Judges 13:1-14:20, John 1:29-51, Psalms 102:1-28, Proverbs 14:15-16
Today is the 1st day of May. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you at the beginning of a shiny sparkly new month. Today is the 121st day of the year. So, we are moving right along. And it’s exciting to be here with you today for the next step forward, which will lead us back into the book of Judges in the old testament and then into the gospel of John that we began yesterday when we get to the new testament. We’re reading from the Names of God Bible this week. Judges chapter 13 and 14 today.
Commentary:
Okay, so in the book of Judges we’ve obviously met a famous character in the Scriptures, Samson. And we’re getting going in his story.
And in the book of John, Jesus is calling together a group of friends that will follow him throughout his ministry. We’ll later know them as the disciples.
And then we get to Psalm 102. And it is a cry of the heart from a person who is certainly suffering. I mean, the kinds of language that are being used here are likely things that we can relate to at some point or another in our lives. Don’t hide your face from me when I’m in trouble. Turn your ear toward me. Answer me quickly when I call. May my days disappear like smoke. My bones burn like hot coals. My heart is beaten down and writhed like grass. I’m nothing but skin and bones because of my loud groans. I’m like a desert owl, like an owl living in the ruins. I lie awake. I’m like a lonely bird on a rooftop. And this person is describing a depressed, hopeless state of being. And I know that there are many within our community who are feeling that way at this point in time. Have we ever stopped to consider Psalm 102 though? Have we ever considered that this was written with us who are reading it now in mind? Because it is. The writer of this psalm certainly pours out their heart. Definitely, lets us know how they’re feeling. We can immediately associate those feelings with things that we’ve gone through. But the whole thing takes a turn once we get to verse 12 - You, O God, remain forever. You are remembered throughout every generation. You will rise and have compassion on Zion because it is time to grant a favor to it. Indeed, the appointed time has come. When we get to verse 18, this will be written down - speaking of this psalm - this will be written down for a future generation so that a people yet to be created may praise God. God looked down from his holy place high above from heaven. He looked at the earth, he heard the groans of the prisoners and set free those who were condemned to death. So, this writer is in a lot of pain emotionally. It’s being described for us vividly. But his choice is to turn to worship and look forward. Look forward into the future in order to find hope. What he or she is going through isn’t going to last forever and as difficult and as hard as it is to find hope in the situation that’s being described in this psalm, the writer looks way, way out into the future, knowing that this isn’t going to last forever. And hope is out there. Hope is still available. May we take comfort in that as we move into this new month.
Prayer:
Father, you remain the same. You will never end. From beginning to end, you will be there and beyond. There is always hope. And, yes, a lot of times we get trapped in our own circumstances. In the spinning vortex that is our lives, we get stuck and we can’t see our way out. And it seems like we’re sinking, sinking, sinking. And we forget to reach with hope to the future, understanding that even what we’re going through now affects future generations as we see in this psalm today. So, come Holy Spirit. Bring us hope, we pray. In Jesus 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 here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hello DAB family this is Linda from Alberta calling. I hope everybody is having a wonderful day today. Right now, I am on the, kind of, back roads of southern Alberta driving home. I was away for a few days and such a beautiful morning. I was listening to the prayer line and just thought I’d give a quick call in now. And I don’t have really an exact intention as to why I am calling in. I just felt that I needed to call in. My daughter, she still has her, you know, her life of mental health and addiction. And it’s improved immensely since I first started listening several years ago and had the whole family praying for us. On the other hand, my other daughter had her first baby. So, my husband and I are now grandparents and that’s super-duper exciting. She had a baby boy. So, even though at times, I was thinking, things are kind of bittersweet and sometimes I shouldn’t feel as good as I do, but for a few weeks now, I’ve been really feeling like just everything is as it should be. I just feel like so content and at peace. And I just know it’s such a special gift from God. And I know He’s always there and present but I just wanted to share that. And occasionally I wonder about Scott from Alaska. I remember when I first started phoning in, I think he might’ve even prayed for my family, but I haven’t heard from him in a long time and maybe I’ve just missed him. Also, Brian the truck driver, thank you for your message. I just heard it today. Today’s the 28th. I’m a couple of days behind but thank you for that. I really enjoyed what you had to say. And I did want to say God bless everybody. Bye-bye.
