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.

     Today’s passage tells us that God had finally had enough of the sins of the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and sent Assyria to sweep them away into exile. Despite repeatedly sending them prophets telling them to turn away from their sinful ways, they continued to worship other gods. They went so far as to sacrifice their own sons and daughters to these other gods. “They consulted fortune-tellers and practiced sorcery and sold themselves to evil, arousing the Lord’s anger.” This passage sounds like an indictment of most countries of the world today. In the countries that comprise Western Civilization, we sacrifice our children on the altar of convenience and abort them before they are born. In the Islamic countries they encourage their children to become suicidal jihadists and sacrifice them that way. There may be countries in the world today which are not sacrificing their children on the altars of the gods they worship, but I am not familiar with them.
     After the Assyrians took the Israelites captive, they settled other peoples in the land of Israel. However, lions preyed upon these new settlers. When word reached the King of Assyria about the depredation of the lions, he sent back a priest of the Lord to teach the new people in the land to worship the Lord. The new people in the land worshiped the Lord, but they also continued to offer sacrifices and worship the gods of their ancestors. They would not follow God’s command to worship only Him.
     Six years before the King of Assyria overthrew the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Hezekiah became king in Judah. We are told that he did right in the sight of the Lord. Hezekiah trusted in the Lord and we are told that there was no king like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after. Hezekiah destroyed all of the places in Judah where people worshiped idols. He removed the high places, destroyed the sacred pillars (which were part of Baal worship) and burned the Asherah poles. He even broke apart the bronze snake which Moses had made because the people were worshiping it in place of God. As a result of his dedication to serving the Lord, Hezekiah was successful in all that he did.
     In today’s passage we have a contrast between people who failed to obey the Lord and a man who led his people in strong dedication to follow the Lord. Those who worshiped the Lord and were faithful to Him were blessed, those who did not suffered. David is often viewed as the king of Israel whom we should most admire. I do not wish to diminish our view of David, but I believe that Hezekiah represents a model we should more closely follow. He led his people back to serving God and, unlike David, got rid of the high places where the people mixed worship of God with idolatry.

     When the uproar in Ephesus died down, Paul went to Macedonia and traveled through it and then down into Greece. He was preparing to travel by ship from Greece back to Syria when he learned that some Jews were plotting to kill him (or have him killed). So, instead of taking ship from Greece, Paul traveled back through Macedonia and took ship from Macedonia. He stopped in Troas, where he was joined by Luke and some others (or possibly the others sailed first and Paul traveled with Luke). From Troas, Paul sailed on to Miletus where he sent for the elders of the church in Ephesus to join him.
     Paul told the elders from Ephesus that they would not see him again as in every city prophets were telling him that he would face jail and suffering when he came to Jerusalem. He warned the elders to feed and guide the God’s flock. They were to be on guard against false teachers who would arise and attempt to gain a following with false teachings. They should remember Paul’s teaching and example. How he worked hard so as to have the means to meet his own needs and provide help to those in need.

     Another psalm of praise. Some days these are hard to write anything about. Today is one of those days. I will encourage you to read the psalm and let its sentiment sweep over your soul. I will pull out this phrase for special focus:

     Unlike yesterday, today’s proverb is clear to me. When I regularly find myself in quarrels it is time to examine what I say. The cause is usually because I am saying foolish things and asking for trouble by doing so. When we say and do foolish things, we will get caught out by our own words.

     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.

     In today’s passage we have reference to three kings of Judah and six kings of Israel. We are told that each of the kings of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Four of the five kings of Israel whose reigns are detailed in today’s passage were killed by assassins who then took the throne (the reign of the sixth king is described in tomorrow’s passage).
     We are told that the first two kings of Judah did what was pleasing to God. However, neither of them removed the high places where the people offered sacrifices. The third king, Ahaz, son of the second and grandson of the first, did evil in the sight of the Lord, going so far as to sacrifice his son in the fire. He paid tribute to the king of Assyria in order to get him to attack Aram and Israel so that they would stop attacking Judah. In addition he went to the capital of Assyria and worshiped the gods of Assyria there. He then instructed the high priest of Judah to build a new altar modeled after the altar used in Assyria. It is not clear from the passage but it appears to me that Ahaz instituted worship of the Assyrian gods on this altar.

