Monday, February 1

Hey again. Let me just say, I'm very much encouraged by the number of readers I have! Thank you so much to everyone who reads this thing. I might have given up if no one was really interested in it. I hope that it is something good for you to read each day - it's been great for me to write every day.

Month 2 - GO.

Reading for February 1

Exodus 13:17-15:18
This section features one of the other more famous miracles of the old testament - the parting of the Red Sea. God once again hardened Pharaoh's heart and convinced him to send his army to chase the Israelites as they flee. The Israelites are cornered by the sea as the Egyptians close in on them. The Israelites start freaking out asking Moses why he ever tried to free them.

This is after God brought all those plagues on Egypt and spared the Israelites each time. There was still no faith in God after all that - so it seems like God hardening Pharaoh's heart was necessary, because shortly after this scene he uses Moses to part the Red Sea. The Israelites cross to the other side safely, and as soon as they all make it across, the sea swallows up the Egyptians who chased them into it. This finally convinces the Israelites and the Egyptians to have faith in God.


Then they all sing a song of praise that is very similar in format to the psalms. Kinda cool.

Matthew 21:23-46
The parable of the evil farmers.
You know, I don't think I've ever seen or heard this one. Check it out.

 ³³ “Now listen to another story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. ³⁴ At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop. ³⁵ But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. ³⁶ So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same.

 ³⁷ “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’
 ³⁸ “But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ ³⁹ So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him.
 ⁴⁰ “When the owner of the vineyard returns,” Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?”
 ⁴¹ The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.”

This is so cool. The vineyard obviously represents the earth, and the landowner is God. He put us in charge of it, but we are not good at doing that. God sent his servants to help us age after age, but we rejected or killed those people. Then he sent his son - Jesus - but we rejected him as well so we could 'get the estate for ourselves!’ Not in the way we thought, but by killing him, we did indeed inherit the kingdom of God. Beautiful, no?

Psalm 26:1-12

This is the second one I've read where David tries to prove his worthiness to God. Asking God to review his life and try to find fault in it. I'm sure God could, but David seems pretty convinced that he's awesome...

Proverbs 6:16-19

 ¹⁶ There are six things the Lord hates—
      no, seven things he detests:
 ¹⁷ haughty eyes,
      a lying tongue,
      hands that kill the innocent,
 ¹⁸ a heart that plots evil,
      feet that race to do wrong,
 ¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies,
      a person who sows discord in a family.

My old pastor, Christian did a sermon series on this. But I thought this was in the new testament. I suppose Paul was quoting here. I forget what the distinction is here between the six and seven things. I need to go back and listen to those sermons again.

OK my battery and my computer's battery are almost dead. Time for me and compy to go to sleep. I really should do a prayer though since I haven't done one in a long time. So here we go:

Dear God. Thank you for the warm bed I am laying in. Thank you for the loving wife laying on one side and healthy pup on the other side. Thank you for providing me with a job where I can be useful and creative. Thank you for the overload of work that is forcing me to learn new ways to deal with stress and time management. Thank you for being able to spend times with old friends this weekend. And thank you, God for the great friends I have. Thank you for the motivation to return to ORB on a regular basis. Thank you for my life, God. And thank you for your life. 

I pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.