Daily Bible Study Fall 2022: Freedom

By Randy Cross, Taylor W. Mills and Barbara Dick

Study the Bible daily for a closer relationship with God.
Daily Bible Study is a great companion to the quarterly Adult Bible Studies or as a stand-alone study for those wanting to study the Bible daily. It is presented in quarterly segments. Bible-based and Christ-focused, it coordinates with the lesson themes of Adult Bible Studies. Each daily reading includes a one-page Bible study for each of the quarter, along with introductory reflection questions and commentary on the daily Scripture passage, life application and an concluding prayer.

Daily Bible Study, Fall 2022
Theme: Freedom

This fall, our Bible lessons follow the theme “Freedom.” The lessons explore the concept of salvation and God’s gracious acts in redeeming us. They challenge we who have experienced God’s gracious salvation to work for freedom and justice on behalf of others. They acknowledge that as we do, we will encounter those whose beliefs and values are different from our own, so they encourage us in ways to remain faithful to our beliefs while we act as neighbors to others. The writers for the fall quarter are Barbara Dick, Randy Cross, and Taylor Mills.

Unit 1
Rescue
The concept of salvation is broad and inclusive of many divine actions by which we are rescued from the human predicament. This lessons in this unit focus on the freedom to which we are liberated. In the Roman world, the freer you were, the more power you exercised over others. Today, we think of freedom as the ability to do whatever we want without restrictions. In the Bible, freedom is about being able to choose without restriction to whom or what we devote ourselves. Paul described that choice as servitude to sin or becoming a slave to Christ.
Scriptures: Exodus 1:1-2:10; Exodus 15:1-18; Exodus 17:1-16; Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Spiritual Practice: Living With Intentionality

Unit 2
Justice
In the commandments that God gave in the covenant at Sinai, God repeatedly called the Israelites to extend justice and share their blessings with widows, orphans, and strangers in their midst. This triad represented the most vulnerable people within ancient society. Widows, orphans, and strangers appear frequently throughout the Old and New Testament narratives in ways that illustrate this divine mandate. The measure of justice or righteousness found throughout Scripture is whether one cares for the “widow, the orphan, and the stranger.” The lessons in this unit invite us to ask ourselves, who are the most vulnerable in our society? Who in our community are excluded from the common good? Who has trouble providing for themselves or gaining access to the courts and public services?
Scriptures: James 2:14-17, Exodus 22:21-27; 1 Kings 17:8-24, Luke 21:1-4; John 9:1-7, 35-38; Luke 18:1-8; Ezekiel 47:21-23
Spiritual Practice: Awareness

Unit 3
Faithful Conversations
We increasingly find ourselves living in communities and working with people from diverse backgrounds. While we may not agree with the beliefs of others, we seek peaceable and neighborly relationships. This lessons in this unit explore the models for neighborly conversations with people of various faith traditions.
Scriptures: Acts 17:16-31; 2 Kings 5:1-19; Exodus 18:1, 13-27; Romans 14:13-19
Spiritual Practice: Listening

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cokesbury
• Release date: Jul 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9781791020668

Randy Cross

Randy Cross is director of leadership development for the Dakotas Conference of The United Methodist Church. A member of the Dakotas Conference, Randy served previously as pastor of First United Methodist Church, Rapid City, South Dakota, and served congregations in the Red River Valley of North Dakota. He received a B.A. in Latin from the University of North Dakota in 1977 and a Master of Theology from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in 1981. Randy has written Christian education material for many years. He is married to Cheri Cross. They have two sons, Aaron and Adam.

Book preview

Introduction to the Study

Welcome to Fall 2022! The daily readings this quarter give us the opportunity to look in depth at the concept of freedom in our life of faith through three different lenses: rescue, justice, and faithful conversations.

Freedom is a powerful word that creates in our minds a wide range of reactions. Especially when we think about the culture of the United States, we jealously guard and seek to maintain the freedom to make the choices for our own lives and those of our families.

However, as we study the aspects of freedom found in the Bible, we quickly realize that the theme goes far beyond political or economic freedoms. Scripture takes us into the realm of freedom under God’s rule and leadership in our lives, as we also recall the freedom challenges of the Israelites following their escape from Egypt.

First, we are faced with the freedom to follow. When God rescued and freed the chosen people from slavery, they were offered a number of invitations and calls to rely solely on God’s leadership and abundant care. Once free, it became a 40-year challenge for the Israelites to decide to remain under God’s will, from what they would eat, to how they would worship, to how they would trust Moses’ leadership for their future.

