May 12 - 18

Here are the scriptures for this week:

May 12 - Proverbs 31: 10-22

May 13 - Proverbs 31: 23-31

May 14 - Zecchariah 3: 8-10

May 15 - Job 9: 33-35

May 16 - Exodus 19: 16-22

May 17 - Hebrews 12: 18-25

May 18 - Exodus 34: 29-35

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:18

Welcome to Flip Devotional the Podcast, where each week Martha Shandon, the author of Flip Devotional the Book, and Steve Shandon, discuss the readings from the week. If you haven't gotten Flip Devotional the Book, it's available on Amazon and Barnes Noble. You can also get the ebook on Barnes and Noble. We also have the Flip Devotional Companion. If you read Flip Devotional last year and you want different scriptures to read this year, or if you just want additional scriptures to read, on Flip Devotional Facebook page, you can find the companion verses to read. So I I think that's it for that. So excited because today I get to do this. Good morning, Vietnam. That's right. Vietnam is our second highest um download country after the United States.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

As opposed to a low country.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Okay. So we have added um Vietnam as a country I'm just like, wow, and Brazil and Pakistan and Paraguay. So um I am just kind of in awe that we have listeners in other countries. Um I don't totally understand how that happens, um, but super, super excited.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Well, it is the world wide web.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

This I know, I know, but I just don't imagine someone in Vietnam, not more than one person perhaps in Vietnam listening. Um so on um the podcast site, whatever that's called, wherever you listen to it, um besides just having um being able to listen, there's a transcript also uh on there. And there's also a place where you can do fan mail. And if you're listening on your phone, uh it really is just like sending a text. So I would love, love to hear from some people uh to know, you know, why are you listening? Um what are you getting out of it? Do you have any questions? Um just anything. Uh and you really you just click that and you just text it in. Uh, it does not give me your phone number. You don't have my phone number, so it's you know, we can't harass each other. Um, but it would be super cool to hear from some of you. So um if you can do that now, if you're listening while you're driving, obviously wait. Wait, wait for that stoplight and then aggravate everyone and and text me a little, hey, love listening to y'all or something.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Um really wait till you get home.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Okay, okay, or that. Um all right, so welcome to these these new countries. Um I think we're still just in 12 states. We're getting close to being 12 countries. So come on, United States.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Pick up the game, come on, pick it up.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Come on, let's go. All right, this week we are doing the readings from May 12th to May 18th. And um the the May 12th and 13th readings are from Proverbs 31, which is the uh oh, I forget what the heading is, but it's sounds like mothers. Mothers, women, something all all about all about females. And so I put it here in honor of Mother's Day. So actually this year, um, it's just a couple of days off, so it's still pretty close. Um Steve is looking up quickly in his Bible to see what the heading is. Probably all you listeners are going, um, I know. Oh, it's the wife of noble character is what I have. Right. Starting in Proverbs 10 through 31. And so May 12th and 13th cover all those verses.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Correct. The wife of noble character.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

So um some of the things that it says about the wife of noble character is that she works hard and she's wise. Um I say she's wise because it says she considers a field and buys it. Um she works vigorously, her arms are strong.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

She's confident.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

She sees trading. Um she sees that her trading is profitable. Um, her lamp does not go out at night.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Um says um Yeah, I mean opens arm to the poor, extends help to the needy, so she has a social conscience.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Nice. She kind of does everything.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Yeah. Like you.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Aw, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Um and on the 13th, the last part of that, uh, fear is the Lord. Praises the Lord. And again, we've had this before with fear. Um, it's not like afraid of, it's more respect. I think a better way to understand that. So you know, God doesn't want us to be afraid of him, but we do need to understand the respect, the honor, you know, obviously what could happen, but I mean, just be respectful and and and and in some ways, you know, if you had a teacher you were afraid of, you probably respect made up respect to that person.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

True. Says her children arise and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her. I mean, what woman doesn't want both of those.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Right. Married woman, yeah. Or you've heard that's really good stuff. Does your your experience may not prove that?

