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.

     King Ahaz had shuttered the Temple and promoted the worship of various pagan gods. When he died his son Hezekiah took the throne. Hezekiah’s mother was the daughter of Zechariah. We are not told for sure, but this was probably the same Zechariah who instructed Hezekiah’s grandfather, Uzziah, in the fear of God. If this was the case, Hezekiah is an example of how much influence a godly mother can have. Hezekiah’s father, King Ahaz, not only did not worship God, preferring the worship of other gods, he interfered with others doing so by shuttering the doors of the Temple. However, upon taking the throne the first thing Hezekiah does is to open the Temple doors and get them repaired. Hezekiah summoned the priests and Levites and instructed them to clean out and purify the Temple. It took them eight days to clean out the courtyard and eight more days to clean out and purify the Temple itself.
     When the cleansing of the Temple was completed, Hezekiah called upon the people to gather for a re-dedication service. Hezekiah provided an offering for consecrating the people to God. We cannot get a good feel for it from the description, but this service was much like a festival. While the offerings were being made we are told that the singers sang accompanied by trumpets and other instruments. When these offerings were completed, Hezekiah instructed the people to bring their own offerings to the Temple. The people brought so much in the way of offerings that there were not enough priests to prepare them all, so the Levites helped them do so.

     Paul discusses disputes over what people eat and drink and over the celebration of Holy days. He tells us not to argue over such things. Some people think it is OK to eat anything, others will only eat vegetables. Paul tells us here that whichever side of that dispute we are on, we should not condemn those who take a differing position. In addition, Paul references some who emphasize worshiping the Lord on a particular day vs some who hold all days alike. Paul seems to come down on the side of those who hold all days alike, but sees no problem with some people emphasizing a particular day. On both of these disputes, Paul says that it does not matter which side we are on, as long as our goal is to honor God.
     He goes on to tell us that we must not cause others to stumble. He gives the example that he believes that nothing is unclean in and of itself. However, if someone believes that it is wrong to eat certain foods, then for that person it is wrong. If a fellow Christian has a problem with something we choose to eat, we should not eat it in their presence, and we should keep the fact that we sometimes eat that between ourselves and God. If you have doubts as to whether or not it is right to do something, than it is a sin to do that something. Or to put it another way, if doing something makes you feel guilty, don’ do that something. We should not eat or drink anything that will cause another to stumble. This is the basis for the only valid argument that I have ever heard from Christian teetotalers. They argue that some people are alcoholics and if those people consume any alcohol they will be unable to control themselves and will drink to excess. This seems to be true. The teetotalers therefore argue that we should not drink alcohol in the presence of alcoholics because we may cause them to be tempted to drink alcohol if we do so. They further argue that we should not drink alcohol in the presence of anyone because we do not know who is or is not an alcoholic. They further extend the argument that we should not drink at all because we do not know who will observe us buying the alcohol in the first place and thus be tempted. I do not subscribe to this argument, but it has merit. As Christians, we should be sensitive to drinking in the presence of alcoholics. I am not so much concerned with those who are aware of their problem, because I can encourage them in their choice to abstain when I am drinking. The place for special care is around those who have a drinking problem but refuse to acknowledge it.

     Everything belongs to God. All parts of our lives should be dedicated to honoring Him. We should not attempt to close God out of any part of our lives because it all belongs to Him. Everything we have and everything we are is God’s. If we do not dedicate all of our actions to His service we are failing in our duty to Him.

     Notice it does not say anything about mouth to talk. Our ears and our eyes are used to observe the world around us. I think it is interesting the order they are listed. Perhaps we should focus a greater part of our observation on what we hear relative to what we see than we tend to.