Month: June 2018

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Day 181 — Obadiah, Psalms 82 & 83

Recall that Edom was the land adjacent to the south and east of Judah, inhabited by the descendants of Jacob’s brother Esau. Although they were a minor kingdom, they were not backward. The major ancient trade route that ran through their land made them cosmopolitan for their day and wealthy from trade. They were also proud because they saw themselves as secure in their high rock fortresses, and they looked down on their neighbors. They were able to pillage others, but no one was able to penetrate their defenses.

Here are a couple links to more information about the area that once was Edom.

https://randalldsmith.com/obadiah-reasons/

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/326

The pictures will give you a greater understanding of why the Edomites felt so secure and proud. The architecture in the photos is from the people who inhabited their land after the Edomites were destroyed, but doubtless they simply improved what Esau’s descendants had built, and their buildings were made possible by infrastructure devised and built by their predecessors.

The history and pictures will also remind you that the Edomites were not just the people this obscure book talks about; they were real people who lived lives similar to ours: they took pride in their homes and their culture, they enjoyed great security, and thus they enjoyed stability and prosperity. They couldn’t imagine being taken from their homes or their prosperous lifestyles; nevertheless, they were. Could you imagine your home being so long abandoned that it becomes a historical curiosity? That our homes wouldn’t survive to be architectural and historical wonders like these structures, attests to the cleverness of this lost people; their abilities may have exceeded ours! They were magnificent, but that didn’t make them immune to God’s sovereignty. And neither are we.

This book reminds us that God is sovereign over all nations. We may be tempted to fear the power of other nations, but they are in God’s hand. He can destroy the wealth and power of any nation prospering today, just as He destroyed Edom so thoroughly that no one believes they were ever great because no one remembers anything about them at all.

Obadiah is also an interesting reminder that God’s people have always been engaged in a battle for their existence. Just as modern-day Israel is surrounded by powerful nations who hate her and are determined to destroy her, so God’s people were surrounded in ancient times. They have suffered much, have long been exiled from their land and thus deprived of the privilege of being a nation. They have suffered much hatred and persecution as exiles. But today they exist as a nation once again, and enjoy a measure of respect on the world scene because of God’s amazing care for them. They are a thriving, dynamic nation, while Edom is an abandoned tourist attraction. God can do the same to every one of Israel’s modern-day enemies.

Do you have cares from watching the news, about which you need to talk to the sovereign Lord, your Heavenly Father? The one who loves you and wants to hear you express your thoughts to Him even though He already knows them all, is also powerful enough to do something about your concerns. Take them to Him today!

If you have read from January 1st, you are now halfway through the Bible! Please recognize your accomplishment and celebrate it! If you haven’t been faithful to read daily, please don’t let the enemy get you down about that. Rather, you have the next half of the year to improve that performance. Choose now and commit to God to take advantage of His power to help you form this new habit for life.

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Day 180 — II Chronicles 19 – 23

While we want to be careful not to over-spiritualize the history we read in Scripture, there is an element of object lesson to us in these stories. I Corinthians 10:11 tells us, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us.” So let’s not miss the warning in these stories, and “be careful so that (we) don’t fall.”

What do you learn about God from these stories of His actions in the affairs of men? Does it make you wonder if He is as involved in men’s affairs today? Does He do miraculous works on behalf of His people? If not, why not, since He tells us in Malachi 3:6 that “I, the Lord, do not change”?

If God viewed the battle against the invading armies (as armies did routinely in those days for no other reason than to take whatever they could from their target), as His battle, how much more that would be true for the battles we fight with the enemy that is ultimately His enemy. Satan would care nothing for us, care not even enough to engage us in battle, if not for God’s love for us. Does God abandon us to fight this enemy on our own? When the enemy comes against us to attack, we know that Jesus is with us (Matthew 28:20) and “is able to keep (us) from falling and to present (us) before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 24). We know that “He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to the power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20), and that by that power we have all we need to live a godly life (II Peter 1:3). “That power is the same as the mighty power He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in heavenly places far above” any other power there is (Ephesians 1:19-20), so the power at work in us has already been demonstrated to be great enough to defeat sin and its works. Thus, based on the whole counsel of Scripture, I believe we can count on God’s help in our battles just as He helped Jehoshaphat and His Old Testament people. Just like Jehoshaphat, we’re going to have to do our part in winning those victories, but we can count on powerful help from God. What does this story suggest our part is in winning victory over our enemy?

