Category: faith

Miracles and the Miraculously Malcontent

OLD TESTAMENT: Ezra 4-6

POETRY: Psalm 139

NEW TESTAMENT: John 12:37-50

The Gospel of John, chapters 7-12, have been happening in conjunction with our Old Testament readings these past two weeks. In the gospel of John, Jesus does not perform miracles per se. At least, John doesn’t call them miracles. Instead, John calls them signs. There are seven signs. These signs work with John’s overall mission. In John 20:31, we read “These are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in his name.” “These things” that are written are the teachings of Jesus, but also the signs that show that he is the Messiah. 

If you see the signs, you should recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. 

That’s the point. 

I really need to drive that home because I want to focus on a part of John 12 that has always bothered me deeply. It was not today’s reading but yesterday’s. Let’s look at verse 9-10 again: “The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.” 

The seventh miraculous sign Jesus performed was the raising of Lazarus from the dead. It shows the power Jesus has been granted from the Father over the grave, and that Jesus himself is the resurrection and the life. 

And the chief priests plan to kill Lazarus. They plan to take the one benefitted by the sign and put him down. They are so focused on preserving the comfortable way of life they have that they don’t realize they are destroying the good, the truth, the life of what is coming. A better way Jesus came to make. Maybe some of them knew Jesus really was the Messiah. It is even worse for them because they are knowingly attacking the resurrection and the life. The one who is the only way to the Father. They are doing so by denying his sign.

As you go through this advent, as you share the message of Jesus, the hope, peace, joy, and love he brings, don’t be surprised that there are those who cannot or do not want to hear the truth of that message; there were those in the time of Jesus who wanted to kill a man who Jesus raised from the dead. There will always be malcontents who cannot bear to experience joy and life. 

What you are called to do is to love them, but never become like them. 

May you be full of joy and life, this day and every day. 

May you hear the voice of Jesus and jump for joy. 

May you be raised by Jesus when he comes in his kingdom. Amen. 

-Jake Ballard

Reflection Questions

  1. In the account of the raising of Lazarus, where do you see yourself? Place yourself in the scene and imagine – what would be your thoughts, feelings, words, actions?
  2. In what ways have you heard the voice of Jesus? What is your response to Jesus?
  3. What is your response to those who reject the message and signs of Jesus that say he is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God?

Jake Ballard is pastor at Timberland Bible Church. If you’d like to hear more from him, you can find Timberland on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TimberlandBibleChurch/ ) and on Instagram (https://instagram.com/timberlandbiblechurch?igshid=t52xoq9esc7e ). The church streams the Worship Gathering every Sunday at 10:30. Besides studying and teaching God’s word, he is raising three beautiful children with the love of his life, plays board games and RPGs, and is currently learning how to speak Klingon. If you’d like to reach out to talk Bible, talk faith, or talk about whether Kirk or Picard were the better captains (though, of course, each were necessary in their own time), look Jacob Ballard up on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/jacob.ballard.336) or email him at jakea.ballard@yahoo.com. 

God bless you all! 

Qapla’!

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Prophecy So Accurate…

OLD TESTAMENT: Daniel 11

POETRY: Psalm 139 (the rest of the week)

NEW TESTAMENT: John 12:1-11

In Daniel 11, we are given a detailed play-by-play of the ins and outs of kingdom in the ancient world. If you would allow me a moment, here is what is going on : The King of the North and the King of the South (Dan. 11:1-10) are the Seleucids and the Ptolemys, respectively. There is a prophecy about Antiochus “the Great” [223-187 BC] trying to invade the South but failing. (11:10-12) A group of Jews try to throw off Ptolemaic Rule by siding with Antiochus (11:14). The king of the North will capture a well fortified city (11:15) and that city is Sidon, a frontier city for the King of the South. Antiochus gave his daughter to be a peace offering to the Ptolemys, but she sided with her new husband. (11:17) Finally, a Roman general stopped Antiochus the Great. (11:18-19) Seleucus IV Philopator sent a tax man to Jerusalem (11:20), but much worse than Seleucus is Antiochus IV “Ephiphanes” [or God manifest] who lived from 176-164BC. Sometimes we was called “Epimanes” which means crazy or mad. This is the despicable person of 11:21. “The prince of the covenant” who is “swept away” (11:22) is Onias, the high priest and traditionalist who is killed by Milenaus, a Hellenist, who wanted to compromise with Greek Culture. The Roman Navy, “the ships of Kittim” stop Antiochus from his desire to rule the sea. (11:30) But he does desecrate the sanctuary and do away with sacrifices and set up an abomination with makes desolate (11:31) by stopping the Jews from performing the sacrifices, by sacrificing a pig on the altar, by planning to set up a statue of Jupiter with the Face of Antiochus. During this time men were beaten if they didn’t eat pork and women were thrown off the wall of Jerusalem into the streets below if they circumcised their children. All this happened in 168 BC. However, “the End time” as prophesied by Daniel is that resistance to Antiochus increases and becomes a movement. Matthias, a Jew, killed the official for Antiochus and the Jews began to sacrifice again. Finally, Judas Maccabee, “the Hammer” begins to reign in a free Jewish Kingdom, beginning the Hasmonean Kingdom. 

