For today, One Year Bible Online links here. For those of you who do not read this every day, I was very sick last week and it affected my writing (I do not know if for the better or worse). While I am still taking antibiotics, I am otherwise feeling better. I thank those of you have been praying for me.

    Those who are cheerful suffer less from illness and misfortune. Those who constantly look on the bright side feel less pain and recover from physical problems more rapidly. On the other hand, those who have been broken down by their suffering become depressed and do not have the energy to do anything.

    Evil and violent people will plot against those who serve the Lord. They will lay out traps and pitfalls before us. If we rely on God and trust in Him, He will save us from their schemes. The evil they planned for us will fall upon them. Those who plot the downfall of the godly will find their plots rebounding upon themselves.

    While Paul was preaching the Gospel in Lystra he saw a man paralyzed since birth in the audience. Paul realized that the man had the faith to be healed, so he told the man to stand up. The reaction of the people of Lystra tells us something about the relationship of Paul and Barnabas. They thought that Paul and Barnabas must be gods and concluded that Barnabas was Zeus while Paul was Hermes. In part they reached this conclusion because Paul did most of the talking. However, it suggests that they observed Paul offering some level of deference to Barnabas.
    The story itself has an important lesson for us. If we are the conduits which the Holy Spirit uses to perform wonders some people will want to lift us up and hold us above the common man. They will want to worship us. So, when we find ourselves being used by the Holy Spirit we must stay alert for those who will attempt to make what is happening about us and not allow them to do so. I struggle with the lack of witnessing the power of the Holy Spirit in my life, but I know that part of the reason for it is that I would struggle with preventing people from holding me up as special.

    Once again, Jehoshaphat goes to war along with the king of Israel. Joram, the king of Israel, leads the armies through the wilderness without knowledge of where there are water sources. When the armies become desperate for water, Joram blames God for his bad decision making. However, Jehoshaphat suggests they seek a prophet among the men in the army. So the kings call upon Elisha, who happens to be with the armies. Elisha tells Joram that he is only willing to seek God’s word for the kings because of his respect for Jehoshaphat. He then reveals that God will provide the armies with water and with victory the following morning.
    The story of the prophet’s widow tells us a lot about how God provides for us. When she approached Elisha and begged for his help, his immediate response was to ask what she had of value. His miracle was not to miraculously provide her with money. Instead, he provided her with the ability to raise the funds she needed through her own effort. The story does not suggest that the widow was in a bad situation through any fault of her own, but God’s means of providing for her involved her taking an active part.