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.
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1 Kings 11-12:19
As Solomon’s rule continued he took many wives from the neighboring nations. This was despite the Law saying that when Israel has a king he should not have an excessive number of wives and many of them being from nations that with whom God had commanded the Israelites not to intermarry. In addition, Solomon built worship places for the gods of these foreign wives. The passage specifically mentions Ashtoreth, Molek and Chemosh. The first of these was a fertility goddess and her rituals of worship involved sexual immorality. The worship of the latter two involved human sacrifice. The passage tells us that God became angry with Solomon and promised to take most of the kingdom from his son, leaving the kingdom while during Solomon’s life for the sake of David.
The passage then tells us that God raised up two kings to fight against Solomon. One was from the Edomite royal line and returned to fight against Solomon with the support of Egypt. The other set himself up in Damascus and fought against Solomon. Then we learn of a prominent young man of the tribe of Ephraim, Jeroboam, whom Solomon promoted to a position of some importance. A prophet comes to him and tells him that God is going take most of Israel from the house of Solomon and give it to Jeroboam. The prophet tells Jeroboam that if he is faithful to God’s laws, God will establish a dynasty for him. Solomon learns of this, we are not told how in this passage, and attempts to have Jeroboam killed. Jeroboam flees to Egypt where he finds refuge.
Upon Solomon’s death, his son Rehoboam succeeded him on the throne. When Rehoboam went to Shechem to be crowned, the people of Israel sent for Jeroboam to lead them in their demands for Rehoboam to reduce his forced labor levies from those imposed by Solomon. Rehoboam asked for time to compose his answer. He asked for advice from his father’s advisers. They told him that he should agree to the demands and that if he did so, the people would serve him faithfully. Rehoboam did not like this advice and asked for advice from his childhood friends. They told him that he should promise to people that he would make increase his demands for forced labor and punish those who resisted even more harshly. After this response the ten tribes went into rebellion against Rehoboam. Rehoboam sent out his deputy in charge of forced labor and they stoned him to death. Rehoboam fled to Jerusalem. This passage shows Rehoboam as a spoiled son of privilege. He rejects the advice of his father’s experienced advisers and follows that of his cronies who tell him what he wants to hear.
Acts 9:1-25
Luke tells us that Saul was persecuting the believers, continuing on after supporting for the stoning of Stephen. He obtained a letter from the high priest requesting support from the synagogues in Damascus for Saul to persecute the believers in that city. The passage tells us that Saul was struck by a light from heaven and fell to the ground. He heard a voice asking him why he was persecuting Him. Saul correctly interpreted this voice as being divine and asked who it was. The voice said that it was Jesus and that Saul should go into Damascus and wait to be told what to do. The passage tells us that the men traveling with Saul heard the sound but did not see anyone. I had always assumed that they did not actually hear what the voice said, but I realize now that the passage actually implies that they heard the actual conversation. After receiving this vision, Saul was blind and those traveling with him led him into Damascus. Saul fasted and prayed for three days upon his arrival in Damascus.
God appeared to a believer in Damascus by the name of Ananias and told him to go to Saul and lay hands on him so that he could see again. Ananias protested that he had heard that Saul is persecuting the believers. God told Ananias that Saul was His chosen instrument. Ananias goes to Saul and tells him that Jesus has sent him to restore Saul’s sight. Saul spent a few days with the believers in Damascus and then began preaching the Gospel in the synagogues. The Jews are amazed to hear what him preaching that Jesus is the Son of God because they knew he had been persecuting the believers until recently. When they were unable to refute his arguments, some of the Jews began plotting to kill Saul. Saul became aware of the plot and some of the believers let him down through a gap in the city walls to avoid the assassins.
When God wants to redirect our lives, He will use whatever means necessary to get our attention. In this case, He used what I call the blunt force approach. He struck Saul down and blinded him in order to get his attention. There are times when such a clear message from God would be nice. However, it appears to me that people who receive such blunt and clear messages from God are generally called to missions of hardship and deprivation. That the price for such an incontrovertible calling is a lot of suffering. I am willing to undergo suffering such as that which Saul, later known as Paul, went through if that is the service God calls me to, but I do not wish to do so just to have an experience such as his conversion. This is especially the case when you consider that even Saul’s conversion experience was rather traumatic. There are other accounts of people where God has had to use forceful means to get their attention to the message He has for them. I liken that to the story of the man who bought a mule. The story goes that a man was looking to buy a mule to haul is wagon. The merchant tells him that he has a great mule that knows many verbal commands. So, the man buys the mule and hooks it up to his wagon. The man tries every command he can think of, “Go”, “Giddyup”, “Start”, “Forward”, etc.. Finally he says to the merchant, “This mule is worthless, he won’t pull my wagon.” The merchant tells the man, “Well, you need to get his attention first,” and takes out a two by four and hits the mule right between the ears before telling it to go. The mule immediately begins pulling the wagon. I don’t want to be that mule. I want to listen when God tells me what He wants and not require Him to get my attention with a two by four.
Psalm 131:1-3
The psalmist says that he does not fret about matters too great for him to grasp. This is a reminder that we are not going to be able to understand all of the things that God wills. The psalmist tells us to put our hope in the Lord, now and always. Even if we do not understand what God is doing, we can be sure that He has our best interests in mind. God will care for us, even when things seem to be going wrong.
Proverbs 17:4-5
This passage tells us that wrongdoers are always ready and eager to believe the worst of others, that those who lie readily believe malicious lies about others. It is an easy way to tell something about a person, those who give others the benefit of the doubt when they hear negative stories about others are usually people that you can trust. Those who believe the worst when they hear negative stories about others are often those who would do the same if they were in that situation. This can be used to not only evaluate others, but yourself. If you believe those negative stories you hear about others, you should think about why you are so ready to believe the worst about others.
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