Lamentations 4:1-5:22; Hebrews 2:1-18; Psalms 103:1-22; Proverbs 26:23
Today is the 31st day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. Of course, it’s awesome to be here with you today as we prepare to close down the 10th month of the year. Today is the 304th day of the year, which leaves us with 61 steps to go to the finish line. And, also today, we will conclude the book of Lamentations. So, let’s get to that. We are reading from the Good News translation this week. Lamentations chapter 4 verse 1 through 5 verse 22 today.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we’re quite a bit of ways into the book of Proverbs and we have been dispensed. Each day, a bit of wisdom has been given to us that is practical and usable and true. And we also notice that it deals with all of the different postures and issues of our lives, encouraging us in the path that leads to and operates within wisdom. But we also have to acknowledge that where it is taking is now, the territory that we are going through right now, is pretty close to home, because its dealing with the things that were saying and how that affects things and it uses metaphors that we can understand to show us what we’re doing, which gives us a great opportunity to ask ourselves, ‘is that what I want to be doing with my words’. In other words, if this is what is happening, is that who I want to be? So, let’s look at this proverb. Insincere talk is how this proverb begins. So, what are we talking about we talk about insincere talk? We’re talking about language or the portrayal of an emotion that is not authentic, that is not genuine. In other words, we don’t mean what we’re actually saying and we don’t feel what we’re actually portraying or saying it because it’s what we feel like we should say or we’re exaggerating what we’re saying or what we’re portraying ourselves to be feeling, we’re exaggerating and stretching that beyond what is true and authentic. And the proverb says this is cheap talk. And we know that euphemism. We know that proverb - talk is cheap. This is what we’re talking about. But underneath that, we have to understand that it’s a sham. It’s not true. It’s not genuine. It’s not authentic. It’s not real. It veils the truth. It hides what you’re really thinking. So, as the proverb goes, ‘insincere talk that hides what you really thinking is like a fine glaze on a cheap clay pot’. So, if we’re looking at the metaphor, then the clay pot is made of cheap materials is maybe poorly constructed, isn’t going to hold together all that well, maybe it’s porous and actually won’t hold liquid, and so there’s a glaze that’s put over the top but that’s going to break down and it’s going to leak, which probably brings us to another euphemism - that won’t hold water. That’s what we’re talking about here. So, this glaze is slapped on top of it to make it look like it’s a finely crafted piece, but it’s not. It’s cheap. It’s going to hold up. It’s not what it’s being presented to be. So, put that starkly, as the Proverbs are prone to do, we immediately have the mirror that the Scriptures become up in front of our faces and we have to examine ourselves. That’s the invitation of the proverb. Do you want to live wise or not? If you do, then this is this is what you need to pay attention to. This is what the Proverbs teach us. So, we have to look at ourselves and say, am I true, am I real, am I authentic and genuine in the things that I communicate or is most of this a sham? I don’t think there’s anyone listening right now that’s like yes, yes, every day I roll out of bed and see how fake I can possibly be and when I lay my head down at night, if I can feel like I fooled everyone, then mission accomplished. Like, I don’t think we live our lives that way. But using this proverb and the metaphor that it presents us, we might find that we very much are participating in insincere talk throughout any given day. And according to the proverb, we’re trying to pass off something as valuable that is cheap. And if we’ll pay attention to this proverb, if we’ll put it in our hearts and walk through this day observing ourselves, we’ll probably catch ourselves. And as we observe ourselves being this way, then we have the opportunity to name it and change it.
Prayer:
Father, we come into Your presence asking for Your help with this, the false places inside of us that just come spilling out all kinds of social situations. How is it that we can be true and sincere and present in our language, in our speech, rather than peddling something off that isn’t true? Come Jesus we pray, we need Your help, and we ask for in Your name. Amen.
Announcements:
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What has been going on around here for the last week is the Global Campfire Initiative and that initiative will be concluded today. It was our hope to move through a week of the initiative and then be able to move forward in the development that we’ve been talking about. And, so, before the days out, the Hatch Prints will be gone. There are a few left. You can still certainly get involved. I don’t know what else to say to say that I am humbled that we can do this together and that we have done this together and that you’ve cared that were in this together and were doing this together. That is so heartening to know that there are passions about the spoken word of God in community that are beyond my own. So, thank you. And if you do want to participate, dailyaudiobible.com is the place to go. Just scroll down and you’ll find the Global Campfire Initiative. And thank you for helping us finish this strong and completely. From the bottom of my heart and the heart of all of the team, everybody who’s involved in writing lines of code or praying or whiteboarding or dreaming, thank you.
