3/29/2011 5:29:03 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: God Judges sin (idolatry)
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 2Kings 1:1-4
Message of the verses: “1 ¶
Now Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. 2 And Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his
upper chamber which was in Samaria, and became ill. So he sent messengers and
said to them, "Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will
recover from this sickness." 3 But
the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Arise, go up to meet
the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, ’Is it because there is
no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of
Ekron?’ 4 "Now therefore thus says
the LORD, ’You shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you
shall surely die.’" Then Elijah departed.”
It
has been a few days since I have written in my Spiritual Diary, and the reason
is that at the end of most of Dr. Wiersbe commentaries he writes a chapter
reviewing the book of the Bible that he has made commentary on and it took me a
couple of days to read through that chapter, as they are always very rich.
Today’s
SD begins 2Kings, and it pretty much starts where 1Kings left off, as some
Bible translations actually only have a book of the kings as opposed to having
two like our Christian Bible has. Dr.
Wiersbe points out at the beginning of this first chapter that Elijah and
Elisha had probably been together for about ten years in the ministry, something
that I had no idea of, but was keenly interested to find out.
Dr.
Wiersbe breaks the first two chapters into four main parts with sub-divisions
in all of them, and as usual he tells his reader how the chapter will
unfold. He writes the following about
this first chapter: “In closing events
of this spiritual partnership, we see revealed four important truths about the
God of Israel.” The partnership is the
combined ministries of Elijah and Elisha.
The first sub section is idolatry.
Ahab
is dead and his son Ahaziah is now king of Israel, and he falls through a
lattice and becomes sick. Instead of
contacting the live God of Israel he sends envoys to seek the dead god of Baal
in Ekron, where there was a famous temple there. He does not ask for healing, but to find out
if he will live or die as a result of this injury. Elijah is spoken to by the Angel of the Lord,
probably the Lord Jesus Christ, to go and tell the envoys that indeed the king
will die. Elijah asks the envoys why the
king would go to Ekron and seek the god Baal-zebub, when there was a God in
Israel. Good question.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There seems to be a series of different tests
given to me by the Lord since my retirement from Ford. The loss of our retirement was surely my
doing, and because of it there has been a series of other tests that I am going
through including being here in Kauai working as somewhat of an outcast to my
co-workers. Dr. Wiersbe writes the following: “When God’s servants are walking with their
Lord, they can be confident of His directions when they need them.” My prayer is to walk with my Lord and for Him
to lead me and to guide me, and I believe that is why I am here, but at this
present time I man not truly happy, but realize that that is not always the
most important thing when walking with the Lord, rather to have the joy of the
Lord, knowing He is in charge of my life and will work all of these things out
for my good and His glory.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Continue to trust the Lord in this unhappy situation
I find myself in.
2.
Remember the need for the spiritual armor, as I
realize more than ever that I am in a battle.
3/29/2011 6:09:15 AM
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