The Daily Readings
SATURDAY, October 24, 2020
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17; Deuteronomy 32:44-47; John 5:39-47
The Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV)
Today’s Verse-of-the-Day:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.The writer delivered a bold statement to his son: there is no wisdom without the fear of the Lord. Unless a person submits to God’s authority, he or she will always be a fool. In this proverb, the father’s advice is simple: if a person won’t listen to the omniscient, omnipotent Creator of the universe, he or she must assume that mere human thought is better than God’s. Fearing God is just the beginning of wisdom. It is the foundation for everything else.
As you pray, consider whether you are trying to build your life on a foundation other than God. Jesus said that anyone who does that is building a life on sand. The person who builds on the foundation of God’s Word will have a house anchored in the rock (Matt. 7:24–25). Ask God to show you how to build on the rock.
Today’s Readings:
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
Show your servants your works
1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.Commentary
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
13 Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
It is supposed that this psalm refers to the sentence passed on Israel in the wilderness, Numbers 14. God's favor and protection are the only sure rest and comfort of the soul in this evil world. Christ Jesus is the refuge and dwelling-place to which we may repair. We are dying creatures. All our comforts in the world are dying comforts, but God is an ever-living God, and believers find him so. When God, by sickness, or other afflictions, turns men to destruction, he thereby calls men to return unto him to repent of their sins and live a new life. A thousand years are nothing to God's eternity: between a minute and a million years, there is some proportion; between time and eternity, there is none. All the events of a thousand years, whether past or to come, are more present to the Eternal Mind than what was done in the last hour is to us. And in the resurrection, the body and soul shall both return and be united again. Time passes unobserved by us, as with men asleep, and when it is past, it is as nothing. It is a short and quickly-passing life, as the waters of a flood. Man flourish as the grass, which will wither when the winter of old age comes, but he may be mown down by disease or disaster.
Those who would learn true wisdom must pray for Divine instruction, must beg to be taught by the Holy Spirit, and for comfort and joy in the returns of God's favor. They pray for the mercy of God, for they pretend not to plead any merit of their own. His favor would be a full fountain of future joys. It would be a sufficient balance to former griefs. Let the grace of God in us produce the light of good works. And let Divine consolations put gladness into our hearts and a luster upon our countenances. The work of our hands, establish thou it, and, to that, establish us in it. Instead of wasting our precious, fleeting days pursuing fancies, which leave the possessors for ever poor, let us seek the forgiveness of sins and an inheritance in heaven. Let us pray that the work of the Holy Spirit may appear in converting our hearts and that the beauty of holiness may be seen in our conduct.
32:44 And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.Commentary
45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:
46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
47 For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
Here is the solemn delivery of this song to Israel, with a charge to mind all the good words Moses had said unto them. It is not a trifle, but a matter of life and death: mind it, and you are made for ever; neglect it, and you are forever undone. Oh, that men were fully persuaded that religion is their life, even the life of their souls!
John 5:39-47
Moses judges the disobedient
Moses judges the disobedient
5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.Commentary
40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
41 I receive not honour from men.
42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.
47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
The Jews considered that eternal life was revealed to them in their Scriptures and that they had it because they had the word of God in their hands. Jesus urged them to search those Scriptures with more diligence and attention. “Ye do search the Scriptures,” and ye do well to do so. They did indeed search the Scriptures, but it was with a view to their own glory. It is possible for men to be very studious in the letter of the Scriptures, yet to be strangers to its power. Or, “Search the Scriptures,” and so it was spoken to them in the nature of an appeal. Ye profess to receive and believe the Scripture, let that be the judge. It is spoken to us as advising or commanding all Christians to search the Scriptures.
Not only read them, and hear them, but search them, which denotes diligence in examining and studying them. We must search the Scriptures for heaven as our great end; For in them, ye think ye have eternal life. We must search the Scriptures for Christ, as the new and living Way, that leads to this end. To this testimony, Christ adds reproofs of their unbelief and wickedness, their neglect of him and his doctrine. Also, he reproves their want of the love of God. But there is life with Jesus Christ for poor souls. Many who make a great profession of religion, yet show they want the love of God, by their neglect of Christ and contempt of his commandments. It is the love of God in us, the love that is a living, active principle in the heart, which God will accept. They slighted and undervalued Christ because they admired and overvalued themselves. How can those believe, who make the praise and applause of men their idol! When Christ and his followers are men wondered at, how can those believe, the utmost of whose ambition is to make a fair show in the flesh!
Many trusts in some form of doctrines or some parties, who no more enter into the real meaning of those doctrines, or the views of the persons whose names they bear, than the Jews did into those of Moses. Let us search and pray over the Scriptures, as intent on finding eternal life; let us observe how Christ is the great subject of them, and daily apply to him for the life he bestows.
The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel lessons are from The Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV).
Commentaries from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible.
The Daily Bible Readings are selected from the Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, a three-year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year A. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2020, we will be in Year B. The year which ended at Advent 2019 was Year C. These readings complement the Sunday and festival readings: Thursday through Saturday readings help prepare the reader for the Sunday ahead; Monday through Wednesday readings help the reader reflect and digest what they heard in worship. Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org
The Daily Readings for SATURDAY, October 24, 2020
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17; Deuteronomy 32:44-47; John 5:39-47 (KJV)
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