July 9th readings

~ Click on this link for today's readings ~
1 Chronicles 7:1-8:40 ~ Acts 27:1-20
Psalm 7:1-17 ~ Proverbs 18:22

Old Testament - Interesting verses to consider today in 1 Chronicles 8 verses 8 through 10 - ^"After Shaharaim divorced his wives Hushim and Baara, he had children in the land of Moab. Hodesh, his new wife, gave birth to Jobab, Zibia, Mesha, Malcam, Jeuz, Sakia, and Mirmah. These sons all became the leaders of clans."  These verses basically record polygamy & divorce by Shaharaim.  However, just because these actions are recorded in the Bible, it does not mean they are condoned by God.  Since creation - with Adam & Eve - God has meant for there to be one man with one wife.  But, we humans don't always follow what God wants... (as we each well know)  The Bible records both the good & the bad in human actions.  If someone were to chronicle our lives today, would what the chronicler recorded be pleasing in God's sight?  Don't worry so much about your past & past mistakes.  God can forgive and redeem those, if you will turn to him in repentance and humbleness.  But right now - what would the chronicler capture in your life today?  Would it be pleasing in God's sight?  Would you want other people to read about your life today?  Would you be comfortable with any aspect of your life showing up on the front page of tomorrow's news?

New Testament - Today in Acts 27 verses 1 & 2 we read - "When the time came, we set sail for Italy. Paul and several other prisoners were placed in the custody of an army officer named Julius, a captain of the Imperial Regiment. And Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was also with us. We left on a boat whose home port was Adramyttium; it was scheduled to make several stops at ports along the coast of the province of Asia."  A great map of Paul's journey to Rome is below:

In verses 10 & 11 Paul's wise advice about the storm is not heeded - ""Sirs," he said, "I believe there is trouble ahead if we go on--shipwreck, loss of cargo, injuries, and danger to our lives." But the officer in charge of the prisoners listened more to the ship's captain and the owner than to Paul." I wonder about this in our lives today - are we like the officer in charge of the prisoners and ignoring Paul's advice?  Do we hear Paul's advice to us in his Epistles, and yet are we ignoring it?  Are we instead paying attention to the ship's captain, or the world, rather than Paul, when a storm is indeed bearing down upon us?

Bible.org's commentary on today's Acts readings titled "A Biblical Look at Leadership" is at this link.

Psalms - Today in Psalm 7 verse 10 we read - "God is my shield, saving those whose hearts are true and right."  What stood out to me here is that it does not say that God saves those who "do" what is true and right.  It says that God saves those whose "hearts are" true and right. This is getting toward our interior motives and thoughts and hearts - the important thing is not what we do on the "exterior", but who we are on the "interior".  And then certainly if our hearts are true and right, a natural outflow of this is doing good things on the exterior.  But, it's the interior - our hearts - that matter most.  How is your heart these days?  Is it true and right?

Proverbs - Proverbs 18 verse 22 I believe is a two way street - "The man who finds a wife finds a treasure and receives favor from the LORD."  And the woman who finds a husband finds a treasure and receives favor from the Lord!  I think all of us are fortunate to find a wife or husband.  The sad thing of course in our world today is that marriages statistically are not lasting.  I believe the divorce rate is around 50% now?  Pretty high to say the least...  My thought is that God needs to be the center of any marriage for it to really last.  Really, God needs to be in the center of anything we do in our lives for it to truly last...  Is God in the center of all areas of your life today?

Comments from you - What verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

Grace,
Mike

Comments

[kate]

I don't think our motives can truly ever be "true and right". But the Good News is we are worse than we think we are. And God loves us even if we never get any better...

[Leroy Duke]

When the kingdom was split into Isreal & Judah, whatever happened to the tribe of Simeon? Judah incorporated Simeon within it's borders. It says (2) made up the southern kingdom - Judah & Benjamin! So where did the people of Simeon go?

[Ramona]

Comment on July 9th 2006

>>I don't think our motives can truly ever be "true and right". But the Good News is we are worse than we think we are. And God loves us even if we never get any better...>>

Kate I am compelled to address your statement. Yes, you are right God loves us, his very nature is love; however, God loves us to much to let us remain in the state we are in without discipline and correction. I don’t know when you joined the OYB family but if you have been reading along with us you will note that we have read about Israel’s and Judah’s fall into apostasy which unleashed some unpleasant consequences. The Word says our hearts can have the “true and right” (your words), motives, David did.

But now your kingdom shall not continue; the Lord has sought out [David] a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince and ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.
(1 Samuel 13:14 AMP)

The writer of Proverbs stated, “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life. “
(Proverbs 4:23 AMP)

Jesus stated: The upright (honorable, intrinsically good) man out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart produces what is upright (honorable and intrinsically good), and the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved (wicked and intrinsically evil); for out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart his mouth speaks.
(Luke 6:45 AMP)

My prayer for you is this Kate, May God draw you near to Him and may your heart’s desire be toward Him so that He reveals to you how to have “true and right” motives. Keep reading along with us so you too find how to seek first the Kingdom of God …then all these things (including right motives) will be added unto you (Matt. 6:33)

God bless you,
Ramona

[Ramona]

>>When the kingdom was split into Isreal & Judah, whatever happened to the tribe of Simeon?...>>

Leroy Duke the inserted link will answer your question regarding Simeon, http://www.israelite.info/Christian_Authors/MissingSimeonites.htm

If you continue reading along with us, OYB, you will find out that God always leaves a remnant. If you have already been reading along with us remember what God told Elijah, He (Elijah) said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and slain Your prophets with the sword. And I, I only, am left, and they seek my life, to destroy it. And the Lord said to him, Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And anoint Jehu son of Nimshi to be king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah to be prophet in your place. And him who escapes from the sword of Hazael Jehu shall slay, and him who escapes the sword of Jehu Elisha shall slay. Yet I will leave Myself 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him. (1 Kings 19:14-18)

When we begin reading the prophets God will continuously put forth the idea of the remnant.

