June 8 ▪ Day 159

Scripture Readings

Psalms 16:8
Job 13–14
I Timothy 1–2
Proverbs 9

Verse Focus (Psalms 16:8)

I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
     With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Meditation

Psalms 16:8 says, in the NIV of 1984, “I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” The 2021 version of the NIV says, “I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” They say the same thing, albeit with slightly different phrasing. But I much prefer the older version of the text, since that’s the one I originally fell in love with. 🙂

How do you make the LORD your rock and your fortress? How do you learn to depend on God? I think today’s verse says a lot about that. The first step is by keeping your focus on God. Practically speaking, reading the Bible and getting to know God through Scripture is one of the ways we keep our eyes on the LORD. Prayer is important. Worshiping with other believers is important. Making it your priority to seek God first. Asking for the Holy Spirit to fill you and guide you, keeping your focus on Christ. These are some of the ways we “set the LORD always before me.”

And, because we do this, God is right by our side. We will not be shaken.

It’s when we take our eyes off God that we start being shaken. Like Peter — he was able to walk on the water just fine so long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. But as soon as he started looking at the wind and the waves, he got frightened and started to sink. We can be overwhelmed when we look at the problems life throws at us. And problems don’t seem to get smaller when you look at them — they only get bigger. But if we look to Jesus, and bring the problems to him, then everything begins to fall in line.

Father God, thank you that we can choose to keep our eyes on you. Thank you that you are faithful. Thank you that because of your Presence, we will not be shaken. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Yesterday, as Job began to speak again, he spoke of how God controls everything and every one — He brings good, and He brings calamity. He raises kingdoms up, and He causes kingdoms to fall. All life is in His hands. Today, in Job 13 and 14, Job continues his speech.

In chapter 13, Job talks about what poor counselors his friends are — they condemn him with lies about his presumed guilt, and offer no solace or help. It would be wisdom if they just kept silent! Job stings his friends by asking whether or not it would go well with them if God were to examine them closely. But Job still desires an audience with the Almighty. In verse 15, Job declares, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.”

Job is confident of his case — of his innocence. He is certain of his vindication before God. “Can anyone bring charges against me?” Job asks in verse 19. “If so, I will be silent and die.” He asks that God would withdraw His hand and stop frightening him with terrors — then Job will be happy to answer any questions. Or perhaps God will answer’s Job’s questions. “Show me my offense and my sin,” he says in verse 23.

In chapter 14, Job speaks about how fleeting mortal life is. He questions why God would bring mankind into judgment, considering that we are all born after Adam’s fall. “Who can bring what is pure from the impure?” he asks in verse 4. “No one.” However, man’s days are numbered and death comes quickly to take us all. “If a man dies, shall he live again?” Job asks in verse 14.

Job suggests that God should hide him in the grave until His anger has passed. God would long for the creature He had made and so He would call His creature back to life — only this time round, God would no longer count the offenses. God would cover over the sin. But even though Job suggests this, he places no hope in the idea of living again. Soon he will be gone.

Jesus talked about the Scriptures pointing to him — can you see the evidence of that in these chapters in Job? Today’s reading is fascinating. Job talks about the problem of mortality. We are fallen, and impure. Life is extremely fleeting. And then we die. But with a remarkable faith, Job also speaks about hoping in God even if he were to die. He hints at resurrection along with redemption — a time when God will not count our sins against us because they will be covered over. Even though this was written hundreds of years before Christ was ever born, this sounds an awful lot like the faith we have in Jesus Christ!

Today we begin reading 1 Timothy, Paul’s first letter to Timothy — his disciple, apprentice, co-worker, and “true son in the faith (1 Timothy 1:1).” The letters of 1 and 2 Timothy were accepted as the work of Paul and part of the canon of the New Testament very early on, but of course there are scholars today who doubt the veracity of his authorship. Paul writes some uncomfortable things about gender roles in this particular letter, so it would certainly be convenient to dismiss the letter as not truly inspired by God! But I have faith in how God has worked through history, so I will not use that excuse to avoid any unpleasant truths.

Scholars date this letter to different times depending on their assumptions. If they assume it was not written by Paul, they opt for a later date. Those who are more evangelical in their beliefs tend to place the writing of 1 Timothy at around 56 AD, possibly early 57 AD, during the time of Paul’s third missionary journey. Paul left Timothy at Ephesus while he went to strengthen other churches in Macedonia. He then wrote to encourage Timothy while he was away. 2 Timothy, which we will get to later on this week, was written while Paul was in prison in Rome, more towards the end of his imprisonment. These letters are pastoral letters, written not to a church congregation, but to one in charge of leading such a congregation.

1 Timothy 1 begins with the usual greeting and then Paul’s characteristic giving of thanks for the letter’s recipient. Next we learn why Paul left Timothy behind in Ephesus. The gospel they had heard from Paul was starting to get distorted by both Jewish practices as well as by Gentile philosophies; Timothy was left behind to fight against false doctrine and false teachers. He was to bring them back to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As someone who has an interest in family history, verse 4 amuses me with its command to teach the Ephesians not to devote themselves to “myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.” I’m sure this was a serious problem for the Ephesian church, so I don’t mean to make light of the command. However, I believe that this command referred to something quite different from the hobby genealogy research I do. Judaism always strove to keep good genealogical records; it was part of keeping the Chosen people pure and separate. So perhaps this had gotten twisted — Gentiles might have looked for Jewish ancestors, while Jews might have made up more distinguished pedigrees to give their teaching more authority. Personally, I’ve always suspected that perhaps the Ephesians were enamored with tracing Jesus’ human relatives, but I don’t really know — and my theory, of course, really is idle speculation.

