5/18/2011 7:24:32 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship
Time Focus: He received
great encouragement; He won three victories
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 2Kings 13:20-25
Message of the verses: “20 ¶
Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites would
invade the land in the spring of the year. 21
As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they
cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of
Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet. 22
Now Hazael king of Aram had oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
23 But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on
them and turned to them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
and would not destroy them or cast them from His presence until now.
24 When Hazael king of Aram died,
Ben-hadad his son became king in his place. 25
Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from the hand of Ben-hadad
the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken in war from the hand of
Jehoahaz his father. Three
times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.”
Today’s
SD takes up the last two sub-points from Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on this
portion of 2Kings.
This
first sub-point takes up verses twenty-twenty-one of 2Kings 13 and it tells of
the death of the great prophet Elisha, who was on his death bed when the king
of Israel came to visit him. God was not
through with Elisha even after he died for there was a man buried in the same
tomb with Elisha and the man came back to life as seen in verse
twenty-one. Elisha was even doing
miracles after he was dead, and perhaps this would verify to the king of Israel
that what Elisha told him would surely come true. This shows that the Lord has different plans
for each of His children and one should not compare oneself with another. The Lord Jesus spoke of this in the 21st
chapter of John’s Gospel and verses 19-23.
The
last sub-point covers verses twenty-two to twenty-five and it speaks of the
victories that Jehoash had over the kings of Syria, and this is exactly the
fulfillment of Elisha’s promise to the king.
It was during the times of Jehoash and Jeroboam II that the nation of
Israel was rich in material things, as the Lord blessed them, but they were
very poor in spiritual things as seen through the eyes and pen s of Amos and
Hosea as the nation continued to serve idols even up until the time when God
would send the Assyrians to capture them and take them into captivity, never to
return again as the southern kingdom would after seventy years of
captivity. It should be stated that even
though the northern kingdom never returned as a nation again that this did not
mean that there were ten lost tribes of Israel, for there were many from the
tribes of the north who moved to the southern kingdom because of the idolatry
that went on in the northern kingdom.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I would suppose that there are times when I
wish that I had some of the different gifts that other believers had from the
Lord, but then I am reminded of the tenth commandment which states that I am
not to covet, and I remember the passage in John that is mentioned above
knowing that to the Lord I am special and have a special assignment from the
Lord to perform while here on earth as seen in Ephesians 2:10. Being a child of God is the best thing that
has or will happen to me, and for this I am thankful for His great love, grace,
and mercy that He bestowed upon me along with the judgment that He put on Jesus
Christ my Savior on the cross so that I could become His child.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
I want to remember the wonderful marriage series
that we just completed and remember that I am to love Sandy and that I am to
confess to her when I am unloving to her as it is unto the Lord that I am
loving her.
2.
Continue to learn contentment.
3.
Remember the battle that I am in and the need for
the spiritual armor.
4.
I want to give myself to the Lord this day for
worship and for service.
5/18/2011 7:52:08 AM
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