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This is a podcast sharing thoughts and insights for the accompanying the daily reading schedule for the book, Reading the Bible Cover to Cover in 365 Days.
Welcome to day 350 of Reading the Bible Cover to Cover in 365 Days!
Let us pray:
O Lord, thank You for Your Word that teaches us more about You and Your ways. While we will never fully understand this side of heaven, help us learn more of You today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let’s see what Jesus is teaching us in John chapter 15!
Jesus talks about being the Vinedresser. In verse 2, He talks about God pruning us. He said, “He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.” We will never stop being pruned. Even the good things in our lives will be pruned so better fruit can grow. May we hold a little less tightly to everything in our lives and allow God the opportunity to do what He wants. This means letting go when He wants to do something bigger and better in our lives. Everything He does is to glorify Him, so let’s not shrink but His great plan for us.
Verse 4 says, “Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you].” We are greatly blessed to dwell in and with our Savior. Let us lean into Him a little bit more today.
Verse 7 says, “If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.” As Jesus walked the earth, He was vitally connected to God, and God answered every prayer He prayed. May God help us stay even more connected to Jesus and walk solely in His will.
Verse 9 tells us that Jesus loves us just as God loves Jesus. He tells us to abide in His love. In verse 11, Jesus said, “I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing.” As we abide in Him, He abides in us. As we live and dwell in Him, He lives and dwells in us. This is His promise. May we cling tightly to Jesus, and His joy, delight, and gladness will be in us.
In verses 12 and 17, He commands us to love one another. Again, we see repetition and should pay close attention to His words. He loves us, and we, in turn, are asked to love others.
Let’s see how the story of Jonah ends today. We will start with chapter 3!
God told Jonah to go to Nineveh again and preach to the people. This time, Jonah obeyed the Lord. We read about how large Nineveh was. It was sixty miles in circumference, which was quite large for those days and times. As he preached about God overthrowing the city for its sin, they proclaimed a fast and wore sackcloth to show they were in mourning for their sin. Verse 5 tells us they all participated. Even the king laid his robe down, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. He proclaimed a fast for all the people and all the flocks. They were to eat no food and drink no water. Verse 10 tells us that God saw them and their repentance and revoked the sentence on them.
In chapter 4, Jonah was upset – extremely upset. When we read about him fleeing to the farthest place from Ninevah, we were tempted to think it was because he was afraid to deliver the message he thought he’d be killed for giving. However, in this chapter, we see it was more than this. He didn’t want to see God’s mercy on Assyria. We need to remember that these people had been the enemies of Israel and would continue to be. In verse 3, we read that Jonah was so against the Ninevites receiving the mercy of God that he wanted to die. This is a serious upset! Instead of God pouring out His wrath on Jonah for being mad that God had given him this task, the Lord simply asked him a question? “Do you do well to be angry?” I’m sure we can all think of instances where we thought God wasn’t fair with us, others or even that life isn’t fair. Even with Jonah’s ill feelings, God was still kind. He asked Jonah a question to help him inquire into his own heart about his thinking. Then, God made a plant to cover Jonah in the extreme heat, for which Jonah was exceedingly grateful. This book teaches us that God is for us, He wants to protect us, and He will teach us along the way. God took away the protection of the plant from Jonah, and then Jonah wanted to die again. We see his humanness in this story. Like him, we want to be comfortable. Like him, we may run from God if He gives us a task we don’t want to do. And, like him, we may not think people deserve the mercy of God because they have done unthinkable things. But God shows us His mercy doesn’t just begin and end with us. His mercy is for everyone without regard to their sins. We all sin. We all fall short. We all miss the mark. And we are not the judge about whether someone else’s sin is worse than ours. In God’s eyes, all sin is the same. Thankfully, Jesus’ blood covers all of us, not just some of us. May the Lord soften our hearts, help us see others through His eyes, and help us be obedient to Him.
Let’s see what we can learn from Proverbs 19 today!
There are so many nuggets of wisdom in this chapter. There are a few verses I’ve underlined. Find some that relate to you in this season of your life and write them down. Here are mine:
Verse 2 “Desire without knowledge is not good, and to be overhasty is to sin and miss the mark.” I need to read this often because I am often in a hurry. Slowing down is wisdom.
Verse 8 says, “He who gains Wisdom loves his own life; he who keeps understanding shall prosper and find good.” May we keep seeking wisdom, my friend.
Verse 17 says, “He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and that which he has given He will repay to him.” There are so many verses in the Bible that are referenced here, which show us this is something to pay attention to and meditate on. God desires we be good to the poor.
Verse 21 says, “Many plans are in the man’s mind, but it is the Lord’s purpose for him that will stand.” Again, there are numerous verses referenced here. May we surrender our plans to the Lord and allow Him to do what He plans to with our lives. It’s an everyday and sometimes minute-by-minute process, my friend.
Verse 23 reminds us, “The reverent, worshipful fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it rests satisfied; he cannot be visited with [actual] evil.” May we praise and worship the Lord.
Let us pray:
O Lord, thank You for Your Word that continues to teach, mold, and keep us humble. May we sit in Your presence and receive the messages You have for us today. Keep our hearts soft toward You, Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.