I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for over a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. 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. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     After Ahab’s death, his son Ahaziah ruled in Israel. One day he fell through latticework in an upper room of the palace and was seriously injured. He sent messengers to Ekron to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron as to whether he would get better. Elijah intercepted the messengers and told them to tell Ahaziah that he would die because he had sent to consult Baal-Zebub rather than asking God whether he would get better. When the messengers return and tell King Ahaziah Elijah’s message, he sends a captain with 50 men to arrest Elijah.
     When the captain found Elijah, he called Elijah a man of God and told him that the king had demanded that Elijah come with them. Elijah responded that if he was a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume the captain and his men. Fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his men. Ahaziah sent a second captain with 50 men to arrest Elijah. This captain also called Elijah a man of God and told him that Ahaziah demanded that he come at once. Elijah repeated what he had told the first captain with the same results. Ahaziah sent a third captain with 50 men. This third captain also called Elijah a man of God, but rather than demand, based on the king’s authority, that Elijah come with him, this captain begged Elijah to spare his and his men’s lives. God told Elijah to go with this captain and he did so. When Elijah arrived at the palace, he told Ahaziah what he had told Ahaziah’s messengers, that he would never rise from his sick bed but would die in it. Shortly afterward Ahaziah died and was succeeded by his brother Joram.
     We could read this passage and see it as telling us that the first two groups of soldiers died because they were caught in a difficult place. However, if we look a little closer we see something different. The first two captains approached Elijah and acknowledged that he was a man of God, but they assumed that the authority of the king was binding on the man of God. The third captain acknowledged that, as a man of God, Elijah was only subject to the commands of the king as God allowed. In the same way, if we are people of God, we are only subject to the edicts of the government as God directs us. When the laws and edicts of the government go against what God directs, we have an obligation to not follow them. Further, the government will only be able to act against us for violating its directions inasmuch as God allows, no matter how much force the government brings to bear.
     When the time came for Elijah to end his ministry on this earth, he told Elisha to stay where they were while he, Elijah traveled to Bethel. Elisha insisted on accompanying Elijah. When they got to Bethel, a group of prophets came to Elisha and told him that God was going to take Elijah soon. Elisha told them that he knew that and that they should keep quiet about it. Elijah then told Elisha to stay at Bethel while he went to Jericho. Again Elisha refused to stay behind. The prophets at Jericho told Elisha the same thing as the prophets at Bethel had said and Elisha responded the same way. Now Elijah told Elisha that he should stay at Jericho while Elijah went to the Jordan. Once more, Elisha refused to stay behind.
     When they got to the Jordan, Elijah folded up his cloak and struck the water with it. When he did so, the Jordan River divided and the two men crossed over. The prophets from Jericho had accompanied them as far as the Jordan, but did not cross with them. Once they had crossed the Jordan River, Elijah asked Elisha what he could do for him. Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit and to be his successor. Elijah told Elisha that he had asked for a difficult thing, but if he saw Elijah when he was taken, he would receive it. As they walked on a chariot of fire drove between them and Elijah was carried into heaven by a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out in grief and tore his clothes. He then picked up Elijah’s cloak and returned to the Jordan. When Elisha got to the Jordan he took the cloak, struck the water with it and cried out, “Where now is the God of Elijah?” The Jordan River divided for Elisha just as it had for Elijah. The prophets who were waiting for Elisha to return recognized that the spirit that had rested on Elijah was resting on Elisha. They offered to send 50 men to search for Elijah, but Elisha initially declined. They persisted and Elisha relented and told them to search. The searchers returned after three days without finding Elijah.
     The elders of Jericho came to Elisha and asked him if he could do anything about the fact that the water in and around the town was bad in a way that made the land unproductive. Following God’s leading, Elisha purified the water. Shortly after that Elisha left Jericho to go to Bethel. On the way, a gang of boys came out and started to taunt him and make fun of him. Elisha turned, called down a curse on the boys and two bears emerged from the woods, mauling 42 of the boys. This sounds cruel, but think about the situation. Elisha was a lone traveler in a somewhat remote region. A large gang of unsupervised boys (the word suggests that they were in their teens) comes out and starts making fun of him and jeering him. Think about how you would view this situation if you were walking through a bad neighborhood in the inner city, or in a dirt poor region of Appalachia. You are in whichever of those you chose, more than 40 teenage boys came out and started to say nasty things about you and make fun of you, telling you to get out of that area. There is no one else around. What are the odds that those boys are likely to turn violent? If not with you, then perhaps the next passerby, or the one after that.

     When Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue after Paul’s preaching, people begged them to come back the following week and tell them more. The following week, almost everybody came to hear Paul and Barnabas speak. When the Jews saw the crowds that came to hear Paul speak they became jealous and began to contradict him. They even went so far as to deride him personally. Paul and Barnabas were not intimidated by the animosity of the Jews. They told them that they had to offer the word of salvation first to the Jews, but since the Jews had rejected it they were free to preach to the Gentiles. The Gentiles in the city were thankful for the willingness of Paul and Barnabas to preach to them and many of them became believers. The Jews stirred up the religious women and city leaders against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town. Paul and Barnabas shook the dust of the town from their feet and moved on to Iconium.
     When they got to Iconium they once again started by speaking in the synagogue. A large number of Jews and Gentiles became believers as a result. However, some of those Jews who rejected their teaching worked to poison the minds of the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas and their message. Nevertheless Paul and Barnabas stayed in Iconium quite some time, speaking boldly and performing wonders and miracles to bring glory to God. The people of the town were divided about them. Eventually a group of those opposed the them decided to attack and stone them. However, Paul and Barnabas learned of it and left the city before that happened.
     Paul and Barnabas followed a pattern when they went to a new city. The first thing they did was go to the synagogue. They went to those who shared their faith and started preaching there. They did not arrive in town and immediately plant a new church. No, they went and worked with those who were already there proclaiming themselves to be serving God. It was only when the already established group rejected their ministry that they went elsewhere. And the thing is they didn’t stop after they had run into problems in one or two, or more cities. Paul continued this pattern for his entire ministry. I think this reflects something we should do when we are called into a new area to preach the gospel. If there is an established congregation there, we should attempt to work with them first. It is only if and when they reject the way that God is guiding us to minister that we should go out and plant a new congregation.

     Today’s psalm is often used by those fighting against abortion, and there is nothing wrong with that. But we make a grave mistake if that is all we see in it because this psalm is so much more than that. A couple of days ago I read that John Ratzenberger had made the comment that when he was growing up we didn’t need surveillance cameras and other spying techniques because we had God. His point was that when he was young he was taught what this psalm tells us. God is always watching us. He knows everything we do. It doesn’t matter how we try to hide it, God sees and knows. Even if we could hide it from God’s sight, it would do us no good, because God knows what we are going to do before we do it.
     But there is more to this psalm than God watching us. It also tells us that God has a plan for our life that He laid out before we were born. Fifty years ago, when I was still in my mother’s womb, God knew, and planned, that I would be sitting here today writing this. The psalm goes on to tell us that each one of us is the object of more thoughts of God than there are grains of sand. I will conclude my comments on this psalm by asking the same thing the psalmist did:

     This first proverb is a challenge to me: “Anyone who loves to quarrel loves sin…” because I love to debate and there is a fine line between debating and quarreling. There is nothing wrong with debating various things, but it is important to remember that it is all too easy to become emotionally attached to your debating points and then your debate becomes a quarrel. The point of debating is to learn the truth and there is no shame in learning that you were wrong about something. The shame comes from refusing to admit that you were wrong.