May 20 Bible Reading

Matthew 4

Jesus’ example of resistance to temptation models for us what our response should be to sin.  He quotes the Word.  We should store God’s Word in our hearts, so that we might be able to fight against temptation when it arises in our lives.  When Jesus calls someone, the commitment is large, but these men did so.  I want that kind of confidence.  They left all that they had ever known to follow someone they had never met.

Psalm 9-11

Psalm 9 challenges me to recount the incredible things that God has done in my life.  I notice that not only does David remember the acts that God has done, but he also remembers who God is.  He writes that God is a stronghold and that He is above the nations.  We must recognize who God is, not only what He’s done.  David then realizes that God deserves our praise for who He is and what He has done.  In Psalm 10, the writer cries out in his oppression.  I too have felt that the good guy never wins, and it seems like the wrong doers are never punished.  The psalmist eventually comes to the place of recognizing that the Lord is King forever.  God is sovereign and in control.  Whatever seems wrong in your life is a part of a plan bigger than you.  He then writes that the Lord does, in fact, listen to the afflicted.  We are not without a listening Counselor in times of trouble.  David, in Psalm 11, even in the midst of people telling him that there is no hope, has complete confidence in God, because He is greater than man.  David knows that God is on His throne in heaven.  David knows that God controls everything on earth, and that He can act His will to destroy the unrighteous.  We can have confidence in God even when we are told that the wicked are winning the fight, because nothing is higher than the one true God.

Genesis 7&8

God is faithful to keep His promises.  God promised to save Noah and his family and that was accomplished.  God promised a Messiah who would defeat sin; that would not have been possible unless God saved a remnant of man.  God promised to never agin judge the earth as He had, and He has been faithful to keep that promise.  We can trust that God keeps His word.  He is the embodiment of truth.

Isaiah 10-12

God is serious about pride.  We must know that God is the one who is in control of our lives and allows us to accomplish anything.  His wrath was great against those who said, “look at what I have done,” when it was God who had accomplished these things.  We must always be aware that it is only by the grace of God that we are able to do anything.  Jesus again is prophesied about.  What an amazing picture is presented here of the peace that Christ will bring.  It is exciting to look forward to the kingdom of Heaven on Earth when the child can play with a cobra and the lion eats grass!  God’s Salvation is God’s turning away His anger from us.  It should cause us to rejoice when we realize that God’s wrath has been appeased.  It brings us hope and joy that we are not bearing the punishment for our sin.  

Romans 5

God as peace maker is also demonstrated in this passage.  Christ Jesus has absorbed the wrath of God and brought righteousness to man.  Because of Jesus’ shed blood, we can have access to God.  It is incredible to think that the same God whose wrath is so strong against sin, because He is holy, allows a sinful person, like me, to stand before Him because of faith through grace.  Jesus is truly the Prince of Peace.

Joshua 10-12

The Lord will always bring about His plan.  He knows what is righteous and could not let Israel be tempted into idolatry by letting pagans remain in the land He had for them.  We can even see how easily Israel did fall into that sin without all these people in the land.  God will not have anyone before Him.  He literally stopped the sun and moon and rained stones from heaven to defeat Israel’s enemies.  It is understandable to call God our stronghold when we know that He can defeat our foes in such dramatic ways.  God is powerful!