The Fall of Israel

"They followed worthless idols and they themselves became worthless!" Re-read today's reading. Do you see how many times the Lord states not to worship any other idols. Not to worship any other god. Hmmm, you think God maybe wants us all to him selves? Duh. Yea! That is like your child calling a man on the street daddy or a woman mommy and doing everything that person says whether good or bad. Would't you feel a little upset?

I noticed something here. Well, not just here, but this is where I will comment on it. Have you noticed that every time the people of Israel turn away from God it is the leader that turns them away? Yea! Even in America today we have the same thing happening. We have leaders who are following idols of their own and not following Gods rule. Look at the homosexual agenda for example. The current president is supposedly a christian. He should know what is right and wrong in the eyes of God, yet he will still allow for homosexual marriage and abortions etc?!?!

Our fearless leaders around the world can make or break the way we people worship the Lord. In some countries you can DIE for mentioning Jesus' name. Now that is even sadder, but true. What can we do as God loving Christians who put God 1st to change they way our country has become like the Israelites? How can we make more of a difference and make our leaders come back to God. The first and most important way is to pray. I pray with my kids daily for our country and our President to come back to God. To look to Him for advice. You can too. What other things can we do? What suggestions do you have?

Isaiah Continued

I water it daily, I guard over it. I love those words. God is there always with us watching us. There is nothing we can hide from him. Not a thought, not an actions...Nothing. With that said, it is also hard to comprehend that. Isaiah gives many great words on exactly how God watches over us. He even says woe to those who try to hide thier plans from God. Who will know God? Woe to those who say, He has not made me.

Can you believe it. He even states back thousands of years ago about evolutionists and people not beleive in the maker...Creation. Funky! It just seems to me nothing has changed. I mean nothing. We have a world who is so far removed from the Lord. We have many different religions. And even in some of those religions people are fickle to their gods. But Isaiah reminds us that the blessings will be returned to us. That our sins will be forgiven! Yee Haw! Praise God that He is a loving, kind and forgiving God. But it is up to us to do the hardest thing ever asked of a human. Have faith in a God that loves you unconditionally and shows himself in so many things around you if you just open your eyes to it. And then to ask Him for forgiveness. Lets take a moment right now and ask Him to forgive us of our sins.

Isaiah Warns against Relapse

Once again Isaiah is warning the people against their failures to worship God. They have come around now and see that they need to worship Him, but Isaiah knows that at any moment they could turn away from God once more. Which is pretty sad. I guess I have to remember that as I read the Bible, the time span is over hundreds and hundreds of years. Think about where we are right now. True Christians are far and few. Yes, there are those who proclaim to be Christians, but they are really not. They say the right words, maybe do the right thing in front of other people, but their hearts are far from being right with God. God to them in in 6th or 10th place. Not 1st or even 2nd place in their lives.

He even talks about the leaders not worshiping God. I think this can apply to us easily too. We are all leaders to come sort of degree. You see when you proclaim to be a Christian and a believer in Christ you have a duty to act like a Christian. You don't flip people off on the freeway and have a fish sticker on your car. You don't cheat someone out of money and wear a cross on your neck. Get my point! I know we are human, but just as the president has a standard to uphold as people watch him, we also do as Christians. People watch us closely. But if our hearts are not in it, it will reflect on the outside in the things we say or do!

It is a shame that we Christians can not learn from the mistakes we read about in the Bible. But I guess that is what makes us such imperfect creatures. I think Isaiah said it perfectly here. "These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by me. I need say not more!

Isahia Tells of Last Days

OK, I have come to conclusion that Isaiah is depressed and very upset at how the world turned out. Every time I read these readings I get depressed. I can see why he writes the way he does. He really wants to get the point across that the way the people are acting and the things they are doing are going to lead them straight to hell. Maybe we need Isaiah to come and give a speech to our President and his men. So I do understand all of that. He does have one glimpse of light in his reading. He talks about the rejoicing of the saved. How feeble hands will be strong, blind will see, the sand will give water. This was a nice way to end today's reading.

I think Isaiah is like a what we would call today the hell and brimstone Christians. Those that are always trying to scare the you know what out of you to get you to turn away from sin and turn to God. Unfortunately that never worked for me. It was the love of Christ that worked for me. The thought that there was someone out there watching over me every second of the day and loving me through all my terrible sins. But for some this fire talk works. And with a new king, Hezekiah, the country should have a new leaf turned over in no time.