Take a deep breath, because I do have one more date to throw at you. Belshazzar/Darius the Mede/Cyrus the Great in power? Around 539 BC. Nearly 400 years before the events that are spelled out in great detail in Daniel 11. There are Biblical scholars who don’t believe in God (which may or may not surprise you), and many of them believe that Daniel must have been written after 168, because he is too accurate in his prophecy about the Kings of the North and the Kings of the South. 

Or maybe, we serve a God who tells us the future he will cause to come to pass.

Maybe we serve a God who is greater than our minds can fathom. 

Maybe God will call things that are not as though they were.

Don’t worry, there is no test on Daniel, no followup on the names of the Greek Kingdoms. But if you ever wonder how God could make your life, your stress, your situation work out for good, remember that he made every prophecy of Daniel 11 come true; when he says he will give you life and you will have it to the full, you can *know* he will make it come true. 

The God who directs the courses of history can direct you to his blessings. Amen. 

-Jake Ballard

Reflection Questions

  1. What have you learned from history, archaeology, or science that has backed up what God tells us in the Bible?
  2. Daniel probably didn’t know exactly why he was receiving this prophecy or know exactly what it would look like when it did come to pass, but he was faithful in writing it down to pass it along. You probably have not received such detailed prophecies from God, but what have you heard from God that could be helpful for someone else to hear? How will you pass it along?
  3. What can help grow your faith in believing that God will do what He says He will do?
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The Prince of Persia

OLD TESTAMENT: Daniel 10

POETRY: Psalm 139

NEW TESTAMENT: John 11:38-57

For most of the modern era, we lived in a world that was unabashedly, even arrogantly, anti-supernatural. There were a number of early American founders who believed the respectable form of belief was Deism; God existed and created the world, but has not interfered. With the rise of modern science, the theory of evolution, the splitting of the atom, more and more people claimed that God was in the gaps of our knowledge, and when those gaps shrunk, so did our God. Soon, there would be nowhere left for him to go. 

In the time since the 1950s and 1960s, especially in the West, we have seen a continual decline of religious adherence (those who “go to church/mosque/synagogue” or believe in the doctrines of a major religion) but we have seen a marked increase in those who believe in God or gods, the supernatural, crystals, “manifesting”, life after death, angels, ESP, and more. 

As Christians, our beliefs should not be tied to the beliefs of our day or of our world, but on the words of scripture. Of course, we are not called to deny God or say he only lives in the gaps of knowledge, nor do we believe in every form of supernatural experience. Daniel gives us something more than Deism and something less than delusion.

In Daniel 10, Daniel is told that he has been heard by God, and that he has been answered, but the reason the angel was delayed was because “the prince of the Kingdom of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days.” Read again the description of this powerful angel. This is not a being who will be withstood by human forces. Nor is Michael merely a human prince, but a Chief of the Angels.This is an angelic messenger delivering news about the future. 

According to this passage, places like Revelation 12, and a small selection of other texts, there is a war in heavenly places, and we are called to be soldiers. Not against flesh and blood, not for any country or flag, but for our King against the common enemy of mankind. In a world that denies the supernatural, there are those who deny not only the angels, but deny the demons and the devil. If we deny the existence of the devil, how can we be prepared to stand against him and his schemes? Satan prowls about looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). We have to resist the devil, and only then will he flee from us (James 4:7). We are called to put on the whole armor of God, especially the shield of faith to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. 

Today’s chapter is short. This devotion is also short. Just remember, you are called to fight against the evil of the devil and his angels, but you are filled with the power of God, wearing the amor of God, backed by the people of God and the angels of God, all for the glory of God. Satan is not more powerful than our God: “greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) That is a battlecry to get behind. 

