July 3
July 3
One Year Bible Readings:
2 Kings 22:3-23:30
Acts 21:37-22:16
Psalm 1:1-6
Proverbs 18:11-12
Supplemental Reading for The One Year Bible.
The following are excerpts from Mike’s One Year Bible Blog.
2 Kings:
Wow... I thought today's readings in Second Kings are some of the best readings we've had in a while! King Josiah cleaned up house for God! He went to town on all the idols, pagan altars and high places. Unfortunately, as we'll see in tomorrow's readings, the southern kingdom of Judah is about to meet a similar fate as the northern kingdom of Israel did in recent days readings. But King Josiah goes down with a fight for the Lord in today's readings!
Q: I wonder about this in our lives today - are we willing to fight for the Lord and his values in the way that Josiah did today? Or, perhaps "fight" isn't quite the right word, as Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek.... but, then, considering this, should we simply be meek and mild and not fight for things of the Lord? I don't think Jesus modeled this entirely either. Jesus turned over some tables in the Temple and turned over some ideas about God during His life... What can we learn about a zeal for God from Josiah and Jesus' lives?
2 Kings 22 verse 8 reminds me of the old adage - "Dusty Bibles lead to dirty lives..." :) - "Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the court secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the LORD's Temple!" Then Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan, and he read it." That is amazing to think about - that finding the Book of the Law in the Lord's Temple was a big find! Most commentaries suggest that the scroll was either the entire Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy) or possibly just Deuteronomy. Imagine if you will that the Bible was "forgotten" about for generations and then finally discovered today! King Josiah's words in verse 13 are wonderful repentful words - "Go to the Temple and speak to the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah. Ask him about the words written in this scroll that has been found. The LORD's anger is burning against us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words in this scroll. We have not been doing what this scroll says we must do."
Q: Have you ever had ah-ha experiences like this in your life? Where you realize finally what God wants you to do - and you realize that you have not been doing it? Well, fortunately God is a God that Psalm 145 verse 8 tells us, "is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love." There is room for repentance with God! When you have these ah-ha moments like King Josiah did, will you turn in repentance and humble yourself before God?
Acts:
We get some classic Paul in today's Acts chapter 22 readings! You'll recall from yesterday's readings, the crowd in Jerusalem got riled up against Paul and the crowd was beating on Paul. Then, some Roman soldiers come to try to keep the peace and end up arresting Paul and putting him in chains. But what does Paul do? Go quietly into that good night? No way! He speaks to the Roman commander in Greek - which surprises the commander. (It is thought that Paul spoke 4 languages - Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew & Latin) And then he speaks to the crowd in Aramaic. The crowd that was just beating on him! He turns around and speaks with Love and Truth. So amazing...
Q: What do you think you or I would do in this type of situation today? Could we continue to speak Love and Truth to people that were just beating on us? I am not so sure that I could... I pray that I could! I pray that I would..
Psalm:
Psalm 1 today begins the 150 Psalms of the Psalter again! You'll note that in the One Year Bible we actually read through the Psalms twice during the course of the year. I think this is good because the Psalms have taken some time to really sink in for me personally. Once they sink in, they are phenomenal. I have a great friend who has shared with me that she "Prays the Psalms" every morning. I pray that during the course of this year you will have the experience of Praying the Psalms as you go through the One Year Bible. Today we read this reflection on the godly in Psalm 1 verse 2: "But they delight in doing everything the LORD wants; day and night they think about his law."
Q: How well does this verse ring true with your life today? Do you delight in being obedient to God? Do you think about God's Word, the Bible, day and night? Should you? This year, will you?
Proverbs:
Proverbs 18 verse 12 is one of the wisest Proverbs around in my opinion - "Haughtiness goes before destruction; humility precedes honor." The Message puts it this way - "Pride first, then the crash, but humility is precursor to honor." Pride is such a deadly condition... I pray that we ask God for humility very often. Maybe daily? Maybe hourly?
Q: How often do you ask God for humility? Have you ever struggled with pride? How have you cultivated humility in your life?
Copyright © 2004-2012 One Year Bible Blog
One Year Bible Readings:
2 Kings 22:3-23:30
Acts 21:37-22:16
Psalm 1:1-6
Proverbs 18:11-12
Supplemental Reading for The One Year Bible.
The following are excerpts from Mike’s One Year Bible Blog.
