I have come to Deuteronomy, Psalms, Matthew and Romans in my Scripture reading and will share some verses and thoughts that leaped out at me during the last couple of weeks. I find that recording these things helps me retain and meditate on the Word and these gleanings are posted on Going Deeper to encourage you to write as you read the Bible.
Numbers
· God faithfully provided manna for the people and they complained. “Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving…Oh that we had meat to eat!” (11:4). Lord, may I be content with your provision and never be counted among the rabble!
· Moses, what a relationship he had with the LORD! God said, With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD” (12:8)
· Over and over the people complained and questioned, displaying self-centered mistrust of God and His appointed leadership. They even preferred slavery or death in Egypt to God’s promise! “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in the wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” (14:1-3)
· There’s a huge difference between speaking to a rock and striking it! God told Moses to tell the rock to produce water; he struck it with his staff. The LORD still provided water (mercy!) even though Moses disobeyed. And look at why this is so serious—because obedience upholds God’s holiness! “And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them’” (20:12). Do people see God as holy because of how you live?
· Phineas: “He was jealous for his God” (25:13).
· “Barbs in your eyes!” Disobeying the Lord should give me the “wooshies”! “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides…” (33:55).
· God was faithful to His people, obstinate and whiny and disobedient as they were. “These forty years the LORD your God has been with you”Deut. 2:7)
· Don’t mess with God’s Word! “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it…” (Deut. 4:2).
· “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, lest they depart from your heart all the days of your lives. Make them known to your children and your children’s children” (4:9)… “Gather the people to me…that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so” (4:10).
· Why battle idolatry? “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deut. 4:24)
Psalms
· Why God answers when we call. “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you shall glorify me” (50:15).
· Forget God? May it not be! “Mark this, then, you who forget God…” (50:22)
· Here is why God gave us tongues and lips: “My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise” (51:14b-15).
· God’s name trilogy: “I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly (52:9). “O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might” (54:1). “I will give thanks to your name, O LORD, for it is good” (54:6).
· Comforting words: “You have kept my tossings, put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” (56:8) Tossings? The ESV study note shows “wanderings” as an alternate translation.
· I’ve been meditating on fearing God a lot and seeing it many places in the Word, especially last Sunday from Acts 5. And here in Psalm 60:4 is a beautiful blessing for fearing Him. “You have set up a banner for those who fear you, that they may flee to it from the bow.”
· This slight change in wording is cool in Psalm 62: “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation” (v. 1)… “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence. For my hope is from Him” (v. 5).
· When you wake at night and cannot sleep, get satisfied in the Lord. “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night” (63:6).
Matthew
· The highly educated Sadducees were really ignorant of the Scriptures and were blind to the power of God, even when God Incarnate stood before them. “But Jesus said to them, ‘You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God” (22:29).
· The God-glorifying promise that motivates risk-taking go-ers and sacrificing senders to pursue global missions: “And this gospel of the kingdom will proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, but then the end will come” (24:14).
· The words of Christ are forever! “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (24:35)
· Be ready! “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only…Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (24:36,44).
· “Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver Him over to you?” (26:14) Is there any sum or worldly pleasure that would buy my denial of Jesus? I pray, “None, never!”
Romans
· A great calling! “Set apart for the gospel of God…” (1:1)
· Equipment for and goal of gospel ministry: “…Grace…to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations…” (1:5)
· A good reason to assemble with other believers—mutual encouragement of faith. “…that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine” (1:12).
· Wow, hear these superb “for” statements: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith…For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…” (1:16-18).
· God is mercifully revelatory, isn’t it? “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them” (1:19).
· The awfulness of sin and depravity: Futile thinking and foolish, darkened hearts (1:21); a deadly exchange of God’s truth for a lie (1:25); creature worship (1:25).
· Real rescuing faith leaves no room for human boasting. “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (4:2-3).
· Want peace? Trust Christ! “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:1).
· Hallelujah! “But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many” (5:15).
· Christ, our hope for waging war against the flesh and growing in sanctification! “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (7:24-25)
· How much condemnation is there for those in Jesus? A little? “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (8:1).
· Feeling weak? Read this! “…The Spirit helps us in our weakness…And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose” (8:26,28).
· The astounding, amazing, gracious scope of my salvation! “Those who He predestined he also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified” (8:30).
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