The Reforms of Hezekiah

Praise God, a man who finally had a heart for God. A man who was not afraid of standing up for what his community was founded on. Hezekiah was now in charge which meant that everything the people knew or thought they knew about religion was all going to change. He had the temple cleared out of all idol and anything that was not pure in the eyes of God. He then had all the Levites and Priests get themselves cleaned up. Soul, body and mind. And lastly he sent a letter throughout all Of Israel foe all those who were ready for the change to come and celebrate the Passover. I was actually cheering as I was reading this. Oh yea, then he prayed to God and asked God to forgive those who were not ceremonial clean. To give them a small break because they were finally coming back to God. And of course God was gracious enough to do so.

Can I just dream for a moment? Imagine it 4 years from now and we elect a new president. This new president not only stands by the rules of the Declaration but he also stands by the rules and is not afraid to stand up for what this country was founded on. GOD! Imagine he says no more gay marriage, prayer in school, pledge allegiance with the word God in it, He leaves the word God in our courtrooms and on our money. A fearless president. A strong leader. A man who puts God first. Wow. It would sure be nice to actually see a president in office who was fearless and did the job according to Gods word. Well, I know when the Messiah comes back, he'll have a bit to say to those past and current presidents who are cowards to actually follow Gods word. Oh yes, I know a few have said that they are Christians. But many people say they are, but obviously their actions speak multitudes. But then again, I am certainly not perfect either, but I am not a president of the USA who has the whole world watching me say one thing and do another. Am I? I would love to see a Hezekiah come into office here in the USA. OK, my day dreaming is done.

As I read today's reading I was just taken back and in awe of this leader. He seems to be the leader that really could make a difference for his people.

More of Isaiah's Prophe3cies Against Nations

A we see here he now starts to prophecy about judgment against all the nations. Philistines will see the viper spiting venom, Babylon will see the day of the Lord with His fierce anger and destroying all the sinners. They will overthrown just like Sodom and Gomorrah. But God will have compassion on the house of Jacob and they will make captive their captors.

I like the title they gave this. Babylons Satan like fall. Even the pine trees will rejoice one you have been taken down. The graves give a cheer to see you coming, Babylon you are weak and fallen from heaven. Basically the world will rejoice when Babylon falls.

God will judge all of their sins as well as our sins. Babylon was so prosperous but it will be all taken away from them in a blink of an eye. Other nations looked up to them, but they will no longer. Those other nations needed to look into their own doings before they looked on at Babylon. Just as we today. W#e tend to look at other people and see them being prosperous and we say oh they must be right with the Lord. But that is not always true. We can not judge pother people based on how much they have or not have. That is NOT how God judges us and neither should we.

More of the End

Isaiah talks more about the end. How all the animals will be the only ones to inhabit the land. He then talks about how Arabia will not see power for another whole year. Later he talks to Tyre, the wealthy seaport and talks about their demise. And then 70 years will pass and then and only then will the Lord deal with Tyre once Again. Then we move over to King Ahaz and his blindness to his sinful nature to sacrifice to other gods and his worshiping to idol gods. But after his death Hezekiah took over and he was fortunately faithful and steadfast to the Lord.

You know nothing but God can give us the strength to keep going. Nothing but God can hold our heads up when we are down and nothing but God can help us up when we have fallen. I am so glad the God is on my side.

Isaiah Prophesies Against Nations

OK, I think I am in a little yucky mood today. I hurt my wrist and ankle and I just don't think I am able to concentrate very well. I read this section twice and I am at a little lost for understanding. It seems like this reading is filled with judgement and telling the people what is to come in their future. Or at least the dark side of their future, (if you know what I mean) of what is to come about. If I am reading it right he is talking straight to Babylon, Moab and Assyria. He talks about how God will judge the sins of the nations. Shoot the sins of man in general.

That is a scary thought considering where our country is going. I mean we once were a country of prosperity and based our lives on the Bible. Hey, we based our Constitution on the Bible. Today, well, I do not have to remind you that our government is far away from that ideal. I mean we are trying to take God out of Government all together. The schools don't teach about it anymore (government run). They do not even teach the real reason why the pilgrims came over. Religious freedom! Do they still use a Bible to swear on in the court house?. So if what Isaiah say is right we, as a nation will be judged. Whew, scary to think what he will do to us.

I guess, what we can do is once again live our lives for God in everything we do. Hey and let me make it very clear, I am not bashing the USA. I love my country. There is no such thing as perfection except in Jesus Christ. So I can not expect a government filled with imperfect people to be perfect. What I can do is pray for the decisions made by the leaders. But, I do have to say, the one HUGE mistake our country has made was walking away from God. I only pray that more and more of the people will walk closer with our Messiah and be willing to not have the future Isaiah predicted be that of the good old USA.

