Digging Deeper Daily: By Daily Bible Reading PodcastSample

1SAMUEL 9-10: In yesterday's reading, Samuel was formally made a judge, and then he led the people of Israel into victory over the Philistines. But when Samuel was old and after the appointment of his two sons as judges in his place, his sons perverted justice for bribes. So the people asked to have a king. God had already long ago said this would happen, in fact, this idea was in Hannah’s prayer. Samuel was displeased, not for the sake of his sons, but because the people were rejecting God as their king. PSALM 95: This is a gem among the psalms. Note the exuberance of worship in this psalm! And this is balanced by reverence to God. The last half of this psalm is quoted in full in Hebrews and is an important topic in that New Testament book. ROMANS 3b: In Romans chapter 3 Paul refuted misunderstanding and wrong teaching by resoundingly proving that Jews cannot save themselves by their own power and by means of fulfilling the Law. (Paul was not using the term ‘Law’ in the more restricted sense (meaning the first five book of the Old Testament), but like Jews of his day he included all the OT in that term.) In the verses he quoted, he made it very that not even one person can claim to be righteous in God's sight. That is why God has provided another way to become right in His sight, which is actually foretold in the Law and Biblical prophetic writings. Important Translation note: In today’s passage, note that in most English translations you will find both ‘believe’ and ‘faith’. Those two dissimilar words translate the same Greek root word in Greek, in its verb and noun forms. Let me say it again: Using two dissimilar words like this for one root word in Greek damages the cohesion of what Paul was saying, and can give the faulty impression that ‘faith’ is different than ‘believe’. One problem with the English word ‘faith’ is that it not perceived as a volitional act. But ‘believe’ is. To believe is a choice we can make. And that is exactly what Paul is pushing for here.