April 16th Bible in a Year Readings

Joshua 13:1-14:15 + Luke 18:1-17 + Psalm 85:1-13 + Proverbs 13:7-8
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Old Testament - Interesting - Joshua is an old man already here in chapter 13!  Time is flying quite a bit faster in this book than our past readings about the life of Moses....  It's estimated that Joshua is between 90 and 100 years old in chapter 13 and Caleb is 85 years old.  In chapter 14 verse 12 we read these words from Caleb to Joshua: "So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me."  Below is a good image of the hill country of Judah that Caleb sought and received, courtesy of HolyLandPhotos.org:

In Joshua chapter 14 verses 1 & 2 today we read: "The remaining tribes of Israel inherited land in Canaan as allotted by Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the tribal leaders. These nine and a half tribes received their inheritance by means of sacred lots, in accordance with the LORD's command through Moses."

New Testament - The story of the persistent widow is fantastic!  I love it...   Verse 4 may be one of the most humorous verses in the Bible - "The judge ignored her for a while, but eventually she wore him out. `I fear neither God nor man,' he said to himself, `but this woman is driving me crazy. I'm going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!'"  Great stuff! Jesus teaches that persistence pays off, which I think is very good to consider with our own faith journeys.  Verse 1 is the moral of the story: "One day Jesus told his disciples a story to illustrate their need for constant prayer and to show them that they must never give up."  Do you pray constantly?  Do you know that you must never give up?

The moral of the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in verse 14 is so important for each of us to remember in our faith journeys - "For the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored."  Anyone remember the old Jars of Clay song, "Faith Like a Child"?  Great tune...  That song and verses 15 - 17 in Luke chapter 18 today remind me that my faith does not have to be super-intellectual or super-mature or super-whatever.  All that is needed is faith like a child - "One day some parents brought their little children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother him. Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I assure you, anyone who doesn't have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God.""

Bible.org's commentary on our Luke chapter 18 readings today titled "Piety, Persistence, Penitence, and Prayer" is at this link.

Psalms - Psalm 85 is awesome today!  So many great verses.... I love verse 8 - "I listen carefully to what God the LORD is saying, for he speaks peace to his people, his faithful ones. But let them not return to their foolish ways."   I like that thought - God speaks peace to his people.  Are we listening carefully to what God is saying?  Are we receiving his peace into our hearts?   And so importantly - are we not returning to our foolish ways?  Verse 6 reminds me of the Jeremy Camp tune "Revive Me", which is an amazing tune - "Won't you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you?"   Do you need God to revive you?  Will you pray for revival?

Proverbs - Proverbs 13 verse 7 makes me wonder how we might be "pretending" in our lives today - "Some who are poor pretend to be rich; others who are rich pretend to be poor."  I wonder if really in some way all of us are pretending to be something we are not?  I don't know if this will make sense - but I do know that sometimes I feel like an actor.  A faker.  A poser.  And I know that the true path to being genuine and real is through a relationship with Jesus.  True Sincerity comes from Christ alone.  If we are confident in our faith in Jesus, we have absolutely no need to "pretend" or act like we are someone or something else.

Worship Video:  Today's readings in Luke 18:1 about never giving up on constant prayer reminded me of The City Harmonic's song "Manifesto:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_6JQDsbtlM

Are you singing along with this song? Click here and sing forever!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on two verses of Scripture today: "Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Luke 18:16-17 NIV

Prayer Point: Pray that you have faith like a child. Pray that you will enter the kingdom of God by coming to Jesus in faith.

Comments from You & Questions of the Day:  Based on today's Proverb, are there any areas of your life where you are acting or pretending?  Will you turn those pretensions over to Jesus and be confident in Jesus alone?  Why do you think we pretend to be rich when we're not?  Or pretend to be poor when we're not?  Why do we pretend at all?  Also, what verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

God bless,
Mike

p.s. Download our monthly Small Group study notes for our Bible readings at this link.

