Read To Me Daily Semester 4Sample

EZRA 3-4:
Ezra, who was a scribe and priest, doesn’t start speaking about himself until chapter 7. Ancient copies of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were written on the same scroll, and Jewish tradition holds that Ezra wrote both of them. The dates of writing are somewhere between 458 and 420 BC. I kind of doubt that Ezra was the author for both books, because the writer of Nehemiah starts out right away using the first person pronoun ‘I’. The two books deal with two periods of time: Ezra deals with the rebuilding of the temple, and Nehemiah deals with the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.

Yesterday in Ezra we heard about Cyrus’ decree to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, the return of the temple treasures that were taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, and the first large wave of returning exiles and their gifts to God.

ISAIAH 30:
Yesterday’s reading in Isaiah 29 included several verses quoted in the New Testament about Israel’s hypocrisy. Then at the end, did you catch who Isaiah was talking about?

29:18 NLT In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book,
and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness.
20 The scoffer will be gone, the arrogant will disappear,

Isaiah was NOT talking about the healing of just any ordinary deaf and blind people, but those people previously mentioned: The Israelites who refused to open their ears or open their eyes— who refused to read a book given to them, and yet were arrogant scoffers.

If you are NOT reading a good meaning-based translation, then it is very likely that you will misunderstand today's reading in Isaiah 30 verse 7. The Rahab mentioned is NOT the woman that received Joshua’s spies!

2CORINTHIANS 11:
Up to yesterday’s reading in 2nd Corinthians, Paul has been more reserved in criticizing the men who have come masquerading as apostles. Those men have been more forceful speakers than Paul, and it has seemed that Paul is only bold in his letters. He said,

10:12 NLT Oh, don’t worry; we wouldn’t dare say that we are as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are!

But we will see that Paul takes his gloves off as we go forward. Yet, what he boasts about follows that verse he quoted from Jeremiah:

17 NLT As the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.”

Let’s pray.
Our creator God, You who are our loving Father, and Christ Jesus, we have already heard that we must walk by belief in You, and not by sight. Help us to do that as we think of ourselves in relation to You, and please help us by the power of the Holy Spirit to do that as we think of others, especially those who lead ministries or our churches. Let us reject evaluating or even opposing people using worldly motives or methods. Let us take aim at false arguments, not at the people who hold them. Like Paul wanted, may we not be harsh with people unless it is absolutely necessary. Please give us spiritual discernment about strongholds, about the satanic source of such strongholds, and the interaction with our own human nature. Oh Lord, may we all have others in our lives that help to warn us and rebuke each of us about our pride. We make it our aim today to boast only about You, Lord, and the marvelous things You have done. Among those marvelous things, we glorify You for fulfilling prophecies we read about in Ezra. And we praise You that even today You are in sovereign control and fulfilling all your promises and prophecies.