By the way, if I am way off on my reading today, let me know. Give me your thoughts and inputs!

Isaiah's Anger Against Injustice

Isaiah speaks here of God declaring that He will judge Assyria by destroying it instead of of just inflicting a little discipline Israel. However, He will deliver the few survivors. But the main message I see here is the message of the coming Messiah. The coming of a new Kingdom of God. This Messiah will judge the earth, make and establish righteousness, and eventually bring peace to us all. Once this all happens, the people will submit to God and He will eventually bring His chosen people back.

Basically what he is saying in a nut shell is that world peace awaits us with the return of Jesus Christ. So now lets look at application. Think about this. We know there is a coming judgement day. We know that God loves us. So this should motivate us to live a life for God. That the things we choose to do should be motivated out of the love for God and the will to want to please Him. For when that judgment day comes, I do not want to be the one that questions myself and wonders if I will go or stay. Do You?

Cry Against Injustice

Amos is so sure of the coming judgment that he gives a lament over Israel of grief. He gives a call to Israel tat whatever God says or does Israel will not listen and warns then of the dark days to come. He even tells them that God hate them for their worthless effort to rituals instead of a relationship. Basically saying not to bother to worship God if you are going to oppress your fellowman.

With Israel found guilty, Amos see their future which is judgment by locust, fire. The king demands that Amos stop preaching because he thinks he is a conspirator. which leads to another vision from Amos showing a basket of fruit which means that the time is ripe for Gods judgment on Israel. He ends with us knowing that even though God will destroy them, there will be some that will survive as to rebuild the nation of Israel.

There is no way to resist God and tell him no to anything, As he will permit us to sin the consequences are and can be severe. However, hope of a wonderful future from God should sustain us when we are suffering.

Prophecies of Amos

Amos starts out by introducing himself and then giving a brief description of of the historical setting of his ministry. Then he talks about eh eight nations and his judgement on them. As he works himself around to all the nations of course he save Gods chosen ones for last. Amos talks about how their punishment is for sure to come since they have a special relationship with God that no other nation has. He also makes sure that he tells them that their riches will soon be gone. All the pretty things the ladies have will be gone.

You see God gives us plenty of warnings before he actually judges us. He gives us hints and sometimes blatant slaps in the face before he lays his hand of discipline on us. But we need to keep out ears and eyes open so that we can see these warnings.

More of Hosea's Prophecies

Hosea tells of the punishment about to happen to the people of Israel. They are now going to become captive to Assyria. They will be completely stripped of everything and become wanders among their now desolate land. They have just completely rejected everything that God has tried to teach them. Yet, you see that God is being torn by this love that He has for his baby Israel and He just can not seem to give up on His people. What a loving God. That does not mean He does not punish them, it just means that He ends up giving back to them what is theirs. God has sent many messengers over the years to Israel and He will continue to do so.

What this all means? It seems to me that the people always have some sort of excuse why they turn from God. Just like we do today. But you know what? We can be really happy in knowing that Gods love has absolutely NO end and as long as we repent and try to turn away from our sins 2e may still reap punishment, but in the end we will still be able to sit with God.

Charge Against Israel

The book of Hosea now starts the records of his pain that he has towards Israels disobedience. He starts by talking about Israels sins, then talks to the priests about their sin followed by the more common sins of the people like adultery. Funny how that is still common place today. In today's society though it is even easier to commit adultery and never have any one know or actually touch another person....Pornography. Anyway, he then follows that up with judgement on the people.

Funny how all of the sudden there is this repentance. But it sure is short lived. He finishes it up with a stern warning about foreign relations which if you have been reading with me we know is a no no. Oh and then the talk about idols. OK, I have to admit I find the whole worshiping the calf strange and kinda funny, but when I put it in direct perspective to today I can see how they would do that. Still have a hard time thinking a cow can be a god, but I see how what they wanted was something to look up to so the gold calf was it. Today we have many things. Money and possessions or I guess you could call it the "keeping up with the Jones" idol would be a huge idol we worship today. But Hosea closes this reading with the punishment that is in store for the people's.

I think his words are very self explanatory. I know when I read the Bible sometimes I need my study books with me to help me understand what the purpose of the writings are, but Hosea lays it out really straight forward. PLAY NOW, PAY LATER! We have to be careful about how we indulge in out sinful nature. Is it really going to be worth the consequences. I keep trying to drill that into my kids head. Think about what you are doing and what the end result will be.

