One Year Bible, August 4

2 CHRONICLES 35:1 - 36:23                                                                                         
IT'S TOO LATE!  There was no king before or after like Josiah who turned to the Lord with all his heart, soul, and might.  But Judgment was inevitable for Judah, and God would cast off Jerusalem.  Even JEREMIAH grieved for Josiah.   In the days of the prophets: JEREMIAH, DANIEL, EZEKIEL, AND URIJAH, there were a succession of kings, good and evil, nearly all of them PUPPETS of foreign governments. Finally Jerusalem fell in 586 BC. King Zedekiah was tortured and dragged in chains to Babylon, where he died in prison. Jerusalem was ransacked and the Temple burned to the ground!  The Kingdom of Judah had come to an end.  The BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY (606-536 BC) was their lot because of sin and idolatry.

RESPONSE: Jeremiah said it best, "Her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord." (Lam 2:9)  By seeking SUBSTITUTES for God, we can be left "high and dry".   Substitutes (sin and idolatry) do not have the ability to satisfy us in the long-term. They may ease the pressure from our flesh for a time, but then the flesh wants more.  Everything under the sun is, indeed, vanity - empty, powerless, and unsatisfying.  Once judgment is passed, we must let go of whatever we were hanging onto and cling to God.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:1-17                                                                                                        
1 Corinthians was written to correct our tendency to live by the flesh, circumstance, and reason (carnality), by giving us understanding of true spirituality.  The KEY VERSE is 1 Cor 1:9: "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord."  The LACK of fellowship with Jesus Christ is what causes carnality. (living by sight, feelings, and reason).  Time with Jesus gives us discernment, as opposed to seeking signs or indulging in speculation.  True wisdom is to be found only in the crucified Christ.

We are "sanctified" and "called to be holy":   To form a new way of living by the Life of Jesus within.   We form a new series of "habits", called "sanctification" - that become our NEW "normal".  This comes about through growth and maturity of the New Creature, and the weakening and death of the Old Nature.   All of life is one piece and must be holy. This means that I must battle the demands of my flesh, sensitize myself to the Holy Spirit, read the Word, practice refocusing on God, integrate God into the center of my life, and experience God's Presence. Since holiness is a process, this also involves refining, purging, learning, toughening, maturing, dying to self, deepening, repenting, going to God about everything.

The first bit of UN-holiness to be purged is divisiveness. (1:10ff; 3:1ff; 4:7; 11:18ff) The Body of Christ cannot be divided into pieces.  Whenever there is an argument in the "family", there are NO WINNERS. Everyone loses.

RESPONSE:   True spirituality is not possible where there is strife, jealousy, and divisiveness.   We must not only "get along with each other", but actually LOVE each other! The Cross makes that possible.  Being "perfectly joined together" means we are untangled and restored to usefulness (like fishing nets).   By putting this argument "up front", the Apostle Paul stresses its importance.  We can't avoid each other.  If we want to be close to God, then it necessitates our closeness to each other.

PSALM 27:1-6                                                                                                                    
When we are being pressed, in life-threatening circumstance, lied about, betrayed by someone we helped, our WHOLE CONFIDENCE is based on what we know about God.  What I call "evil", and what God calls "evil", may not be the same things.  God calls evil anything that is "antichristian" - rebellion, UN-love, disobedience, unfaithfulness, divisiveness.  Most of what we call "evil" is something that makes our flesh uncomfortable or is an inconvenience to our flesh.

Why wasn't David afraid? Because he loved God's Presence and he knew that when my will is one with God's will, I am inaccessible to evil and God directs my circumstances.  Never allow fear to drive out faith in God.

When we experience dark times, this is when our relationship to God means something. Darkness signifies chaos, confusion, threats, anxiety, fear of loss - and the absence of light. But in God there is no darkness. He brings light. He is my stronghold - my place of safety.  A person in a stronghold can hold out for a long time.  That is what God is to me - He "hides me", He puts me in "a secret place", and He sets me on a "rock".

HOW Do I get There?  I have to drive my own heart into that hiding place. I talk to myself, telling myself that God is more than sufficient for anything I need. He is working His plan, and I am a part of that plan.  I offer "sacrifices of joy"...... and tell Him how good and how great He is.   I praise Him for all He is, and for all He does.  In this way, I force my heart into the stronghold where I know it is good and it is safe to trust God.  I must reassure my own heart (Rom 8:7) that it is safe to trust God. That's what this Psalm is all about! David is talking to his heart, and then to God, too.

PROVERBS 20:20-21                                                                                                         
Not only will his lamp be "snuffed out", but the darkness is total!   Anything gained by "foul" means will end bad.

RESPONSE:   In Psa 27:2-3 David describes being attacked, then surrounded, and then being made the center of an all-out war.  And what does he think about? The beauty and bounty of the Lord. I hate being barraged by people who either hate me or are just ignorant of what they are doing. I don't like criticism or insults any more than the next guy.  BUT, the Bible clearly says we must never defend ourselves or take offense.  The devil wants me to think that God doesn't really care about me. That God isn't going to help me this time.  Sometimes it almost feels like there is a conspiracy to cause me harm. The devil uses people that matter to us to hurt us, who even think they are right in what they are saying or doing. What must we do? Talk to our own hearts about the beauty of Jesus. "Though war break out against me, even then will I still be confident." (v. 3)  The real battle is INSIDE US.  Convince your own heart.