word that gives us examples of how to believe more strongly in You. Thank You for Your servants of past that demonstrate extreme faithfulness in You. Help us follow You more closely. Increase our faith and belief in You, almighty God and Father. In Jesus’ name, amen.