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Bible reading for weekend April 30 -- May 2 If you are receiving these posts by email through Feedburner -- the Google app on this website, soon to be deactivated -- this will be your last emailed post. If you wish to continue receiving these posts by email you will need to subscribe to my Buttondown newsletter listed here .   Apr 30 -- Song of Solomon 5 and Hebrews 5 May 1 -- Song of Solomon 6 and Hebrews 6 May 2 -- Song of Solomon 7 and Hebrews 7 ================    "I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me." (Song of Solomon 7:10)  DIFFICULTIES (ch 5). The couple has moved from courtship (1:2-3:5) to the wedding night (3:6-5:1) and on to maturity (5:2-8:14). There's a time in every marriage when one or the other partner lacks energy or passion to overcome the obstacles to continued love. Marriage partners must rise above their selfishness to keep pursuing their beloved. The Shulammite finally rouses herself to pursue her lover. She searches and is beaten ...

Bible reading for April 28 -- 29 NOTE: the FeedBurner app sending emails from this site will be deactivated at the end of this week. To continue receiving these posts by email you must subscribe via Buttondown .  Apr 28 -- Song of Solomon 3 and Hebrews 3 Apr 29 -- Song of Solomon 4 and Hebrews 4 ================    "You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you." (Song of Solomon 4:7)  THE BEAUTIFUL BRIDE. You may have noticed, there is a wedding theme running throughout Scripture. It begins with Adam's words, "...this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh..." (Gen 2:23) and culminates in the wedding feast when "...the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready..." (Rev 19:7)(see also Psalm 45; John 2; Eph 5).  I've officiated quite a few weddings over the years ( 75 at last count ), and I can't remember a single ceremony where the bride wasn't beautiful! A lot of time, effort, and exp...

Bible reading for April 26 -- 27 Apr 26 -- Song of Solomon 1 and Hebrews 1 Apr 27 -- Song of Solomon 2 and Hebrews 2 ================    "He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love." (Song of Solomon 2:4)  THE GREAT ROMANCE. Biblical wisdom contemplates the great mysteries of life. Job dealt with pain, and now Solomon deals with pleasure. Proverbs warns against sexual sin, and Ecclesiastes tells us to enjoy our family life, and here is a book dedicated to extolling the beauty of courtship, romance, marriage, and sexuality. It's a book filled with sensual (in a good sense) imagery and metaphors drawn from nature. Marriage in all of its dimensions, including sexual relations, is good. Josh McDowell used to say, "Sex is God's idea. He even created the plumbing!" The Song of Solomon (also called the Song of Songs) is about our marriages and also about our relationship with the Lord. Everything beautiful in love and marriage -- its co...

FRIENDLY NOTICE. At the end of this upcoming week (4/30/2021) this website will no longer be emailing posts via the Feedburner app, which was part of this Google-based website. So, if you previously subscribed to receive emails (in the box at the top of the website), and you still want to receive my posts via email, then you will need to subscribe to my newsletter at Buttondown. It's an email distribution service similar to Substack, but at no cost to you. Go here to subscribe .     

Bible reading for weekend April 23 -- 25 NOTICE: Google will no longer be supporting the Feedburner email service which has been a part of this website. This service will soon be phased out. So, if you receive this newsletter by email directly from the myburg website, you will need to subscribe to the newsletter via this service . If you are using an RSS aggegator, like Feedly, no change is necessary. Thanks for reading! Apr 23 -- Ecclesiastes 10 and Titus 2 Apr 24 -- Ecclesiastes 11 and Titus 3 Apr 25 -- Ecclesiastes 12 and Philemon  ================    "The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd." (Ecclesiastes 12:11)  WISDOM WRAP-UP (ch 10-11). The book winds down with a collection of proverbs relating to authority (dealing with rulers), work, and speech. When we read of kings and other rulers in the Bible we should think about the one truly good King to come (whom Solomon calls "th...

Bible reading for April 21 -- 22 NOTICE: Google will no longer be supporting the Feedburner email service which has been a part of this website. This service will soon be phased out. So, if you receive this newsletter by email directly from the myburg website, you will need to subscribe to the newsletter via this service: https://buttondown.email/Sandy. If you are using an RSS aggegator, like Feedly, no change is necessary. Thanks for reading! Apr 21 -- Ecclesiastes 8 and 2 Timothy 4 Apr 22 -- Ecclesiastes 9 and Titus 1 "Who is like the wise?  And who knows the interpretation of a thing?  A man's wisdom makes his face shine,  and the hardness of his face is changed."  (Ecclesiastes 8:1)  WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT WISDOM (ch 8-9)?   One question spans both chapters here, and that is, if calamity may befall the righteous (even as prosperity comes to the wicked), and if time and chance occur to both the righteous and unrighteous, and if we are limited in what we ...