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Comments

[Ramona]

Joshua 13:1-14:15

I love the fourteenth chapter where Caleb, Joshua’s fellow spy, who believed God and brought back a good report forty-five years before, doesn’t site his age or possibly frailty as a reason for not possessing what had been given to him by Moses. When by right he could have stepped back and let the young folks get the job done, Caleb fought along side the men of fighting age and conquered the land given to the tribe of Judea

Reading his words are thrilling and inspiring. My desire is that I follow after Caleb’s spirit and not die before I’m dead, that I continue to work at possessing what God has promised before the breath of life leaves my body and releases my spirit.

6 …Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning me and you in Kadesh-barnea. 7 Forty-years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to scout out the land. And I brought him a report as it was in my heart. 8 But my brethren who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God.

9 And Moses swore on that day, surely the land on which your feet have walked shall be an inheritance to you and your children always, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God. 10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years since the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while the Israelites wandered in the wilderness; and now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old.
11 Yet I am as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so is my strength now for war and to go out and to come in. 12 So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke that day. (AMP)

Caleb’s words send chills down my spine! They are just awesome.

Luke 18:1-17

6 Then the Lord said, "Learn a lesson from this evil judge. 7 Even he rendered a just decision in the end, so don't you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who plead with him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when I, the Son of Man, return, how many will I find who have faith?"

Some have taught, using this Parable as their back-up, that Jesus is telling us to do as the widow did to the evil judge, wear down God with persistent praying for what you want. Kind of like children who successfully modify their parent’s behavior by whining and begging to have something their parents have said they could not have. God’s justice is not like the evil judge’s justice and we don’t have to wear Him down or out. In fact we can’t.

Many times we feel unworthy to go to God to ask for justice because we look at our sins and feel guilty or are too embarrassed to ask. I believe God is saying that doesn’t matter, our prayers our asking for what we need, or even what we think we need, should never cease because he is always ready to hear his children.

Psalm 85:1-13
And here are some more awesome verses:

10 Unfailing love and truth have met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed!

11 Truth springs up from the earth,
and righteousness smiles down from heaven.

Love and Truth, as well as Righteousness and Peace walk hand-in-hand. We speak of true love but we use the word true as an adjective defining the object of our love. We cry out for peace but speak nothing of the righteousness that must exist for peace to stand. Each set; love and truth, righteousness and peace are equal partners and probably form two sides of the same “coin.” I find it intriguing and try to think of the kind of environment that must exist for these four words to make their place in this world and more importantly, in my heart. I’m thinking they must represent the character of God, Jesus, His Son and the Holy Spirit.
Proverbs 13:7-8

Why would the poor pretend to be rich and the rich pretend to be poor, hmmm! The poor in their disguise are trying to elevate their social status above all the other poor; and the rich are trying to fend off those who are desirous of their company and money because they are rich. There are probably many other reasons why the dance of deception are played out does anyone else have any ideas?

Grace and peace,
Ramona

[Dee]

This was all about the Israelites and their many years it took to reminisce about the days of old ans prepare for the land flowing with milk and honey. Wonderful times

[Robert]

Proverbs 13:7-8
Poser

A few years back I had the opportunity to join a men’s group and we dug into what a lot of Christian men face in the world when it comes to being true to yourself. A great book and study we dug into was by John Eldredge called “Wild at Heart”. He talks about men and their facade which stems right back to Adam. “We are hiding, every last one of us. We hide in our office, at the gym, behind the newspaper and mostly behind our personality. Most of what you encounter when you meet a man is a façade, an elaborate fig leaf, a brilliant disguise”. The book covers a lot of subjects: men’s deepest fear to be exposed, most men are simply here on earth to kill time, every man carries a wound and needs healing, masculinity, father figure and the search for eve. We live for a battle to fight, a beauty to rescue and an adventure to live. (Through Jesus Christ our Lord).

[Joyce]

Mike and everyone,
Joshua 14:8-12 NLT
8 but my brothers who went with me frightened the people from entering the Promised Land. For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.
9 So that day Moses solemnly promised me, ‘The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.’
Like you said, Ramona, such awesome words coming from a faithful servant of God, Caleb. Even more admirable - he had stayed the course of fearing God not people, for forty-five years!
10 ... Today I am eighty-five years old.
11 I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then.
12 ...But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said.”
I'm repeating some of what you're quoting, Ramona.
But I am so impressed too, what a fighter for God's Kingdom Caleb was.
Thank you God for giving us such a faithful example to follow!