Perhaps the greatest freedom question for them and for us is, as we realize what God has done on our behalf, will we use the freedom to remain under God’s care and give our future into God’s hands?

Even in the letters of the New Testament, Paul challenges and guides us to find our authentic freedom, strangely, by living in obedience to God’s claim on our hearts. Freedom, therefore, is more than just the right to do what we want. It is the call to live as God’s children and to realize that is where abundant life is formed.

Our second unit of readings challenges us to think about justice in our lives and in the life of the people of God. One of the strongest admonitions we find in terms of justice comes as we consider the most vulnerable of our culture: the widow, the orphan, and the stranger.

While in our culture we have many social nets that can care for those who are disadvantaged, Scripture teaches that our responsibility to care for those in greatest need is a hallmark of our character as the children of God. We come to realize that justice is not simply refraining from doing evil against another. It is a positive and active force ensuring that those who need justice, including those on the margins, will receive it.

We who have much also have the command placed on our lives to share that abundance wherever we can. This involves not simply sharing it like small drops of water to help us feel good. No, it must include making available all that we have, our material wealth and our place in society, so that the weakest among us never are considered to be simply leftovers or irritating nuisances we have to take care of. Our lives become opportunities to function as works of justice wherever we are, replacing charity and alms with sharing and welcoming others, even those who are different from us.

We unleash a powerful force when we live out justice as kindness and work to ensure that things are more equal, even for those who have nothing. As we care about our own needs, we can also care with the same passion and commitment about the needs and desires of others around us so that they live in the abundance that God provides for all. We care for others because we have the sacred gift of being there to care for them, without reserve.

Finally, we open the door of our faith to having faithful conversations. Of course, we know that not everyone is like us. Like those we read about in Scripture, we must choose whether to welcome those persons whose faith and culture run counter to ours or open the doors of our hearts and share our lives and our blessings with them. We must choose whether to interact or respond to them with silence and shunning.

We have at our disposal powerful tools to use in interacting with these new neighbors. We first offer justice and common courtesy, making room for customs and cultures that may seem strange to us. Certainly, we can take on the critical aspect of being kind, refusing to demand that others bend to our ways. We can be open to learning from different cultures. This finds its place always with the capstone of love, which allows for such a wide range of acceptance, instead of suspicion or rejection, which is the call to each of us as the followers of Christ.

Enjoy and be challenged by these readings, and may God bless you to be a blessing to your world.

What do you dare to dream to happen in your life?

I was in college, working to finsh in three years so I could go on to seminary. When I went home for Christmas one year, my dad gave me a book by Dr. David Schwartz entitled The Magic of Thinking Big. It is a fascinating book that invites readers to alter the way they think about themselves and the world. It asks readers to imagine what could be possible and then to hold in their minds that possibility as they live out their everyday lives.

The book draws a difference between the way most people think, which is little thinking, and those people who think big. Those who think little as they make decisions and plans go through life mostly just getting by, while the big thinkers dream about accomplishing great things and position themselves to do just that. The author wrote about the capacity of the human mind to see things as they could be rather than being filled with only negative or small thoughts.

The book appealed to me because, even coming from the positive family I grew up in, it helped to unleash my imagination. I don’t know if the book was the reason that I graduated in three years—summa cum laude, with a major in Latin and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa—but since that time, I have found great pleasure in thinking big and seeing what could be.

When we read the four simple verses of today’s Scripture, it almost sounds like the writer read that book as well! The verbal picture painted for the Jews in captivity in Babylon called them to imagine the best thing possible for them and their people. Freedom was the dream, and it was coming true, as even the world around them was covered in beauty, song, and splendor. God’s people would indeed see the Lord’s glory! It was all they could imagine, and indeed the future unfolded before them in that powerful, wonderful way.

So what about you? Did you wake up this morning in anticipation of the life you will live today? Do you see the possibilities of joy and hope flourishing, the road before you filled with an amazing future? Or does the future seem faded and dull, the life you want unrealistic and unattainable?

I believe that God empowers us to dream. The dreams we take seriously are not just fantasies that use up our brainpower, however. They are the windows and doors of a wonderful future that God flings open and invites us to move into and experience for ourselves. God wants us to know joy, not simply with stuff that we gather around us, but as the Scripture says, with joy and singing, as we see the splendor of God’s hand in our lives and in our world (Isaiah 35:2).

It’s up to you today, however, to claim that dream, and to be open to the wonderful future God places before you.

Holy God, I wait with an open heart to receive your blessing, and your future for me today. Amen.