-Jake Ballard

Reflection Questions

  1. What effect did getting a glimpse of the spiritual warfare being fought have on Daniel?
  2. What does the Bible teach about spiritual warfare in the past, present and future? How often do you consider the spiritual battle being waged right now? How does it affect you when you do?
  3. Where do you see Satan at work? What has God given you to stand strong against Satan/the devil?
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When the End Isn’t the End

OLD TESTAMENT: Daniel 8

POETRY: Psalm 137

NEW TESTAMENT: John 10:22-42

I love a good hyperbole. The standards like “I could eat a whole elephant.” The things you ask kids like “how much money does the president have?” ”A million billion dollars!” They reply. Or getting to more beautiful like the hymn “The Love of God.” “Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made; were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill, and ev’ryone a scribe by trade; to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry; nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.” That last one is beautiful, and maybe not completely a hyperbole; God’s love for creation *is* beyond words. 

Today, we are going to see how Daniel uses hyperbole in chapter 8. After reading the chapter, we can put together vision and interpretation to understand what is going on. There are two kingdoms, the kings of Media and Persia (8:20) represented by a ram with two horns. (8:3-4) Then a male goat (8:5-7), explained to be the Kingdom of Greece (8:21), comes along and destroyed the Kingdoms of Media and Persia. The first great King of 8:21 is Alexander the Great, the conqueror of the ancient world. Notice that the horn is broken into four horns, just like the Kingdom of Alexander was broken into four kingdoms after his death (8:22), and just like the horn of the fourth, terrible beast grows, so the horn of 8:9 starts small and grows in power. 

After Alexander’s death (323 BC), much later (215-164 BC), there is a man, Antiochus IV, who grew in power, who stopped the sacrifices of the people of God, who with a “bold face” decided to put his face on the statue of Jupiter and set it up in the sanctuary. Who sacrificed a pig on the altar, we put down those who opposed him and killed those who followed the law or who circumcised their children. (8:23-24) Antiochus even is judged by God and killed, not with human hands, but with a sudden sickness (8:25)

By now, you might be asking, “Why do I need the history lesson?” Because when we read about this, Daniel is told not to worry because this will be “for the time of the end” (8:17, 19) and again that this will occur “many days from now.” The first thing you need to see is that prophecies aren’t ALWAYS about the future. We should *know* this, because December and Christmas is the fulfillment of multiple prophecies to the people of God about the Messiah. There is a time when every prophecy will be fulfilled, some of those in our world, and some of those at the end. But, what I also want you to see is that Daniel looked at this time of Antiochus, and the coming of the Maccabean Kingdom and the Hasmonean dynasty which ended Greek rule in Judea, and he was told that it was like the end. God gave his people a kingdom, he gave them power, he gave them a thrown. They cast out their enemies. But, and this is the final point, Jesus points to the future with some of the language here. Jesus talks about, from his perspective a future “abomination of desolation” or “transgression that makes desolate”. Clearly, from our point of view the temple was destroyed, but immediately after those days, the world did not come to an end. Maybe it was, again, a type. It would not be impossible for God to fulfill a prophecy multiple times and more perfectly each time. (A young woman gave birth in Isaiah; but Jesus was truly born to a virgin. (See Isaiah 7:14))

What I want you to see is that Daniel, Jesus, and John the Revelator were not necessarily speaking only for the far future. Of the end times. Daniel’s message was important to the people of the 160s BC, Jesus meant something in 70 AD, John clearly imparted wisdom for the 90s and 100s. But that is not the end of their story. The command to remain faithful in the midst of chaos and challenge, to look for the coming of the Son of Man and not fall prey to false Messiahs, and to be faithful unto death, each of those messages matter every day. Maybe the reason hyperbole works so well is that it shakes us to our core, wakes us up to the message. “The world is ending today!”… maybe; but my world could also be after I finish this devotion. Am I awake to the Lord? Did I live my mission and my purpose faithfully? Isn’t that a question we should all ask ourselves? Maybe, when we can say yes, a day will come when we can finally sing full and true the love of God, because we will live forever. 

Luckily, there is no hyperbole to “eternal life.”