Luke 18:1-8 Parable of the Persistent Widow
I'm just learning that this is a parable of persistent prayer with a focus. The focus is Christ's return, when He will restore all things and bring out true justice.
In the western world we may not suffer because of our faith, but we may be mocked or discriminated as Christians.
When we face any kind of persecutions, may we persistently pray, asking and trusting God for deliverance.

Gratefully,
Joyce

[Bob]

Proverbs 13:7 The Poser: Jesus brings up this sin in a couple of places that speaks to our ego. We just read about it in Luke 16:15. (Also Math 23:27-28. Is this the church today?). There is a natural pull to be accepted by others (not God). This may be in the form of Bible Knowledge, Spirituality, Jobs, Family, etc. Posing comes out of the fear of a question; do I have what it takes? Usual answer is NO. I like the puffer fish analogy. As soon as there is a threat we blow ourselves up to look bigger. The question is, for our affirmation, do we go to God or Man? If it is Man, we may do it for a number of reasons: I know best, my independence is threatened, consequences frighten me. God can change that by giving us security in who we are with Wisdom, Opportunities, Respecting Loss, Risking Fear, and Courage.

[Raenn]

God be merciful to me a sinner. This is my favorite verse in the book of Luke, I say it nightly as part of my evening prayers.

[Lily]

Luke 18: 1-7 I do not know if this is pertinent to the widow's persistence for her plea for justice. I honestly believe that persistence give results. Where I used to work there was this head of a dept who everybody feared (or should I say, this person seemed to be unapproachable.) I made it a point to say Good morning or hello to everybody I met in the hallway including this individual. Of course he would not even acknowledge my presence. People told me that I was wasting my time. Then one day, I was shock, he returned my greetings. I was surprised to hear him say good morning. Everybody was surprised. From then on we would exchange pleasantries when we passed the hallway. I suppose my persistence paid off. It requires minimal effort on my part to say a greeting and be nice but this simple gesture resulted in a positive outcome. When I decided to move on to another company, he called me in his office and offered me a position in his department. He also told me that he knows of my work in the other department. I told him that I was accepting a part time job to spend more time with my children. I was grateful for his offer. We parted with a kind gesture from him that if the new job does not work out, that he always have a room for me in his department. I will always remember that experience. Whatever we do in life, people around us will notice, either we our God's children or not. Believe me, I am not always a representative of God in my everyday life. I pray that God will be merciful always every time I stumble.

Proverbs: 13-7 This verse is speaking to me about humility (I may be interpreting it incorrectly). No matter our situation, rich or poor, we should not pretend. If we are rich, we should be humble and not boast. We should share our riches since they come from God. If we are poor we should not pretend to be rich to impress others (afraid to be ridiculed and separated from the society, or coping with the Johneses). We are all equal in the eyes of God.

[Blessing]

I appreciate the patience of Celeb and the understanding and love for peace of Joshua in allowing Celeb have his inheritance. It is not by might or human power but by the spirit of God that we should always possess our possession. Great lesson indeed!
Joshua 14:6-13 Now the men of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, "You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, 8 but my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. 9 So on that day Moses swore to me, 'The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.' [e]
10 "Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 12 Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said."

13 Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. 14 So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.

[Skip]

I think people pretend or act so that they feel like they "fit in". I know I've pretended or acted in a way that is not quite me just so that I could fit in with the people I was with. I don't do that anymore because I don't feel a need to fit in and I've come to realize, quoting what Popeye says, "I am whos' I am and that's all thats I am" Toot-toot. :-{D

Yours in Christ
Skip

[dmarts]

"The ransom of a man's life is his wealth," that proverb absolutely blew me out of my seat this morning.

We count the ransom of our souls as well. So those who have given up their lives to follow Christ really have gained everything. After all, if you compared your personal wealth against all of the fortune 500 guys, how does a couple billion dollars compare with the blood of God?