2 Kings:
Wow... I thought today's readings in Second Kings are some of the best readings we've had in a while! King Josiah cleaned up house for God! He went to town on all the idols, pagan altars and high places. Unfortunately, as we'll see in tomorrow's readings, the southern kingdom of Judah is about to meet a similar fate as the northern kingdom of Israel did in recent days readings. But King Josiah goes down with a fight for the Lord in today's readings!
Q: I wonder about this in our lives today - are we willing to fight for the Lord and his values in the way that Josiah did today? Or, perhaps "fight" isn't quite the right word, as Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek.... but, then, considering this, should we simply be meek and mild and not fight for things of the Lord? I don't think Jesus modeled this entirely either. Jesus turned over some tables in the Temple and turned over some ideas about God during His life... What can we learn about a zeal for God from Josiah and Jesus' lives?
2 Kings 22 verse 8 reminds me of the old adage - "Dusty Bibles lead to dirty lives..." :) - "Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the court secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the LORD's Temple!" Then Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan, and he read it." That is amazing to think about - that finding the Book of the Law in the Lord's Temple was a big find! Most commentaries suggest that the scroll was either the entire Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy) or possibly just Deuteronomy. Imagine if you will that the Bible was "forgotten" about for generations and then finally discovered today! King Josiah's words in verse 13 are wonderful repentful words - "Go to the Temple and speak to the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah. Ask him about the words written in this scroll that has been found. The LORD's anger is burning against us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words in this scroll. We have not been doing what this scroll says we must do."
Q: Have you ever had ah-ha experiences like this in your life? Where you realize finally what God wants you to do - and you realize that you have not been doing it? Well, fortunately God is a God that Psalm 145 verse 8 tells us, "is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love." There is room for repentance with God! When you have these ah-ha moments like King Josiah did, will you turn in repentance and humble yourself before God?
Acts:
We get some classic Paul in today's Acts chapter 22 readings! You'll recall from yesterday's readings, the crowd in Jerusalem got riled up against Paul and the crowd was beating on Paul. Then, some Roman soldiers come to try to keep the peace and end up arresting Paul and putting him in chains. But what does Paul do? Go quietly into that good night? No way! He speaks to the Roman commander in Greek - which surprises the commander. (It is thought that Paul spoke 4 languages - Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew & Latin) And then he speaks to the crowd in Aramaic. The crowd that was just beating on him! He turns around and speaks with Love and Truth. So amazing...
Q: What do you think you or I would do in this type of situation today? Could we continue to speak Love and Truth to people that were just beating on us? I am not so sure that I could... I pray that I could! I pray that I would..
Psalm:
Psalm 1 today begins the 150 Psalms of the Psalter again! You'll note that in the One Year Bible we actually read through the Psalms twice during the course of the year. I think this is good because the Psalms have taken some time to really sink in for me personally. Once they sink in, they are phenomenal. I have a great friend who has shared with me that she "Prays the Psalms" every morning. I pray that during the course of this year you will have the experience of Praying the Psalms as you go through the One Year Bible. Today we read this reflection on the godly in Psalm 1 verse 2: "But they delight in doing everything the LORD wants; day and night they think about his law."
Q: How well does this verse ring true with your life today? Do you delight in being obedient to God? Do you think about God's Word, the Bible, day and night? Should you? This year, will you?
Proverbs:
Proverbs 18 verse 12 is one of the wisest Proverbs around in my opinion - "Haughtiness goes before destruction; humility precedes honor." The Message puts it this way - "Pride first, then the crash, but humility is precursor to honor." Pride is such a deadly condition... I pray that we ask God for humility very often. Maybe daily? Maybe hourly?
Q: How often do you ask God for humility? Have you ever struggled with pride? How have you cultivated humility in your life?
Copyright © 2004-2012 One Year Bible Blog
Recent
Archive
2024
January
One Year Bible CompanionJanuary 2January 3January 4January 5January 6January 7January 8January 9January 10January 11January 12January 13January 14January 15January 16January 17January 18January 19January 20January 21January 22January 23January 24January 25January 26January 27January 28January 29January 30January 31
February
February 1February 2February 3February 4February 5February 6February 7February 8February 9February 10February 11February 12February 13February 14February 15February 16February 17February 18February 19February 20February 21February 22February 23February 24February 25February 26February 27February 28February 29
March
Categories
no categories
No Comments