Daily Bible Reading Podcast Phil Fields

2SAMUEL 7-8:
At last, David became the king of all Israel, then the Lord gave him two great military victories over the Philistines. Then, after a botched attempt, David moved the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. He danced with all his might before the Lord.
Psalm 109b:
When you feel that you are surrounded by people who gang up against you and slander you, then this is the psalm for you. Note that Jesus would have had every right to pray like this from the cross, but He didn’t! In the NLT, verses 6 through 19 are translated as a long quote of slander against the Psalm-writer, David.

ROMANS 13:
Remember my challenge to you about Romans 12:1? Did you discover where the opening ‘Therefore’ goes back to?
Romans 12 is one of the most beautiful of all of Paul’s practical teaching chapters. He deals with the basics, ending with the most basic of all: “Do not let evil defeat you; instead, conquer evil with good.” Chapter 12 teaches us about how to evaluate ourselves and how to use our spiritual gifts, and how to respond to people who do wrong to us. Key to all of this is the first two verses. Let’s remind ourselves of those verses before reading chapter 13.
Romans 12:1-2 PET
[The PET (Plain English Translation) is how our Plain Indonesian Translation (TSI) sounds if translated into English.]
1 Based on all I have said before now about the various ways God has been so kind to us, it's only proper that we return His kindness! We should all think like this, “Lord, I give my body to you as a sacrifice”— even though we actually continue to live. A decision like that amounts to a holy sacrifice which pleases the Lord.
2 This means that we can no longer follow a bad lifestyle like what has become the habit of worldly people. But let's surrender our bodies as sacrificial offerings to God, and He will renew our minds— so that we can know what His will is for us, and what is best in every situation. By that I mean we can understand and choose what is good and what is most proper for us, along with what pleases the Lord.
NLT Translation notes:
Ps. 109:20 May those curses become the LORD’s punishment
for my accusers who speak [such] evil of me.
30 But I will give repeated thanks to [You//the] LORD,
praising [You/him] to everyone.
31 For [You stand//he stands] beside the needy,
ready to save them from those who condemn them.
 
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

2SAMUEL 5-6:
General Abner defected to David, but it cost him his life on the same day at the hands of Joab, the commander of David's forces and the brother of the slain Asahel. One result was also that Ishbosheth was murdered by two army captains who thought that they would be rewarded for doing David a favor.
PSALM 109a:
If you feel that you are surrounded by people who gang up against you and slander you, then this is the psalm for you. One of the verses in this psalm was quoted by Peter about Judas in Acts 1. You are certainly given permission by this Psalm to pray for vindication and justice, but contrast this with what Romans 12 says about praying for your enemies— which we also read today. Note this: In the NLT, verses 6 through 19 contain a long quote of slander against the Psalm-writer, David. Or, in GNT, those verses are part of David’s prayer for vindication.
Re-reading ROMANS 12:
Chapter 12 marks the beginning of the practical part of Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians. This part packs a big punch, and verses 1-2— which form the topic sentence for this section, are must-memorize verses. If everything that Paul said before now is true, then THIS is the logical and appropriate response of how we are to live. This is how we ought to respond to God's wonderful kindness to us. And these two verses reveal a major truth about how the transformation of our minds takes place, and what must happen if we are to discern God's will in our decisions.
NLT Translation notes:
Ps. 109:20 May those curses become the LORD’s punishment for my accusers who speak [such] evil of me.
30 But I will give repeated thanks to [You//the] LORD,
praising [You/him] to everyone.
31 For [You stand//he stands] beside the needy,
ready to save them from those who condemn them.
====
Rom. 12:1 And so [/therefore], dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all [the merciful things] he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
[See the GNT translation notes for how we translated verses 1-2 into Indonesian.]
3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the [true beliefs//faith] God has given us.
6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much [belief//faith] as God has given you.
 
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

2SAMUEL 3-4:
In yesterday's story, David was anointed as king over his own tribe of Judah, while all the rest of Israel followed Saul's son, Ishbosheth. Ishbosheth was not a strong leader, but was put in place by Abner, the general. Joab was David's military commander. In the first battle, it is significant that Abner killed Joab's brother Asahel. David's troops decisively won their first battle in the civil war.
PSALM 108:
This is a psalm of exalted praise, and a song asking God for military victory.
ROMANS 12a:
Yesterday at the end of Romans 11, we came to the end of the long parenthesis. God is seen as both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who refuse to believe. Belief is not something that just happens without our control. It is an act of the will to believe. That is why the stubborn disbelief of the Israelites is called 'disobedience'.
This chapter marks the beginning of the practical section of Romans. In other words, this part shows the way we should live based on the teachings given in the chapters before.
NLT Translation notes:
Ps. 108:6 Now [please] rescue your beloved people.
Answer and save us by your power.
7 [O] God [You have//has] promised this by [your/his] holiness:
“I will divide up Shechem with joy.
I will measure out the valley of Succoth.
13 With [your help, O God,//God’s help] we will do mighty things,
for [you/he] will trample down our foes.
====
Rom. 12:1 And so [/therefore], dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all [the merciful things] he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
3 Because of the privilege and authorityc God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the [true beliefs//faith] God has given us.
6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much [belief//faith] as God has given you.
 