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Mine does. Mine does. All good. Okay. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

But again, obviously this is a piece of scripture. It's it's most of a a whole proverb, right? And it talks about the value of a good wife. You know, so yeah. In the Bible, it's important.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

That's right. That's right. And a lot of the proverbs are short little ditties. Um, so this is kind of unique in that it's a a long passage all about one thing.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Yeah. And mine is the epilogue.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Yes. Mine said that too.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

The wife of a good so it's the epilogue of the 31st Psalm.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Proverb.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Proverb, sorry, proverb, yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

All right. Um the next few days uh all kind of have a similar theme. Um talking about Jesus being the mediator and um the branch. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

That comes up again, right? I mean, he says I am the branch, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Yeah. Yeah, I think somewhere it says the branch of David. But in May 14th, uh, it's Zechariah 3, 8 through 10. Like we could have one of those little Bible races and see who could find Zechariah first.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Don't you have something?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

No.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

GTZ go to zoo.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

I I don't have one for this. I only have it for Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. Go eat popcorn. So, no, I don't. So, but the flip devotional has something from every book in the Bible. So Zechariah made it. Otherwise, you know, do people read Zechariah? I don't know. But a really cool thing, Zechariah is definitely in the Old Testament, or you all have heard of it and you have probably read it and know kind of where it is. And in Zechariah, it it's talking about Jesus. Um It says, I'm going to bring my servant the branch. See the stone I have set in front of Joshua. Um Jesus was called the branch.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

He was says another place that he's the vine, we are the branches.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Yeah. But he is the regardless. Capital B branch.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Yes, yes, yeah. Zechariah is the next, the last book of the Old Testament.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Oh, wow. Very good. Thank you. Um and it says, I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. In that day, each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree, which is also repeated somewhere else. Yeah. Can't tell you where right now. But um, but remove the sin of this land in a single day. Well, that's when Jesus died on the cross. Yeah. That's what you did.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Yeah. I mean, this should be right at Easter.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Yeah, it's kind of a prequel to Easter because it's in the Old Testament.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

But kind of foretelling this is what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

I was gonna say foreshadowing, but foretelling works. But again hundreds of years before.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. So then we move to May fifteenth, and this is from Job.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

The vine and fig tree in the Bible symbolizes peace, prosperity, security, and personal ownership.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Very good.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Yeah. Yes, Job.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

So in Job, um, there's not a lot of people who want to read the book of Job. Job is kind of a downer.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Job's tough.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Um, I think we've had another Job verse already. Uh, I know the very end of Job is is in here, and I think we've already read it uh after everything is done.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

And he has more children, and he gets rich again, all that.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Everything is restored, and yes. Okay, so 500, 600 years before Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

520, Jesus would have been born zero, 30 more years, 550 years of ministry.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Yeah. Yeah. So uh in Job, the reason I included this, and I'm just gonna read because it's Job 9, 33 and 35, so it's very short. He says, if only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more, then I would speak up without fear of him. But as it now stands with me, I cannot. Well, that's exactly what Jesus did.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

He mediated.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

He is to someone, he mediates still, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Between us and God, he allows us to speak to God and God to speak to us.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Um, so you know, even even Job was like, yeah, we need Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Need him now.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Yeah.

unknown 14:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

One of the oldest books in the Bible. If you read the chronological one-year Bible, that's all the books are in sequence. Obviously, Genesis is the beginning, but very shortly, like the first week of January, you start Job. It's that old of a book.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Oh wow. That's crazy to think about.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

So uh Job was after Noah, though. Yes. Yes? Yeah. Okay. Hmm. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

