Wednesday, June 6, 2012
June 6
Today's Reading
We begin the next section of Israel's history with the book entitled, 1 Kings. It starts with the end of David's reign and moves on from there. It's amazing that some of the same people who loyally followed David in Absalom's rebellion turned against David in Adonijah's rebellion. It could be that they didn't trust the king to handle the transition definitively and they wanted to assure their spot in the new administration.
Acts gives the account of the boldness and bravery of the early disciples. They were facing the earliest stages of persecution. Their response after Peter and John faced off against the religious leaders is a warning shot to us. We have grown used to the idea that "safe" supersedes all other values in life. For this reason, many Christians today would say, "Let's be safe" rather than "Let's be bold." It's time to repent of that attitude!
Psalms. Do you remember one of those experiences when you were on a weak team and were constantly losing? Then a really top-notch player or two stepped in and suddenly you were winners? Do you remember what it did to you? That's the cry of praise in this Psalm. I love it!
Proverbs. It's amazing to watch the power of a few kind words. Try it out!
Your thoughts? Questions?
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I was strangely comforted by the political turmoil here in the beginning of I Kings... Sometimes our current political battles stress me out- I get to feeling like it's all falling apart. It's nice to remember that this junk has been going on for centuries. No matter what political fights occur, God's still in control.
ReplyDeleteI love that: "Let's be Bold!"
ReplyDelete"All the believers were united as they lifted their voices in prayer"
Thinking more about politics... It's amazing how many times we've seen counterfeits of the mentality shown in Acts 4:32-37 "All the believers were of one heart and mine, and they felt that what they owned was not their own; they shared everything they had..."
ReplyDeleteThere have been so many bad renditions of this (where someone's grasping for Utopia, but trying to do it without God) that we've come to see it as a flawed mindset or some evil communistic behavior that will never work. But really, the fact is that it just doesn't work when you take God out. God was at the center of their focus and any attempt to live like this without God, is just another one of Satan's bad knock-offs.