February 22 ▪ Day 53

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 11:25
Isaiah 55–56
Mark 14
Psalms 53

Verse Focus (Proverbs 11:25)

A generous person will prosper;
     whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

Meditation

Proverbs 11:25 is a proverb that I often like to quote to myself as a reminder of the kind of person I want to be. As the verse reads in the NIV of 1978, “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” The NIV translation today uses more inclusive language, saying: “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” The NRSV is similar: “A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water.” I encourage you to memorize your favorite translation of this verse and then quote it often. 🙂

This is Biblical economics at its best! Like many Biblical principles, it’s counterintuitive for us to think that giving things away will help us gain things in the end — but that’s what the Scripture says. It’s also such an important thing to do. Generosity is part of God’s very nature. The more we exercise this kind of giving, the more we conform to the image of Christ.

I also think about the need to be refreshed. Who doesn’t desire to be re-invigorated or to be encouraged? To refresh is to give new energy or strength. I am constantly battling against low energy, so I really understand the need to be revitalized. This, then, is one of the means to achieve that. So, make a point to refresh and encourage someone else. Keep watering, and let God pour our His streams of blessing upon you.

Father God, may we become a generous people. May we give lavishly. May we refresh and encourage all that we meet on our path. Thank you for your Biblical economics! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Isaiah chapter 55 is a favorite chapter as we read God’s invitation to come to Him so that we might experience an abundant life, “without money and without cost.” As one who has struggled financially, I appreciate that the invitation specifically mentions “you who have no money.” We think that our level of income will dictate how satisfying our lives will be, but that’s just not true.

Verse 2 asks a question that continues to haunt me: “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” This is the million dollar question right here. Why do we buy things that we don’t really want or need? Why do we work in jobs that we hate? Why do we feel so trapped that we think we have no choices about how we must support ourselves? We long for meaning. We want work that satisfies our souls, not just our pocketbook.

God promises His everlasting covenant and His faithful love. In verse 6, the prophet entreats us to, “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.” This is, in many ways, a peculiar command. While God may be found? While God is near? We assume that God is always available, and yet this implies that there are times when we may not be able to reach Him.

This reminds me of the verse in Psalm 95 (verses 7 and 8) that says, “Today, if you hear his voice: Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah.” Hebrews 3 expounds on this at more length. If the Holy Spirit stirs our hearts, if we hear God calling, we need to respond. If we do not, our hearts become hardened and soon we are no longer able to even hear Him. That’s what I think Isaiah 55:6 is all about — God is near. Seek Him while the Holy Spirit stirs you to do so!

Isaiah 55, verses 8 and 9 are a beloved combination (from the must-memorize pile). God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, His ways are not our ways. Verse 11, too, is a promise that I have often relied on, to know that God’s word will always accomplish what He desires it to. That’s why reading the Bible is so very important. Scripture will not return to God empty.

Isaiah 56 extends special comfort to foreigners and eunuchs. Although I’m simplifying quite a bit, in general, both of these groups would typically have been outcasts in Jewish society. Jewish culture celebrates family and procreation. Those without children are pitied for being so cursed. Yet marriage relationships were forbidden between Jews and a number of foreign ethnic groups. Eunuchs were also forbidden to marry, nor could they serve as priests or as Levites. Even if foreigners followed the Torah, they and their descendants were barred from temple worship for a number of generations.

Here, in Isaiah 56, God specifically tells foreigners and eunuchs that if they follow God’s ways and keep His sabbaths, they will be allowed into the house of prayer. Although I am not technically a eunuch, as a single woman without children I can empathize with the comment in verse 3, “I am just a dry tree.” God’s promise in verses 4 and 5 is beautiful: eunuchs that choose to please God and hold fast to His covenant will receive a “monument” and an “everlasting name.” I find comfort in these verses to know that I will not be forgotten once I am gone. In God’s house, there will be a memorial for me “better than sons and daughters.”

After the comfort to foreigners and eunuchs, the chapter moves to criticize Israel’s leaders and “watchmen.” They are compared to “silent dogs” — they cannot bark, and thus they cannot fulfill their function of warning the people. Instead, they love to lie down, dream, and slumber.

Mark chapter 14 tells of Jesus’ final days — the chief priests and scribes plot to arrest Jesus “by stealth;” Jesus is anointed with costly perfume at Bethany; Judas arranges to betray Jesus; the disciples celebrate Passover together (the Last Supper); Jesus predicts that all the disciples will fall away while Peter denies that he will do anything like that; Jesus prays at Gethsemane; Jesus is arrested at night and brought to trial before the Sanhedrin; and Peter learns that Jesus was right.

It is a somber but familiar story. I only noticed tiny details today that stood out to me.

Verse 4 tells us the reaction that some of the disciples had to the woman who poured perfume on Jesus’ head. The NRSV says that they spoke “in anger.” That struck me today. When I investigated it, I found that most other translations use “indignation” rather than anger. As I understand the Greek word root, though, it means to be angry and incensed. So although “indignation” has been used by most translators, indignation as an English word can mean either to be angry or to be annoyed. And it seems clear that the Greek word refers to more than simple irritation. So I prefer “angry” because “indignation” seems too mild a word (at least according to how it’s typically used today). At any rate, this just gave me a slightly different picture of the incident — such strong opinions about what was right and proper!

I was also struck by Jesus’ remark — “you can show kindness to them [the poor] whenever you wish.” This is very true, and yet how often do we really want to show kindness to the poor? How often do we even think about it? Once or twice a month when paying bills?