So the sequence in the Old Testament isn't necessarily chronological.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Uh so the companion verse for this one is also from Job. And I wanted to read that because again, uh a lot of people don't read Job because it's you're you're hearing about all the terrible things that are happening to Job. You're hearing his friends who are saying it's your fault.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Right? It's your I mean, you brought this on yourself.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Yeah, maybe you should do this or that, or um, and it's just you know, bad thing after bad thing happening to him. Um so the companion verse is Job chapter 16, uh 19 through 22. And it says, even now my witness is in heaven, my advocate is on high, my intercessor is my friend, as my eyes pour out tears to God. On behalf of a man, he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend. Again, I think that's Jesus. He pleads to God as one pleads for a friend.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Wow, yeah. This says Job and Abraham are culturally and spiritually next of kin.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

What does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 16:14

Well, they're about the same time period.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

So, you know, Abraham, Lot, all those guys. And also, May 15th, our friend Rhonda's birthday.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

That's right. Happy birthday, Rhonda. We'll see if she's listening.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

That's right, it's a test. Pay attention. If you know your birthday, we're gonna call you out.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

All right, May 16th is Exodus chapter 19, 16 through 22. Um, okay, I've I have a bunch of stuff underlined here, but I also wrote Wizard of Oz on it. So it took me just a second to be like, why?

SPEAKER_00 17:08

It's smoking.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Because yeah, it says on the on the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Yeah, very similar to when Dorothy comes in first to see the Oz. He's like, Why are you here? Oh, you know, trying to scare.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Yeah. It's also on the morning of the third day.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Mm-hmm. Why is that significant?

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Third day, Jesus rose.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

It's Easter. So again, is this just, you know, chance, random? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Right.

unknown 17:54

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

But it's another connection, right, between the Old Testament and New Testament, connection between Old Testament and Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Yep, yeah. Um, I I love this scripture, and I think the next couple, when we talked about the Mount Rushmore, um, I I said Moses. Yeah. Because I just I I don't know. I admire him. I I like him. I love what these next few scriptures um say about him.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

He also was reluctant.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Oh, very.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

I mean, he didn't want this responsibility. Uh, he ran away, right? Went away because he was afraid what was going to happen to him. And then God called him back and he said, I can't do that. I don't speak well. Uh yeah. And then, all right, all right, Aaron will go with you. But so God doesn't call people who are the most likely candidates or the most prepared. They're the most likely candidate from God's perspective, but not from man's perspective.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

And as as this shows, not from our own perspective.

unknown 19:14

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Like, yeah, God might ask you to do something, and you're like, uh I cannot do that. I am not equipped. It's like, yeah, you you are, because who equips you?

SPEAKER_00 19:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

God.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

So you don't need anything else. If if he's with you, who can be against you? Very good. And you got it.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

You got it. And in in this, Moses is doing all this. Aaron is not here anymore. I mean, he's there.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

But for me, this reading that my favorite phrase is as the sound of the trumpets grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and the voice of God answered him. Moses spoke. So he just wasn't listening. He just wasn't getting commands from God. He initiated a conversation, and the voice of God answered him. That's a dialogue between Moses and God.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Yeah. Yeah, I had that um marked also. Um, it says Moses led the people um out of the camp to meet with God. Yeah. How cool is that?

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

I love that. It's like, come on, we're gonna go out here, we're gonna meet with God. We're gonna be at the foot of this mountain that has a thick cloud over it and loud trumpet blast.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Yeah. Not so sure that people thought, oh good. This is exciting for us. But yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

It says the whole mountain trembled.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Um, I think the mountain also trembled when Jesus was crucified.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Um remember there was like an earthquake. Earthquake, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Um, and then it says that the Lord descended to the top, and this is Mount Sinai, uh-huh, and he called Moses to the top. So Moses went up, and then the Lord said to him, Go down and warn the people, so they they do not force their way through to see the Lord, and many of them perish. Even the priest who approach the Lord must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them. Moses gets to go.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Right. He is separate, he's different, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:47

But not everybody else.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Right. And you don't want the Lord breaking out against you. No, I just think that's going to be a bad experience.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

And then if we go to May 17th, you ready to move on?

