Blessed Lord,who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Copy and paste this URL in your search bar to get the day by day Bible Readings: http://www.norcalepiscopal.org/Websites/newnorcalepiscopal/files/Content/3091508/bible_challenge_reading_list.pdf

Monday, January 7, 2013

In the beginning: Day 1

 In  the Old Testament the two names most of often used for God are Elohim and YHVH. YHVH is translated into English as "Lord".

 Elohim refers to God's quality of righteousness and judgement, which has to do with restraint, while YHVH refers to His quality or mercy and compassion.

 The universe was created through God' s restraint, ie allowing that which is limited to exist within His fullness. God did this in order to give us the power of free choice, while at the same time His attribute of compassion shines upon the righteous and righteous alike.

 We all are in exile (Hebrew: galut), uprooted from our native land, the literal and metaphorical Eden, through heeding the wiles of our inclination toward that which is bad, and not listening to the good. 
Psalm 1 tells us:

1 Happy is the man that has not walked in the counsel of the wicked,
  nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD [Hebrew: YHVH]; and in His law [His Torah, His Word] he meditates day and night.

When we restrict our natural inclination toward that which is wrong the sun of our natural inclination toward the good has an opportunity to shine. In Matthew 1 we read the descent of God's compassionate intent to call us back from exile from Abraham to its fulfillment in Christ Jesus (Moshiach Yeshua).

Meditate on God's Word day and night. Think about what you read daily in the Bible. Talk about it with your friends and family, and you'll discover insight after insight, arising endlessly, because its depths are endless.  

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1 comment:

  1. KenJanuary 21, 2013 at 2:38 PM

    Thanks to the Audio in the YouVersion of the Bible, I am listening "day and night" - shaving and showering - to the readings. I had fogotten how moving the stories of Genesis are - how much Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are just 'real guys'. Knuckle-heads all!!! Just like me. God loves them and loves them some more. Miraculous.

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