The Prophecies of Hosea

Hosea was told by God to marry an adulterous wife who would then bear children from another man. And God also game him specific names to name each of the children which is a foreshadow of what Israel is to expect. Then we go into a pretty poem which talks about a man and his wife, but I feel it symbolizes Israel and God. God talks about how his love may be withdrawn now and then, but it eventually comes back. He talks about the yearning for his wife (Israel) to come back to Him. At this point Hosea goes and buys a prostitute to be his wife, Gomer.

Hosea modeled God and obeyed him too. You see Hosea was willing to marry this woman knowing full well she would not be faithful. He was willing to bear the pain for this all for God. Boy just think if we all modeled God more often. Slow to anger, so much love etc.

The Preaching of Jonah Against Nineveh

Ok, so we all know the story of Jonah and the whale. He is asked by the Lord to go to Nineveh and he runs. He is on a ship the sea gets really bad and the people on the ship realized it is Jonah’s fault so Jonah asks to be thrown over, God saves him by having a big whale swallowed. He prays to God from inside the fish and the fish spits him out on land. H preaches to Nineveh and they repent. The king of Nineveh orders that all the people are to be more righteous which lead to God having compassion on the people.
Jonah gets mad at God because he said he knew that God would have compassion on the people. So when Jonah goes outside the city to pout God give him a vine to cover him from the heat, but wh3en Jonah continues to put God takes it away and bring a harsh wind. And God explains that the people of Nineveh are more then his one person.
Wowsers! So here is what I picked up on from all this. You see Jonah believed in God and went by his standards most of the time. But when something really hard came his way, he needed to look to God once more instead of fleeing from fear. You know that knowing God does not always guarantee us doing the right thing and we see that here with Jonah. Isn’t that why we do these Bible studies.
The other thing I see is the compassion that God gives us. So much so that He give so many of us second chances and third and fourth etc. I read that we are not called to believe God is compassionate but to be compassionate because He is. This really sums up the story of Jonah perfectly.

Era of Jeroboam II in Israel

YEA, we finally have a new king who is doing right in the eyes of the Lord. Amaziah. But it makes a special note to tells us he was not like David but like Joash. So I thing that must be important enough for us to remember as we read.

Then once again there is this special note on Elisha and how a man was thrown into his tomb and how he came to life once he dead body touched the bones of Elisha.

Once king Hazael died and Ben Hadad took over, he was defeated three times and all the towns of Israel were taken back in the Jews hands. And to top all this off Amaziah take all the gods of Edom and sets them up to be worship and consulted by himself. Ok, now even a man of God confronts him and says if these gods could not save the Edomites why on earth would you consult them and think they could help you. But he does not listen and even threatens him.

Amaziah decided to gather up the Israelites who were old and strong enough to fight , but a man of God came to him and told him that the Lord was not with them. Sot the king sent them home and of course they went home angry. So the king took what army he did have and fought and won. Meanwhile the people as they went off home in anger they decided to plunder Judean towns. They ended up killing 3000 people. Seems to me all out of anger?!?

Anyway, this was a short lived victory for Amaziah over Edom because he got a little to proud and full of himself and had to go and pick a fight with the king of Judah. Now king Jehoash tells him that he is getting a bit to big for his britches and tells him to stay at home. But does Amaziah listen? No!! Of course when he dies his son takes over and does more evil in the eyes of the Lord.

Our patience is limited...very limited as a human, but I can see here that God is extremely patient. But I think even he has some limits and then end may be coming. Look it is very easy to sit here read these and judge these me for their blind acts. But we have to remember that this event were taken over many years and we also have to remember that if someone were to write our life out in a few chapters how would it look!? Would someone look at it and pass some judgment on us. We do some of the same things these men did in the past. The difference...culture. Our time and our culture is soooooo very different. It is easy to say I live for God every day and in everything and then turn around and curse or deliberately cut someone off on the street on steal or, or, or. Repentance is so important. We have to ask God to forgive us of all those thoughts and actions everyday. When we read these stories we need to read them as if it is a how to book. How to be closer to God and stay focused on Him.

Era of Joash

Joash now is king and he decides to repair the temple by using the money from the census, personal vows etc. Joash's me did not get going on this project right away but once they did they acted with complete honesty and never stole the money they collected so they could pay the workers to rebuilt and repair the temple. Now once the priest who is in charge dies Joash decides to abandon the his project and take up paganism. Why? It's like I want to go back in time and give him a slap across the face or something.