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Okay. It's Hebrews 12, 18 through 25. And this is talking about what we just read about. That's why it's right here.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

And this is in the New Testament. Hebrews is the New Testament, right? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Yes. And the first line says, you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire. Well, that's talking about Mount Sinai that we just talked about. And it says, to darkness, gloom, and storm to a trumpet blast or to a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further would be spoken to them. It says, you're not coming to that mountain.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

It says the next paragraph, but you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

There's a joyful assembly.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

And again, God the judge of all, Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. Right?

SPEAKER_01 23:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Mediator, we had it up here, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Job. Well, she had a mediator. We have a mediator.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

We do. And so we don't have to worry about Mount Sinai.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Or about being afraid to hear God's voice.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Yep. He's a mediator of the new covenant. And that's the covenant through Jesus, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

And then May 18th, I feel like we're flying through this week.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Flying through this week.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

Um is back in Exodus chapter 34, 29 through 35. And again, this is Moses, and what I wrote up at the top says, Oh, that my face would show that I've been with God. Because that's what happens in this passage with Moses. He he was up on Mount Sinai. Remember, God called him up there.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

He was there for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

He was there for a long time and multiple times.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

He would be like, okay, I'm gonna go out. Um not sure it's this one, and I would think it's somewhere in Flip Devotional because I really, really like it. Um it's it says that every time Moses went to go be with God, and I think maybe at this point it was in the tent of meeting he would go in. But every time he went out to go meet with God, everyone would come out of their tents and stand and watch and watch him go and like go into the tent to talk to God, and they would stay out there until he came out.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

Like, oh, I don't know. I just I love that so much. But it says he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

So he comes down, and people are kind of like, well, they're afraid. They're like, oh, okay, his face is glowing.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Yeah. Yeah. And it says radiant three times. I mean, it was that pronounced, right? That obvious.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Yeah, and they just they didn't know. And um when he realized what was going on, he put a veil over his face so they wouldn't have to be afraid of him. But it says, whenever he entered the Lord's presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what God had said, they saw that his face was radiant.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Then he would put the veil back on until he would speak to the Lord again. Yeah. I wonder how long it stayed radiant.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

And they were obviously long enough that he never took it off.

unknown 26:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

You know, he had to keep it on until he went back up, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Or did he go speak to him that frequently?

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Yeah, because yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

But um, yeah, I just loved that.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Yeah. And the veil wasn't between Moses and God, it was between Moses and the people. Right? It was to keep, I mean, and it wasn't Moses' idea, it was the people's idea. You know, they were, I guess, afraid of that closeness to God. Didn't understand maybe I don't know. But there's some reason.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

So And similar to the the veil or the curtain that was between the the Holy of Holies, right? Um, and and the people, and only only the priests could go back through that curtain.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

Yeah, that when Jesus died once a year, yeah, crucified, it split up the middle from the top down.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

And so that separation isn't there anymore. Right. Because Jesus is the mediator.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Yep. Yeah. It's just it's just beautiful that God had this plan. Um He He knew what was needed and He brought it about so that we can all be like Moses. We can all go talk to God. But again, oh that my face would shine like Moses.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

Yeah, and I think for us, when you have that encounter with God, maybe you do appear different.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

You know, something about you is is is changed. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

That's true.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

So we don't need a veil, but maybe it's just not Moses that has that experience.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

No, I I totally agree. Yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

But a good I mean, the first two are good, right? I mean, Mother's Day is important, but the last five are all tied together nicely, both Old Testament and some New Testament.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Yeah, yeah. Just all about Jesus and us being able to go to God and pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Yep. Yep, yeah, yep. Good week.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

All right. Well, thanks for listening to this week's Flip Devotional of the Podcast. Don't forget to rate, review, subscribe, share, download, I don't know, do all that cool stuff. Uh, send us some fan mail. I'll definitely do a shout out if I hear from anyone, um, because I'll be so super excited. And again, welcome to these countries that someone out there is is listening. Yeah. Um, and that's that's just pretty exciting. Hope you all have a good week and we will talk at you next week. Bye-bye.