Good morning this is Princess Sarah in Tulsa. Today is April 28th and I just love, so much, that I get to pray for you guys from all over the world. And some of you all I’m starting to recognize your voices before you say your name. And, so, that’s just super fun. So, today, I’m just calling on behalf of, I’m going to call the Mr. and Mrs. Smith, because I haven’t asked their permission to talk about them, but they are a young military couple with three little kiddos. And Mr. Smith has done several tours in Iraq and probably has a dose of PTSD. And he’s been a tough guy and he’ll admit that now. And his wife has now kind of hardened her heart. And she’s kind of giving up on their marriage and he is doing their love __. He’s trying to make a go of it and trying to become a better man and I’m not even sure that either one of them really have ever met the Lord. They know about God and believe in God but here is my prayer request. They have the opportunity this summer to go to Operation Heal Our Patriots. They have a week with a go to Alaska and it’s put on by Samaritans Purse and they have fun and the see bears and they, you know, see all sorts of adventures, but they also have lots of counseling and marriage…opportunities to grow their marriage and to forgive and then they can even renew their vows and be baptized. __ is there. I’m just asking that you guys would pray they would go. I think that Mr. Smith is now willing and now Mrs. Smith is kind of vacillating, thinking maybe it’s just too late for them. Would you just pray they go? And also, if you’re a military couple who has had some struggles, man I suggest you get online and apply for this amazing opportunity. It’s all paid for. You just get there and be blessed. And, so, I just look forward to hearing that Mr. and Mrs. Smith take this opportunity…
[Singing] My strength is surely failing. This trial’s come both left and right. And in the center I am lost in being. Not a trace of hope insight. And if tears were only raindrops the universe would be flooding now. Lord, I call You today. Please don’t pass me by. A storm of fear now surrounds me. The failing heart is all I see. Broken dreams with painful memories. Request for help abides in me. Still I know you’re standing near me but I just need your hand in mine. So, Lord I ask You today, please hear my cry. Hold my hand today lest I fall. Guide my steps all the way. Please hear my cry for the tears of life is all I know see. Please walk me through them. That’s all I ask of you [singing ends]. I hope this ministers to somebody today. God bless you.
Hi everyone. It’s Margo from Australia. I was just listening to the community prayer line and I just had to call in. I want to say something to Mark Street, my fellow Aussie from Australia. I heard that it was once mention this already and I perhaps have missed it but you seem quite downtrodden at the moment by that whole incident with the dating site that happened. And, you know, I can understand. It’s an awful thing to happen but you know why that happened don’t you? It’s because you were doing the challenge about calling in for sexual sin. That’s why it happened because Satan went, ‘no way, now I’m gonna get him.’ You know, Satan has had a small victory. Don’t let him turn it into a big victory. I think you should go back to your challenge of calling in for sexual sin. The whole reason Satan did that is because he liked what you were doing. And he will be so happy to see that you are discouraged and downtrodden. That’s what Satan wants. You know what? Put it behind you. Move on. You are no worse than any other human on the face of the earth. We all make mistakes. And you know what? God loves you. We love you. Don’t let Satan have a big victory in your life. Anyway, hope that is encouraging. Hope that everybody has a lovely day. I have been at work and I’m just driving into the evening service at my church. So, off I go. Have a great day everyone. Bye.
Hey DAB family. This is Christy in New York. I’ve been busy with my new puppy, so I haven’t called in from the home because I don’t get to listen to much at home because I’m listening to see if he’s doing something. So, anyways, I’m listening a lot more in the car and I think it was on the April 14th community podcast that there was somebody who called in and I couldn’t really tell what you are saying, but I did catch that you kept saying I love you. And I’m sure there was a lot of people that kept saying, ‘I love you’ back. So, I just want you to know that I love you back. I’m sure that the rest of us at the DAB family love you back to. And we appreciate that your listening and bring along with us. I also wanted to thank Brian because April 16th was my birthday and, although I did listen to that podcast on that day, it was a nice birthday gift anyway to hear the adorable voice of your son answering your questions. So, thank you for that. And I just want to pray right now in general for everybody in the DAB community. Heavenly Father, we thank You for this community. We thank You for the gift of each other, the gift of Yourself offered through these people offering their stories and their time in prayer, to be a part of this community. We thank You for the privilege, we thank You for the chance to do this through Your servant Brian and his family. We ask for You to answer the prayers of all the DABbers, the ones that are on that we can hear and the ones that we can’t hear, the ones that we haven’t even thought of to pray for ourselves, Lord Please, meet all the DABbers needs, emotionally, physically, spiritually, financially. And we love You and we thank You. Kristi in New York. Bye.