4/10/2011 5:28:18 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: A Strange Ending
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 2Kings 3:27
Message of the verses: “27
Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place, and offered
him as a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel,
and they departed from him and returned to their own land.” NASB)
“27 Then he took his son, his
firstborn who would succeed him as king, and sacrificed him on the city wall.
That set off furious anger against Israel. Israel pulled back and returned
home.” (Message)
There
are a number of different ideas on exactly what this verse means, but one thing
for sure it does not mean that the Moab god could usurp any glory from the God
of Israel, the God whom I worship, for Isaiah writes the following, “"I am
the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise
to graven images.” (Isaiah 42:8)
I
want to quote the note that John MacArthur writes for verse 27: “great
wrath against Israel. It seems best
to understand that the king’s sacrifice inspired the Moabites to hate Israel
more and fight more intensely. This
fierceness perhaps led Israel to believe that Chemosh was fighting for the
Moabites. Thus, the indignation or fury
came from the Moabites.”
I
wish to point out that the wrath was against Israel (the northern kingdom) and
not Judah, ( the southern kingdom).
Elisha did not even want to talk to Joram, the king of Israel, and only
talked to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah.
The wrath was upon the idol worshiping northern kingdom, but the verse
is unclear to exactly what it means. The Bible teaches that idol worship is
something that is totally opposed by the Lord, and so what the king of Moab did
opposed the Lord, and what the king of Israel did opposed the Lord, and it was
only for the sake of the covenant with David that victory was given to these
three armies.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Anything that comes between my worship of God
and me is an idol, and God hates the worship of idols.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Worship only
the Lord.
2.
Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
3.
Continue to learn contentment.
4.
Remember the battle rages on and I am in need of the
spiritual armor.
4/10/2011 5:47:56 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment