II Corinthians 1:1-11

Dear RTB’ers,

Blessed be the God … of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction… (v. 3-4a). There was a time in my life (summer and fall 1981) when for seven straight months I had some major “affliction” in my life, the worst of which were my father’s death and a broken engagement with Carol. I recall vividly, through it all, asking God, “Why all this? What’s going on here?” I don’t recall being angry – more confused than anything. But the main thing that I can remember through all that was one person in our Bible Study group commenting on the stuff I was going through and my reply, “I don’t know how people go through difficulties without God in their lives.” Through it all, one thing after another, I was calling on God – not unlike David in most of the psalms we just read. How do people survive, trying to do it all on their own?

In today’s reading Paul mentions “comfort” ten times, “affliction” three times, and “suffer(ing)” four times. I think he’s concerned with people and their trials and difficulties. His answer is the second half of the verses quoted above, …so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (v. 4b) God is our only Comforter, but we are His intercessors – we are “comforters” for Him.

Blessings!

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See also:

• Rearranging II Corinthians
• September 12 (2021) / II Corinthians 1:1-24
• December 8 (2023) / II Corinthians 1-7

Psalm 41

Dear RTB’ers,

I don’t know why, but so often it seems like the first words in a psalm are the ones that hit me. Today was the case again, Blessed is the one who considers the poor! (or the “weak” or “helpless”, v. 1a) The ESV ends those eight words with an exclamation mark. Other translations use a semicolon and continue that verse and the next verse with four more sentences. But it was only that first sentence that got my attention. And immediately I thought of Avanza and our parishioners’ involvement therein. I am forever grateful for Kelly and our in-church connections with Huntertown. Truly, lives have been changed, not only the kids and their families, but also our entire church and even people outside our church who have plugged in one way or another!

I don’t know how many illegal aliens there are among those kids and their families, but I think we need to pray over the possibilities of severe family separations if plans move forward as the next administration has pledged. Blessed is the one who considers the poor!

Blessings!

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See also: April 13 (2022) / Psalm 41

Psalm 40:11-17

Dear RTB’ers,

I said yesterday that God’s provision is infinitely ongoing. Today’s last verse repeats that thought, As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. (v. 17a) I see “takes thought for me” as a continual thing, that the Lord is constantly taking thought of me – and everyone else in the universe! Seldom do I think of myself as “poor and needy”. As is often the case with me, I compare myself with others whom I see as less fortunate and more in need of help than I. Sadly, the fact is that I don’t really know how poor and needy I truly am – especially how poor and needy I truly was before I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior; how poor and needy I was before I was filled with the Holy Spirit; before I realized that …every good and perfect gift is from above… (James 1:17a, NIV) Truly, God’s provision is infinitely ongoing!! I am / we are blessed!!

Blessings!

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See also: April 12 (2022) / Psalm 40:9-17

Psalm 40:1-10

Dear RTB’ers,

After two days of posts about David’s anger at God and his desire for a restoration of that relationship, we see a very different mood today: I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. (vv. 1-2) We don’t know whether there was some actual deliverance for David from whatever was troubling him or whether it was just his mindset that changed, but clearly his words today are an answer to his prayer from yesterday: Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry… (Ps. 39:12a) I’m wondering about times that I have prayed for something and then that something came about and I failed to thank the Lord for His provision, His deliverance, His “whatever”! Carol and I just returned from a weekend away. Before we left we had prayed about our weekend, our travel, God’s protection. We got back last night from a three-hour drive, drank some hot, mulled wine, and collapsed into bed. Oops! Oh yeah, “Thank you, Lord…”. An afterthought should have been my first thought! God’s provision is infinitely ongoing! Many, LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done, and Your thoughts toward us; there is no one to compare with You. (v. 5a, NASB)

Blessings!

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See also: April 11 (2022) / Psalm 40:1-8

Psalm 39

Dear RTB’ers,

My NASB translation names this Psalm “The Futility of Life”. That sounds a lot like Ecclesiastes, and today’s reading does read a lot like Ecclesiastes, with a bit of Job sprinkled in: O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, You have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before You. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! (vv. 4-5) And later, For I am a sojourner with You, a guest, like all my fathers. (v. 12b)

In between these verses, just like yesterday David sounds like he is angry with God, but again like yesterday his anger with God is the result of his own failings: Remove Your stroke from me; I am spent by the hostility of Your hand. When You discipline a man with rebukes for sin… (vv. 10-11a) And one more time, again like yesterday, David wants only a restoration of his relationship with God: Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; hold not Your peace at my tears! (v. 12)

I don’t know that I’ve ever been angry with God. I’ve been frustrated with life, disappointed at things not going my way, wondering where the Lord is in all my turmoil. But angry? Not really. Wanting God to heal my difficulties, to act sooner? Absolutely! In the end it’s Jesus’ own words that bring me consolation, “Not My will, but Your will be done.”

Blessings!

