Day 131, 9th January: Judges, John and Psalms

Meekness Not Weakness
Nick Gaughan, Soul Survivor: Called to Lead

Today’s readings
Judges 12:1-13:25
John 6:60-7:13
Psalm 59:9-17

So today’s reading is actually very violent. All 3 passages shows God working power and authority I mean, it all kicks off in the middle of civil war. (Judges 12:1-7) On the surface this passage is makes for difficult reading but I think there is some good content to be found beneath. Jephthah has real confidence that God will be on his side and obviously he is or he would get an absolute pasting. God is always on the side of justice and this is no different. The bible also cracks a bit of a joke about accents(verse 5)….. Okay… So it’s not that funny but never mind.

So we can have confidence that when we walk out in confidence God will always pull us through for he is just. The problem, I think, is that in our rich comfortable society it is easy to look around at some Christians today and consider it to be a walk in the park. I know I occasionally forget how much of a challenge it is to live for Christ. I remember a time sitting around in the 6th form common room and someone said “Is it tough being a Christian?” and without thought or hesitation I replied,”No! It is easy!” – Of course seizing the opportunity to witness. Less than an hour later I was forced to eat my own words in an RS lesson as twenty-nine other students and a teacher laid into me about how my opinions were so wrong, backwards and old fashioned. Jesus totally gets that it can be tough, he even tells his disciples in John that it is tough. Jesus then goes on to point out that he make the labour worth it, he satisfies our inner most desires.(verse 63)

The Psalms passage, again, is quite violent and seems to not fit with the nature of our portrait of God. I think we have to bear in mind that the backbone of what is being said is that the glory of victory goes to God and the fact that he delivers us from our enemies. When in times of trouble David only asks for justice, rather than revenge, just like Jephthah, . He never neglects to praise God even though he knows that God has allowed this persecution to happen for a reason.

I don’t know about you but I very often forget that our God is meek but not a push over – meekness doesn’t mean weakness. We can’t ask God to avenge but we can have confidence that the spiritual battles we all face are already won. We are fighting a one-sided battle and Jesus is the reason why.

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Today’s picture was taken by…
Jack Wakefield who’s revising for exams and between sections is reading parts of the BIOY passage for the day. Thanks Jack!

If you’d like to take your own picture to potentially be featured on the blog, then get your Soul Survivor Bible in One Year, and take a picture of yourself – and your Bible – at some interesting or colourful location. Then email it to us at editor@soulsurvivor.com.

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