March 12

Today's Reading

Numbers. This illustrates one of the hard truths about leadership: some followers are never happy. Later in today's reading is a description of the tithes required of the priests. It seems that God instituted this plan in which the Levites could not own land as a result of what happened just before: the people didn't respect the exclusivity of the priesthood so God showed His holiness and left them fear and awe. Only those of Levi could come near the sacred places. The Levites wouldn't own property, but receive their incomes from the tithes and offerings. The Levites then were to give the best of what they received from the people. This is a great life lesson for those of us who receive our income from ministry.

Mark describes the scene shortly after the resurrection. I'm touched by the words in verse 7, "Go tell the disciples, including Peter..." Peter was surely the one who told Mark about this and was deeply moved that Christ wanted to include him following his denials. Some of you will notice "alternate endings" for this Gospel. The reason we have them has to do with the way these writings were passed from person to person long before printing presses. They had to be hand-copied and could end up with minor variations from that. Also, the earliest copies we have available are dated at least 300 years after they were written. In others, the manuscripts are probably copies of copies of copies. It's likely that during those years someone edited the manuscript with additions. The shorter version of this chapter is the older edition (according to scholars) and, therefore, more accurate.

Psalms. The deepest discouragement I ever felt was at the betrayal of a close friend. I keep learning what it is to work through those times by constantly calling upon God.

Proverbs. Human strength is indeed feeble. I pray that all of us would discover it.

Your thoughts today? How about questions?