my burg

  Bible reading for December 8 -- 9  Dec 8 -- Habakkuk 3 and Luke 22 Dec 9 -- Zephaniah 1 and Luke 23 ================ "The sovereign LORD is my source of strength. He gives me the agility of a deer; he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain." (Habakkuk 3:19 NET).  JOY IN DIFFICULT TIMES (Hab 3). The prophet considers the coming invasion of their land. Poetically, he describes the Lord as a warrior going forth to defend his name and his people. Teman and Paran (v 3) are locations along the way in which the Lord led Israel out of Egypt from the south and on to the promised land. The chapter ends with Habakkuk's statement of joy and confidence in the Lord. Isn't this a good affirmation for us too? No matter our circumstances (v 17) we can rejoice in the Lord (v 18), who will enable us to make it through difficult times (v 18). Much later, while imprisoned in Rome, the Apostle Paul would write, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ...I can d...

Bible reading for weekend June 18--20 Jun 18 -- Isaiah 50 and Revelation 20 Jun 19 -- Isaiah 51 and Revelation 21 Jun 20 -- Isaiah 52 and Revelation 22 ================    "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" (Isaiah 52:7) THE REJECTED SERVANT (ch 50) . "The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.  The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.  I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting" (vv 4-6). Perhaps this referred to Isaiah's ministry to the Jews, but more likely in light of chapter 53 this is another foreshadowing of ...

  Bible reading for weekend March 12 -- 14 Mar 12 -- Job 41 and 2 Corinthians 11 Mar 13 -- Job 42 and 2 Corinthians 12 Mar 14 -- Proverbs 1 and 2 Corinthians 13 "Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." (Job 42:8) THE END OF THE MATTER (ch 41-42) . God has spoken, and Job is humbled. God restores Job's life with double blessings. Job's prayer will result in God's forgiveness for the three friends. His possessions are returned two-fold, but the same number of children (seven boys, three girls) are given as before, but not doubled. Some think, and I would agree, that this is because Job's children from earlier, unlike the livestock, were not lost, in the sense of forever. They would be restored at the resurr...

Bible reading for weekend Jan 1-3.  Jan 1 -- Ezra 1 and Acts 1 Jan 2 -- Ezra 2 and Acts 2 Jan 3 -- Ezra 3 and Acts 3 ================    NEW BEGINNINGS. In both of our readings this weekend we see new construction taking place: in Ezra the people of Israel are being rebuilt as a nation after the humiliation of their exile, and in Acts the church is being built up with believers from all nations. God is dealing largely with Israel in the OT, and with believers of all ethnicities in the NT, in fulfillment of Genesis 12:3 and other passages. In Ezra we see the rebuilding of the altar and temple, and in Acts we see the Lord fulfilling his word, "I will build my church" (Matt 16:18). God's divine plan for history, what we call redemptive history, can be viewed as a chiasm (or chiasmus ), with Jesus Christ at the center. [See my chart below.]   NAMES AND NUMBERS. There are three waves of Jews returning from exile: those with Zerubbabel (538 BC), those with Ezra (458...

Bible reading for Dec 30.  2 Chronicles 35. "And slaughter the Passover lamb, and consecrate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the LORD by Moses." (35:6) THE GREAT PASSOVER. King Josiah initiates a Passover celebration like none before. The magnificent generosity, the involvement of many lay people (non-Levites, non-priests), and all the people helping one another, mark this as a unique and glorious event in the history of Israel. But this high point would not last. The unity and zeal of the people for the Lord would not endure. Instead, the Passover lamb pointed ahead to One who was yet to come (John 1:29; 1 Cor 5:7). He would be the one to gather and sanctify God's people forever (Ps 110:3; 1 Pet 2:5; Rev 5:9-10).  THE GREAT DEFEAT. Many generations before, the Patriarch Jacob prophesied that the tribe of Judah would be like a lion, the reigning power, to whom would belong the obedience of the peoples (Gen 49:9-10).  This is ech...

Bible reading for Dec 14.  2 Chronicles 15-16. "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him." (16:9) A GOOD FIRST HALF. Chapters 15 and 16 fill in the blanks of the shorter account of King Asa's life given in 1 Kings 15. There he gets a good report on his 41-year reign, but here we learn that his earlier years were better than his latter. At first he was zealous to seek the Lord (15:2-12) and made many good reforms.  But later, when crisis came he began to rely more on human ability, ingenuity, and power. He was trusting man rather than seeking the Lord. Was he tired or disillusioned? Was he giving in to public pressure to be more pragmatic? For some reason his confidence faded and he did not seek the Lord with zeal.  KEEP SEEKING. Twice the Apostle Paul wrote, "Let us not grow weary of doing good" (Gal 6:9; 2 Thess 3:13). Over time we can lose our zeal to seek the Lord...

