And the serpent said to the woman, You surely shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God." Gen. 3:4-5 The devil's scheme from the beginning was to get people to question God's character and motives. I have often heard the God of the Old Testament described as angry vengeful and always in a bad mood. But when I hear this kind of talk, I assume they have never actually read the OT. In 2Kings 17 God lays out His case against Israel. Having just spent the last six months reading Israel's history up to this point I get a much different picture of our infinitely patient God. It is important to have an accurate understanding of God's character because that is the foundation of trust. Trust is the foundation of faith and without faith it is impossible to please God. To know God is to love Him! and like David to praise Him always!!

fear of God

Today I saw two sides of the fear of God. First was in Acts 19:13-20. The seven sons of Sceva fell into the common trap of thinking that God's power could be accessed if the right words were used, almost like using a spell or incantation. But God is God and He can not be controlled or manipulated by anyone or anything. They found this out the hard way! Verse 17 says that everyone who heard about it was seized with fear, but the result was that the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. This is one way to get the fear of God. The other is found in Psalm 147. David spent time meditating on the awesome power and greatness of God. God's awesome power can bring comfort or dread depending on one's relationship to Him.

Romans 8:28

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Rom.8:28. Today's reading gives two examples of this wonderful verse. In both examples we find believers where they are supposed to be, doing what they are supposed to do but their circumstances are not what they would have chosen. First is the women who's son had been brought back to life. She was forced to leave her home for seven years because of a famine. This was a home that was being used faithfully to bless God's prophet. God used the circumstances to not only restore her home but to provide financially for her as well. The next example of Rom. 8:28 is Paul and Silas in the jail. They were preaching the gospel and Paul was even used to cast out a demon from a girl. They were doing everything right but what did it get them? a beating and jail! It is so great to read this story and see how God remained in control of everything down to the last detail! I want to remember this the next time I face some minor inconvenience.

Ahab

1Kings 21:25-26 says, "There was never a man like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner..." I can't read the account of Ahab's life without marveling at the incredible grace of our God! Ahab was the worst of the worst but God never gave up on him. My reaction to Ahab's act of humility at the end of his life would have been, "too little too late Ahab!", but God was so glad that He went and shared it with Elijah. What a God we serve!

Psalm 136:27-

Do you ever envy song writers or poets? I do because I can't even come close to doing that! I'm doing well to just put together this little paragraph each day. I like Psalm 136 because it is like a "paint by numbers" psalm for me. I can use its structure to write my own song of thanksgiving.
1 Give thanks to the LORD for He is good. His love endures forever.
27 to Him who made a way of salvation. His love endures forever.
28 who sought me out when I was lost. His love endures forever.
29 who made me part of His family. His love endures forever.
30 who meets my every need. His love endures forever.
You get the picture. I don't think God minds me adding to scripture as long as I am not trying to pass it off as His word. What are you thankful for? What has God done in your life? Use this Psalm to express yourself if you are challenged like me.

Psalm 135

"I know that the LORD is great, that our LORD is greater than all gods!" :5 "Praise the LORD for He is good; sing praise to His name, for that is pleasant." :3 What a privilege it is to call Him Father!! What an honor for Him to call us His children!!!

Acts 10

I love how Peter is never given time to think or talk things over with friends. He has a vision and is told by the Spirit to go with the guys who are knocking at his door. When he arrives there is a crowd waiting for him and before he even finishes, the Holy Spirit takes over the meeting and everyone gets saved! When the Spirit tells us to do something, I think it is best to do it right away without asking too many questions or talking it over with everyone we know. It is one thing when we are not sure what God is leading us to do but when it's clear, the sooner the better. I know that I can talk myself out of anything given enough time.

There are three topics in today's reading that I see and they seem to go together. First is the amazing patience of the Father that we see in reading thru Kings. This book is so frustrating to read and I think it's meant to be that way. When history is condensed like that we can see the big picture. We see what God puts up with every day! The next thing I saw today was the great lengths God went thru to reach the gentile world. It took an angel and a vision that was repeated 3 times to get the gospel to people like you and me. God certainly has an agenda. The last thing I saw was in Psalm 133:1 "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!" I have been impressed lately that unity only comes when we lay aside our personal agendas for God's agenda.

1 Kings 10:8

This is one of my favorite verses. The Queen of Sheba says to Solomon, "How happy your men must be! How happy your officials who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!" Solomon was the wisest and wealthiest king ever. As such he is a picture of Jesus. We are so truly blessed to stand in His presence and hear His wisdom. Every time I open my Bible I get to hear His wisdom!

In 1Kings 8:39 Solomon prayed," You alone know the hearts of men". God knows those who are His own. We are the apple of His eye. This is reflected in the psalm today. Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit when he accused the Sanhedrin of murdering the Anointed One and then he was welcomed into heaven. My thoughts seem to be pretty disjointed today. I can't get what I'm thinking into words, so I'll just have to let God make this make sense. I know there is a point here. Maybe someone can take a stab at it today. Or maybe you got something completely different. Please share.

Stephen

I love Stephen's working knowledge of history. With the anointing of the Holy Spirit, he is able to draw out the details to make his case that Moses not only foretold of Jesus but Moses' life was a picture of Jesus as well. Isn't it great to read about Stephen describing Solomon building the temple and also be reading the actual account in 1Kings? The time we spend reading the Old Testement, even when we don't understand it all, adds to our ability to see the big picture. I never know when the Holy Spirit will bring to my rememberance something I have read or studied but I always love it when He does.

1 Kings 5-6

Today I want to post a question. Why is it that the leader gets all the credit for a building project when the only work he actually does is give the order to start? Solomon conscripted 30,000 labourers to build the temple. They did all the work, he gets all the credit. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I can't help but add Psalm 127:1 here; "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain." When it comes to giving credit where credit is due, it all really should go back to the Lord, don't you think?

joy

Psalm126:3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.
I say AMEN. I think our souls crave joy just like our bodies crave food. ( see Prov.16:26 ) Hopefully this desire will drive us on to walk closer to the only source of true joy. Today's psalm is a picture of that.

unity

Today I saw two examples of unity. The first was in 1Kings1 Adonijah led a rebellion in order to make himself king. He had a party and only invited those who were united with him. This unity did not last long. At the first sign of opposition, everyone split. (see verse 49) Then in Acts we see the disciples living in unity even when the Jewish leaders made all kinds of threats. The difference was the source of their unity. In the disciples case no one was running there own agenda. They were all unified around Jesus and the Holy Spirit's agenda.

Acts 3

Whenever I read this passage about the lame man who was brought to the Beautiful gate every day, I wonder how many times he saw Jesus and just let Him pass by. Unlike the blind man who cried out for Jesus to stop and heal him, this man saw nothing but a possible income. This is an example of God's perfect timing. We don't know all the details of this guy's mind and heart, just that God reached down and healed him when he least expected it. And God got the glory from both Peter and the healed man. Today's Ps. 123 tells us to keep our eyes on the Lord. How many missed opportunities are there when we look only to man?
Does anyone else want to break into song as they read, "He went walking and leaping and praising God!"? I have a few thoughts/questions on the last chapter of 2Sam. Does any one want to discuss it?

It's been a week since my last post. I haven't had much to say that I thought was profound enough to type. I still don't but today I read in 2Sam.22:31, "As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless." I don't need to improve on perfection. If I don't have any special insight that's worth posting, I can always type a verse.
Please feel free to share this blog address with anyone you think might be interested.