I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

     Jehoshaphat was a king who traveled among his people. One of the things he did was to appoint judges throughout the land to hear cases concerning the Law of the Lord and civil disputes. He even set up an appellate process with the high priest having final say in religious cases and a civil authority having final say in civil disputes. He instructed the judges to make their judgements in fear of the Lord, warning them not to pervert justice, show favoritism, or take bribes.
     At some point after this, several of the neighboring kingdoms joined forces to attack Judah. Jehoshaphat ordered a nationwide fast. In response many of the people of Judah came to Jerusalem with their families. Jehoshaphat calls in the Lord for rescue from the attacking armies. The Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the men in the gathering and he prophesied that they should go out against the enemy army, but that they would not need to fight it. The following morning the army of Judah marched forth, singing praises to God. While they were on their way to confront the enemy armies, the three armies began fighting each other. By the time the army of Judah reached the battlefield, the enemy armies had completely killed each other. They found so much plunder among the dead of the enemy armies that it took them three days to gather it all. After this battle, all of the neighboring kingdoms were afraid to attack Jehoshaphat.

     Paul begins today’s passage with an important logical progression. He has just finished telling us that all anyone must do to be saved is call on God for salvation. Here he tells us that in order for people to call upon God for salvation they must first believe in Him. Then he tells us that in order for people to believe in God they must first be told about Him. He finishes this by saying that in order for someone to go to tell people about God and his salvation they must be sent. This tells us that we as a Church should not be waiting for people to feel the call from God to go out on missions and then supporting them. We should be calling people, sending them out on missions and supporting them. There is nothing wrong with the first, except that it is not as good as the second. While we should be sending people out to missions, we must not let the better be the enemy of the good. (It is good that people go out on missions. It would be better if they were sent out on missions.) When I found the clip art for this passage I had one thought, no, we cannot change the world. However, God can change the world through us, if we let Him propel our feet to take us to the place where He wishes us to bring His message.
     Paul tells us that salvation comes from faith and faith comes from hearing the word. However, he tells us that not everyone who hears the Gospel will accept it. He further tells us in particular that many of the Jews have rejected the Gospel. He tells us that some Jews have listened to the Gospel and received salvation. He tells us that it is like when Elijah was depressed and cried out to God that he was the only one left, God told Elijah that He had 7,000 others that had remained faithful. This is something that we must remember when we begin to think that everyone around us is hostile to faith in God. There are more around us who are faithful to God than we might think.
     Paul concludes today’s passage by telling us that it was God’s plan that many of the Jews would reject the Gospel, so that the Gospel might get preached to the Gentiles. That through the rejection of the Gospel by the Jews, the world was blessed. However, Paul tells us that the Jews are God’s special people and He wants them to turn to Him. He tells us that if the Jews turn to God and accept His salvation, this will bring an even greater blessing to the world.

     The psalmist tells us that those who trust in the Lord will be kept from stumbling by God’s unfailing love. He also tells us that the wicked plot against God’s plans. However, their plots will fail and when God turns His attention to them, they will run and attempt to hide.

     Today we are told that we must take action when the time is right. If we put off action, it may be too late and we will go hungry. The second proverb tells us that sometimes people who know how to deal with our problems are reluctant to give us advice, but if we are wise we will find a way to draw that advice out of them. The third proverb tells us that many people will claim to be our true friends, but it is very hard to find one who is truly reliable.