June 10 ▪ Day 161

Scripture Readings

Psalms 18:28
Job 17–18
I Timothy 5–6
Proverbs 11

Verse Focus (Psalms 18:28)

You, LORD, keep my lamp burning;
     my God turns my darkness into light.

Meditation

Psalms 18:28 says, in the NIV, “You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.” The ESV says, “For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness.” The NKJV translates the verse, saying, “For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.” As the Bishops’ Bible of 1568 translates the verse, “Thou also hast lyghtened my candell: God my Lorde hath made my darknesse to be lyght.”

Any way you translate it, it’s a lovely verse. But did you notice how the different translations seem to have different tenses? One is present tense, one is future tense, and one is even in the past tense. I’ve noticed this happening before, but since I’m not a Hebrew scholar I wasn’t sure what was going on. Today I google’d it to see if I could find some answers. So, it turns out, Biblical Hebrew does not have tenses the way English does (although modern Hebrew does use some tenses). So whether a verb is translated as past tense, present tense, or even future tense depends on context and a number of other factors. I read the explanations about these factors, but it’s more complicated than I want to explain right now (even if I did understand it fully, which I don’t).

However, for me, the important feature is that this means the verbs have multiple tenses — and thus multiple meanings. So, we should read this verse in the past tense — God is the one lighted my lamp; but also in the present tense — God is the one who keeps the lamp light burning; and in the future tense as well — God will light my lamp and will keep my lamp burning. That’s a pretty amazing testimony to the power of God’s work in your life! Past, present, and future — God is the one who gives me light, sustains me, and who will continue to sustain me. God has turned, is turning, and will turn my darkness into light. Hallelujah!

Father God, I’m amazed at learning another way in which your Scripture is living and active. I’m also overwhelmed at how you take care of us. You give us light to begin with, you continue to give us light, and we can be confident that you will continue to give us light and turn all our darkness into light. Thank you for that. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

In Job chapter 17, Job continues to respond to Eliphaz, who had more-or-less called him a godless windbag. In the previous chapter, Job had spoken of having an advocate in heaven, but as chapter 17 begins he says in verse 1, “My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.” As Job speaks of being mocked and misunderstood and the lack of wisdom surrounding him, he asks God to put up the pledge for him. Job says that his eyes are dim with grief; his body has become a shadow. If he waits for the grave, he asks what will happen to his hope. “Where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?” Job asks in verse 15. Will hope descend to Sheol, or will Job and his friends all lie in Sheol together?

Although I understand some of what Job is saying in chapter 17, as a whole I have more difficulty understanding what Job is telling his friends here. In verse 9 he spoke of a righteous person growing stronger, and I wasn’t sure if Job was speaking of himself or righteous people in general. I’m not clear if Job believes that his hope — presumably of his vindication, of the advocate he has in heaven — will survive, or if he believes death will triumph. I don’t know if he is despairing or still confident. Perhaps the answer is that he is both.

In Job 18, Bildad speaks again. He insults Job, and asks why he and his friends are “stupid (v. 3)” in Job’s sight. In verse 4, Bildad asks if the world should be re-arranged to suit just Job. Instead, Bildad speaks of how God punishes the wicked. Their light is snuffed out. They are trapped by snares. They experience terror and calamity. They wither and perish. They have no survivors. They are forgotten.

Again, I find this chapter a bit difficult to interpret. On the one hand, Bildad speaks truth about how God chooses to treat the wicked. But I’m not clear if he really believes Job is wicked — certainly Job has lost all his descendants, he has experienced calamity after calamity and he experiences the terror. Is Bildad saying that Job will be forgotten? Or is he simply trying to say that the kind of world Job is proposing — where God changes the general order of things to acquit a person of his guilt — does not mesh with God’s need to punish those who are truly wicked.

In 1 Timothy 5, Paul instructs Timothy to treat members of the church congregation as members of his own family. He reminds Timothy to do “nothing from partiality (v. 21).” He also advises that the church should only support widows who have no other family to support them. Indeed, Paul says in verse 6, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” In verse 16, he makes it clear that such support should be given by both women and men.

Paul writes that only older widows should be put on the list to be supported by the church; he advises younger widows to re-marry and cautions them against becoming busybodies, especially if they are prone to idleness and gossip.

Paul takes the Old Testament law about needing at least two witnesses to convict someone of a crime in a court of law and applies it to accusations against elders. He tells Timothy that he should not take any accusations against elders seriously unless they are being brought by two or three witnesses (v. 19).

As the chapter ends, Paul advises Timothy to mix a little wine in with his drinking water “for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments (v. 23).” The practice of adding wine to water was a way that some of the bacteria in a stagnant water source might be killed; depending on how clean their water source was, the ratio of water to wine could be as little as 20:1 or as much as a 3:1 ratio.

It is interesting, though, that we are told that Timothy had “frequent ailments.” In New Testament times and even today, people have interpreted illness as a sign of God’s displeasure. Jesus tried to correct this misunderstanding when he healed the man who had been born blind. And here we have Scriptural evidence that a gifted and godly man suffered from ill health — thus, again, disproving the idea that sickness is judgment from God.

In the final chapter of 1 Timothy, Paul reprises his advice to Timothy to “fight the good fight of the faith (v. 12).” Verse 16 is a gem — worth meditating on further. In verse 20, Paul exhorts Timothy to “guard the deposit entrusted to you.” But mostly, in chapter 6, Paul addresses the topic of greed.

He emphasizes the need for contentment. Those who desire to be rich fall into temptations and snares, leading to ruin and destruction. In verse 10, Paul writes that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. This verse is often misquoted that money is the root of all evil — but it is not money itself that is the problem, but the love of that money. When money becomes your idol, that’s when you’re really in trouble.

Paul has advice for the rich. In verses 17 and 18, he writes, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”

Previously, I would only half pay attention to this advice because I did not think of myself as rich at all. Compared to many Americans, I have a very modest income. But Andy Stanley wrote a devotional titled, “How to Be Rich,” and it helped open my eyes to a few things. An interesting statistic: did you know that if you make over $48,000 a year, you are in the top 1% of wage earners in the entire world? A year ago, I was rich. But I was always thinking of my income in comparison to the ultra rich of America; I never really thought about my wealth in comparison to how most of the world lives. Along with my relatively modest income, I have a shelter, a bed, a place to live. I also have an abundance of material goods — more clothing than I know what to do with, technology and gadgets, and enough food that I sometimes can’t eat it all. I also have education and opportunities that many people never have — not to mention resources for learning and improvement as well as a wealth of entertainment options. I’ve realized that I really, truly am rich. And so Paul’s advice to learn to place my hope in God rather than in my financial resources is exactly the advice I need.

In Proverbs chapter 11, Solomon also talks about riches. In verse 4, he says, “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.” And in verse 24, Solomon writes, “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.” We are encouraged to pay attention to what has eternal value. And if we do have wealth, generosity will profit us more than holding tightly on to those riches. As verse 25 says, “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”

The proverbs continue to teach us about righteousness and wickedness, and the consequences of our choices. As I read through the chapter today, I particularly noted verse 17. “A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself.” When we interact with others, we have the choice to be kind, or to be self-absorbed and unwittingly cruel. Time and again, the Scripture teaches us that when we extend ourselves to others, we end up benefiting in ways we could not expect. But when we focus only on ourselves, we are the ones who end up suffering.

Father God, help us to make wise choices in life. May we be kind and generous people. This will only happen because you refresh and renew our hearts. May the love of Christ shine through us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.