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See also: April 10 (2022) / Psalm 39

Psalm 38

Dear RTB’ers,

We cannot read David’s words today without feeling for him and whatever is troubling him, especially when his opening sentences speak of pain that the Lord has inflicted: …Your arrows, Your hand, Your indignation… (vv. 2,3a) But he quickly clarifies that he, himself is the source of his pain: …my sin, my guilty deeds, my guilt, my sin… (vv. 3b, 4a, 18) and that his trust lies in his repentance and the Lord’s mercy, But for You, O LORD, do I wait; it is You, O Lord my God, who will answer. (v. 15) (See also Psalm 38:9a,18,21-22.)

Confession, repentance, and confidence in God’s forgiveness. We could all learn from David’s heartfelt emotions, written thousands of years ago, but fully applicable today. Do not forsake me, O LORD! O my God, be not far from me! (v. 21)

Blessings!

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See also:

• April 8 (2022) / Psalm 38:1-12
• April 9 (2022) / Psalm 38:13-22

Psalm 37:21-40

Dear RTB’ers,

The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way… (v. 23) We had an interesting discussion on the pronouns in this verse two years ago. Compare the two interpretations when we first have the Lord as HE, then again when we have the Lord as HIS: “…when the Lord delights in his way…” or “…when he delights in the Lord’s way…” An interesting distinction… However, my love for this verse is the beginning: The steps of a man are established by the LORD… In my deepest heart, I believe that the Lord is guiding and has directed my steps. In my younger years I was not a person who set goals for myself. I responded to life more than I planned for it. But, “things happen” and I firmly believe that the Lord had a hand in how those “things happened”. One thing after another – and not with a lot of planning on my part – and I came to be where I am today. So I guess I like the Lord’s pronoun to be “his”: The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in HIS way… Yeah, I like that!

Blessings!

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See also:

• April 6 (2022) / Psalm 37:23-34
• April 7 (2022) / Psalm 37:35-40

Psalm 37:1-20

Dear RTB’ers,

Fret not yourself because of evildoers… (v. 1a) Today’s first verse spoke to me, but in my teacher role, not in a personal way. I have a student who is weak in her economic background and is not doing well in class – but she has an obsessive concern for the possibility of other students cheating during their exams, like copying from one another or using AI on their cell phones to get answers. She has brought up that possibility to me three times outside of class and one time during an exam and even talked about it with Carol. We both tell her to focus on her own work and not worry about what others are doing, but she persists. When we were kids we were cautioned against being a tattletale; maybe our teachers had read this Psalm! It’s not just the first verse today that tells us that evildoers will “get theirs”. See also Psalm 37:2, 7b, 9a, 10, 13-15, 17a, 20.

That first line is the bottom line: “Fret not…” The Lord sees and knows all things. Evildoers will be judged for their actions, as will we. Fret not…!

Blessings!

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See also:

• April 4 (2022) / Psalm 37:1-11
• April 5 (2022) / Psalm 37:12-22

Psalm 36

Dear RTB’ers,

I can’t read today’s psalm without singing it in my mind. And the sung words say more than I could ever offer. Sing along if you know the song:

Your steadfast love extends to the heavens
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds
Your righteousness is like majestic mountains
And your wisdom like the depth of the sea
And you come to me

Filling my heart with your loving kindness
I find my peace in the shadows of your wings
I eat my fill from the abundance of your household
And I drink from the streams of rejoicing
You are my king

Lyrics by Ted Sandquist, https://www.fridaynight.info/songs/your-steadfast-love

Blessings!

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See also: April 3 (2022) / Psalm 36

Psalm 35

Dear RTB’ers,

Much of today’s Psalm is David speaking about his enemies, about how they are going after his life. There were, however, two verses that spoke to me differently. First, For they do not speak peace, but against those who are quiet in the land they devise words of deceit. (v. 20) Here I thought of scammers who prey on the elderly, in particular, but who go after anyone whom they think they can fleece. Targeted deceptions and robocalls going after ill-gotten gains.

The other verse struck me in a different way – it concerns the topic that I am teaching today, LDCs (lesser developed countries) and international trade: “O LORD, who is like You, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?” (v. 10b) For centuries leaders and entrepreneurs in the more advanced countries have taken advantage of African and Latin American people. Think of all the colonization by the English, Spanish, Portuguese, French. Think of the slave trade from Africa to the USA. Think of the oil barons getting wealthy with their investments in the Middle East, and thousands more examples worldwide. Where is the Lord’s deliverance of these oppressed people? We see it in individual and governmental foreign aid and investment. We see it in Christian missionaries and ARDF-type organizations teaching and building schools and churches and digging wells – and sometimes simply providing food to the needy. We even see it in international attempts like UNCTAD and international commodity agreements aimed at creating a more even playing field in international trade markets. The Lord is at work for the poor and needy, working through His people, you and me. I’m thinking right now of Avanza and of St. Andrew’s support for BKD in Uganda, our sponsored girls in particular. The Lord is working, through His people. Be one of them!

Blessings!

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See also:

• March 31 (2022) / Psalm 35:1-10
• April 1 (2022) / Psalm 35:11-18
• April 2 (2022) / Psalm 35:19-28