Paul writes of the purpose of the law. “The law is good, if one uses it lawfully,” he writes in verse 8. But the point of the law was not “for the just but for the lawless and disobedient (v. 9).” Paul writes of his own past — even as a law-abiding Jew, he was actually a “blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent (v. 13).”

He gives Timothy a “trustworthy saying” — that God came “to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost (v. 15).” Paul’s humility in this sentence can almost make us misunderstand what he is saying. It’s not that Paul is the worst of sinners, but that every person is the worst of sinners. It’s a way of thinking about ourselves in relation to Christ. It’s a way of understanding the depth and the gravity of our own sin.

It is from this first chapter of 1 Timothy that we get the oft-quoted phrase to “fight the good fight (v. 18).” This is what we are each called to do as individuals — fight the good fight with faith and a good conscience.

Chapter 2 calls for us to pray for government leaders and “all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life (v. 2).” Verses 5 and 6 are one of those gems that gets memorized for gospel presentations: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.”

As the chapter continues, Paul gives instruction about public worship. Men should pray without anger or disputing. Women should dress modestly. Verse 11 is one of those charged verses. As the NKJV puts it, “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission.” Modern women bristle at the directions for silence and submission, forgetting that Paul was championing a woman’s right to learn. (And, as I think we’ve discussed before, the men learned in silence and submission, too — in part, this was teaching the women what was appropriate behavior during the teaching portion of worship.)

However, it’s verses 12 through 15 that are a bit sticky from my point of view. First, in verse 12, Paul says that he does not permit “a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” He argues that this is part of natural authority because Adam was created before Eve. But then in verse 14, Paul writes that “Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” He concludes, in verse 15, with talking about how women will be saved through childbearing.

So I think verse 14 is a big load of crap. What on earth is Paul talking about? The woman may have been deceived by the snake, but Adam was standing right next to her and he didn’t stop her or step in or help or do anything at all except transgress right along with her! So I don’t buy that as a reason for male authority in public worship whatsoever. Possibly I might buy the “man was created first” argument. But not that women are somehow more foolish than men are. (sigh)

So this creates a bit of a problem for me. Because I do believe in the authority of Scripture. Now some just interpret this and say — well, Paul was a product of his time and so he was a bit of a sexist; modern churches don’t function this way anymore. And maybe that’s the way God will lead me to understand this passage. There are certainly other portions of the Bible that we look at and say we are not meant to model our behavior on what is written here — this was them being sinful (I’m thinking in particular of some of the stories in Judges!). On the other hand, as a good Presbyterian, I rather detest people who pick and choose which Scriptures they will obey. Not that we’re ever perfectly able to obey all of Scripture… still, I don’t want to dismiss what Paul says just because I think it’s a load of crap. Paul’s reasoning might be a load of crap, but I can conceive that maybe God wants women to behave that way anyway. But I don’t know. And I can’t give you the answers when I don’t have them myself. The best I can say — which you’ve probably all figured out by now anyway! — is that sometimes we just have to be not fully at ease with what we read in Scripture. It takes time and prayer and wisdom to come to terms with all the different things that are in the Bible. For me, this is in the “still to be reconciled” pile.

In Proverbs chapter 9 we have a contrast between Wisdom and Folly. Both invite people to their tables. Both call out for the simple to come to them. But other than these superficial similarities, Wisdom and Folly are two very different kinds of women. Accepting the invitation to dine will lead to diametrically different outcomes.

Verse 1 says, “Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.” We see the care with which she has prepared her feast. She has personally taken care of each detail. She has sent invitations far and wide. She is very clear about what it means to come be her guest.

Folly, on the other hand, can hardly be bothered. No elaborate preparations or hand-delivered invitations from her! No, she sits at her house and calls out to passers-by. Her invitation does sound initially like Wisdom’s invitation: “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here (v. 16)!” But then very quickly you realize she is speaking about deception and illicit pleasure. And as verse 18 makes clear, Folly’s guests are the dead and dying.

In verse 10 we have a reprise of the central tenet of wisdom: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” This is the foundation for all Biblical wisdom.

Some people have wondered what the “seven pillars” are of Wisdom’s house (v. 1). Since it includes the number seven, which is a number signifying completeness, some interpret verse 1’s seven pillars as a way to describe how Wisdom has created an orderly and well-furnished house — it is complete.

Others interpret the pillars to be different sections in the prior eight chapters of Proverbs; still others look at the attributes in Proverbs 8:12-14 and say that they are the seven pillars: prudence, knowledge, discretion, counsel, sound judgment, insight, and power. Of course the text does not make clear what the seven pillars actually are, so we are free to accept insights from the Holy Spirit from elsewhere in Scripture. I particularly like those that compare the seven pillars to what James says about wisdom in chapter 3, verse 17 — “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.”

Father God, thank you for the making clear the difference between Wisdom and Folly. Help us always to choose you. Enable us to fear you, and to increase in our knowledge of you. Thank you that all of your Scripture provides truth and wisdom for us to implement. Please help me to one day reconcile the things that Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2. Help all who struggle to see you as a loving and compassionate God; your justice is so harsh with some of the Old Testament prophets that it can be challenging to reconcile these different aspects of your character. Thank you again for your Word. I love seeing how Job articulates the need for Christ hundreds of years before Jesus was born! I pray in the name of your Son, Amen.