Today's Reading
1 Kings. The word picture is simple and profound. King Solomon stood between God and the people and interceded to God for the people. He re-established the covenant relationship that he had inherited. Too bad that he turned his heart away after that.
Acts. Like us, the early church was tempted to find refuge among their own kind and fail to carry the Gospel outside their walls. God allowed persecution, which forced them out. Then the Gospel went everywhere!
Psalms picks up the theme we just saw in Acts. Persecuted! Not defeated!
Proverbs reminds us of the deceitfulness of riches. How many times do we read stories of the conflicts in the lives of the rich and famous?
And how about you? What do you notice today? Do you have questions?
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A couple of things that I noticed from the passage in 1 Kings:
ReplyDelete1) In Solomon's prayer, he talks about the future when those who are not Israelite will turn to God. Is this pointing to the grafting in of Gentiles?
2) Solomon also refers to the Temple a lot and mentions that people will turn towards the Temple or look towards the Temple, etc. In my translation, "Temple" is capitalized - maybe that's just the translation, but I was wondering if this was referring to the Temple as a foreshadowing of Jesus? This almost reminds me of when Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and all those who turned towards it were saved.
Am I reading too much into things?
Great stuff today!
ReplyDeleteI was struck by how purehearted Solomon was about the building of the temple. He did not see it as a show of his people's material wealth, but he completely dedicated it to God.
In Acts, martyrdom became real. What courage Stephen had!
Today's Proverb is especially relevant in our society, don't you think?
Ranelle, re Q1: the grafting in of Gentiles in the NT is a fulfillment of the prayer. God's heart was always, though, that Israel would be a light to the nations and that all would worship Him. Israel didn't do too well with that one.
ReplyDeleteQ2: Remember that the Temple included the Holy of Holies which was considered the throne room of God on earth. Looking to the Temple meant looking to God where he dwelt. I do also see some application into the serpent in the wilderness which Christ likened to Himself being lifted up on the cross.