Now Joash was a smart man. When king Hazael was starting to come upon Judah, Joash decided to take a bunch of gold objects etc and send them tot he king to get him to stop advancing towards Judah. Did it work? Yup! Then Elisha give a few bits of instructions here and dies. It just seemed weird how that was added in here.

Once he starts this he ends up dieing at the hands of his officials and his son, Jehoahaz, takes over which is not a great thing because he did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Bummer!! You know it seems to me that even when history takes a unforeseen direction and may seem a bit uncertain, we can still have confidences in knowing that God is here watching over us and is in 100% control of everything.

The Prophecy of Joel

I found this a very interesting book. I also found the fact of where it actually is in the Bible very interesting. I mean here we are in Kings for the past week or so and this is many books down the road. Anyway, Joel, the prophet, has some powerful images he draws up as he speaks here reminding us the our relationship with God take priority over everything in our lives. Calling the Israelites to come back to God. He first starts out with he vision of this terrible invasion of locust.

I have to stop here and just make a side note of something I read about this. Did you know that when the locust came and ate they would lay their eggs during their time on the farms. And so when the new growth of vegetation would start to spring up later on down the road it was just in time for the eggs to hatch and the baby locust to come out and eat up everything new growing close to the ground. Uuugghh. How horrible and they did not have pesticides like we do now.

Anyway, back to Joel. This whole text talks about this invasion of this army of locust a which he tells us is a divine invasion. This now leads to him talking not about locusts but an army that will invade the land. He calls upon the priests to repent and fast. Then his whole tone changes a bit. He tells us how God will provide for each persons by pouring his spirit out on the people in response to their cry for salvation and he will judge those who have been oppressing them as well as give them back their wealth once again. As these enemies try to come up against the Jews God will come and take over the fight and win and judge those pagan nations.

This was really I think very beautifully written. I actually read it twice not because I did not understand it but I just thought the way he wrote it was really a beautifully drawn out picture of repentance and revival. He basically saying it is never to late to turn back to God if we just repent from the heart. We should always be looking at what Gods purpose is for us and if we do these two things His spirit will be poured out on us. I also like that he threw in there that the daughter as well as their sons were intended to prophesy. That was a nice bonus for us woman. Great book to remind us to repent and turn back.

The Era of Joash in Judah

So Jezebels daughter Athaliah decides to kill every descendant of her husband Jehoram so that she can have total power. Ahh, but there is a child hidden by Jehosheba, Joash, for 6 years. But the problem? He is only 7 years old. Bummer. Well, once the priest announces to the people that he is to be king this now affords for the priests etc to run the country until this tiny king is old enough to do some good and for them to get rid and kill Athaliah .

Meanwhile, Jehu deceitfully gets all the priest who worship Baal together in the temple so that he can kill them and do away with the worshiping of Baal. God was pleased with him and told him that for 4 generations his family will rule. But there lies a problem. He now is worshiping the calf. From one idol to the next.

You know we see all these things that these people did wrong and we can sit back and read and judge them and say what were you thinking. and you know what, someday someone will read the book of our lives and say some of the same things. It is so easy for us to judge and ask why God are you not disciplining them sooner.Why do you wait to discipline their descendants. But we have to remember discipline as well as blessings may sometimes nor come as quickly as we would like, but they will come in God's due time.

HEaling of Naaman

Naaman who was the commander of the Syrian army had leprosy. On of the girls who happen to be Jewish who was being held captive mentioned to the king that there was a prophet who could heal him of leprosy. Unfortunatly when Naaman reached Israel, the king thinks this request to be healed is a sign that Syria wasn't to go to war. However, luckily Elisha overhears this and invites Naaman. Now Naaman gets all upset when Elisha tells him to be healed he must go bathe in the Jordan river and dip himself 7 times. He figures, he could have saved time and money by just cleaning himself back home. He gets over his anger and does as Elisha had instructed him to do. He is healed.

He now has a conviction to praise God.So much so he asks to take some soil back with him to his homeland. He promises to worship the Lord but has an exception due to his duties to the king during religious ceremonies. He then offers ELisha gifts which he does not accept. Ahh, but his servant Gehazi decided to run after Naaman and ask for money and clothes not realizing that Elisha can see these things.
When Gehazi gets back ELisha confronts him with his selfish act and curse him and his descendants with leprosy.

There are 2 things I really can be taught here. The first one is that we must realize that when we do things for God or in the name of God we do not need material possessions to be rewarded for the things we have done. We must do them directly for God and in His name.