-jake Ballard

Questions:

  1. Does Biblical hyperbole scare you or make you uncomfortable? Why or why not? If the Bible is really literature, and in literature we use hyperbole, shouldn’t we expect to see it in the Bible? As a thought it might be helpful to remember the genre when thinking of hyperbole. “A log in your eye” is a teaching, and not to be taken literally; Jesus feeds 5000 is narrative of the miracle working Christ and *should* be taken literally. 
  2. Understanding the history of the people of God between 400 and 0 BC is very helpful. While I couldn’t go in to depth here, what does this brief overview show you?
  3. What is keeping you from being awake to the Lord? To live your life and purpose faithfully, so that one day you may live forever? Are you talking to anyone about those things that are holding you back? May you be blessed by sharing those this advent season. 
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Children’s Church and the Lions’ Den

OLD TESTAMENT: Daniel 6

POETRY: Psalm 136

NEW TESTAMENT: John 9

I am not going to try and convince you that working in the nursery is comparable to being thrown into a den of vicious, destructive predators. Children’s church is much, much worse than that. 

Today, I want to talk about the “mis-picturing” that can happen if we have grown up in the church. Quick: what image do you see when you think about Noah’s flood? For me, it was, for most of my childhood, an impossibly small ark floating on top of bright blue waters with impossibly large creatures sticking their heads out of the top of the ark with a rainbow above. Now: what is actually said about the flood and Noah? All life, besides those who got brought aboard the ark, were judged in rain from the sky and flood from the ground. It is darkness, judgement, sin, and death. When we teach this story to our youngest kids in nursery, there is a reason that we leave out these obviously darker parts of the story. 

In our reading today, we have another story that gets mispictured: Daniel, a young lad, is thrown into a den of lions because he believes in God, but the lions are more like kitty cats, and then he gets pulled out the next day and everyone forgives everyone and we move on. 

But, the story in scripture is much more important: Daniel, an old man who has been faithful, knows about a command from the King to stop praying, and in direct violation of this imperial edict with life and death hanging in the balance, he prays just the same, trusting in the God who got him this far to protect him from the lions, but even he doesn’t… Yet the lions, the ravenous king of beasts, the symbol of power of rulership, are shut up by the God who is above all. And when Daniel is rescued those who set him up are themselves thrown into the den and torn to shreds before they reach the ground. 

Notice, faith is not a practice that finds fulfillment because of a “great event” that happens once in youth, but is the choice of decades, of the daily decision to follow God in the most boring business of daily life. It is only in following in the mundane, that we are prepared to follow in the momentous, it is by praying daily in our normal life that we are ready to pray daily when the King says “stop or you die.” Daniel, knowing the King will be bound to kill him, fearlessly bucks the system of power, knowing God is bigger. But even if there is no rescue, Daniel trusts in the God of his fathers. Instead of the lions devouring Daniel, judgement is given to those who thought they would harm God’s man.

But why say more important? Shouldn’t we teach kids at age appropriate levels? Of course we should; the problem happens when we think we know, or, when I think I know the Bible and I don’t take seriously the call of this passage or others on our life. The story of the flood of Noah is about the seriousness of sin and about the totality of the judgment of God; if we think it’s about cute animals, rainbows, and God’s love, we miss the depth of the story. The story of Daniel and the Den of Lions is about the developed faith of a man who had been faithful and successful because of his trust in God and who would allow nothing, not even the threat of death, to come between him and his worship. It’s about overcoming the Imperial powers of this world not by swords and warfare but by turning our face to God and trusting in him. 

Starting today, I would encourage you to focus on picturing correctly the stories you read in scripture. God inspired them in the way he did so that we would learn from his actual words, rather than the interpretation of his words from our pastor, our teacher, or even our parents. Some people have given us better or worse interpretations, but nothing compares to reading God’s words ourselves, and understanding how God is speaking through the Bible to us today. 

-Jake Ballard

Questions:

  1. Is mis-picturing a problem for you? If you grew up in church, how much did your Sunday School help or hinder you from seeing the Bible as it really is? If you are new to faith or don’t yet believe, do you have any preconceived pictures of the Bible stories, or are they all fresh to you?
  2. Are there other stories that you can think of when mis-picturing might lead us to miss the important points of the story? 
  3. “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” If you read the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke, try and see if there are any mis-picturing in our understanding of Jesus at his nativity. Is Mary a scared unwed mother? Is Joseph a clueless, hapless husband? Is Jesus surrounded by wisemen and shepherds and camels and sheep and laying in the straw without making a sound? Think about the reality of stories, rather than our built up theological and social pictures around Jesus. 
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No Other God Can Rescue

OLD TESTAMENT: Daniel 3

POETRY: Psalm 136

NEW TESTAMENT: John 8:1-30

It’s not easy going against the flow. 