It might have seemed to Jehoshaphat like an obvious good to ally himself with Israel; after all, they were also God’s chosen people, weren’t they? He sought God, but he failed to seek God in the matter of this alliance, and suffered God’s wrath. Again, this serves to warn us that we don’t ever need to think that we have God figured out or are beyond need of His guidance.

That Jehoshaphat’s family and nation suffered the consequences of his poor judgment reminds us that our sin is never just a private affair, but can have impacts that we can’t foresee. How painful it is when I see my loved ones suffer for my sin. There is much cause for us to hate sin and want to be free from it; how blessed we are that we can be!

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Day 179 — I Kings 22 & II Chronicles 18

Did God actually send out a lying spirit to do His work, or was Micaiah’s vision just one of those prophetic visions of something that didn’t really happen? I’d be interested in knowing that myself, but I can only form an opinion. What do you think? Based on the whole counsel of Scripture, my opinion is that it didn’t really happen as Micaiah envisioned it.

Isn’t it incredible how God protected Jehoshaphat in battle, while Ahab suffered a random fatal wound? If God can see His will done in these circumstances, can His power over circumstances in your life be believed?

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Day 178 — I Kings 20 – 21

Again we see God’s unfathomable ways in Ahab’s story. Although His anger was aroused against His people like it had never before been aroused against them, God gave the wicked Ahab victory over the king of Aram. He had numerous reasons for doing so: He wanted Ben-Hadad to die, He wanted Ahab to know that He is the Lord, and He wanted to Arameans to know that He is not only God of the hills but also God of the valleys. It amazes me that He would be interested in pursuing any relationship with Ahab. It likely would have surprised His people that He cared whether the pagan Arameans knew anything about Him at all. We must never think that we have God figured out.

Fully sold out to evil as he was, Ahab wasn’t past humbling himself, and God relented, softening His judgment against Ahab. That may seem disappointing to us, but it is a response demonstrating love. It is also a just response, since God said that if His people would humble themselves, then He would hear and forgive. If Ahab wasn’t past God’s relenting, who is?

What are some things that you can know about God from these stories of His interactions with the unsurpassingly wicked Ahab? Do any of them inspire more love in your heart for Him? Why not tell Him so?

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Day 177– I Kings 17-19

Elijah’s life has some thrilling lessons for us, don’t you think? His life is worth a deeper study, in my opinion. Some of the intriguing points:

  • He was fed by ravens. What an imaginative way for God to meet his needs! If He can meet the needs of His servant in this way, how many other ways could He imagine to meet the needs of His servants? If He could and would do this, why should we doubt that He can and will meet our needs? Perhaps we should see our needs as opportunities for God to do amazing things to provide.
  • When God chose to take care of Elijah’s needs through another person, he directed him to Sidon, which was not part of Israel; in fact, it was the birthplace of the wicked Queen Jezebel. Why didn’t God send him to Judah to have his needs met? He used Elijah’s need as an excuse to meet the needs of this widow and her son who were getting ready to die of starvation, even though she didn’t know God as anyone other than the God Elijah served. We couldn’t possibly have God’s higher ways and thoughts figured out.
  • His thrilling victory over the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. That established him as a spiritual giant, right? So why did he experience doubt, fear, and depression on the heels of that great victory? His example teaches us the great victory doesn’t make us immune to doubt, fear, and depression.
  • He was so down, he told God, “I have had enough.” A prophet of God, one who had such a towering victory, suffered from depression. Depression isn’t necessarily a sign of sin or spiritual failure.
  • God responded to him with an encounter that had to be a thrill for him. If you compare and contrast this appearance with what Moses experienced, and with what Isaiah and Ezekiel experienced, you might get a fuller picture of what God is like, but I bet the reality is that these are each only one point of the full picture of God. He is so far beyond our understanding that they can’t provide a full picture. These appearances by God would be a great subject for an in-depth study.
  • Elijah was a prophet of God, but he apparently didn’t know about the 100 prophets who had been hidden away by Obadiah, or the 7000 people who were still faithful to God. We can bet that God is working today beyond our experience as well, and even though discouragement may threaten because of what we see going on around us, God is doing big things that are unseen by us.
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Day 176 — I Kings 15:25 – 16:34; II Chronicles 17