Bible reading for Dec 4.  2 Chronicles 3-4. "He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the south, the other on the north; that on the south he called Jachin, and that on the north Boaz." (3:17)  BUILDING THE TEMPLE . These two chapters describe the structure and furnishings of the temple Solomon builds. It's the same basic plan as the Tabernacle that Moses constructed. Notice the imagery in the temple which recalls both the early chapters of Genesis (e.g., cherubim, fruit trees, etc.) and the later chapters of Revelation (e.g., gold, precious materials, the cubical layout of the most holy place, etc.). All of these images reveal the unity of Scripture and tie together the story of redemption. Christ himself is the sacrifice, the sea of cleansing, the light and bread of life, our priest, and the one who brings us into the presence of God. He restores the garden we lost and constructs a city of eternal glory.    REFLECT. I find it interesting that the two b...

Bible reading for Nov 23.  1 Chronicles 18. "So David reigned over all Israel, and he administered justice and equity to all his people." (18:14)  WHAT'S WRONG WITH THANKSGIVING? Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year. It's so satisfying to have an entire day just to give thanks to the Lord and to enjoy his many blessings of family, friends, and good food. Sadly, this year due to the pandemic many will not be gathering in person with family and loved ones. But every year the sad problem with Thanksgiving remains the same -- the joy and gratitude don't last for very long! It's a precious, short period of time when we are all together, thankful to God, satisfied, content, getting along with each other. For a brief moment all seems right with the world! For a brief moment... and then the squabbling returns, the complaints, the discontent, and selfishness and greed and unhappiness. For a moment -- for some briefer, for some longer -- we see how happ...

Bible reading for October 27.  2 Kings 8. "Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant, since he promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever." (2 Kings 8:19)   GOD'S TIMING AND PURPOSE. The Shunammite woman left her land for a season, but returns and receives her property back in a remarkable, providential timing (vv 1-6). Then the sad story of Elisha, Ben-Hadad, and Hazael (vv 7-15).  Jehoram becomes a wicked ruler over Judah, much like the kings of Israel. Edom rebels against Judah and Jehoram dies after an eight-year reign. Ahaziah becomes king in Judah (the south), ruling only one year. And Joram (the north) gets injured in battle with Syria. For all their alliances and military power, the two nations, Judah and Israel, are not faring well. We catch a glimpse of God's purpose in preserving Judah: it is for the sake of King David, to give a lamp to his lineage until the Light of the world would come. This Lamp, of co...

Bible reading for April 24.  Numbers 1. "Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head." (Num 1:2) Israel's emancipation from Egypt and their stay at Mount Sinai, reported in Exodus and Leviticus, covered about one year's time. The next book, Numbers, will cover about 40 years, basically, a period of one generation . It was a period of national testing, and generally, the nation did poorly. ( If you are a person prone to complain about things, then this is the book for you! )  It is an historical narrative of Israel's wilderness wanderings .  The title comes from the census that the Lord commanded Moses to take of the people (vv 1-3). It is "Numbers", as in, numbering the people.  The purpose was to organize the tribes and to determine military strength.   The total population of Israel at this point was about two-plus million people. ...

Bible reading for April 3 -- Leviticus 6; Psalms 5-6.  "...he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt." (Leviticus 6:5)  The principle of restitution (Lev 6:1-7).   Reconciliation with God does not remove the necessity of reconciliation with other people . The principle of restitution is taught here, with an added 20% (verse 5).  In the NT Zacchaeus becomes an example of a beautiful and bountiful conversion to Christ when he offers -- on that very day -- to repay not 20% but four-fold to those whom he cheated (Lu 19:8). This attitude should apply to prompt payment of all our debts:  "Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law" (Rom 13:7-8).     ...

Bible reading for Feb 16 & 17:  Genesis 49-50; Luke 2-3. Then Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come."  (Gen 49:1) Family photos.  We are in the process of taking our family photos from years past and digitizing them, so that there will be copies for all the children and grandchildren in the years ahead.  It's wonderful to look at school pictures of our children and then see how they've turned out many years later.  I won't elaborate on details, but we are very thankful... so far!   Before Jacob dies he gathers his twelve sons and blesses them . Well, mainly.  There are some mixed reviews. Being a prophet as well as a patriarch, he speaks of what lies ahead for them .   Judah becomes the flagship tribe.  In short, the promised Messiah (Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) will now come through Judah's lineage . The middle phrase, "u...