Leviticus 22:17-23:44 ~ Mark 9:30-10:12 ~ Psalm 44:1-8 ~ Proverbs 10:19
Today is the 28th day of February. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here. Man, here we are, the end of the second month. This is a good place to be. This is usually the place where we settle in for the ride together with the community that has formed around this year’s journey through the scriptures. If you’re here, you can do this and probably you will. So congratulations on that. Let’s take the next step forward as we complete our second month together. We’re reading from the Names of God Bible this week, Leviticus chapter 22, verse 17 through 23, verse 44.
Commentary
The book of Proverbs gives us, of course, wise counsel, but it is just beautiful in the way that it can speak volumes inside of one sentence. I’ve always been astounded by that. Today is one of those days. Sin is unavoidable when there is much talk, but whoever seals his lips is wise. In other words, we need to learn how to keep our mouth shut because that mouth, if it keeps on running, can lead us into sin. We probably know this. It can lead into unexpected disagreement and argument. It can lead into wild assumptions that we weave together in a plausible story that may be completely false. It can lead us into the chatter that becomes gossip or we feast on another person that isn’t present and isn’t there to clarify while we’re building our false reality of assumption about them with another person.
These things are destructive. Frankly, they are unhelpful in pretty much any way. In the case of assumption and gossip, when we get together with our friends and start talking about another friend and the issues of their life, we start filling in the blanks. When we fill in the blanks, we’re filling in the blanks with guesses, but we walk away believing them and we have invented for ourselves a false reality.
We get ourselves into these silly arguments that don’t mean anything other than that we have a need to be right right now. They are not productive. They are destructive.
So this one sentence in the book of Proverbs today speaks volumes. Sin is unavoidable when there is much talk, but whoever seals his lips (whoever knows how to keep his mouth shut) is wise.
Prayer
Father, we see this in the life of Jesus. He is unafraid to speak, but he never walks into a room and fills it with words. He is always watching. He is always looking for the truth that is behind the presentation, the plot that is behind the story. Lord, it is our lifelong endeavor to be more and more Christ-like. In fact, it is our endeavor to be like Jesus for real, not as an aspiration, but as a reality. That is what we’re after because that is what the gospel invites us into. So may we heed the words spoken in the Proverbs today while looking at our Savior and his behavior. Holy Spirit, come, make us like Jesus. Help us to cooperate with you in this and learn how to keep our mouth shut in times that it’s not going to be helpful. There is always that space. There is always that beat before we launch into some sort of oratory. And we know where this is going to go. And when it is going to go into conflict, we need your counsel. We need to hear you giving us instruction about whether we’re to step into that and if now is the time. So come, Jesus, we pray because every day that we spend in the scriptures is another day that we realize our desperation without you, our utter hopelessness without you, how much we cannot navigate life at all without you. So come, Jesus. Make us wise. We ask in your name, amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you right here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Hi Dabbers. This is Geri from Wyoming who is also Called by the Lord Splendid. I am feeling very splendid right now, especially after listening to the Daily Audio Bible this morning. It’s February 25th. Lisa the Encourager, oh, she encouraged me so much. Her words that were so special to me have challenged me. They are helping me to be a better wife to my husband. I’m just so blessed to have someone who just has such insight on how to be to your husband. You just challenged me to be better, to rise above my foolishness, my pettiness, my sinful words sometimes that come out of nowhere toward my husband. Lisa, I am right now praying that the Lord would just give me the strength and the courage to do all that you encouraged me to do, to hold my tongue, to get rid of that pettiness, to adore my husband, to look at all of his strengths. It is so very special to me to hear those words. I know that I needed to do that in the past but for some reason in my worldliness, in my sinfulness, in my way of turning away from God had just taken over. You challenged me. You helped me. You are helping me to put that foot forward to do what is needed for my husband who is very special to me. I love him dearly and I hope he hears this. Thank you again, Lisa. And thank you, thank you, Brian, and your wonderful family out there in this world of the community of Daily Audio Bible. Thank you.