I also thought about Peter’s assertion in verse 31, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” He was so certain in his feelings. Convinced that he would not waver. I’m not sure if there’s a moral I want to draw from this or not. But it does make me consider that you don’t really know how you will react until you are put to the test. Your feelings can only predict what you want to do, not what you will do.

In verse 52, we have the detail about the young man who runs away naked when Jesus was arrested. As you recall, tradition has it that this is Mark telling his own story.

So today we read Psalm 53. As you might recall, this is nearly identical to Psalm 14. It’s hard to spot the differences because the psalms are so alike. If you look closely, you’ll see that the inscription at the top is slightly different. However, the biggest difference is what comes after the first half of verse 5. The verse starts out the same for both psalms. “There they shall be in great terror,” the verse begins. Psalm 14 continues, “for God is with the company of the righteous. You would confound the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.” Psalm 53, on the other hand, says, “in terror such as has not been. For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly; they will be put to shame, for God has rejected them.” Psalm 14 focuses on God’s salvation of the righteous, whereas Psalm 53 focuses more on the destruction of the ungodly.

Other than the big change just after verse 5, there are a couple of other minor word variations in several of the verses. I will use the NRSV as the translation for English, although other translations may use slightly different words. What’s key is that, in the Hebrew, there’s actually a different word used even though all the other words are the same.

• In verse 1, Psalm 14 says, “they do abominable deeds.” If you take an English word translation and the Strong’s concordance number, you will see this phrase as two Hebrew words: they have done abominable, 8581 and works, 5949. Psalm 53 says, “they commit abominable acts” (they have done abominable, 8581 and iniquity, 5766).
• Verse 3, Psalm 14 says they have “gone astray” (they have turned aside, 5493) while Psalm 53 says, “fallen away” (they have turned aside, 5472).
• In verse 4, Psalm 14 says in English, “all the evildoers” whereas Psalm 53 says, “those evildoers.” The difference here is not in the article, but in the extra word for “all” (3605) that is put into Psalm 14.

Finally, there is one last difference between the language in Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 — and this one is more significant, although I’m not sure what we should interpret from this difference. In Psalm 14, they use Yahweh (the LORD) in verses 2, 4, 6, and 7, where as Elohim (God) is used in all places in Psalm 53. Yahweh is God’s proper name, whereas Elohim is simply a word meaning God.

One wonders why there are two psalms in the Bible that are so closely related. It seems clear that one psalm is a revision of the other. Perhaps it was altered for a specific occasion. They were likely set to completely different tunes. Also, the two psalms are actually included in two different “books” of the psalms. (There are some theories, but no one really knows why the Psalms was divided into 5 different “books.”) With Psalm 53’s focus more on the defeat of the wicked, it seems fitting that the name of God being used is one that would be known by the wicked (instead of the proper name that would have been known by the righteous).

Although I’ve been detailing differences between these two psalms, what we really need to think about is what is completely the same. The double repetition in Scripture tells us to pay attention to what these psalms are teaching us. Fools say in their hearts, there is no God. There is none righteous, no not one. This is crucial to our knowledge and understanding of both God and the world we live in.

Father God, thank you for your Holy Scripture. Thank you for teaching us through your word, and that your word never returns to you void. Thank you that your ways are higher than our ways. We are grateful that you do preserve the righteous and punish the wicked. Thank you for your invitation to come to you. We desire the abundant life you offer. Thank you that Jesus died to make the new covenant possible. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Because we read Isaiah 55 today, I want to share with you an excerpt from a book written by a dear friend of mine. The book is Honey from the Lion: An African Journey (1988) by Wendy Laura Belcher.

In the story below, Wendy reveals an inspiring message from Pastor Abraham, who visited Wendy right before she was to leave Ghana to return to America:

Pastor Abraham spoke to me then, in English, beginning with a quote from the bible, Isaiah 55:1, which states, “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.” Ho is a word commonly used in Ghana, and at first I thought Pastor Abraham was paraphrasing the quotation. Later, when I looked the reference up, I saw for myself that it led the verse — bold as a shout. Where Pastor Abraham came from, he told me, there were “big woods.” When Pastor Abraham called someone by his name in these woods, “he wouldn’t hear me.” The woods were too thick, the sound overcome. “No, if I want to be reaching him, I call Ho.” Only the pure, single note would a person hear.

Isaiah started this verse with Ho, Pastor Abraham continued, because the people he spoke to were at a distance. They had wandered too far away to hear. Pastor Abraham paused then, making sure I understood this point before he went on.

“Christ is God’s Ho,” he explained, as his speech began to flow. “He is a sound so pure, he is a sound so righteous, he is a sound so powerful we can hear him even in the big woods where we are lost, far from God, woods so big we are not hearing our own names. That is why God sent us his own name. Because we could not hear anything else. This name we hear calling us to him, calling us out of the big woods, calling us to the deep waters. There we will hear our names, and we will lie down and we will drink and we will never be thirsty again.”

“In the place where you are going, there may be big woods. There may be many voices. There may be much confusion. But you must always be listening. Listen for God’s Ho. For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And neither is that word beyond the sea, but it is very near you, it is in your mouth and in your heart.” We sat without stirring. Throughout this speech his eyes did not leave mine, and I did not break our gaze when it ended. I felt rooted, anchored in stillness. Then Pastor Abraham nodded and settled back, his mission accomplished.