[Mae]

I'm back! Finally!!! But unfortunately, I can't stay too long behind my computer. Especially since it's warm up here in the den. It's only Spring and the temperature is 82f! I'm still waiting on my bloodtest-result, but I won't get that until Wednesday. But I'm happy to inform you that I'm slowly doing better, it's still not the old Mae, but I have to say that this sunny weather helps me a lot!

Okay, back to the readings:

Luke 18:1 "One day Jesus told his disciples a story to illustrate their need for constant prayer and to show them that they must never give up." ~ So powerful!!! Yes, I do know I should never give up. But to be honest, I have had my struggles in the past weeks. 1.) Jaden got sick 2.) our kitchen was on fire 3.) I got sick ... I mean ... WHY?????????? Many times I got down on my knees and asked the Lord "Why???". I never really thought about 'leaving the Lord', but I have to admit that I have been pretty confused. I prayed a lot and that gave me better insights on the situation. Because of my quiet time with God, He could give me directions and He showed me a way of a true breakthrough, and I'm really happy about that!

Psalm 85:8 "I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying,
for he speaks peace to his faithful people" ~ Hmmmmmmm ... good one! God has spoken to me in the past few weeks. For one thing I had no idea it was Him that spoke to me. Well ... I sort of thought it was Him, but the thing He asked made no sense to me! My dear friend Gina told me that in a lot of things, we shouldn't try and understand it. Because God is so much bigger than we can think of. And she was right ... who am I to question God? Just obey!!! And I did ... well, I'm working on it! LOL I'm working right now on the 'project' He asked me to do. So I do know that I have to listen even more carefully to what He is saying.
Psalm 85:11 "Truth springs up from the earth,
and righteousness smiles down from heaven" ~ My wish for the world ... to have truth spring up!!

Okay, this is it for today!
It's good to be back!
Thank yo so much for your prayers, emails & comments! It really helped me!

[Jim]

Honestly, reading about the division of the land to the tribes of Israel puts me to sleep. Is the detail of the land's division that important that it has survived thousands of years to be read by someone as far removed from Israel as myself? I'm sure it must have some significance if God allowed it to come this far. Any thoughts from anyone?
The persistant widow is a great story. It is very similar to how we here in Massaschusetts have to be with our local politicians to get them to represent us. I do understand that we need to be this way in our prayer life as well. It serves to increase our relationship and our faith with the Lord.

Jim

[Roslyn]

Two things stood out for me today from the readings.
First, the image of the tax collector. This is a great reminder of our complete humility in prayer and our total faith in God's mercy and loving forgiveness.

Second, "...anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Oftentimes we get caught up with our own intellectualizations about faith and spirituality that we forget being like little children----filled with awe and wonder, curious and spontaneous, simple and with so much love and warmth to give, innocent and so easy to forgive...
Until we become like little children, we'll never hear God's true message.

[Anka]

Everyone loves the persistent widow I see...so do I.Sometimes I feel silly asking God over and over cos to me it feels like I am telling God...I'm gonna keep bugging you till you give me an answer:))...then what about the faith issue.He says when you ask,believe you have received it...so if you believe that..why do you keep asking and asking...Well there's something this season that I really really want so maybe I'll just keep asking like the widow:)
God bless you all

[Emberglow]

And yes, that widow's story is one of my favourite ones too! :-) It also reminds me of Jacob's wrestling with God (or God's angel) in Genesis. In many religions there is no persistence or intimacy in the faith. The deity is remembered or invited on few festive occasions and is sent back to heavens to be remembered on some other occasion.

Compare this to our personal relationship with the Trinity that is recorded from Genesis to Revelation. Our very perosnal and only true God who cares for us and is with us every moment. The God who is the Almighty and yet He came on this planet in flesh to love, teach and suffer, be ridiculed, tortured, crucified. Such is our loving God, who never forsakes us if we hold onto Him. This is our sweetest comfort and biggest security... that God is with us.

And surely, God looks at the heart. He does not care how intellectually we have come to understand Him :-). David's deep love for God, his remarkable humility and heart cries before the Lord in times of suffering is what true faith is.