Hello. This is my first time calling. This is Nick from Grand Rapids, MI. I want to just say that this app and listening to the Daily Bible is just amazing. I love it. And the reason why I’m calling is I am blind. I got shot while hunting back in 2002, so it has been 14-½ years or thereabouts now. And I am newly married. Been married for a year and a half and still am just looking for that elusive job that doesn’t seem to be able to be found. And I just need encouragement and prayer that something will come about that will be right up my alley and that I will love to do. Obviously I know that most likely I won’t get a dream job right away, but I would love to just be able to help support my family and my wife and my two dogs right now. And hopefully our family will grow after that. So if you could just pray for that, that would be wonderful. Thank you so much.
Well hi. This is Stan from Maryland. I am just finishing up listening to yesterday’s message and I heard Jenny from Virginia, her cry of her heart for prayer from her brokenness from the past wrongs that her father has done to her and affected her family. So I’m going to lift Jenny up from Virginia right now as God has moved on my heart to do that. Father God, I come before you on your throne, Father, for your tender mercies toward my dear sister, Jenny from Virginia. Her heart is broken. Her world of trust has been shattered. Her perception of reality is off, Father God, and this dear woman who loves you deeply is simply asking for a movement of your hand, Father, to put the broken pieces of her life, to put the broken pieces of her perceptions back together so that she might understand how to heal, when to heal, and what to heal, Father God. I pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit that you would move in her in such a mighty way that her whole reality and orientation from her father’s abuse is transformed. Father, thank you for being you. Thank you for knowing what she needs greater than I do. And I pray, Father, that you would just hear my cry for my dear sister as a way of prompting you, Father, to give her exactly what she needs so that she knows that you are close to her heart and that you are going to turn all this catastrophe into good for healing and for…
Hi Daily Audio Bible. This is Jim from New Hampshire. I’m actually calling from the city of Pattaya in southern Thailand. I’m here on business. I was wrestling with whether or not to call, but I feel really strongly to call in and ask for prayer for this city and for these people. It’s such a beautiful culture, but there is so much suffering here. There is a lot of prostitution. There is a lot of ugly things happening when westerners travel here and I’ve even seen some children in the street that are sleeping by themselves. A little 3-year-old or 4-year-old girl. Just breaks my heart. Just pray for the salvation of these people, that God’s light would shine here amidst this suffering, and that these people who are in desperate circumstances who don’t have a lot would be rescued and would get out of this lifestyle of sexual bondage. I love these people and it’s so hard to watch the suffering. Thank you all for your prayers. I love you all and I will talk to you again someday.
Hi, this is Studious Workman in Beaverton, OR and I’m calling to pray for Nancy and Gary in Rockford, IL. They are one blessed husband and wife and they are suffering from an attack of cancer. I just ask, Lord, that you would remind them that they can do all things through you, Lord, and that they can do chemo and radiation, that they can survive this together. Lord, I just ask that you would bless them with many more years of retirement and living together and loving each other and loving you and loving the world and showing you to the world by their testimony of the healing that you’re providing for them. And I ask this in the wonderful name of Jesus. Amen. Bye-bye.
Hi everybody. This is Lisa the Encourager. My heart is heavy tonight for Janine that called in. Janine has been sexually abused all her life. Her brother and mother suffered from a lot and has PTSD and low self-esteem and self-worth. So Janine, all my prayers tonight are going for you. I’ve definitely been praying before I called and I’ll be praying for you now. Dear God, I’m praying for Janine as she has had a very difficult and hard road, Lord. She is shattered and she needs to be restored in her joy, Lord. God, she is broken and only you can make her beautiful again. I know, God, that you hear my plea and her plea for help. You are the King of the world, Lord Jesus, and I know that you can cover her in victory over this pain that she has, God. Please, God, let her be able to laugh again and to be happy and be able to smell sweet roses and sing in the rain and, God, just please stop her tears and pain and wrap your loving arms around her. I can’t even imagine what it has been like to be walking in her shoes. I’m just very sorry for everything she has had to go through, Lord, and I just pray that you’ll watch after her brother and her mom, too, God.