February 6

²⁷”In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up.  Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.  ²⁸Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, ²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”  (Mark 3:27-29)

This second part of the first parable captured in the Book of Mark opens with a somewhat cryptic statement about bounding a strong man up before one plunders his house.  The statement alone makes sense, but in the context of yesterday, referring to a house divided, Jesus throwing in the instructions on how to ransack a strong man’s house seems somewhat odd.  I suppose if you have a house divided, that would make bounding up the strong man easier.  As I stated last month, I am no expert on the Bible.  I am definitely not a theological scholar.  I am just an everyday guy trying to motivate and explain what the Bible says from a common sense perspective.  So verse 27 might be one of those GOOGLE verses, because there are infinite resources out there to tackle these tough passages.

What I did want to write about today was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Psalm 78 which opens with these verses:

¹My people, hear my teaching;

listen to the words of my mouth.

²I will open my mouth with a parable;

I will utter hidden things, things from of old-

³things we have heard and known,

things our ancestors have told us. (Psalms 78:1-3)

Psalms 78 is a beautiful, weaving overview of the Jewish lineage of Old.  While the first part of the Psalm is quoted as a prophecy of Jesus, the rest of the poem is a stern reminder of the power and temperament of the God the Jewish faith served.  A God that was not always as “slow to anger” as He became when He sent Jesus to us to show the entire universe how to love.  

Reading plan:  Mark 4:21-41

Deeper reading plan:  Numbers 15-19

Prayer and meditation:  continue to pray for your request from day 1 and pray that you for wisdom in the Word.

Fitness challenge:  Cardio day.  Distance run, if you have the time, increase your 14 minutes of run time by another 7 minutes.