[Oriane]

"Perhaps I was in the process as my pastor said - I believe because I came to God intellectually but with not the right heart - I was not indwelt with the Holy Spirit."John
The question I'll be asking might have nothing to do with today's reading but I feel this is the right place for me to get an answer. I'll be happy for the answer to be emailed if not wanting to post here. John...I pasted a bit of your post above because I know that's exactly where my husband is at at the moment. I gave my heart to the lord in October last year but he hasn't. He's puzzled but he's not wanting to be led by emotions. He asks me questions that I have no answers for. I just know how I feel about walking this path with the Lord. Well..he had a question yesterday that I hope someone can answer as I am fairly new at bible reading. He seems to think that Adam and Eve existed 6,000 years ago which according to him does not agree with the history of the prehistoric man who existed million of years ago. Does it mention anywhere in the bible when Adam and Eve were created? Was it the first books of the OT that might date 6,000 years ago? I hope someone can answer my question or direct me to where I can get this information.As I said I'd be happy for the answer to be emailed to me. Thanks.

[Shane]

Hey Oriane, I've had this discussion countless times with countless people. I really think creation dating is a secondary issue. But if you go to http://www.girs.com/library/theology/syllabus/pcacreation.html you'll see a well thought out explanation of the 7 day creation story (which brings you to about 6,000 years) and the "epic" creation theory, which would be more in line with carbon dating and such. The linked to article is by the PCA denomination, where they tried to come to unity on the issue. They could not, which I suppose is unfortunate for them, but is really good for us because we can see the well reasoned views of both sides.

FYI, before I read the article I was a literal 7 days, 6,000 years guy. Now I lean more toward the epic view.

But where they get the 6,000 years is by doing the geneologies from Adam to Christ.

Hasta,
sm

[Emberglow]

Creation dating is such a tricky subject. Actually, I wasnt even aware of it until I started hearing about it on Christian TV and Christian websites few months back.

I have always been very interested in varied space missions, outer space discoveries, history of our planet, ancient civilizations. It is a matter of extremee interest to me what sort of relationship-if any- God has had with the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Native Americans and those remote races living in the Arctic circle.

Someone just gave me a book written by a Chinese missionary that shows many characters of Chinese script tell biblical stories like Noah's Ark!! :-) I am not that sure. Secret things surely belong to God and the rest is human speculation. I remember reading bits from Chariots of God by Eric Von Daniken. It's funny that Christianity is a great source of making money for the Atheists and non Christians. (Think about Dan Brown's ''codes''!)

And I think Biblical dating of earth is more of a knee-jerk reaction by some evangelists to shut up science worshippers. But it's a slippery slope. Bible has lots of metaphors. Purpose of Genesis was to tell the Creation account and inform us that God is the Creator! But trying to decipher Genesis to tell how old earth maybe is as tricky as decihering Revelation and exactly predicting when the Apocalypse takes place.

But still, it is not totally unfair to probe the scriptures to see that they are not detatched from science, reality and the Universe as many sceptics may suggest. Someone who might be interested in probing, here is a good website to surf, www.godandscience.org

[Anka]

"hardened hearts"...if I have to think about that in my parents case then I'd simply give up...the older the harder your heart gets...my dad has been exposed to christians(left him thinking they're all hypocrites)now he's really close to 60...and well I'm still praying...God makes all things beautiful in His own time...
God bless you all

[Allison]

V8 in the parable of the persistent widow stood out: "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Hebrews 11:1 NLT
[1] Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

Hebrews 11:6 NLT
[6] And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

Biblical faith is man's response to what God has said. To exercise faith is to have confidence about an expectation without visible proof that it will happen. Faith is acting like God is telling the truth. The persistent widow may be seen as annoying, or someone who had faith.

Hebrews 11 shows many examples of people who did things by faith. "It was by faith that ________ did ________."

Jesus taught that with God nothing is impossible, so all things are possible to those who have faith. (See Luke 18:27)

The other verse that stood out from today's reading:
Psalm 85:10 Steadfast love and FAITHFULNESS meet, righteousness and peace kiss each other.

I don't even have words for the ahhh feeling 🕊️ 🕊️ 🕊️

Basically, steadfast love is great, ---BUT--- include faithfulness in it, -----righteousness and peace kiss each other. 🥰💞🕊️🕊️🕊️