2/16/2011 5:32:16 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: The mistake
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 1Kings 13:11-34
Message of the verses: “11 ¶
Now an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him
all the deeds which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which
he had spoken to the king, these also they related to their father. 12 Their father said to them, "Which way
did he go?" Now his sons had seen the way which the man of God who came
from Judah had gone. 13 Then he said to
his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for
him and he rode away on it. 14 So he
went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak; and he said to
him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he said,
"I am." 15 Then he said to
him, "Come home with me and eat bread." 16 He said, "I cannot return with you, nor
go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.
17 "For a command came to me by the
word of the LORD, ’You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return
by going the way which you came.’" 18
He said to him, "I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke
to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ’Bring him back with you to your house,
that he may eat bread and drink water.’" But he lied to him. 19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in
his house and drank water. 20 Now it
came about, as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of the LORD
came to the prophet who had brought him back; 21 and he cried to the man of God who came from
Judah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, ’Because you have disobeyed the
command of the LORD, and have not observed the commandment which the LORD your
God commanded you, 22 but have returned
and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, "Eat
no bread and drink no water"; your body shall not come to the grave of
your fathers.’"
“ 23 ¶ It came about after he had
eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the
prophet whom he had brought back. 24 Now
when he had gone, a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was
thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was
standing beside the body. 25 And behold,
men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside
the body; so they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.
26 Now when the prophet who brought him
back from the way heard it, he said, "It is the man of God, who disobeyed
the command of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which
has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke
to him." 27 Then he spoke to his
sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." And they saddled it.
28 He went and found his body thrown on
the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion had
not eaten the body nor torn the donkey. 29
So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the
donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn
and to bury him. 30 He laid his body in
his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!"
31 After he had buried him, he spoke to
his sons, saying, "When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of
God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 "For the thing shall surely come to pass
which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against
all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria."
33 After this event Jeroboam did not
return from his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from
among all the people; any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high
places. 34 This event became sin to the
house of Jeroboam, even to blot it out and destroy it from off the face of the
earth.”
As
I wrote in yesterday’s SD this section is not easy to understand because the motives
of the old prophet are not seen when he lied to the young prophet. The young prophet probably should not have
been waiting or sitting but should have gone on home and therefore he would not
have been tempted. He should have prayed
to the Lord to find out if this old prophet was telling the truth. Dr. Wiersbe writes that the message was to
Jeroboam, for if the saved are scarcely saved how lost must the lost be.
There
are mysteries to this section of Scripture, but there are also lessons to be
learned from it even if the motives of the old prophet are not clearly seen.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: One thing that I can learn from this is that
I should not be so gullible, and check things out more thoroughly before
trusting others with my life of my funds.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Remember that I am in a battle and in great need of
the spiritual armor every day.
2.
Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
3.
Trust the Lord to help me deal with the pain in my
leg and give me the strength to do my job today.
2/16/2011 5:56:47 AM
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