     The miracles performed by Paul so impressed the people of around Ephesus that some Jewish exorcists started using the name of Jesus in their exorcisms. When one group tried this, the man possessed by the evil spirit told them that it knew Jesus and knew Paul, but did not know them. The man with the evil spirit then attacked them and drove them from the house naked and bleeding. Word of this spread throughout the area. One of the biggest impacts was on believers who had continued in occult practices. In reaction to this, they brought their grimoires (books of spells and incantations) and burned them on a public bonfire. It is worth noting that these were not just books of information, but were rather “cookbooks” for practicing magic.
     Shortly after this a silversmith named Demetrius who manufactured and sold shrines to Artemus called a gathering of the people to whom he subcontracted some of the work. Demetrius then told them that Paul was preaching a message that would destroy their business and respect for their city. As he spoke to them he got them angrier and angrier until a riot started. The rioters gathered in the city amphitheater. Some of them grabbed Paul’s traveling companions and took them into the amphitheater with them. Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the rest of the believers would not let him do so. There was a lot of confusion in the amphitheater and most of the people who were there did not know why. Some of the Jews in the crowd tried to put their representative forward to explain the situation, but when the crowd realized he was a Jew (and this not a worshiper of Artemus) they just shouted him down. Finally the mayor of the city was able to calm the crowd down enough to speak. He then convinced the crowd that any grievance could be settled in civil court and that if the rioting continued the Romans were likely to send in the Legions to sort things out.

     The psalmist tells us that it is good and fitting to sing praises to God. I could not agree more. The psalmist goes on to tell us why it is fitting:

     I do not understand what the first proverb means. The second proverb however tells us that when the wicked are knowingly allowed to avoid punishment, the innocent suffer.

     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.

     The king of Aram was raiding Israel, but every time he sent a raiding force the Israelites were ready and waiting for them. As a result he asked his top officers to figure out who the traitor was who kept revealing his plans to the king of Israel. His officers told him that none of them were a traitor. Rather, God was revealing his plans to Elisha who then told the king of Israel, The king of Aram sent scouts to find where Elisha was. He received word that Elisha was in Dothan. So, he sent a large force to capture Elisha.
     When Elisha got up in the morning there were troops everywhere. His servant cried out in fear. Elisha told him not to worry because there were more on their side than against them. Elisha than prayed that God might open his servant’s eyes. The servant’s eyes were opened and he saw that the hills around Elisha were full of horses and chariots of fire. Elisha then called on God to blind the forces of the king of Aram. Elisha then went out and told the enemy forces that they had gone the wrong way and were at the wrong city. He told them that he would lead them to the man they were looking for. He then led the force from Aram in to the middle of Samaria, where they were surrounded by the army of Israel. At that point God opened their eyes and they realized they were surrounded. The king of Israel wanted to kill them, but Elisha convinced him to throw a feast for them and send them home.
     After this the king of Aram stopped raiding Israel. However, some time later, the king of Aram launched a full-scale invasion of Israel and placed Samaria under siege. The starvation in the city got so bad that some of the people resorted to cannibalism. When the king of Israel learned that people were resorting to cannibalism, he went to Elisha, intending to execute him. Elisha told him that by that time the following day, food would be ridiculously cheap. One of the king’s officers told Elisha that what he was predicting was not possible even if God supplied food directly from heaven. Elisha responded that the officer would see it, but would not get a chance to eat any of it.
     That night, just as the sun was setting, four men with leprosy who were sitting at the city gate. They decided that they had nothing to lose by going to the Arameans because if they stayed where they were, or went back into the city, they were going to starve to death. When they got to the edge of the Aramean camp, they discovered that it was empty. The Arameans had heard what they thought was the sound of a large army approaching. They concluded that the king of Israel had hired the Hittites and the Egyptians to relieve the siege. As a result the Aramean army had fled without even packing up their camp. When the lepers discovered that the camp was empty they went in and began eating and drinking. After a bit, they had an attack of conscience and realized that they needed to give this news to the city. They realized that if they were greedy and waited until morning, they were likely to suffer some calamity.
     When the king heard the news, he was sure it was a trap, so he sent scouts out to see if they could locate the Aramean army. The scouts found a trail that the Arameans had left as they discarded clothing and equipment as they fled. They followed the trail all the way to the Jordan River. When they reported this back to the king, the people of Samaria rushed out of the city to plunder the camp. As a result, the prices were what Elisha had prophesied. The king had appointed the officer skeptical of Elisha’s prophecy to manage the people going through the gate, but they had trampled him to death.
     These stories have a common theme: no matter how powerful the forces arrayed against, and how bad the situation appears, God is capable of rescuing us and bringing us into a time of plenty. We need to always remember what Elisha told his servant, “Don’t be afraid! For there are more on our side than on theirs!” This idea is phrased in another way in the book of 1 John: “You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.” We need to remember this whenever the troubles we face in this world threaten to overwhelm us. In the first of these two stories, Elisha was surrounded by a large armed force and all he had in physical terms was himself and his servant. Yet God gave him the ability to lead that large armed force to a place where it was surrounded by an overwhelmingly superior armed force and it surrendered peacefully. In the second story, an army was besieging Samaria and Samaria had no force strong enough to break the siege. Yet God caused the besieging army to believe they were about to be overrun by the armies of both of the two superpowers of the day. If we have faith, God will do the same for us. There is also a cautionary tale in the second story. The Israelite officer who told Elisha that his prophecy was impossible saw the prophecy fulfilled but did not get to experience the good times. Let us never fall into the trap of thinking that something is beyond the ability of God to deliver.