Observe that when Jehoshaphat sought God and “walked in His commands,” God “established the kingdom in his hand.” Seeking and walking in God’s commands resulted in his being established. Do you want to be established, to last? The example of Jehoshaphat’s life teaches that you should seek God and conduct yourself according to His commands and not according to the culture surrounding you.

Contrast that with Ahab, who did more evil than all who were before him. That’s how sin works: it doesn’t get better or maintain a status quo, but it grows worse and worse. Decay is a facet of corruption. You aren’t allowing corruption to be part of your life, are you? Because the reality of knowing Jesus as Savior gives you a choice in that matter, since He frees us from sin.

Jehoshaphat didn’t just remove the high places associated with idol worship; he attempted to re-direct the hearts of the people by sending officials, priests and Levites to teach the people the Law of God. Removing sin doesn’t just mean getting rid of something; the resulting void needs to be filled with something else. Recall Jereboam’s efforts to direct his people’s hearts away from Jerusalem: he presented a new religion complete with new observances and holidays. He certainly tried harder to lead his people away from God than Asa tried to lead them back. Our enemy is passionate about luring souls away from God; his passion must be matched and exceeded by a desire to win souls back to God. God has demonstrated that passion by coming to earth, suffering and dying for lost souls. Do we share His passion? That is our calling.

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Day 175 — I Kings 15:1-24; II Chronicles 13 – 16

Were those high places removed from Judah by King Asa or weren’t they? Apparently he removed them, but they didn’t stay removed, much like a weed pulled off at the ground is removed but not rooted out, and grows back again. What could a king have done to accomplish the removal effectively? Tomorrow we’ll read about the more effectual efforts of Asa’s son.

II Chronicles said that “Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life,” but what about at the end when he failed to seek God’s help against Israel and instead removed from the Temple the valuables that had been dedicated to God, in order to purchase an alliance with the king of Aram? The Law didn’t allow one to use for another purpose what had been dedicated to God. It would seem that Asa’s heart was not fully committed to the Lord in his later years. What does that reveal to you about the capability of your own heart?

Asa’s life and leadership offer object lessons to us about the persistent nature of sin. It calls for persistence in our efforts to eradicate it from our lives. The job needs to be done thoroughly, and it needs to be tended to as long as we live. Are you prepared for that? Will you renew that commitment to God today?

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Day 174 — II Chronicles 10 – 12

Why would God preserve the same accounts for us in two separate books? Remember the provision in the Law that important matters couldn’t be decided on the testimony of a single witness? Isn’t God good to give us more than one witness about this history? He must value it as important for us to grasp. We can learn important lessons from God’s interactions with men through the lives of the kings.

Since the book of Chronicles recorded events in Judah alone, it will add information about Judah that Kings did not record. This offers another opportunity for doubters to claim that there are inconsistencies in Scripture. The truth is that the accounts in Chronicles, providing more detail than those in Kings, flesh out the accounts related by Kings; the two do not disagree.

Isn’t it interesting that the kingdom of Judah was strengthened by its preservation of God-honoring worship? Jereboam offered what in his mind was a freeing alternative to worship according to the Law. True worshippers rejected his accommodations, moving to Judah and thus strengthening it. Do we weaken the Church by accommodating interests that want to deviate from true worship of God, thus driving away true seekers of God as we attempt to attract people who just want to be entertained?

King Rehoboam was strongest when he was so weak in his own eyes that he was driven to depend humbly on God. When God’s anger was turned away with Rehoboam’s humbling himself, what did that mean for him and his kingdom? Deliverance, but not restoration. He was left in his reduced state, not only plundered of all the gold and apparently even the silver that was so worthless in Solomon’s day, but also forced to pay tribute to the king of Egypt. Isn’t it worth remembering that humble dependence of God is so much lovelier than reduction?

