For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Acts 19
Paul ministered effectively in Ephesus for two years and ultimately impacted the idol economy. How could Christians today have the same kind of impact? You can always distinguish evil from mere ignorance or self-absorption. Evil will always oppose the truth. It can never just let truth be. After three months of persuasive argument in the synagogue at Ephesus, evil reared its head. “But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way.” (Acts 19:9a). I find it interesting that this kind of aggressive opposition most often came from the ‘religious’ people of the synagogues. Though they claimed to serve God, their actions showed their allegiance to another master when their belief system was challenged.
After turning to the Gentiles for a couple of years, evil cropped up from among them as well. Demitrius, who made silver shrines of the ‘god’, Artemis, rallied some very aggressive opposition to God’s truth. Demitrius served not only this no-god, but money as well.
God is truth. We don’t have to defend Him by attacking anything that opposes Him. We oppose evil simply by standing firm in the truth and letting God’s light shine through us. Evil, however, knows that it cannot stand because it has no firm foundation. So it must attack. To me, this can be a good gauge for us in a couple of ways. One, when we see movements – because evil always seems to attract a crowd – that attack the truth, we can know that there is no truth in them. And two, when we ourselves are attacked without good cause, we can know that we are right where we should be – standing in God’s truth.
Ex. 35-36
Moses reiterates the Sabbath command. Why do you think he needed to remind them, and why is it so harsh? How do you Sabbath? Moses reiterated the Sabbath command because God told him to. After giving Moses all the details for the construction of the Temple, God ended with the Sabbath reminder. “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths.’’” (Ex. 31:13a). And so, before getting the tabernacle work started, Moses reminded them.
I did not see the requirement to put Sabbath breakers to death in previous mentions of it, unrelated to the tabernacle. So it appears to me that the reason for this reminder and the harsh penalty that goes with it is related to working on the tabernacle. It seems that God is stressing that they should not do this tabernacle work on the Sabbath, as they might be tempted to do. And because doing so would desecrate something that represents God’s holiness, the punishment was death.
I openly admit that I don’t understand all the implications and representations in God’s Sabbath rest. What I do know, however, is that God takes His holiness very seriously. We should too. I also have to admit that I don’t really know what exactly it means to honor God’s holiness. What should that look like in my life? “God is holy” is something that is easy to say, but do we really understand what it means? Thank God that He is not only holy, but He is merciful. And He gives wisdom freely to those who ask.
Ps. 19
What two things does the psalmist direct us to in order to know God? We can learn something from God’s creation. Creation proclaims God’s glory because it obeys the laws He put in place for it. It stands as evidence of who God is. We are part of God’s creation, though measurably less complicit with the laws He put in place for us.
In this Psalm, David meditates on the goodness that comes from creation’s obedience to God. He recognizes God’s laws as better than good. They are perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure, firm, and righteous. They are more precious than gold and sweeter than honey. And there is much good in obeying them. He also acknowledges that we can’t obey them without God’s help. Finally, he asks that this meditation be found pleasing to God. I want to join David in pondering these thoughts that my life will likewise declare God’s glory and be pleasing in His sight.