     Some time after returning from the Jerusalem Council, Paul suggested to Barnabas that they revisit the cities they had preached in on their first trip. Barnabas agreed and wanted to take John Mark with them again. Paul vehemently disagreed to taking John Mark along. Their disagreement was so strong that they ended up parting ways over it. Each went out on their own. This separation worked out to spread the Gospel even further, but it reflects poorly on Paul. Paul was upset that John Mark had left them part way through their first mission trip and was unwilling to give him a second chance (although we know that they were later reconciled). It is worth noting only as a reminder that even Paul occasionally failed to live up to the standard to which we are called.
     Barnabas took John Mark and sailed to Cyprus, while Paul chose Silas and went to Derbe and then Lystra. In Lystra, Paul asked Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman believer and a Greek man, to join them. Despite Paul’s opposition to requiring Gentiles be circumcised, Paul arranged for Timothy to be circumcised. Paul, Silas and Timothy (and whoever else was with them at the time) traveled through Phrygia and Galatia intending to go on into the Roman province of Asia. However, God arranged circumstances to prevent them from doing so. When they came to the province of Mysia, they headed north towards Bithynia. However, once more they were unable to continue as they planned and were forced to travel through Mysia to the seaport of Traos. The first night in Traos, Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia asking him to come to Macedonia.
     At this point, Luke starts using the first person plural to refer to Paul’s travels. The group boarded ship and went over to Macedonia, where they traveled overland to Philippi. In Philippi, there was apparently no synagogue and they went outside the city to a place by the riverbank where they expected to find some worshipers of God gathered for prayer. They found some women gathered there, as they had expected, and they began to preach the Gospel. At least one of the women was receptive to the message they preached and accepted Christ. Her name was Lydia and she was baptized along with her household. Luke notes that she was a wealthy merchant and that she invited them to stay at her house while they were in Philippi. Luke’s wording suggests that she was insistent on them staying at her house.
     We have in this passage two lessons. The first is how God used the strife between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark to multiply his mission workers. Not only does God divide Paul and Barnabas so that there are now two mission trips where before there was only going to be one, but He has Paul take Timothy under his wing so that there are two young men (John Mark and Timothy) being groomed for future leadership positions in the Church. The second is that God used obstacles to doing what Paul and those with him viewed as their mission to guide them into a new mission field. There is a little more to it than that. When Paul and Silas ran into an obstacle to their plans, they did not stand still and keep trying to find ways around those obstacles. They kept moving along the ways that were open to them. God then made clear to them His plans for them. The key to following God’s plans for our lives is to keep moving. I like to use this analogy: it is much easier to steer a car that is moving than one that is standing still.

     This psalm ties together the first two passages from today. When we are overwhelmed by our troubles, let us cry out to God. He is the one who knows which way we should turn. He will guide us when we do not know the direction we should take and He will rescue us when those who oppose us are stronger than we can face. Remember that when we face trouble, God will nevertheless be good to us.

     It is foolish to allow ourselves to be distracted from wisdom and from God. If we keep our eyes focused on God, He will reveal to us the wise course. Once He has shown us the wise course, we should follow it and not allow ourselves to be distracted by other possible paths. As today’s passage from Acts makes clear, if God wants us to follow another path, He will block our way on the path we are on.

     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.