If the teacher or professor accidentally leaks the answers for the upcoming final, and EVERYONE (it seems) is going to ace would you look too? Isn’t that cheating?

If EVERYONE at your job takes home free items, like drinks, or food, or sauces, and just call them “perks”, would you also do it? Isn’t that stealing?

If EVERYONE is going to the party, and it would tank your social standing to miss it, but you know there are going to be… less than savory activities, would you go? Is that really wise?

It’s that much harder when these things are encouraged by leadership. If your manager also takes stuff from the store, even encourages it… how wrong can it be?

In today’s story in Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar sets up a statue, and every powerful person is going to participate in worshipping it. Not only that, but all these leaders will lead all peoples, all nations, all languages, to bow down and worship at the command of the King and the music he calls for. And so everyone does. In a world where there are easily too many gods to keep track of (seriously, two- to three-*thousand* gods), what’s the difference if you bow to one more? 

But not so with Hannaniah, Azariah, and Mishael. They have one God and no more; that’s all the God they need and all the worship they give. It makes Nebuchadnezzar hopping mad, with him declaring “Who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” He throws them in a super-heated furnace and they are delivered and saved by their faith. 

There are a few things that stand out to me:

1. The King told “the boys” what they must worship. The world and the devil continue to tell people what they must worship. The gods of Babylon and Egypt and Rome all had different names and different stories, but in their core, these gods are really the same. Whether it was Enlil, or Ra, or Jupiter, *power* and *strength* have always been worshipped, and the power of the military or the force of personality of leaders is still worshipped in our day. Beauty is worshipped, and her sister, Lust. Money. Fame. Wealth. All these gods are simply humans worshipping the things we most desire for ourselves. Satan wants you to worship these same gods, and even better if you don’t believe in the supernatural while you do it! How much better to be a person worshipping science, knowledge, and the arrogance they can produce while thinking that gods and angels and demons are all old fables for weak minds; or, a person who worships celebrities and the fame they embody while not thinking at all! And as soon as you tell the devil exactly what you think of his puny fake “gods” that gets *him* and his minions mad. 

2. The King said “what god can deliver you from my hand?” Satan whispers that question into the ear of believers as well, “what god can save you from the consequences of turning your back on…” and then fill in the blank. But what Nebuchadnezzar and Beelzebub mean for intimidation, for those who know their God, it becomes a rather simple question. YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who can do all things, he can. 

3. “BUT EVEN IF HE DOESN’T.” The most amazing thing about this entire encounter, for me, is not necessarily the walking around in the fire and not being singed (though that is really cool) and not the Babylon stamp of approval on God (though that did help out with Daniel and the boys). It is that Rack, Shack, and Benny say, in essence, “God can save us, we trust he will, but even if not, we will not serve other gods.” (3:16-18) This is belief in the power of God, it is trust in the compassion of God, and it is loyalty to the worth of God. They recognize that it would be better for them *to die* than to betray their commitment to the worship of YHWH. THAT is a faith that changes the heart of Kings and can overcome Empires. Which, coincidentally, is exactly what happens. 

4. God sends an angel (3:28) to protect and deliver his people. Not only does God protect them from the harm of the fire, he protects them from even the smell of the smoke, even the smallest amount. God protects his people, even in the midst of chaos, he can and still does, deliver them. 

Praise God for his protection, for his worth and his empowering so we can remain committed and faithful, and for the beautiful truth that he is a saving and powerful God, greater than anyone or anything else that we could worship. 

Questions:

  1. While we live in a world with a growing number of those who do not believe in a god or the supernatural, we are not less worshipful. What are the golden idols of our world today? Who is telling us to “bow down and worship” these different idols? How many are roped into worship, even if they might not see their dedication as worship?
  2. If you are not a believer or are a new believer, does the faith of the boys intimidate you? Could you see yourself ever saying “even if he doesn’t, we will still not bow”?
  3. If you are a long time believer, does the faith of the boys intimidate you? Or does it inspire you? Pray that you won’t have to say something similar, but also pray that in the face of whatever fire you might be thrown into, you will remain faithful
  4. While God sent an angel to help Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, God has now sent truly the “son of God”, Jesus, to help God’s people know him, and has sent his spirit into our hearts. Do you believe God will protect his people and send help in the form of angels and the Holy Spirit in this age, in the name of Jesus? How can Jesus help us in those moments when we are called to remain true to God?

