2 Corinthians 4

WEEK  8                                          2 Corinthians 4

THURSDAY  Reflections

Why would Paul tell the Corinthians not to lose heart (4:18)? 

Paul is telling the Christians this because when looking at situations, it sometimes appears things are going poorly. Paul reminds them that God's work is taking place on the inside, and what really matters isn't what we see but what we don't see. Troubles faced in this life are just temporary.

 

This being said, pain and troubles are painful and troublesome. Paul isn't saying, "Just get over it!" Paul is saying we need to keep it in perspective. Yes, this is bad. Yes, this is hard, but it will be worth it, like surgery to save your life. It may be painful now, but the reward is longer life; except with God it is everlasting life.

2Co 4:1-18
(1)  Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
(2)  But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
(3)  But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
(4)  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
(5)  For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
(6)  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
(7)  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
(8)  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
(9)  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
(10)  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
(11)  For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
(12)  So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
(13)  We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
(14)  Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
(15)  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
(16)  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
(17)  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

(18)  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Psalm 101

WEEK 8                                                Psalms 101

WEDNESDAY  Reflections

We were taught growing up to be careful of the friends we keep. As much as we would like to say otherwise, people influence us. In this psalm, the writer makes it clear that he wants to keep himself under control and not be closely influenced by people who do wrong. This is wise advice.

 

I can hear some people already getting upset, saying, "We have to win the lost." We do, but we need to be sure that we are being more of an influence on them than they are on us. There is a line that we need to be careful with. The line is what amount of influence is too much for us. There are some who are stronger than others; one alcoholic might be able to go into a bar to get a friend out, and another would, on entering, fall into drinking too, just to list one example. The psalmist here has set his guidelines; what are yours?

Psa 101:1-8
(1)  A Psalm of David. I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.
(2)  I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
(3)  I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
(4)  A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.
(5)  Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.
(6)  Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.
(7)  He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.
(8)  I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.

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Micah 1

WEEK  8                                         Micah 1

TUESDAY  Reflections

Micah's prophecy isn't just for Israel or Judah but for both. Micah says the sins of these nations are their capital cities. Which can cause someone to wonder how can a city be a sin?

 

The answer is that these are the places where the leaders of the nation live and rule. It is from here that the corruption in these nations is celebrated and encouraged. It is like when people in the USA say that the problems in the government come from Washington, D.C.

 

God holds rulers and leaders responsible for what they do. This doesn't mean that everyone else is off the hook. Each of us will answer to God for what we do in response to the rulings of those who lead us. 

Here is a video that may help you understand Micah: https://youtu.be/MFEUEcylwLc


Mic 1:1-16
(1)  The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
(2)  Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
(3)  For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
(4)  And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.
(5)  For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?
(6)  Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.
(7)  And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.
(8)  Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.
(9)  For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
(10)  Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.
(11)  Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Bethezel; he shall receive of you his standing.
(12)  For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.
(13)  O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.
(14)  Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moreshethgath: the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.
(15)  Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel.
(16)  Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.

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2 Kings 18

WEEK  8                                         2 Kings 18

MONDAY  Reflections

In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) 2 Kings 18:1-4

 

Hezekiah is one of those people in the Bible that makes me want to cheer and cry. Cheer when he does right and cry when he messes up.

 

Here at the very beginning of his rule, he not only destroys all of the foreign gods, but he destroys an ancient relic from the days of Moses because the people of Israel have turned it into an idol. This was clearly an act of courage and an act of wisdom. There could have been all kinds of justifications to keep it, but Hezekiah knew it would be a stumbling block for his people. It was a tough call, but he did it. The question is, are we willing to do the same?

 

What does the Bible say about Hezekiah because of these actions? “Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.” WOW! What a comment.

2Ki 18:1-37

(1)  Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

(2)  Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.

(3)  And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.

(4)  He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

(5)  He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.

(6)  For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.

(7)  And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.

(8)  He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

(9)  And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.

(10)  And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.

(11)  And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:

(12)  Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.

(13)  Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.

(14)  And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

(15)  And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house.

(16)  At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

(17)  And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field.

(18)  And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.

(19)  And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?

(20)  Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?

(21)  Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.

(22)  But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?

(23)  Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

(24)  How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

(25)  Am I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

(26)  Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

(27)  But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?

(28)  Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:

(29)  Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:

(30)  Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

(31)  Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:

(32)  Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The LORD will deliver us.

(33)  Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

(34)  Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?

(35)  Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?

(36)  But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.

(37)  Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

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Ezekiel 13

WEEK  7                                                Ezekiel 13

SATURDAY  Reflections

Ezekiel and the prophets of God weren't the only voices speaking during this time. There were other prophets both claiming to come from God and some claiming to speak by false gods. Whether men or women, those who spoke false prophecies are going to face judgment. God, specifically, says he will remove them from the land of Israel never to return.

 

The statement that grabbed my attention is when Ezekiel says that the prophets know they aren't speaking on God's behalf, but they still think what they are saying will happen. How can someone who knows they are making stuff up believe what they say is going to happen? The answer is easy: it is by self-delusion and pride.

Eze 13:1-23
(1)  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
(2)  Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
(3)  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
(4)  O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
(5)  Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
(6)  They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
(7)  Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
(8)  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.
(9)  And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
(10)  Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:
(11)  Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
(12)  Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
(13)  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.
(14)  So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
(15)  Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered morter, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;
(16)  To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD.
(17)  Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them,
(18)  And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?
(19)  And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
(20)  Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.
(21)  Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
(22)  Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
(23)  Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

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