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.

     Uzziah succeeded his father Amaziah on the throne of Judah. We are told that Uzziah did what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord and was successful as a result. Uzziah built a well-trained large army and conquered much of the surrounding territory. His spiritual mentor was Zechariah. However, after Zechariah died, Uzziah entered into the sanctuary of the Temple, where only priests were supposed to go, and burned incense. The high priest and eighty other priests confronted him over this. He went into a rage against them for opposing him on this. While he was in this rage, he broke out with a contagious skin disease (usually translated as leprosy). When the priests saw this, they rushed him out of the Temple. Uzziah lived in isolation in a separate house the rest of his life. His son Jotham took charge in his name until his death when Jotham became king.
     We are told that Jotham also did what was pleasing in the sight of God and continued expanding the power of Judah. However, it mentions that the people of Judah were not faithful to God during this time. When Jotham died his son Ahaz succeeded to the throne. Ahaz did not follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Instead he cast metal images for the worship of Baal and offered sacrifices at pagan shrines. He even went so far as to sacrifice some of his own sons in the fire. While Ahaz was king, Judah was invaded by a force from Israel which captured a large number of people and took them as slaves. However, a prophet of the Lord confronted them for taking their fellow descendants of Israel captive as slaves and leaders of the people of Israel demanded that they not bring them to their towns as slaves. The Israelite force returned some of their plunder (possibly all, the passage is not clear) to the captives and returned them to Judah. King Ahaz attempted to hire the king of Assyria to help him, but the king of Assyria plundered Jerusalem as well. King Ahaz shuttered the doors to the Temple to prevent anyone from worshiping there and set up altars to pagan gods throughout Jerusalem and the rest of Judah.

     The first part of today’s passage tells us to submit to the governing authorities. They only have such power as God has delegated to them. God has instituted governments to punish wrongdoers. In addition, Paul tells us that those who are in positions of authority in government were placed there by God. We should obey governing authorities not just to avoid punishment, but to please God, since He has established them. This includes paying taxes. We are, also, to respect and honor those in positions of government authority.
     Paul follows this up by instructing us to owe no one anything, except for our obligation to love one another. Paul tells us that the commandments can be summed up by “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Time is running out, the Lord will be returning soon. We must avoid wild parties, drunkenness and sexual immorality. We must strive to serve the Lord and not seek ways to indulge our evil desires.

     Today’s psalm is one that anyone who knows the Bible at all is familiar with. There is a reason for this, it contains a lot of basic truths. The Lord is our shepherd. He will guide us to those places where all of our needs will be met. Even when we pass through difficult and dangerous places and times, we need not fear because God will protect us. If we faithfully follow the Lord’s guidance, when we finish this life we will dwell in His house for eternity.

     Today’s proverb tells us that even children are known by the way they act. Considering that, how much more will we as adults be judged by our behavior.