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Day 120 of Reading the Bible Cover to Cover in 365 days commentary, insights and thoughts. If you would like to follow along with the book offered exclusively on Amazon, please refer to https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Bible-Cover-365Days/dp/B0B6XSNMY6/ref=mp_s_a_1_90
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 120 of Reading the Bible Cover to Cover in 365 Days!
Let us pray:
O Lord, thank You for the wisdom in Your Word. Pour Your wisdom into our hearts as we read Your Word. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let’s see what’s happening in Mark chapter 3!
Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath. He was angered and grieved at the hardening of the Pharisees’ hearts. Their main focus was to catch Him doing something against their Law so they could find an accusation worthy enough to put Him to death. Well, we all feel judged and scrutinized at times. Jesus must have felt this way almost all the time. His enemies were constantly watching Him to bring about His eventual death. Let us pray the Lord keeps our hearts soft toward Him so we don’t fall into the enemies’ trap as did the Pharisees. Let us also know our Savior suffered the same kind of wrongs we do. He understands our pain and comes to our aid.
He was healing so many people then that His notoriety went up throughout the region, and people everywhere tried to simply touch His garment to receive a healing. This must have been quite a spectacle – one that may be somewhat like our modern-day celebrities who need bodyguards to protect them. Jesus even asked His disciples to have a boat ready and waiting in case the people were to press into Him so much that He needed to get away from the crowd.
Later He named His twelve disciples and gave them authority to heal the sick and drive out demons. He was going to send them out preach. Judas was even named among these twelve, so we have to assume Jesus gave him this power as well. Imagine giving your best secrets and gifts to someone who you knew would betray you ending in your death. This is Who Jesus was. He always gave His best.
Then Jesus was accused of being possessed by demons because of His teaching – even by some of His kinsmen. He told some parables illustrating how this could not be true. And He warned them about blaspheming the Holy Spirit. We have read about this before, so we know He was warning them about saying something that would negate them from ever entering the kingdom of heaven. They were getting very close to this stage.
Let’s see what the author of Hebrews is writing about in chapter 5!
He writes about priests who were appointed to offer sacrifices for the sins of others and themselves as we’ve read about in the Old Testament.
Jesus was also appointed to not only be a priest, but He was appointed to be a High Priest. The High Priest forever. Verse 6 says, “You are a Priest [appointed] forever after the order (with the rank) of Melchizedek.” Psalm 110:4 states the same.
Pay attention to verse 7 where Jesus gives reverence to God, the Father.
In verse 8, we read He suffered.
And in verse 9 we read, “And, [His completed experience] making Him perfectly [equipped], he became the Author and Source of eternal salvation to all those who give heed and obey Him.”
And then the writer tells the people that they had become dull in their spiritual walk. The goal was to grow people up in their faith so they could teach others, and yet the people still needed instruction instead of being the instructors. He tells them they are not experienced or skilled “in the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action), for he is a mere infant (not able to talk yet)!” They weren’t yet able to discern the difference between good and evil. Let us pray that God imparts more of His wisdom into our hearts. It takes intention to lean into the Word of God and continue to read and learn more of His ways. A huge congratulations to you, friend, for doing this day after day.
Let’s see what’s happening in I Samuel chapter 7!
The ark of the Lord was brought into the house of Abinadab, and Eleazor was determined to have charge of the ark. The ark remained there for about one hundred years – throughout Samuel’s judgeship, King Saul’s reign, and will into Kind David’s reign.
Twenty years after the ark was brought to this location, all the tribes of the Israelites finally repented to the Lord. They gave up their false gods as Samuel told them to do, and then all fasted and met at Mizpah. Remember, they were still under the Philistine’s hand, but God had a plan to release them because they returned to Him.
The Lord spoke and caused thunder which confused the Philistines, and they were defeated by the Israelites. They withdrew and didn’t enter into Israelite territory throughout the days of Samuel.
In verse 8 Samuel made his sons judges over Israel, however, they took bribes and perverted justice. As Samuel got older, the people told him his sons were doing wrong and asked for a king. They wanted a king like other nations had to rule over them and fight for them.
Samuel was deeply grieved and went to the Lord with their plea. God told him to not be grieved for it was Himself that should be grieving. They were asking God to give up His kingship, His leadership over them. The Lord told Samuel to tell them all that would happen if they had a king – all the negative things like they would have to give up their best crops for the king, their best land for the king, their money, women, servants, and etc. But they still wanted a king appointed to rule over them.
Psalms 120-134 are called psalms of ascension because they were sung when the people were on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate their three annual feasts. Jerusalem was on high ground. The psalms were also sung on the steps of the temple – one psalm for each step.
Psalm 120 was a psalm of distress asking the Lord for deliverance. The psalmist writes about desiring peace but the peoples and nations he resides next to want war instead. Verses 6-7 say, “My life has too long had its dwelling with him who hates peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.” These words could have just as well been written in modern-day times. Let us seek peace and pray peace over the world.
Let us pray:
O Lord, thank You for showing us more about You and Your Son today. Thank You for sending Him to save us from our sins. May we be forgiven for our sins, Lord, and be fully restored to You. May we put You back as our King and may our hearts be ruled by You. Keep our hearts soft toward You and keep us seeking You all the days of our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.