The tribe of Simeon will be represented in the 144,000 who are sealed along with the others http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%207:4-8;&version=65;51;45;31;77; Who is missing from this list is Ephraim or is he included with the tribe of Joseph? Hmmm—a rhetorical question. We can ask God when we see Him in heaven.

Grace and peace to you,
Ramona

[Karen]

The verse that stands out to me is the one from Proverbs about God being the center. Is God really at the center of my life right now? Made me think and reflect. Then I started to cry.
Thanks a bunch!!

[John]

King Agrippa and Bernice

Agrippa never once disagreed or interrupted Paul's speech. Paul addressed him several times during his testimony. In the end, it seems Agrippa gives a deflection. A non-answer.

"Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?"

Focus on the Family did a survey a couple of years back and new Christians claimed on average to be approached with the gospel, in some form, by 25+ people before accepting Christ.

My guess is that it was at salvation that the people were searching - when their hearts were soft. So rather than a number of people, it is the attitude of the heart that is vital.

Perhaps Agrippa's heart was not soft - that this encounter was just part of the process to get Paul to Rome.

Perhaps in Agrippa's mind - the wealth, the associations with Rome, the power were too much to even consider giving up.

Luke 9:25
"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" NIV

Certainly one of the things Agrippa would have to give up would be his wife. Not to mention the verbal scorn Agrippa would possibly receive from Bernice.

Bernice, from the Greek name meaning victorious, was the eldest daughter of Agrippa I, the Herod Agrippa who was killed by an angel in Acts 12:21-23 (see The Herods). After the early death of her first husband (according to the historian Flavius Josephus, his name was Marcus), she married her uncle, King Herod of Chalcis. After his death in approximately 40 AD, she began another incestuous relationship, this time with her brother, Agrippa II. It was before that brother/sister/husband/wife couple that the apostle Paul made his defense at Caesarea. Bernice was later briefly married to King Ptolemy of Sicily, before returning to her brother. She thereafter also became the mistress of the emperors Vespasian and Titus
http://www.keyway.ca/htm2001/20011212.htm

she lived in incestuous connection with her brother Agrippa II. (Acts 25:13, 23; 26:30). They joined the Romans at the outbreak of the final war between them and the Jews, and lived afterwards at Rome
http://bible.tmtm.com/wiki/Bernice

[Ms. Jan]

I'm glad Mike brought up the many wives/concubines of lots of great Biblical characters - because I have been a bit sickened by the what I have read in the genologies of Chronicles (so far).

Even David had many wives & children by them; has it always been that women have been the downfall of Godly men...it just astounds me & sometimes I think it gives "carnal" Christian men the idea that they can behave in much the same way. Why was it allowed in these times to have concubines...they all had them & yet it was not God's plan for any of them, but even He allowed it; I truly don't understand this issue at all. Any one care to give me your thoughts on this issue of many wives/concubines in Godly men of the Bible???

jan

[Ramona]

Ms. Jan--Look past the actions, the many wives and concubines and see the effects of their actions--I believe that is the key. The duel between Jacob’s co-wives, Rachel and Leah, produced animosity and hatred between the brothers and got Joseph sold as a slave. But then again God used that to deliver the entire family from famine. It’s the, all things work together for good … thing that Paul wrote about (Romans 8:28-29).

There has always been God’s perfect will, walking in obedience to God, His Laws and His Word, and God’s permissive will, walking in our own will. We tend to confuse the perfect will with permissive will. We do things we know that are wrong and when we don’t get hit by a lightening strike, we think that either we are righteous, we special and God won’t discipline us, or God is off somewhere in the great cosmic sky not paying attention. God allows some things because He overlooks our “sins” or sees our sins through the eyes of mercy. Keep reading along with us and you will see many examples of how God’s mercy works. It was only the mercy of God that allowed the apostle Paul to live despite being a party to the death of Steven. God saw past what he really was and saw him as he could be.

[Jan]

Disobedience is still a sin & we all reap the consequences of our sin(s) & God does not/never bless sin or He would be a liar & He is not. We will always reap what we sow; SO...I would figure we should not sow in sin. Yes, He permits us to go on in our sin, but never without consequences to such - there is never blessing in sin/disobedience/lawessness - never. If I thought that I wouldn't reap the consequences of sexual sin(s) - then I would just go out & fornicate all I wanted to, but I have reaped the consequences of such (no STD's or anything like that - but a broken heart toward God, myself & the other person involved). There is no blessing or truth in living outside of God's will in this life & doing such may keep you from going into eternity with God. Sin seperates us from God & the wages of sin/disobedience is death (spirtual separation from God & possibly physical death also).

jan