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

2SAMUEL 2:
David heard of Israel’s terrible defeat and of Saul and Jonathan's deaths, and he exacted the death sentence from the lying messenger. David and his men mourned for the deaths of  Saul and Jonathan, and David composed a funeral song for them.
PSALM 107b:
Yesterday I commented on how quickly our culture forgets about God. After a natural disaster, it becomes popular in the media to talk about praying for the victims. But God is not even mentioned, and soon any pretense of awe or fear of God is dropped. But Psalm 107 speaks of people who see God’s hand at work and make lasting changes. The poem ends with this summary:
NLT The godly will see these things and be glad,
while the wicked are struck silent.
43 Those who are wise will take all this to heart;
they will see in our history the faithful love of the LORD.
ROMANS 11b:
Paul comes to the end of a long parenthesis at the end of this chapter. He ends with a conclusion just before a doxology:
NLT 33 Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!
34 For who can know the LORD’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to give him advice?
35 And who has given him so much
that he needs to pay it back?
NLT Translation notes:
Rom 11:11 Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the [non-Jews//Gentiles]. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves.
12 Now if the [non-Jews//Gentiles] were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it.
13 I am saying all this especially for you [non-Jews//Gentiles]. God has appointed me as [an//the] apostle to the [non-Jews//Gentiles]. I stress this,
14 for I want somehow to make the people of Israel jealous of what you [non-Jews//Gentiles] have, so I might save some of them.
16 And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy—just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering [to God] is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too.
17 But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you [non-Jews//Gentiles], who were [like] branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree.
21 For if God did not spare the original branches, he won’tf spare you either [if you turn from your belief].
25 I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters,g so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of [non-Jews//Gentiles] comes to Christ.
28 Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you [non-Jews//Gentiles]. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
30 Once, you [non-Jews//Gentiles] were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead.
31 Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will [some day/eventually] share in God’s mercy.
 
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

2SAMUEL 1:
David returned from being sent home from the battle with Israel only to find that his town had been ransacked by the Amalekites. He found strength in God, asked for God to direct him, and succeeded in retrieving everything, and even much more. However in Israel, Saul and his three sons died, and the Israelite army was completely defeated.
PSALM 107a:
We come to another of my favorite psalms. In E.C. Olsen’s book on the psalms (which is a transcription of his radio programs) he said that this psalm has a message for America. That message is in the repeated refrain found in this psalm. Then Olsen gave examples of the Great Depression starting in 1929, the Dust Bowl plagues in 1933-34, and the drought of 1936. Olsen observed, “Do you think we heeded [God’s warnings]? Indeed not. … Did we cease our wicked doings? Indeed not.” And I similarly ask about the increasing pace of disasters right now. My observation is that we as a nation turned to God when we confronted the first disasters. But our turning to God lasted only a few days. Now, even as natural disasters multiply, we steadfastly talk of Climate Change and never talk about God. Consequently, we do NOT do like the people we hear about in this psalm.
ROMANS 11a:
As Paul said in his topic sentence in this book (Rom. 1:16-17), the way God has revealed for making people right with himself is— from start to finish, by means of fully believing. In chapter 10 we have a great and succinct summation of the content that we are to ‘fully believe’. Our confessing the belief that is in our hearts is also important. At the end of chapter 10 there are a series of Old Testament quotes. Two of those quotes are about the non-Jews. Paul was not changing his topic. He is still talking about Jewish rejection of the Gospel. The two Old Testament prophecies about the non-Jews (19-20) are quoted as a powerful sign to the Jews. This is the topic Paul continues with in chapter 11.
NLT Translation notes:
Rom 11:11 Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the [non-Jews//Gentiles]. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves.
12 Now if the [non-Jews//Gentiles] were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it.
13 I am saying all this especially for you [non-Jews//Gentiles]. God has appointed me as [an//the] apostle to the [non-Jews//Gentiles]. I stress this,
14 for I want somehow to make the people of Israel jealous of what you [non-Jews//Gentiles] have, so I might save some of them.
16 And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy—just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering [to God] is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too.
17 But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you [non-Jews//Gentiles], who were [like] branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree.
21 For if God did not spare the original branches, he won’t spare you either [if you turn from your belief].
25 I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of [non-Jews//Gentiles] comes to Christ.
28 Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you [non-Jews//Gentiles]. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
30 Once, you [non-Jews//Gentiles] were rebels against God, but when the people of Is

1SAMUEL 30-31:
The Philistines mustered their armies for full-scale war with Saul and the Israelites. Saul had already done a right thing in expelling all the mediums from Israel. But, since God had turned from him and would not answer him, he resorted to a medium during his darkest hour. It does not bother me too much to say that God spoke through that medium. It seems so by the evidence. But if so, it was an exception. God's word says to never consult a medium. In fact, mediums are to be stoned to death. David was preparing to go to war in support of Achish, or was he really?!
PSALM 106b:
Psalm 106 is a companion to 105, as it again is a historical psalm. I see a very significant correspondence with the section of Romans we are now reading. Can you see it?
Re-reading ROMANS 10, plus 11:1-2a:
Some of the most famous and often quoted words of the New Testament are in this chapter. Paul continues to compare and contrast God's way vs. the Jewish default way.
NLT Translation notes:
Ps. 106:34 [And then] Israel failed to destroy the nations in the land,
as the LORD had commanded them.
====
Rom. 10:6 But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven [for us]?’ (to bring Christ down to earth).
7 And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead [for us]?’ (to bring Christ back to life again).”
8 In fact, it says,
“The message is very close at hand;
it is on your lips and in your heart.”
And that message is the very message about [fully believing which//faith that] we preach:
11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who [believes//trusts] in him will never be disgraced.”
[Here in rapid succession, NLT used three English words for one word in Greek. I continue to maintain that using one word will help us understand what Paul is saying. I think the NLT would be better if either ‘trust’ or ‘believe’ were used consistently. ‘Faith’ is too fuzzy and abstract in English, which can lead to strange, unbiblical interpretations.]
17 So [people fully believe through//faith comes from] hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
19 But I ask, did the people of Israel really understand? Yes, they did, for even in the time of Moses, God said,
“I will rouse your jealousy through people who are not even a nation.
I will provoke your anger through the foolish [non-Jews//Gentiles].”
 
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.