Month: August 2016

Click Here For Today’s Reading

Listen to this post by clicking on arrow below:

2 CHRONICLES 35:1-36:23 | 1 CORINTHIANS 1:1-17 | PSALM 27:1-6 | PROVERBS 20:20-21

Josiah is an exception to the string of kings that we’ve seen lately.  Appointed to the throne as king of Judah while yet a boy, Josiah grows up to become a God-fearing king.  One of his significant achievements is the celebration of the Passover by adhering strictly by the book as per the Mosaic tradition. 

This is what the text tells: ¹⁶ So at that time the entire service of the LORD was carried out for the celebration of the Passover and the offering of burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, as King Josiah had ordered. ¹⁷ The Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover at that time and observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. ¹⁸ The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.

Josiah, however, dies in battle due to a lapse of good judgment, but at his death, he his mourned by the people, so much so, that Jeremiah, the prophet, is said to have written a series of laments that to this day are recited in Josiah’s remembrance.

Next, there is a series of generations that ascends the throne of Judah, each one more despicable than the other.  Nebuchadnezzar is the king of Babylon who comes in to invade, conquer, and carry back the people as prisoners of war, and the temple treasures as bounty. 

This is what the text says of him:  ¹⁸ He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the LORD’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. ¹⁹ They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.

Only seventy years later, when the balance of power has changed to where Cyrus, king of Persia deposes the king of Babylon, is there a ray of hope and light in the lives of the Hebrew children. 

Cyrus the Great, makes this proclamation: “‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the LORD their God be with them.’”

Turning now to our New Testament reading, we commence a brand new book today titled The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, also known as I Corinthians.  This is another letter that Paul has written to the early church in Corinth.  Paul starts out his letter with a strong note of thanksgiving.  May it be that similar words are used when our own fellow-men refer to us in this day and age as well. 

Paul says of his brothers and sisters in Christ:  ⁴ I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵ For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— ⁶ God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. ⁷ Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. ⁸ He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul goes on to offer words of encouragement to these early Christians—both Jew and Gentile alike—to get along one with another and to put aside differences.

Next, our psalm of the day is one in which David, the psalmist, is pouring out his heart and soul to the Lord God, and in doing so, is comforting himself and affirming to himself certain fundamental truths.  Like David, may it be that we would also have the same confidence to utter these very words in our own hour of need.  The psalm is reproduced in its entirety here for our benefit today:

¹ The LORD is my light and my salvation
— whom shall I fear?
   The LORD is the stronghold of my life
— of whom shall I be afraid?

² When the wicked advance against me
to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall.

³ Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.

⁴ One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

⁵ For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.

⁶ Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
will sing and make music to the LORD.

Finally, two verses from the book of Proverbs, though unrelated one to the other, are both worthy of record and rumination:

²⁰ If someone curses their father or mother,
their lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.

²¹ An inheritance claimed too soon
will not be blessed at the end.

May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word.

Click Here For Today’s Reading 

A change of heart is possible.  It is what we see in the life of Manasseh who turns about-face from the days of having turned away from the Lord.  So great is his remorse and desire to set things right that after he is returned from captivity, he goes about the business of cleaning house. 

This is what the text tells us about him:  ¹⁵ He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the LORD, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem; and he threw them out of the city. ¹⁶ Then he restored the altar of the LORD and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹⁷ The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.

But when Manasseh’s time is up, his son Amon succeeds him as king.  And you would think Amon would have known better than to revert to the old ways, but no, he does not.  He evidently does not know better.  Because what happens next is deja vu all over again! 

And Amon is even worse than his father because he doesn’t have the good sense to repent in time like his father did. 

Here’s what the text says:  ²¹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. ²² He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon worshiped and offered sacrifices to all the idols Manasseh had made. ²³ But unlike his father Manasseh, he did not humble himself before the LORD; Amon increased his guilt. 

And so, Amon reigns for two short years, and is assassinated by his own palace officials. Next comes another boy-king named Josiah.  But Josiah is nothing like his father or grandfather even.  He is upright and God-fearing from the very beginning. 

Josiah reigns for thirty-one years, and this is what we learn about him:  ³³ Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the LORD, the God of their ancestors.

Turning now to the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, also known as Romans, we find ourselves come to the very end of this long letter that Paul has written to the early Jewish and Gentile Christians.  Paul takes time out to name twenty-one people in this chapter, a third of them women, who are ministering to the Lord in their service to their fellowmen including himself. 

Paul ends his letter with this wonderful synopsis of his mission and the focus of his work:  ²⁵ Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, ²⁶ but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith— ²⁷ to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Turning next to our psalm of the day, may it be that like David, the psalmist, we might also say these words with the same level of confidence that he most likely had when he penned them:

⁴ I do not sit with the deceitful, nor do I associate with hypocrites. ⁵ I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked. ⁶ I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, LORD, ⁷ proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds.

Finally, one verse from the book of Proverbs which bears timeless advice offered by Solomon, the wise king of Israel, who says this:

¹⁹ A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much.

May God bless the reading and reflection of His Word.