The second thing is very simple and we all know this, but we are being watched at all time. Every remark, every bad look, every wonderful deed is being watched. We are never unobserved. So what does that mean? We should act accordingly. Pretend that a camera is on us 24/7 and the whole world is watching. Cause there is someone who is much more important watching us and His opinion is far more important then 10 billion people around the world.

Obadiah's Prophecy Against Edom

This is a really short book. Looks like it talks about some sort of relationship that the cities of Edom and Judah Basically he talks about the day when Edom will go into battle with Judah and Edom will fall. The day that the Jews will occupy the promised land once again. I think he is also trying to warn us to choose sides. Make sure to look at all possibilities and all things before you choose the side for if you choose incorrectly you could be consumed.

Judah joins Joram in a revolt against Israel and to attack the Moabites. They take 7 days and then all the water is gone so then plead with the Lord for more water. Elisha has a message for these men telling then they will have all the water as well as a victory over the Moabites. The Moabites heard the kings were coming and decided to line up a whole bunch of men along the border. When they got there early in the morning the new water that the Moabites thought it was blood from a battle. Of course the Moabites were defeated as predicted.

Jehoshapaht dies and his son Jehoram (Joram) takes over. I have to interject here for a moment. When I read the next passage I was feeling so sad. Sad that corruption and evil can have such a hold on people and turn what could be good people to bad. Anyway, Joram ends up not following in his fathers footsteps but Ahabs and corrupts the people.

A Mysterious letter arrives from Elijah basically recapping to Joram how evil he is and telling him that the Lord will strike his people. But just remember that the Lord will still keep his promise to preserve the line of David. So the Philistines attack.

So you can see that sometime good thing happen to bad people, but God will always keep his promise. Basically I see here that rewards have always been the way we see Gods handy work, but sometimes we can see God and His faithfulness to us throughout His punishments too.

Elisha the Prophet

So we have Elijah who has been a wonderful prophet for the Lord and has an apprentice that when he dies if he see him go he will become the next prophet. Well Elijah does not die he is taken away in a Chariot of fire and Elisha is now the prophet. When this happens a group of men ask Elisha if they want them to go look for Elijah. Of course Elisha knows that Elijah is in heaven so he says no, but they keep pressuring him. He gives in to the request so as to not get ridiculed. But he has no problem is saying I told you so when they get back and can not fond Elijah.

This starts Elisha on a journey of one miracle after another. He purifies water, he save a widow with an almost endless supply of oil, raises the dead feed a multitude of people on an endless supply of bread. Sound familiar???


I think these miracles are the onset of Jesus coming to town. But if you look at it closely these miracles are not for God. They are for his people. He allows the miracles to happen to bring people to God. Shoot he really provides these miracles to us today. Think about it right now the way our economy is. Most of us still have a place to live, food to eat. These are miracles. We just need to open our eyes to the things he does for us daily and not to forget to thank him for them.

Battle

OK, yesterday I wrote some of this already about Ahab's death so I will skip all of that and move on to his successor his son Ahaziah which he also happens to be evil and follow in his fathers footsteps.

Jehoshaphat is told to make sure he consults the Lord in judging. Then he is told by some of his men that war was coing his way from the Moabites, Ammonites and Menunites. Jehoshaphat declares for all of Judah to fast and pray and ask the Lord for guidance. He then says a wonderful prayer in front of the assembly. The Lord answers through Jahaziel and He says to not be afraid because the battle is the Lords. (I love this next part) The Jehoshaphat gather up some men to go ahead of the army and sing praises to God. And they won the battle.

Then Jehoshaphat made a terrible mistake. He made an agreement with Ahaziah to build a fleet of ships. This angered God and he destroyed them all. Ahaziah goes to consult a false God and Elijah is there to remind him that doing so will result in his death. The king sends men to kill Elijah but God kills off the 1st And 2nd troop of men. When then 3rd troop see this they beg for their lives. Elijah went back to the king with the 3rd group to tell the king again that he will die. and he did. His successor...Jorams. And he was evil too.

Wowzers. What a story. This would make a great movie. No disrespect intended. I just see throughout all of this one simple thing that I have been seeing all along. Seek God first and all will come out good in the end. Consult your false Gods...alcohol, porn, TV, food, sex etc., and you will surly die! Simple enough for you?

