Welcome to the first week of a year-long Bible study through the New Testament! Stick around awhile, read, comment, and feel free to open your Bible and submit your own thoughts/journal entries!
For the first entry, we will start at the very beginning of the New Testament with Matthew 1 and read through the end of chapter 5. Here is what I got:
Matthew 1:6 - "...David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah."
The first 17 verses of chapter 1 was a genealogical list starting with Abraham and going all the way to Jesus - a total of 40 generations. And verse 6 was simply stating that David was the father of Solomon, so as to establish a correct genealogy.
The reason I picked this verse was because it reminds me that in order to be useful to and used by God, you don't need to be perfect. David had committed the only act that God has said it was okay to end a marriage over, and therefore (in my opinion) one of the worst things a person can do. But, God still chose to use him. David was a man who loved God. From the time that he was a little boy, he loved God. He followed God to fight a giant (and win) when he was still just a boy. He ran all throughout various wildernesses because of his faith in God. He became the king of God's people because of his love for God. But, he still screwed up. It reminds me that it is okay to screw up. God still loves you and God still wants to use you. The only thing stopping God from being an active force in your life is you and your lack of willingness to go where He leads and do what He asks. So, as my best friend is fond of saying, do it! Get up, brush your knees off, tend to your bruised pride and move forward.
Lord, thank You for Your grace and mercy and Your word. Thank You that You continue to guide and bless and love on us even when we forget who we really are. Thank you for being amazing. I pray that I, myself, and anyone else reading this would be strengthened and encouraged in our hearts to put down whatever barriers there are in our hearts and just follow after You. Thank You. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
[this is a side note from my study Bible on this verse: "This is not an exhaustive genealogy. Several additional generations must have elapsed between Rahab (in Joshua's time) and David (v. 6) - nearly 4 centuries later. Matthew's genealogy (like most of the biblical ones) sometimes skips over several generations between well known characters in order to abbreviate the listing."]
Feel free to add your thoughts or comments, as well as your own journaling from today's reading. Thanks, and God bless!
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