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

Our Old Testament reading today is Exodus 35:10 - 36:38. In this passage we see the people being to work to create and assemble the Tabernacle as God had described it in the previous several days' readings.

Two points of interest along the way. First, the two artists that God had selected and empowered for the task, also were teachers, and they taught other people to do the work as well. This is a great reminder for us in a couple of ways. Often, in an ego driven world, people are not willing to share their expertise out of fear that they will lose what makes them special. But in God's economy, those who have great skills have them for the good of the Body, which includes passing them on to others. Second, Godly artists will have none of the characteristic ego, condescension, or elitism that is so often the case for artists. We have really seen this at Bridge City. We have so many great artists and musicians, and some of them are quite excellent. And yet, for the most part over our journey, they have been humble, community-minded, and willing to work with people of much less skill than themselves, setting an example and even passing on what they know. This really honors God, and builds up the body. Certainly this applies to anyone with skills of any kind, but artists in particular have the tendency to fall into pride and the bad behavior that accompanies it. (Says one artist...)

The second interesting point is seeing the people be so responsive to God's call, that they actually bring more gifts to the builders than can be used! They actually have to be told to stop bringing. This says two things to me. First, it says that there is a situation where people being obedient to God will be so generous that more than enough is given. When and wherever that happens, it's a true God thing. (Something I look forward to seeing in my lifetime!) Second, it also says that there is a point at which leaders have to responsibly say that enough has been collected for a certain project. We're so eager to keep collecting, living in a state of scarcity. And yet the Tabernacle, the very meeting place for God and the people, so elaborately designed and constructed, had a limit on what was needed. Moses could have taken all those other offerings and put them in storage for future needs, but he didn't. He told the people to stop giving. He trusted that they would give in the future when it was needed, and didn't feel the need to horde the people's offerings.

The New Testament reading for today, Matthew 27:32-66, concludes the Passion week. In just a few short verses we see so many things unfold. Simon of Cyrene, a stranger from out-of-town carries Jesus' cross. Jesus is nailed to the cross, on Golgotha, hung between two condemned thieves. People mock. Jesus cries out.

At the moment of Jesus' death, the massive curtain in the Temple, separating the people from the presence of God, was torn in two, there were earthquakes and even strange resurrections! Something significant had just happened. It's pretty amazing when a random resurrection from the dead is the side-effect, the second rate news story! In Jesus' death the rift between God and humanity was crossed, and for all time--past and future--the sin of humanity was atoned for. There was now a cure for the separation brought about by sin. This is the very moment all of the story has been leading toward, over the winding course of three thousand years. This is the moment where the lie of the enemy is undone, and God's plan for the restoration of His original creation was locked in place. Nothing can be said other thank, "Thank God!"

The Psalms reading today, Psalms 34:1-10, is the first half of the 34th Psalm. This is an interesting one. Instead of being a single song or prayer, it's really a collection of little sayings about God, almost like what we have seen in Proverbs. Just a list of little one-line truths about God, and the God-life.

It starts out praising God for his goodness, and deliverance. Then talks about how those who seek God are radiant. This is a reference to the story of Moses that we recently read, but applies it to all God-seekers, and says that the change is that we have no shame on us. Then David talks again about deliverance and tells us that the Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear God. Then there is an encouragement to experience God ("Taste and see"), and to respect Him. After all, He has every good thing to offer. The flow is interrupted with a few verses of counsel about how to love a long and prosperous life, and then returns to descriptions of how God is on the side of those who worship Him, and is present to protect them from harm.

Lots is packed into this Psalm, but it's all great reasons for us to worship God with gratitude.

The Proverbs reading today, Proverbs 9:7-8, gives us counsel on how to deal with mockers. This refers to people who make fun or are sarcastic. These are people who aren't ready to hear truth. And so the author tells us that our efforts to correct them are foolish and, in fact, wasted. It is only the truly wise who are willing to be corrected and learn from it. That's a double-edged statement. It tells us that we should hold our tongues when correcting others, unless they are wise, because they will reject it otherwise. But it also challenges us to receive correction ourselves. After all, if we aren't willing to, then we are fools, not wise ones.

2007 Cohort Comments