7/2/2011
10:15:47 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: The lost their hope
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 2Ki.25:22-26; Jeremiah 40-44
Message of the verses: “ 22
¶ Now as for the people who were left in
the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan over them. 23 When all the captains of the forces, they and
their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah governor, they
came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan
the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and
Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 24 Gedaliah swore to them and their men and said
to them, "Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans; live in the
land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you." 25 But it came about in the seventh month, that
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family, came
with ten men and struck Gedaliah down so that he died along with the Jews and
the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. 26
Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the
forces arose and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.”
I
began this portion of this SD by listening to chapters 40-44 of Jeremiah and
finding out again that this was a pretty depressing part of Scripture for in it
was listed the killing of Gedaliah who was the grandson of the godly Shaphan,
who served under King Josiah. Shaphan
was the man who had four sons of which three of them were godly men and the
forth was seen in Ezekiel’s vision when he came to Jerusalem where that son was
in the temple of the Lord worshiping idols.
Shaphan’s son and Gediliah’s father was Ahikam, one of the good
sons.
Ishmael
was the man who killed Gedaliah was part of the royal family and probably was
jealous that Gedaliah was appointed by the king of Babylon to rule over the
remnant that was left in Judah. Dr.
Wiersbe writes that Gedaliah was probably a bit naïve thinking that this would
not happen to him when he was warned about the possibility of this happening.
The
next person mentioned in this story is Johanan who led a band of rebels. He chased away Ishmael who had captured many
people from Jerusalem including part of the royal family. This was like jumping from the frying pan
into the fire for Johanan was a double minded man, who is described in James
1:5-8. A double minded man is one who
prays to the Lord for an answer and when he gets that answer he does not accept
it and goes ahead and does what he wants to do before he prays about it. He was hoping that the answer from the Lord
would be the answer that he wished for so when it isn’t he decides to not
follow the Lord. This is what Johanan
did when he asked Jeremiah to pray to the Lord as to whether or not this
remnant was to go to Egypt or stay in Judah, and he tells Jeremiah that they would
listen to the voice of the Lord. Ten
days later Jeremiah gives them the answer and tells them that they would not
listen to it and that they would go to Egypt and all die there. Double-minded. They took Jeremiah to Egypt and he told the
Jews living there that they would all die there including the ones who just
arrived there and the reason was that the king of Babylon was going to over
through the nation of Egypt.
This
concludes the SD’s for the books of 2Kings and also 2Chronicles. I began this study on 3/29/2011 5:29:03 AM
and now it is July 2, 2011 when this study is finished. The commentary I used to aid my study is as
always a “Be” book written by Warren Wiersbe and in this case “Be
Distinctive.” Many of the kings and
people in these two books of the Bible were not distinctive in their following
of the Lord, men like Solomon who was the cause of the division of the nation
of Israel. Men like Jeroboam who seems
to be mentioned whenever there was a change in the kings of Israel for he was
the one who led Israel astray by setting up the worship of the calf when he
first became king in Israel. Ahab and
Jezebel and for that matter all of the kings of Israel fall into this category
along with most of the kings who were from Judah.
There
was also many who were distinctive in their walk with the Lord, men like Elisha
and Elijah walked with the Lord during this time. Isaiah and Jeremiah along with some of the
Minor Prophets were godly men who did not fall into the trap of the world, but
followed the Lord even in some cases if it meant death like in the case of
Isaiah. There were many good kings in
Judah like Hezekiah and Josiah to mention just two of the good kings. All in all this was a very profitable study
as all of the books in the wonderful Word of God are profitable to study. God has spoken to my heart while studying
these books and I am better off by studying them.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Yesterday I did something that I was ashamed
of, and that was being deceitful to a young lady who worked at Wal-Mart. I was not being distinctive in my walk with
the Lord and it bothered me greatly and so I had to apologize to her and offer
to give the money that she had given to me back to the store, but she
graciously allowed me to keep the money she had given me when I returned
something to the store. $36.00 is not a
lot when it comes to money in this day and age on the island of Kauai, but that
was the amount that I was trying to sell my soul for and the Lord would not
allow me to do so. I praise the Lord for
keeping me “distinctive.”
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Psalm 139:23-24
2.
1John 1:9
3.
Romans 12:1-2
4.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5.
Ephesians 6:10-18
6.
Philippians 4:11-13
7/2/2011
11:35:58 AM
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