-Jake Ballard

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Of Daniel, Diets, and Defilement

OLD TESTAMENT:Daniel 1

POETRY: Psalm 136

NEW TESTAMENT: John 7:1-24

Over the next two weeks, we are going to spend some time in the book of Daniel. Daniel is a book that has generated a lot of discussion: it has been the subject of at least TWO retellings by our favorite cast of talking vegetables and at least one cookbook based on mostly eating those vegetables. However, we might miss the mighty story of this man of the Almighty when we get too hung up on cucumbers, mushrooms, and other morsels. Is the story of the fiery furnace really about chocolate bunnies? (See “note” below.) Are the health benefits of a  “Daniel-Diet” the point of the refusal to eat the King’s food? But, if not, then what is the point of Daniel?

To be clear, this book is one of the most discussed in scholarship from the Old Testament canon. Any statement made about date, authorship and the rest of the book has been discussed ad nauseum by Jewish rabbis and Christian thinkers since the pen was put to paper. The author, Daniel for our devotions, wrote in Hebrew but also in Aramaic; not common for the Old Testament. Moreover, the genre of the book is more similar in style to Revelation than anything else in the Biblical canon. These two books are full of big, bombastic images, metaphors, poetry, talk of beasts, monsters, dreams, the clash of Empires and the Kingdom of God. But, if we are ready to work, to interpret Daniel on his own terms, and to clearly see what he was writing about and what he was prophesying, we will get much more out of Daniel than we have before. 

For example, in chapter one, Daniel, and his buddies Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (rather than Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego), who we will call “the boys” today, decide to not eat the king’s food. The boys decide that they are going to eat vegetables and water. They look better after ten days and they prove that this is the diet everyone should eat and life is good… right? Not quite. First, what are the boys giving up? “Meat and wine and choice foods”. In the ancient world, those who worked with the King were expected to be plump (“fat”) because of the wealth and excess of the King. The steward over the boys was *concerned* that they would lose weight, not hoping for it! At the end of ten days, by a miracle of God, though the boys ate only vegetables and water, they look good and FAT. Not a divine diet, not wisdom-based weight loss; it was a miracle of God to keep them healthy and plump! 

But again, the weight and food was never the real point in the first place. Look back at verse 8, “Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine that he drank.” Daniel, as a good Jewish boy, knew that the King’s meat was probably slaughtered in the honor of a god of Babylon (much like the meat in the marketplaces in Greece, see 1 Cor. 10:27) and the wine was probably prepared in much the same way. Daniel’s choice to avoid this food was to honor God. YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, would be the only God that Daniel would follow; his law the only commands Daniel would obey, food laws as well as moral laws. Daniel’s obedience is blessed by God. The boys were able to understand the administration of state and Daniel was able to understand dreams and visions from God. 

Chapter one is not a weird story about the diet of Jewish kids in a strange land. It is the story of God’s people, God’s Kingdom, clashing against the Kingdom of this world. Daniel and his buddies had a choice to make, to follow the ways of this world’s Empire, to eat the way everyone else ate, to drink what everyone else drank, to *worship* what everyone else worshipped. The choice they made was to follow God even at personal cost and they realized that resulted in blessing they could not have expected. 

That is a story worth working to understand. 

It’s the story Bob and Larry were trying to tell us all along.

Reflection Questions

  1. I’ve been a little harsh on “The Daniel Diet,” but it’s not just one diet or fast or book that makes this mistake. In fact, many have tried to take parts of Daniel to make a diet, or used Ezekiel 4:9 as a recipe for bread, without reading down to Ezekiel 4:12. Are you ready to use the Bible as it was intended? To work to interpret God’s word in a way that impacts you, not a small change but to lead a life of difference?
  2. In light of the first question, are you willing to make the choices that might cost you personally, if it means you remain faithful to God? Are you willing to look different, act different, eat different, vote different, shop different, wear different, **be different** if it means you can be more like Jesus? What strikes you as the first change you can make today that may cost you sounding or appearing cool, just like everyone else, but will make you more like Jesus?
  3. Are there other sections of scripture (beyond Daniel 1 and Ezekiel 4) where you think we may have missed the point? Talk to your mom, dad, grandparent, pastor, youth pastor, or Sunday School teacher about those ideas. What do they think about those harder sections that seem to be about more than surface level ideas?

