Exodus 12:14-13:16 ~ Matthew 20:29-21:22 ~ Psalm 25:16-22 ~ Proverbs 6:12-15
Today is January 31st. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you and here we are. Wow, 1/12th of the way through the year and the Bible. Yeah, just like that a whole month goes by. So it is a mile marker. We’ve achieved something together. We’ve come into a rhythm. Congratulations because if you’ve made it this far, you can make it. You can do it. I’m pretty sure you can see now that the Bible isn’t this stodgy, old, dusty, antiquated, indecipherable book. It is alive and well and speaking today. So congratulations on one month every day in the Bible this year. We’ll complete this month now.
We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week and yeah, the showdown between God and the pharaoh is about to come to a conclusion. Exodus chapter 12, verse 14 through 13, verse 16.
Commentary
We’re moving into really two different stories of emancipation, freedom in the Bible right now. In the Old Testament we’ve just walked with the children of Israel out of slavery that has lasted for centuries. Now these slaves have to learn what freedom looks like. And in the New Testament, in the book of Matthew, we’re following along with Jesus as he makes his journey into Jerusalem where he will lay his life down for the emancipation, the freedom, the restoration of humanity.
Moving into all of this is a really beautiful story. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He has left his home in the Galilee region and is out in the desert and there is one more leg of the trip to get him to Jerusalem from Jericho, all the way uphill, all the way up to Jerusalem. It is in Jericho that these blind men, they cry out. They will not be shut up. The crowds are trying to shut them down, but they won’t stop asking for Jesus to have mercy. “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
Jesus has to be thinking about what the next few days are going to be like for him because over the course of the next few days he is going to be dead. So it is not like it is not on his mind, and yet he stops and says something very, very beautiful to these guys. “What do you want me to do for you?”
Of course their response is, “We want our eyes to be opened.” And of course they are. But that question leaps off the page every time I come by this way. “What do you want me to do for you?” For me personally what wells up in my own heart is I want to see. It is less about my physical eyes and more that I want to see Jesus. I want to see clearly where he is leading and be willing to walk there without fear or reservation.
But then the psalm today speaks directly into that. It begins with a rhetorical question. “Who is the man who fears the Lord?”
Then it goes on to answer the question in a profound way. “Him, that guy, that person who fears the Lord, that person will be instructed in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in wellbeing.” That sounds amazing–abide in wellbeing. “And his offspring shall inherit the land. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him and he makes known to them his covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.”
So when I read Jesus’ words, “What do you want me to do for you?” as he’s speaking to these blind men, that wells up in me. I want to see too. I want any blindness in me to not be there anymore. What I’m talking about is intimacy, friendship with God. We see that is bestowed upon the person who fears and holds in awe and reveres God above all else. May that be our heart’s cry because so much is riding on it. This friendship, this intimacy, this collaboration in life, this is what we were made to be. This is how it is supposed to be. And it is available.
Prayer
Jesus, this is our cry. Lord, have mercy on us. Son of David, let our eyes be opened. Come by the power of your Holy Spirit in compassion and patience and show us the places that we are blind, the places that we don’t hold you in awe and we don’t fear you, because we desire and we desperately need intimacy and fellowship and friendship with you. Come Jesus, we pray. In your name we ask. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Dorothy from Destin and I would like you to join me in a prayer for our young people. Heavenly Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus and we are so grateful for all the young people that are calling in lately. Lord Jesus, protect them. Be with them. Bless them. We lift up all our young people to you, all our children, because as they grow and our influence lessens around them and the cares of the world and the enemy comes in and tries to get them, we ask, we pray the blood of Jesus over each and every one of them. And we ask that you strengthen these young people that are now calling in, these young people who are asking for prayers and blessing others and praying for their sisters and brothers. Lord, we are so grateful for them and we ask a mighty blessing over them by the power of your Holy Spirit and that you would just raise them up and protect them as they grow in their faith and strength in you, Lord Jesus. And Lord, for all those that have fallen away, we pray that you would send your Holy Spirit and other Christians and your angels to just bring them back into the fold, Lord. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. Thank you for Christian parents. Thank you for these young people. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
Good morning DAB family. This is Shirley in Southeastern Washington. It is January 26th. I just got through listening to the reading this morning. Part of it was Matthew 17:10-27, especially the portion about having faith larger than the mustard seed. I just want to say thank you, Brian, for what you said afterwards, encouraging and letting us know that we limit God so much, that if we don’t limit him and just have the faith larger than a mustard seed nothing is impossible. So I’m believing that for myself. I’m believing that for the rest of the DAB family and for people who call in and their prayers. We need to believe that nothing, absolutely nothing is impossible with God. When we have faith in him all things are possible. I just pray that you all will receive that when you hear that and just know that we can do things through God that others say that we cannot because he says we can. We need to believe and have faith in that. God bless you all. Love you. Bye.