Ahab and Jezabel

So lets back up a bit. I re-read yesterday's reading and then today's and I think I understand the events a little bit better now so instead of re-writing yesterdays I thought I would just combine yesterday and today together


So Ahab becomes the king that is known as the most wicked and he happens to marry the most wicked women ever. So much so that not a soul alive would ever name their child Jezebel. Basically they ended up leading the Israelites in worshiping the pagan God Baal . Elijah, the prophet, came to Ahab and told him it would not rain for 3 years because he was so wicked.

Then the Lord sent Elijah to hide because he was sought after to be killed. There the Lord had the ravens bring him meat and bread.

After three years of hiding and no rain he returned to Ahab and he made it rain. When Ahab saw him he called him the trouble maker, but Elijah was quit minded and told him that it was not him that was making the trouble but Ahabs family have caused the problem because of the worshiping of Baal. Then he told him to have his priests meet him at Mt. Carmel.

There Elijah challenges the priests to prepare 2 bulls on a bed of hay for a sacrifice and to call for their gods. The god who answers with fire will be the true god. Of course they called for their gods all day and nothing happened but as soon as Elijah called on God the fire erupted and consumed the sacrifice. as well as the false prophets. That really is better then yesterdays description.

OK, so now after this spiritual thing going on Ahab has the want for this vineyard, but the owner Naboth is not interesting in selling. So wicked Jezebel decides to get this vineyard anyway. She write a letter in the king Ahab's name saying for some people to bear false witness on Naboth and kill him. When this happens and Jezebel hears it is done she is elated and Ahab takes possession on the vineyard. But Elijah shows up again and tells him about God's judgement on Ahab and his family. But believe it or not Ahab humbles himself and God tells him that this disaster will not happen till he is dead.

Ahab and Jehoshaphat meet and tells him that he must have Ramoth witch was given to him by Ben Hadad and asks Jehoshaphat to help. But Jehoshaphat consults the Lord. Ahab has him consult his corrupted prophets and they predict success. But Jehoshaphat will not have it. He wants to see the true prophet Micaiah which when consulted he predicts that the prophets were lying and there is no success in the future. And of course Ahab is wounded beyond repair and dies with dogs licking his blood just as Elijah had predicted.

Whew, done! OK, so what does this all mean for us thousands of years later? OK, lets start with Ahab and Jezebel. You see we have to be careful of the partners we choose in life. Not only in our marriages, because they are for life, but also even in business. We need to be careful not to make the wrong choice and end up being persuaded to their ways of life.If we stand strong in our faith and call on God in important decisions then we know that no matter what God's people will always in some way will outnumber the liers. Does that make since?

Elijah the Prophet

We now are learning about the prophet Elijah and how he foretells the drought coming and how God will fee him through the Ravens, and then once that was all done he was told to go see a widow. Now imagine this. He tells this poor woman that she is to make bread for home and not for her family with the little bit of oil and flour she has left. And she did it! That is faith. Then this poor ladies son dies, but through the power of God Elijah is able to raise him from the dead.

Elijah goes out and as he is walking he meets up with Obadiah. He tells Obadiah to tell Ahab that Elijah has arrived. Obadiah does that even thought he is fearful that Elijah will disappear again and Ahab will kill him. Elijah warns Ahab and the Israelites that as they follow Baal they are making a grave mistake. But he asked them to call on Baal. As the people shouted and cried out there of course was not answer. But when Elijah call for the Lord…The fire consumed all the sacrifice. The Israelites saw this they cried. The Lord id God! With this Elijah call for the death of the Baal priest. Then guess what happened? The drought ended.

As Ahab was going to meet Jezebel, she sent word to Elijah that she wanted him dead. Elijah got scared and ran. As he lay under a tree until the angel of the lord appeared and gave him food to strengthen him. This way he was able to make it all the way to the cave at Horeb. Once there he heard from the Lord once again and was to go to Damascus and anoint the king and to then be called a prophet.

There are several things to pick up on here. The first thing is trusting God. The widow trusted God, Elijah trusted God. And we must do the same. Because we are really never alone in life. He is right there. Here is one problem I see. We make mistakes we tend to get really hard on ourselves. We get depressed and down and then we end up fleeing and hiding. But that is not what we are to do. We must never punish ourselves more then God would do to us. We must keep our faces on God and ask for guidance.

Two Kingdoms in Contrast

So Asa rebuilds Judah and re-builds the peoples faith in God. While Nadabs is having Israel becoming more and more corrupt before his assassinations by Baasha who later becomes an idol worshiping king. Unlike Baasha, Asa kept Judah from War for 35 years.. However at one point the went to the King Aram to make a treaty. Hanani told Asa what he did was not of the Lord and that he should have relied on God not another man. Well, he becomes angry and puts the seer in jail.

