Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 15-17.

I found it interesting that the Scripture tells us that Asa, grandson of Rehoboam, “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done. ”  A couple of sentences later it says that his heart was fully committed to the Lord all of his life, even though he did not remove the high places.  Over the forty-one years which the passage tells us that Asa ruled in Jerusalem, the Northern Kingdom had six kings (not counting Jeroboam, who as king when Asa took the throne, or Tibni, who fought Omri for the throne after the death of Zimri) from four dynasties.  I am convinced that there is a connection between the faithfulness of Asa and the sinfulness of the Northern kings and the stability, or lack thereof, of their kingdoms.

I also want to write about the account of Elijah and the widow.  We can really learn a lot about faith from the widow.  When Elijah first came to her, she was about to use the last of her supplies to make a final meal for her son and herself, after which she thought they would die.  Elijah told her to go ahead and do so, but first to make him something to eat because her supplies would not be used up until the Lord sent rain.  She did as he said and his prophecy came true.  We look at that and think, “This woman had faith and acted in that faith.”  We are correct when we think that, and if that was all that we had about her, she would be someone for us to seek to emulate.  Yet we do have more, when her son died she was heartbroken and angry.  Then when Elijah raised her son from death, she declared “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”  She acted on faith before that, and even the miracle of her food supplies not running out did not fully cement her faith.  It was only after she served God for some time that He completely removed her doubt.  Let us similarly act on faith, despite our doubts.  And we should not let our doubts make us stop acting in faith, when the time is right, God will give us certainty.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.