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And that’s it for today. This concludes the 10th month of our year together, concludes the month of October. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow as we begin a new month.
Community Prayers and Praise Reports:
Good morning my Daily Audio Bible family. I hope you are well. This is Erin in Michigan and I am calling with a prayer request for my niece, that she would turn back to God and also to take care of yourself. She has health issues and needs to eat well and sleep well and then do her college work. So, just lifting her up and holding her out to God because I know that she’s been chosen by him and has a great purpose in life. Lord, just ask for truth, health, and strength to get there. And my main request, Lord, and family, is to pray for me. I am embarking on a path that leads towards working towards racial reconciliation and I want to arrive in a church that believes that this is the church’s work and I totally and fully believe that as the body of Christ we are the ones to heal the divisions that have long been not even recognized as a division. So, Lord, I lift up our churches. I lift up our brothers and sisters of color, Lord. And I lift up those of us in the church, as it is our work to heal the racial divide that has scared our country since its inception. So, thank you for praying with me family. I love you and I hope you have a wonderful day. Bye.
Hello Daily Audio Bible DABbers. This is Dianne B. from Newburg, Indiana and I’m calling to mainly pray for Rayna from LA. Sister, I am in your shoes right now and want you to know that hang in there and just obey Psalm 91 - the secret place. Get in the secret place every day. Focus on that. Focus on the word. Focus on worship. And I hear your pain and you feel hopeless. And people are saying, ‘what’s wrong with you’? And you love your job and you were free of fibromyalgia once but it’s come back full force. And I stand with you sister. I stand with you and I am fighting with you in my own battles in similar ways. So, every single day I am going to lift up your name to the Lord and I am going to pray that you be restored better than you were before because it is (singing) Him whom we love, it is Him whom we follow, it is Him whom we trust, it is Him, Jesus (singing stops). God bless you sister. I am going to pray every day. Shalom, shalom. Nothing is missing. Nothing is broken.
Good morning DAB family. This is Cheryl from Arkansas. And I have a prayer request today and ask that all of you guys, myself included, that we pray for our sisters and brothers in Puerto Rico. I pray that we the Spirt of Jesus and the love of Jesus when we think of them and our hearts go out to them and that we treat them as one of us and that we treat them as the sisters and the brothers that they are, just like the sisters and the brothers to the right of us and to the left of us in the different states and cities within the United States. I ask that you pray with me, that we pray for the love that we have unconditionally and that we not treat them any differently because they’re not different. And that’s my prayer. And I just thank you guys are praying with me. Thank you, have a good day. Bye-bye.
Almighty and powerful God, I come to you tonight on behalf of Lee, who confessed his sin of anger to the DAB family. We are told to confess our sins, one to another, and to pray for one another and as the DAB family we do that right now. At the same time, You tell us, if we confess that You are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Father God, Lee’s anger must have been like a powder keg, he lost control and the flames were explosive, not just singing the relationship with his wife and his 13-year-old daughter but charring the relationship to the point of ashes. Oh, Father the family is deeply hurt. Lee is depleted, feeling unworthy of love and respect and a place within the family. Oh God, I pray that Lee’s anger will not go unchecked, the festering great bitterness. I pray Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit that Lee will embrace as the elective God always because of confession and beloved. Because he is Your child, that he will put on tender mercy, that he will put on kindness, that he will put on humility and meekness and longsuffering as You tell all of us, all of us as Your servants, and as the servants of our family. Father, we can’t do it without the powerful work of the spirit within. Grant it, I pray. At the same time, I ask, that in time that his wife and his daughter and his little son will see that Lee is repentant and they will have listening ears and open hearts and that by Your Spirit You will grant supernatural willingness to forgive and that restoration of the family will be Lees gift from You. Oh, Father I pray in the strong name of Jesus. I leave this petition with You and thank You.