In Israel, Jehu who is the son of Hanani, warns Baasha that he is far from God and tells him that the dogs and birds will eat of him. Then Baasha dies. Elah his son, succeeds him as king for only 2 years (I think by the way it reads) and is assassinated. Then Zirmri becomes King for a week. This one week reign ended with the killing of all Baashas family and the suicide of Zimri.
Now Omri becomes kings. Let me stop here and mention that it has now been 31 years that Asa has been king in Judah. Israel is really having problems with their kings. Mainly because they are so far removed from God. Of course Omri dies and Ahab takes over the Israel Kingdom./ Now this is the worst king of all. He provoked the Lord to anger. He worshiped Baal!

At 41 years as king, Asa contracts some sort of foot disorder and instead of going to God for help he only went to men…physicians to help him. Which resulted in his death. Jehoshaphat, his son, became the next king of Judah. He was a good man. He finished removing all idol form Judah and kept the people on track to worship God. The Lord was with him. He has several officials start to teach about the law of God in the city. Because of this the surrounding cities became scared of Jehoshaphat. Therefore he kept peace with Israelis king.

Continued Division

Jeroboam had a few things happen to him that were pointing him in the right direction, but he still chose to still worship idols. Because of this the Lord makes Jeroboam’s son ill and die. Then Rehoboam takes to idolatry and Israel follows like little sheep. Because they were unfaithful to God an Egyptian King came up against Rehoboam and took over his cities. Rehoboam humbled himself to the Lord and the Lords spared his life. Once Rehoboam dies of old age, his son Abijah took over.

Well, now the war between Abijah and Jeroboam takes place. But Abijah recalls to the Israelites that they are descendants of David and should turn from Idol worshiping and turn back to the Lord. When Jeroboam attacked, the Israelites relied on God and guess what? They won!!! They had heavy losses, but they won. And to top it off Jeroboam lost power to Abijah . Unfortunately, Abijah was not perfect and still committed many many sins. His mind was in the right place but his heart was not and like all other that followed David, he sinned miserably.

I think we each have a responsibility to do Gods will, as we understand it. You know we will never do it perfectly, but when we outright sin like Jeroboam, we need to reflect on what is going on in our heart. We see some of what is going on here in today. Our society has abandoned Gods moral standards and with that we have more and more wickedness. More and more sorrows. More and more strife. And as our society continues to decline, we will see more and more of all of that jus like back then with Jeroboam. One thing we can do is pray that God will bring a man in power who will not be ashamed to run a moral country!

Division Between Israel and Judah

So, Solomon’s son takes over, Rehoboam. Jeroboam tell his brother that he should lower the taxes and relieve the people, but Rehoboam will have nothing to do with that and threatens to raise the taxes. When some tribesmen come home and see that this tax thing is going up, they rebel and stone Jeroboam reps. They make Jeroboam their king. Rehoboam dislikes this and raises up an army to fight. Meanwhile Jeroboam, sets up a new worshiping system (Idol worship made to look like God worshipping) because he does not want his people to go to Jerusalem to worship. This goes against everything that God has told them to do for worshiping the Lord.
Seems to me that these two men are just down right disobedient. I mean, not that we all aren’t, but wow. They knew exactly what they were doing was 110% wrong. I actually take that somewhat back. Rehoboam was more foolish then disobedient. Jeroboam was outright disobedient. You know Gods promise. You would be foolish to disregard it and do things out of fear like these men did.

Life's True Meaning

This was a great book of the Bible. Even though once again I thing that Solomon was reflecting on his own life and looking at his failures and warning the reader not to do the same thing. How do we best learn, but by the failures of our own and from listening to the failures of others.

Look in everything there is, even reason, it all goes to God. It all looks back at Him. Instead of always looking around us and glooming over the don't haves or glooming over our own mistakes. We need to point out head up to the sky and praise God that we know Him and know that since we know who he is, we have a relationship with him and He is always there for us, we are blessed. Just as blessed as Solomon, David and all the rest. The words that we have been reading are given to us so that we can learn to be more righteous and right with God.

Value of Wisodm

Solomon's tone sure does change here. He does not seem as upset and cynical about his upcoming death in the future. He goes back to giving us his advise on hoe to live our lives. My favorite out of here was the danger of extremism.

In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:
a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
Do not be over righteous, neither be over wise...why destroy yourself?
Do not be over wicked and do not be a fool...why die before your time?
It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other.
The man who fears God will avoid all extremes.

Basically what I thing he is saying is MODERATION in everything.