Daily Reading Passages

Click below for access to the passages. Biblegateway.com is an excellent site with many versions of the Bible. The link below opens in NIV.  Youversion.com is a new site that allows you to annotate your own Bible, make notes, and comments once you create an account. That link opens in the TNIV version. Other versions are available at both sites.

Coaching Comments

Today's Old Testament reading, Exodus 13:17 - 15:18, picks up with the Hebrews heading out of Egypt. We start with an interesting little prologue. God could have led Israel in a more direct path, but He knew that the shorter path would bring them into combat sooner, and they weren't ready for it, but this longer path took them toward the Read Sea. We also get notes about Joseph's bones, which were being carried along to fulfill a pledge, and God's gift of direction through the pillar of could by day, and of fire by night.

Of course, Pharaoh changes his mind and pursues the people, who find themselves trapped between the water and the enemy army. In the first incident of what will become a long and tiresome refrain, the people complain to Moses that they were better off in Egypt, than facing this. This is a struggle they have until they get to the Promised Land. Always thinking back and idealizing their slavery, wanting the security of the known, rather than the uncertainty of adventure with God. Moses' response is powerful: "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."

Here we see the Cecil B. DeMille moment, the dramatic parting of the Red Sea. The Bible says it took all night, and in the morning, separated from the Egyptian forces by the pillar of fire, they made their escape. This event sealed all they had experienced in Egypt, forming in their minds a powerful picture of this God who had led them out of slavery.

The rest of the passage is a song of celebration written by Moses and his sister Miriam, to commemorate the deliverance they had just experienced.

The New Testament reading, Matthew 21:23-46, presents a conflict with the Pharisees who have become even more threatened by Jesus. They challenge Him, and in response He tells two stories that get directly at their problems - and they realize it. These stories equally apply to any who think they "have it made" spiritually.

The first story effectively poses the question: "Which is better, to say you're going to do something, but then to avoid doing it, or to say you're not going to do it, but then to come through anyway?" These leaders were saying they were about one thing, but in reality they were creating all sorts of loopholes that allowed them to ignore God's commands.

The second story dramatically portrays how these religious leaders were so content with their power and position they were willing to take something that wasn't theirs to keep those things. They had been appointed to be keepers of the religious truths and practices of the Jewish people. The whole point of those truths and practices was to point toward the coming Messiah. When that Messiah came, they were unwilling to relinquish their power. But Jesus' clear word (which infuriated them) was that they would be removed from their positions and their gifts and callings would be distributed to others.

The Psalms reading, Psalms 26:1-12, for today is an interesting one. In this Psalm David lays out what he believes to be his righteousness and uses this as a basis to ask that God would preserve and redeem him. Reading this passage from the lens of the New Testament and the Gospel is a little unsettling. In one sense, the passage really lays out nicely the kind of life God wants to see in us. But on the other hand, David seems to have no awareness (as he does in other places) of God's grace being the foundation of his salvation.

For me this Psalm is an articulate statement of the kind of life I long to live, but knowing the story of Jesus, I can also affirm something David wasn't able to on this day. That God's righteousness is what saves me, not mine. And so when I pray to God for deliverance, it is not on the basis of what good things I have done, but on the basis of God's own character.

Now, this might raise an interesting question for some. Is it OK for the Holy Spirit to inspire David to write words that would be included in the Bible that are incomplete theologically? Is there room in scripture for a developing picture of God? Some old theologians got around this question by saying that it was in fact the spirit of Jesus speaking through David to write this Psalm, that is, that the words are being written as if Jesus was saying them. I suppose that could be. But I'm also fully comfortable with the idea that David (like other Bible heroes) was learning more and more about God, which means that there were times when His picture was incomplete.

Today's reading in Proverbs, Proverbs 6:16-19, presents us with a little list of things detestable to God. I guess this is the original "seven deadly sins" in scripture. Bad stuff, to be sure.

2007 Cohort Comments