Note: The author LOVES VeggieTales. In no way should his words be perceived as mocking or belittling the greatest show about talking vegetables ever made. 

-Jake Ballard

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Weaned

OLD TESTAMENT: Ezekiel 36-37

POETRY: Psalm 131

NEW TESTAMENT: John 5:1-15

Psalm 131 is short, but jam-packed with great stuff. As a fan of minimalism, I like the power and value the words in this psalm hold, all while taking up such very little space! In a book that in all reality…..if we are going to overflow closets and shelves with…..it’s the one! How fortunate we are in fact to have paper, printing presses, free Bible apps, a free country in which to purchase and publish Bibles all we want, and easy and instant access to the word of God in so many formats. However you access Psalm 131, it is worth your time today.

When I first read this psalm, I got a little confused. Seeing the words “calm and quiet” near “child”  and “mother”….basically….in my mental image at first, this was a comforted, calmed, quiet baby being nursed by its mother. Whoops. I mean….in my defense…..weaned, nursing…..they go together, right? And what have you seen that calms and quiets a child more than chugging it down? But, that word “weaned”….I even looked it up in Hebrew to make sure I was getting this image right this time…..yup, same as in English. It refers to a child who was no longer relying exclusively on milk from his or her mother. The total opposite to the picture in my mind upon my initial read.

We all know that babies and young children need assistance in being calmed and quieted. They simply do not have the cognitive, sensory processing, or emotional capabilities to do that independently, and it is why caregivers of young children are often bouncing, rocking, walking, shushing, white noising, swaddling, and most definitely….making sure that little person is sucking/drinking. Calm and quiet babies rely on external supports to get there, and that is the way God created them. However, children who are weaned are able to self soothe much more easily. In the Bible, children who were weaned were a big deal. Abraham held a big feast. Hannah took Samuel to the temple. It was an important step and one to be celebrated. In fact, I read that Jewish traditions today still often celebrate the weaning of a child including reading relevant scriptural verses. What a nice idea!

 At work, I get the opportunity to help little, big, and grown up kids sometimes who need some more supports and coping or sensory strategies to help them get to the regulated or “content” state mentioned in this psalm. Of course, it is easier to help others sometimes than it is ourselves in this area, and when I did today’s reading, I was struck by the fact that we all need help with this. Many times a day sometimes in fact! The recipe to being truly calmed and quieted from the most important internal support is right in Psalm 131. I don’t see requirements to breathe lavender oil under a weighted blanket while listening to rushing waves. But, I do see some things that make me feel better just reading…..imagine how content and calmed life could be with David’s ingredients in Psalm 131:

-Verse 1: a yielded spirit to God’s will recognizing that His ways are higher than ours and we might not understand the “great matters” God does.

– Verse 2: a person who has moved from milk to meat. Someone with enough spiritual maturity to understand that contentment can be found in the LORD even when circumstances aren’t desirable.

-Verse 3: a person with hope in the LORD of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Not a hope in a political party, nation, human relationship, wealth, or stockpiled food. A hope in the LORD whose promises for a future kingdom are beautifully depicted in our Ezekiel reading today as well. 

“They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. 25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.” (Ezekiel 37: 24-28)

-Jennifer Hall

Questions:

  1. Consider where you are in your weaning process today.
  2. Do you know anyone not yet “weaned”who might benefit from your support and assistance? How could you use the hope of Ezekiel 37 and Psalm 131 to reach someone struggling with weaning?
  3. What verses (from today’s reading or anywhere) can provide encouragement and assistance to you when your thoughts are not calmed and quieted within you?
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Blessings

OLD TESTAMENT: Ezekiel 31-32

POETRY: Psalm 128

NEW TESTAMENT: John 3:22-36

Psalm 128

A song of ascents.

1 

Blessed are all who fear the Lord,
    who walk in obedience to him.

2 

You will eat the fruit of your labor;
    blessings and prosperity will be yours.

3 

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
    within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
    around your table.

4 

Yes, this will be the blessing
    for the man who fears the Lord.

5 

May the Lord bless you from Zion;
    may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
    all the days of your life.

6 

May you live to see your children’s children—
    peace be on Israel.

