February 14 ▪ Day 45

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 11:3
Isaiah 39–40
Mark 6
Psalms 45

Verse Focus (Proverbs 11:3)

The integrity of the upright guides them,
      but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.

Meditation

Good morning, again! Good afternoon, good day, good evening, good night. 🙂

Proverbs 11:3 tells us that integrity is a guide. We’ve already talked about integrity. Honesty, righteousness, strong moral character — these things will help you know the way to go. Integrity will help you to make the right choices. In contrast to this, the “unfaithful” or the “treacherous” are destroyed by their “duplicity” or their “crookedness.” Destroyed. That’s a pretty strong word.

It’s also very fitting that the unfaithful person gets destroyed by his or her own character. As Shakespeare put it, the treacherous person is “hoist by his own petard.” This is a warning to us should we ever be tempted to duplicitous behavior — we may think we are getting the better of someone else, but in the end we are the ones who will suffer.

Father God, help us to walk with integrity: to be faithful, honest, and loyal in all of our dealings and all of our relationships. Our sinful nature makes it easy to lie or deceive; may your Holy Spirit restrain any duplicity in our characters, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Isaiah 39 relates some of the consequences to Hezekiah’s additional 15 years of life. News of the miraculous sign and of Hezekiah’s illness and recovery travels across the known world. Hezekiah receives envoys from Babylon. At the time, Babylon was a far-distant kingdom — a vassal to Assyria. Hezekiah sees no threat in these envoys, and so he welcomes these visitors and shows them all of his wealth and treasures. Unknowingly, he is setting in motion the seeds for Judah’s future destruction. The envoys will return to Babylon with news of the wealth of the kings of Judah. Babylon will throw off their Assyrian overlords and will become the great power that rules the empire. And they will eventually come after Judah’s wealth and treasure.

Isaiah prophesies of this. He tells King Hezekiah, “Days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your ancestors have stored up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the Lord (v. 6).” Despite this dark news, Hezekiah calls it “good” because it won’t happen in his lifetime.

Isaiah 40 is a beloved chapter. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” After this promise of comfort and the promise of double blessing as compared to the punishment of sins in verses 1 and 2, the chapter continues with the prophecy that we associate with John the Baptist. Verses 3 and 4 talk about preparing the way for the LORD, while verse 5 talks about the revelation of His glory.

We have verse 8 — another must-memorize verse — “The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.” The prophet speaks of God’s majesty and greatness. The chapter concludes with another beloved verse about how God renews the strength of His people: “Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

I once read a meditation about this final verse. I do not recall who taught this; I only recall the message — it’s one I’ve never forgotten. The author compares this verse to the Christian life. When we are young believers, we mount up like eagles: we fly. Later, this becomes a run. But as life progresses, we eventually slow down to a steady walk. In all the various phases of life, God is there to give us the strength we need to go on.

I have taken comfort in this analogy as I have grown older. It’s easy to look back at your past and wonder what happened to the passion you had in your youth. You question whether or not you have lost your first love. But I think this is a good analogy to our journey of life and faith: fly, run, walk. And it is the persistence of that walk that matters in the end.

In Mark chapter 6 Jesus returns to his “hometown” of Nazareth. As Jesus notes, a prophet is not honored in his own hometown. His friends and relatives are offended by his teaching. They say, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” The way this is phrased, that Jesus is the “son of Mary” makes me think that Jesus’ father must be dead. Because of their unbelief, Jesus is not able to do miracles in Nazareth — only a few healings.

Jesus sends out his 12 disciples to preach the good news to the other villages. We learn of the death of John the Baptist, the feeding of the 5,000, and Jesus walking on the water.

Again, small differences with the account in Matthew. Mark tells us it was Herodias who wanted to kill John the Baptist, whereas Herod feared him and protected him up until his unfortunate oath to give Herodias’ daughter whatever she asked for, up to half his kingdom. Mark doesn’t tell us that Jesus learned of John’s death. Instead, the motive for withdrawing to a remote place is so that the disciples might rest after their missionary journeys — “For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat (v.31).”

After the 5,000 were fed, the disciples collected “twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish (v. 43).” Every time I read this detail I am reminded of a Bible teacher who emphasized how God uses the leftovers. We are not to disdain the remnants.

I noticed a new detail today in the story of Jesus walking on the water. Matthew also reported on this, but I didn’t really pay attention then. Verse 48 tells us that Jesus came towards the boat when “he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind.” Perhaps Jesus wanted to be sure the disciples were okay. Nevertheless, he “intended to pass them by.” Instead, as we recall, they feared they were seeing a ghost. Jesus reassures them, gets into the boat with them, and the wind dies down. In the Matthew account, it is at this point that they recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. Mark simply tells us that they were “astounded” because they had not understood when he performed the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. In fact, in reference to this miracle of the loaves and fishes, Mark tells us that “their hearts were hardened” (v. 52). May we never become so inured to God’s miracles that our hearts are hardened!

The chapter ends with the comment that wherever Jesus went — whether to “villages or cities or farms” — people brought their sick to Jesus to be healed.

Psalm 45 is an apt psalm for us considering that today is Valentine’s Day (assuming, of course, that you began reading on January 1st). The NRSV titles the psalm as an “Ode for a Royal Wedding.” The Scripture itself calls it “a song of love.” This is yet another psalm written by the Korahites.

I love the phrase in the first verse of Psalm 45: “My tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.” The psalmist speaks of the king, but also of his bride: “All glorious is the princess within her chamber (v. 13).”

Verse 6 is interesting. It says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.” In one respect, we understand that the king is God’s representative. In another layer of meaning, we see that this is a Messianic prophecy about Jesus’ kingdom to come. In this respect, verse 17, is not just a promise to remember the queen, but a promise of the Messiah’s reign: “I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.”

Father God, we thank you that Jesus’ throne is forever. Thank you that this love song between Christ and the church is the most important love song of all. Thank you for your grace in calling us to you. We ask for your glory to be revealed. Do not let hearts be hardened, but enable us all to see the truth. We pray in Christ’s name, Amen.