How strongly do you trust God’s ability and willingness to save you?

It must be imprinted in the brain of every small child. It’s the game I played when I was young, and my sons played the same game when they were young, too. You know how it’s played, I’m sure.

First, you take all the cushions off the chairs and couch and lay them out in a huge path all around the living room. Next, you and whoever you are playing with start to make the treacherous journey, jumping from one cushion to another. What makes the situation so treacherous is that instead of jumping over carpet or tile, in your imagination, you are jumping over bubbling hot lava, where even putting a toe or a finger onto the floor means a dire outcome.

It’s possible you could make all the jumps easily, but then there is that one cushion that seems a bit farther away than the others, and it could just happen that you slip and find yourself caught in the lava flow! At that point, all you can do is cry out loudly for your partner to come and save you as you struggle to get back onto the cushion. Of course, your friend comes as quickly as possible and pulls you to safety. You are quickly healed and on your way to the next cushion. The time comes when you return the favor, saving your friend from such peril.

We would play for what seemed like hours until it happened that both of us fell into the lava at the same time and were done for, or Mom told us it was time to reconstruct the living room. Still, it was always dramatic to be saved or to save someone in heroic fashion!

The Book of Revelation is filled with all sorts of strange and nearly inexplicable images, like those in today’s reading. The danger isn’t found in flowing lava, however, but in the menacing actions of a fiery red dragon that threatens to devour the child about to be born. The son to be born is to rule the nations, and God intervenes at just the right moment, snatching him away from the evil dragon.

The images of the woman, the dragon, and the child have been variously interpreted over time; but the one thing the interpretations have in common is that God rescues the helpless one and keeps evil from succeeding. But the story isn’t over with just today’s Scripture text, so if you want more challenging puzzles to solve, continue to read on in the book!

The message for today, however, is for us to realize that God saves those who need to be saved. With humility and honesty, we can probably all think of a time when God saved us. God has brought us to safety, to freedom, to simply knowing the holy embrace of God’s love.

There is no more powerful gift we can receive than to know God’s saving grace and the certainty of God’s care for us today or whenever we find ourselves in danger. What good news!

Thank you, dear God, for the many ways you pour out your love on me. Amen.

What do you want God to grow in your life?

Have you ever awakened to a bad day? The automatic coffeemaker doesn’t turn on or, worse, somehow the water gets a little plugged up and hot coffee spills all over the counter and onto the floor. Then the toilet won’t stop running, and you realize you only have a tiny sliver of soap left to take your shower. And the milk for your cereal went bad a week ago? And the car….

Now, honestly, all is not lost just because bad things happen. Of course, there are far worse things than these, such as the virus that caused the recent pandemic, job loss and resulting money problems, the unexpected deaths of loved ones. Whether they are minor or major, however, those bad things can function like thorns or nettles in our lives.

A house we lived in when I was growing up had a gully behind it that was great for exploring, but it also continually grew a crop of stinging nettles. If you just brushed by them wearing shorts in the summer, your legs would burn and sting until you could get to the stream at the bottom of the gully and rub mud all over them. Then you had muddy legs.

Thorns and nettles are a pain, and it seems that life is sometimes filled with them. Maybe we think that’s just life and we have to take the bad with the good. But that’s not the promise in Isaiah given to the Jews in captivity in Babylon. God promised that a far different life was coming, with celebration and peace and song such that even the trees would clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12). Even better, the thorns and nettles of life would be replaced.

The cypress tree—a symbol for healing, uprightness, and eternal life—will grow. The myrtle, a tree with strong roots that is always green, will replace the nettles, promising a steadfast love of God. Whenever they saw these growing things, they would have a constant reminder of God’s promises and constant presence.

We need that kind of promise in our lives, too. When it feels as if the world has grown tough and full of pain, or when multiple troubles fill our lives personally and communally, God gives us a different song to sing, a different story to read. Imagine a day or a period of time when the best way to describe life is celebration! Imagine waking up in the morning to a true sense of peace instead of worry or fear. Imagine knowing at the root of our souls that God is in charge and, because of that, we will live abundantly.

It’s a true word of freedom that can fill us with joy and hope for the living of each day. That joy and hope can be ours today as we place our trust in God’s future rather than in the thorns and nettles of yesterday’s disappointment and sorrow. God invites us to seek that way of living and to know that we are offered a lively, positive, and hopeful existence and the chance to be free.

Loving God, free me from being a slave to the past, and help me to live with hope today. Amen.