Hi, this is Susie from Colorado. Brian, I’m praying for your family. My husband came home the other day and was really, really brokenhearted. He lost his own mom and we just talked about you and we thank God for you and your family so much. May I please pray for the church in Williamson, Haiti? That is __________ area. I pray that the Holy Spirit would fall on every member and that they would be blessed with medical, nutritional, employment, and especially spiritual needs. There is a such a battle of souls going on down there where the __________ culture and hatred and poverty. I just pray for encouragement for that entire church and that community and that the pastors and the elders there would be salt and light and that the broken would be healed and that great, great, great things would happen to show the glory of God there. I pray the blood of Christ over the church and over that village. And Bob and his throat cancer, man, you have already been used to encourage me and I know probably many, many, many more, hundreds who heard you, and we just pray that you would be healed in the name of Christ. And I pray for the healing from breast cancer for the lady called Salvation is Mine. Honey, I thought about you all day and how strong you sounded and then how you said, “that is how I feel today. I’m really going to need prayer to get through the other days that are coming.” Just know that I think about you very, very often and pray about you. Tim and Carissa from New Mexico who lost your baby, I have lost children as well. We believe that we will see them again and we know not why we lose our children, but we do know that God has made a promise that we will be reunited.
Good afternoon Daily Audio Bible. This is Esther from Washington, NY. I want to just pray first of all for everyone, but this is specifically for Salvation is Mine and I also believe Sunshine from Florida who are both battling cancer and anyone else who is battling cancer. And the young little girl who I believe is Deedee or Gigi from Gainesville who is battling epilepsy. I just want to thank the Lord first of all that you are all here on this earth, that you all have been blessed with the DAB, that you all have had the opportunity to get to know God in such a mighty way. May he with his blood cover you from head to toe, inside-out, from top to bottom. I pray, Father God, for you to give them strength, Father God, wisdom and discernment, Father God, so that they, Father God, can endure this season of their life and knowing that it is just a season, Father God. Father God, I ask you, Father God, to please just bless all those who are suffering, Father God, whether it is epilepsy, cancer, heart disease, whether it is mental illness because an illness is an illness no matter how you look at it and suffering is suffering, Father God. And you are the healer, Father God. For there is no one like you, Father God. I ask you all this, Father God, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, Father God, our sovereign Lord. Dabbers, I love you all. I listen daily. I may not call as often as I should and I’m going to change that, but I just want you to know that I pray for each and every one of you. God bless you all. Brian Hardin and family, I love you. Bye-bye.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. It’s Brian from Costa Mesa. It’s been a while since I called in, but I just finished listening to the January 25th podcast and I heard the prayer request for Tim and Carissa from New Mexico who just lost their pregnancy. And I just want to say my heart goes out to you. My wife and I, we lost our first pregnancy and we sought the counsel of other friends, Christian friends that had experienced the same thing and the first thing I would say to you is take time to grieve. It is not an easy thing to lose a child when you’re expecting one, but then grab hold of the promises of God. Know that your child is right now with the Father. He or she is in heaven waiting for you. Some day you will see that child, but I also want to give you my personal testimony. I had testicular cancer. My wife and I thought it was extraordinarily miraculous that we were able to get pregnant the first time and then to lose it was heartbreaking, but the Lord was faithful. He is always faithful and as of today we have a 5-½-year-old beautiful son. Keep hope. Know that we are praying for you. Be well.
Hi DAB family. This is Julie R. in Western Wisconsin and today I’m calling to pray for the Christians over in Syria and in Iraq. Because of Paul from Spain really challenging us to care, to not be apathetic and get involved, I’ve searched my heart and asked God to help me. Didn’t know what to do. So I’ve already been supporting an agency that helps the persecuted church around the world, so recently I’ve gotten contact from them about the Christians over especially in Aleppo and Mosul. So I’m going to lead us in prayer. I hope you’ll join with me. Our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ and through the power of your Holy Spirit we pray for the rebuilding of Aleppo, Mosul and other cities affected by ISIS, these historic cities that have been completely destroyed and are like ghost towns. We pray these areas will have life again and that the church will play a major role in bringing Christ to oppressed people. We pray that the church will be equipped to help the many children who have seen and lived through the hardships of the civil war, these children that have lost loved ones, their education, and have suffered from severe depression. We also pray that Christians who are driven from their cities by ISIS will return and join in rebuilding their cities and Christ’s witness. Jesus, we thank you for your angels and we summon them in the name of Jesus Christ and instruct them to destroy all that is raised against the Christians who have stayed in these cities, to establish your kingdom over them and to rebuild the shields and hedges of protection around them and their households and to minister to them your ministry. Jesus, we ask you to send forth your spirit and rouse us and unite us to raise up a full canopy of prayer and intercession for these Christians in Syria and Iraq and specifically those in Aleppo and Mosul.