For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Proverbs 18:4-5

    Once again, the NIV translation makes sense of this passage for me. The words we speak are like deep waters, containing and concealing many dangers. Wisdom in those words is like a rushing stream, refreshing and transforming the landscape around us.

Psalm 147:1-20

    Let us praise the Lord. He is great enough to count and name each of the stars, yet He will heal the brokenhearted and bind their wounds. It is not our strength, intelligence, wisdom, or beauty which gives God pleasure. Rather God is pleased when we obey His commands because we fear and love Him. Let us put all of our hopes in God’s unfailing love. I will glorify God, because even though none can stand against Him, He has sacrificed His own Son for each and every one of us.

Acts 19:13-41

    There is an interesting story here. A group of Jewish exorcists attempted to use the name of Jesus and of Paul in order to cast out demons. They thought that Jesus’ name could be used as one more incantation in their “magic”. The name of Jesus is not an incantation we can use to get the results we are looking for. If we attempt to use Jesus’ name that way, it will end as badly for us as it did for these Jewish exorcists. However, the results will glorify God, just as the results in this story did. When the believers in the area heard the story of the exorcists they recognized their own sins and the dangers of practicing “magic” and “magical” thinking. They gathered the books and devices they used to practice magic and destroyed them. The key here was not the destruction of these items, but the irrevocable renunciation of the practices they represented.

2 Kings 15-16:20

    Yesterday’s passage told us that Amaziah ruled Judah and did what was pleasing in God’s sight. Today we learn that his son and his grandson did likewise. However, none of the three kings destroyed the shrines in the high places. In the meantime, king after king rose to power in Israel and did evil in God’s sight. The kings of Israel abused their power and practiced idolatry. When Amaziah’s great-grandson, Ahaz, took the throne in Judah he began following the pagan practices which were practiced at the shrines in the high places and treated his subjects the way that the kings of Israel did. He actively imitated the pagan practices of the peoples surrounding Judah, going so far as to replace the altar in the Temple with one based on an altar set up by the Assyrians in Damascus. The implication of the description given is that King Ahaz transformed the Temple worship from worship of God to worship of the Assyrian gods.
    The failure of Amaziah, his son, and his grandson, to root out pagan practices from among those who worshiped the Lord led to King Ahaz preferring those practices to the worship of God. We can see the same thing in the Church around us. When we look the other way when people fail to remain faithful to God, people will gradually “move the line” further and further from where God really wants us to be. When the Church in the United States stopped condemning divorce, it reduced the Church’s ability to defend God’s will for marriage. We need to relearn how to condemn sin without condemning the sinner. The failure of Amaziah, Uzziah, and Jotham to lead their people to complete faithfulness led to Ahaz, who sacrificed his own son in the fires of a pagan god. Yet Ahaz’ son was Hezekiah. God will use our failings to bring about revival. Let us pray that a spiritual leader arise today to lead us in a revival like the one which Hezekiah led.

     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.

2 Kings 15-16:20

     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.

Acts 19:13-41

     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.

Psalm 147:1-20

     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:

He heals the brokenhearted
and bandages their wounds.
He counts the stars
and calls them all by name.
…
The Lord supports the humble,
but he brings the wicked down into the dust.
Later he tells us: He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse
or in human might.
No, the Lord’s delight is in those who fear him,
those who put their hope in his unfailing love.
I will praise the Lord and I will put all of my hopes in His unfailing love.

Proverbs 18:4-5

     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.