Note also the sad and telling verse, “He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord.” His failure to set his heart on seeking the Lord didn’t lead him to do good or even to be neutral, but to do evil. Doesn’t that teach us the wisdom of seeking God? I encourage you to examine your heart to understand whether it has been set on seeking God. Do you need to make a choice today, or renew your choice, to set your heart on seeking God?

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Day 173 — I Kings 12 – 14

Note that Rehoboam’s choice of whose advice he heeded was brought about by God. If God intervenes in such a way in men’s affairs, does it give you some ideas about how to pray for the people and situations that burden you?

Israel is truly distinctive for the mindset revealed by the actions recorded in this account. They wanted the king to be accountable to the people. When he refused, they rebelled against him and made someone else their king. Do you realize how unique that is in a time period when all kings were sovereign over their subjects, and the people lived to serve their king? That mindset was so ingrained that it was never questioned. Israel was unique in considering a ruler a servant of the people. That is a value we take for granted today because of the God-given gift of our republican form of government, but it wasn’t always so. We are truly blessed to live under a government that offers “liberty and justice for all.”

So the nation of Israel was split into two nations: Israel in the north, and Judah in the south. Judah retained David’s dynasty of kings; the north had a number of different dynasties beginning with Jereboam. King Jereboam chose a city in the territory of Ephraim for his capital. This is significant because for that reason the northern tribes of Israel were often referred to as Ephraim in prophecy, much like people refer to “Washington” when referring to the U.S.

God offered the same promise to Jereboam that He offered to David and his descendants: if you will serve me, you will remain on the throne. Jereboam failed miserably in that regard because he feared losing his power. He didn’t have a father whose memory God wanted to honor like Solomon did. During his reign God decided that He would root Israel out of their land, scatter them in distant lands, and give them up. He patiently waited hundreds of years to do that, but they did not get better; rather, they continued in their sin and grew progressively worse in it. That’s what sin does.

Judah did little better, so God allowed the king of Egypt to prevail against them. The wealth Solomon had accumulated was all taken away. So much for all Solomon had built and the alliances he had made.

What can you learn about God from His interactions with these men? What lessons for your life can you glean from their lives?

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Day 172 — I Kings 10 – 11

Today’s reading gives us one more opportunity to be reminded from Solomon’s supreme example of man’s inability to remain faithful to God. Recall that Solomon had every advantage: the first-hand example of his father, whom God himself called faithful (although he certainly wasn’t without sin). The heritage of a father who so pleased God that God would show mercy to Solomon for the sake of his father David. God’s special love that showed in the name He gave to Solomon. The wisdom Solomon had requested. Wealth. Power over his enemies. Peacetime in which to build (which he also could have used to seek God). Solomon enjoyed every advantage a human being could enjoy, and represented man’s best hope for pleasing God – and he failed miserably. We would be foolish to think we can do any better than Solomon did. His failure reminds all of us of our desperate need for God’s help to be faithful to Him. Doesn’t that make you feel grateful for Messiah’s work and your great salvation?

We will read how Solomon’s extreme wealth lasted a single generation. It went to the enemy who gained power over the kingdom during the rule of Solomon’s son. That very wealth made Israel a target. The alliance he made with Egypt didn’t last; even in his lifetime, Solomon’s enemies found refuge in Egypt. So much of what Solomon built was destroyed in his son’s generation, except for the high places he had built for the worship of foreign gods. The Temple and worship of foreign gods were the legacy left by this man who had it all, and the former was perhaps more David’s legacy than Solomon’s. Solomon set the nation up for division – in politics, in geography and in heart. Isn’t that a sad legacy? It’s no worse than what any of us would leave, but for God’s grace. Today’s reading is an opportunity to consider the legacy you are building. Any wealth you leave behind may be gone in a generation; what will be left?

Why the reference to ten tribes and one, instead of a total of twelve tribes? We’ll see in tomorrow’s reading that Benjamin went with Judah. Also, the tribe of Simeon was surrounded by Judah; perhaps over time boundary lines were blurred and with them the distinctiveness of the tribes. Early on the tribe of Dan had relinquished its territory to the surrounding peoples who seemed to want it more than the descendants of Dan did; perhaps they were no longer counted as a tribe. Any of these could be the reason.