Bible reading for April 19 -- 20 Apr 19 -- Ecclesiastes 6 and 2 Timothy 2 Apr 20 -- Ecclesiastes 7 and 2 Timothy 3 "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart." (Ecclesiastes 7:2)  CAN'T GET NO SATISFACTION (ch 6). Augustine wrote in his Confessions , "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” King Solomon, as well, highlights the vanity of having good things in life but not being able to enjoy them properly nor to find rest in the Giver of those good gifts (vv 1-6). There are many good things in life, but these are not the ultimate good that one finds in life. Rather, it is to find rest (v 5) and enjoyment in God and what he provides for us. We are all headed to the "one place", by which Solomon means the grave (v 6; he is not here speaking of eternal destinies). We all have a "shelf life...

Bible reading for weekend April 16 -- 18 Apr 16 -- Ecclesiastes 3 and 1 Timothy 5 Apr 17 -- Ecclesiastes 4 and 1 Timothy 6 Apr 18 -- Ecclesiastes 5 and 2 Timothy 1 "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted..." (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2) SEASONS. Last night I received word that a beloved friend and fellow pastor had gone to be with the Lord. His destination is sure and glorious. In the words of Tolkien, our brother left the Grey Havens bound for Valinor, the land of immortality. The juxtaposition of our loss with the beauty of spring all around us should not be missed. Maybe the older you become the more you see it: "a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die..." (vv 1-2). In his wisdom Solomon is telling us about the seasons and the cycles of life under the sun. Life is full of limitations -- in our understanding,...

Bible reading for April 14 -- 15 Apr 14 -- Ecclesiastes 1 and 1 Timothy 3 Apr 15 -- Ecclesiastes 2 and 1 Timothy 4 "Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?" (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3)  VANITY OF VANITIES. Ecclesiastes was the first book of the Bible I ever read! As a non-Christian college student in the tumultous years around 1970, I vacillated between Marxism and eastern mysticism as my worldview. Like many I was hoping for "the age of Aquarius", but what I saw in the world was strife, selfishness, divorce, drug problems, political corruption, riots at home, and wars abroad. A Christian friend challenged me to read Ecclesiastes and so I bought my first Bible. Turning to Ecclesiastes, I resonated deeply with that phrase, "vanity of vanities." This little book of wisdom was the door that eventually led me to read and understand the gospel, and soon to put my tru...

Bible reading for April 12 -- 13 Apr 12 -- Proverbs 30 and 1 Timothy 1 Apr 13 -- Proverbs 31 and 1 Timothy 2 "Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him." (Proverbs 30:5)  OBSERVING CREATION (ch 30). This chapter records the words of Agur son of Jakeh. Nothing is really known of his identity (see the NET Bible notes on this chapter). The first section (vv 1-6) highlights Agur's dependence upon God's revelation. Here is a wise man stating his ignorance. The first step to knowing is to know that we do not know, and the more we know, the more we should realize that we do not know (though it doesn't always work that way). A philosopher once said that at best we humans are afloat on a raft of our knowledge upon a sea of our ignorance. We are dependent upon God's revelation to us, both in nature and Scripture, to know what is true, right, and wise. Agur introduces some of his sayings with numbers, such as, "there are 'n...

Bible reading for weekend April 9 -- 11 Apr 9 -- Proverbs 27 and 2 Thessalonians 1 Apr 10 -- Proverbs 28 and 2 Thessalonians 2 Apr 11 -- Proverbs 29 and 2 Thessalonians 3 "Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend, and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away." (Proverbs 27:10)  FRIENDSHIP (ch 27) . Our families have an important role in God's plan, but so do our friends and neighbors (vv 9-10; see vv 6, 14, 17). Cultivation of good relationships will bear fruit now and in the future. The application of the extended proverb, "know well the condition of your flocks" (vv 23-27), applies not only to farming, but also to public service, to the ministry, and to friendships generally. By our care for others we cultivate righteousness and invest in our own future. Good friendships are a big part of the good life (Mark 10:29-30). As you read ask yourself, what does it...