Today is a special day.  It’s the birthday of my oldest grandchild, Scarlett.  All of my grandchildren are precious and I love them all dearly.  I can’t believe how blessed I am to have so many who call me Grandpa or Poppa or Poppy.  Scarlett is the first to make me a grandparent.  Psalm 128 names being able to see your children’s children a special blessing.

Reading this Psalm again touches me deeply and reminds me not to take things for granted like enjoying the fruit of your labor.  Not everyone does enjoy the fruit of their labor due to war, disaster, or disease.  We should not take the blessings we receive in life for granted.  Life does not always go how we planned or wished.  Not every man is blessed with a fruitful vine with a table surrounded by olive shoots.  Not every parent is blessed to live long enough to enjoy their grandchildren.  I’m currently battling some pretty serious diseases.  One of my motivators to be healed is to enjoy my family… and honestly, I’d like to meet not only my grandchildren but also my great grandchildren in a few years.

I also want to see the prosperity of Jerusalem and peace in Jerusalem.  That will happen when King Jesus returns.  I’d like to be around to see that too.  But if I should close my eyes in the sleep of death, I will see Jesus, and I hope my family, my church, and my friends at the first resurrection.

The blessings that await us at the coming of Jesus will be awesome. I want to see you there too.  Don’t overlook both the promises or warnings in John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” Don’t miss out on the blessings that come through Jesus. May God bless you.

Pastor Jeff Fletcher

Reflection Questions

  1. What are the blessings you have already seen? Thank God for them
  2. What are the blessings you still hope to see before Jesus returns or you sleep in death?
  3. What does Jesus’ return mean to you?
  4. What is your greatest hope for the future? What do you need to do today to increase your chances of taking part in that future?
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Sowing and Reaping

OLD TESTAMENT: Ezekiel 27-28

*POETRY: Psalm 126

NEW TESTAMENT: John 2:12-25

          As a child one song I enjoyed singing in church was called Bringing In The Sheaves.

1 Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,

Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;

Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping,

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

Refrain:

Bringing in the sheaves,

Bringing in the sheaves,

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves;

Bringing in the sheaves,

Bringing in the sheaves,

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

2 Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows,

Fearing neither clouds nor winter’s chilling breeze;

By and by the harvest, and the labor ended,

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. [Refrain]

3 Going forth with weeping, sowing for the Master,

Though the loss sustained our spirit often grieves;

When our weeping’s over, He will bid us welcome,

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. [Refrain]

As a little child I really had no Idea what the song meant.  What were sheaves?  Why did people go out sowing with weeping.  What made them so sad? Why were people rejoicing while bringing them in?

Fortunately, Psalm 126 answers a lot of those questions.

Psalm 126

A song of ascents.

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
    we were like those who dreamed.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
    our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
    and we are filled with joy.

4 Restore our fortunes Lord,
    like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow with tears
    will reap with songs of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping,
    carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
    carrying sheaves with them.


The first half of the Psalm is a Song of Rejoicing.  It likely refers to the time when Israel returned from their time in Exile.  King Cyrus of Persia released the exiles in Israel and allowed them to return to Israel where they could live in freedom and rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the Temple.  It was a time of rejoicing.  It was a time of rejoicing, laughter, songs of joy.  The surrounding nations could see how God did great things for them.  Sadly over time Israel faced a whole new set of trials.  So God’s people pray that once again God would step in and bless his people and restore their fortunes.

There was a time of drought that led to famine.  The people were sad from their misfortune so they went out in faith with bags of seed to plant.  It was an act of faith that God would supply abundant rain so that their seed would grow and be harvested so that they would carry back bundles… sheaves or grain.  There would be laughter and shouts of joy in happy gratitude for God’s blessings.

Today, we go through times of great rejoicing at the blessings.  November is a special time of celebrating God’s abundant blessings and rejoicing in God’s gifts.  It can also be a time when we go through pain and loss.  There’s a passage in Job that says “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)  Some times we go out weeping and, in hope plant seeds believing that God will give blessings.

Is today a day that you are going out weeping with seeds to sow, or is today a day that you come back rejoicing  at what God has provided, carrying those seeds of blessing? 

Trust that God will give blessings if we faithfully sow, even with tears.

Pastor Jeff Fletcher

Reflection Questions

  1. Is today a day that you are going out weeping with seeds to sow, or is today a day that you come back rejoicing  at what God has provided, carrying those seeds of blessing? 
  2. What seasons of sowing in tears have you had? What seasons of rejoicing in reaping have you had? Where have you seen God’s faithfulness?
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