July 31st One Year Bible Readings

2 Chronicles 29:1-36 ~ Romans 14:1-23 ~ Psalm 24:1-10 ~ Proverbs 20:12
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~ Listen to today's Scripture on DailyAudioBible.com (podcast) or OneYearAudioBible.org ~

Old Testament - We are re-introduced to King Hezekiah of Judah in today's readings!  The quantity of the Chronicler's writings about the reign of Hezekiah is second only to the reigns of David & Solomon.  We'll be reading about Hezekiah again in the coming days.  Reading about Hezekiah today was such a breath of fresh air after the atrocities of King Ahaz in yesterday's readings...  Hezekiah is a hero!  He re-opens the Temple!  He reinstitutes the sacrifices to God!  You'll recall from our readings in Second Kings chapter 18 verses 5 through 7 we got an overview of who Hezekiah was - "Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was never another king like him in the land of Judah, either before or after his time. He remained faithful to the LORD in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the LORD had given Moses. So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did."  Below is a coloured woodcut from Henry VIII´s Great Bible, from the year 1538, of King Hezekiah burning pagan idols:

New Testament - Paul's writings in Roman's chapter 14 about the dangers of criticizing and judging others are powerful!  I love verses 12 & 13: "Yes, each of us will have to give a personal account to God. So don't condemn each other anymore. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not put an obstacle in another Christian's path."  Wow...  that is something for each of us to consider.  That we ourselves can actually put obstacles in another Christian's path toward God!  Do you think that you have ever done this in your life?  I do think that I have.  Never intentionally. But, when I have stopped loving and serving others and instead began judging and criticizing others, I do believe I have placed obstacles in other people's paths!  Not to mention my own path!  Let us pray that we are not obstacles to others by judging and criticizing...

Bible.org's commentary on today's readings in Romans titled "Love and Liberty: Liberties Love Won't Take" is at this link.  Below is a great image for Romans 14:8 from today's readings -

Psalms - Psalm 24 is a beautiful Psalm!  Check out this brief snippet of commentary on this Psalm from bible.org: "The Israelites have returned from a battle with the Canaanites. They are proceeding up to the sanctuary on the holy mount to give praise to Yahweh for the great and mighty victory in battle, carrying with them the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of Yahweh’s presence with them. As they approach the gate, they are met by the Levites who function as gatekeepers. It is their part to ask who may enter the sanctuary of the Lord; and it is the priests’ part to answer with the stipulations from the Law. Whoever meets these qualifications may enter and fellowship with Yahweh... The psalm then concludes with the worshipers calling to the gates to make way for Yahweh to come in to His sanctuary, for why should the King of Glory stoop to go under a doorway? "  This quote is from, and there is much more commentary on Psalm 24, at bible.org at this link.   (also, any Chris Tomlin fans out there will definitely recognize this Psalm - on his CD "Arriving" I think the 2nd or 3rd to last song is called "King of Glory" based on this Psalm - it's the best song on this overall fantastic CD in my humble opinion! :)

Proverbs - Proverbs 20:12 today teaches us:  "Ears to hear and eyes to see--both are gifts from the LORD."  Amen!  It is interesting that this Proverb doesn't mention our mouths to talk...  Seems like this Proverb is really a good reminder that listening and seeing are amazing gifts.  Gifts that allow us to listen to others and enjoy God's beautifully created world.  And yes, I do believe our mouths are gifts too for communication to others.   But it is interesting that we have 2 ears and 2 eyes, and just 1 mouth.  Think there is a message in this math equation for us?  :)

YouTube:  Based on Psalm 24, here is Chris Tomlin and Jesse Reeves talking about the song "King of Glory" and how it relates to Psalm 24.  This is a powerful song...  Who is this King of Glory!

Do you know the King of Glory?  Click here to meet Him!

Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture this week: "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14 (NIV)

Comments from You & Questions of the Day:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

God bless,
Mike

Comments

This is a good reminder, especially in this time when most of us are busy asserting our freedom in Christ to do whatever.

'Giving no offense, neither to the Jew, nor to the Greek, nor to the Church of God.' 1 Cor 10:32

We are called to lay aside our freedom in respect for our brother's conscience, so as to not cause him to stumble.

[Ramona]

II Chronicles 29:1-36
This is a joyous occasion, Temple worship is being restored, purification of the sanctuary and the utensils used in worship, yet I feel so sad because of the futility of their actions. My sadness comes from knowing that Judah will go into exile, the temple will be burnt and torn down because Judah, like her sister Israel has a wicked heart and will be carried off. However, God always provides for Himself a remnant.

To me it is sad that Hezekiah had to command the burnt offerings to be resumed (27), he had to order the Levites to sing praises to the Lord (33). It is sad that the Levites who were commanded to worship also were in a better spiritual place then the priests (34)

All of these things can be and are committed by believers today and that includes me. How sad that we wonder off and when brought back into the fellowship of the Saints, we have to be commanded to worship God. The Old Testament was written so that the believers today would not fall into the same traps, sin and the same thinking that the saints of old fell into (1 Cor. 10:6;11)

Let us not grow wary in our well doing (Gal. 6:9) so that we wonder off down the wrong rode.

II Chronicles 29 34 But there were too few priests to prepare all the burnt offerings, so their relatives the Levites helped them until the work was finished and until more priests had been purified. For the Levites had been more conscientious about purifying themselves than the priests.

Sad, so sad.

Romans 14:1-23
I have always called this chapter, well not always, the “Mind Your Own Business” chapter. Unless it is “sin”, someone’s setting of the table a particular way, eating of food, dancing before the Lord, wearing make-up or no make-up is their own business. We in the body of Christ seem to haggle over things that do not matter as far as our salvation goes. Yes, sin is not to be practiced, but when we make our personal convictions the law, we become like the Pharisees, we put our “laws” above God’s.

Your personal convictions [on such matters]--exercise [them] as in God's presence, keeping them to yourself [striving only to know the truth and obey His will]. Blessed (happy, to be envied) is he who has no reason to judge himself for what he approves [who does not convict himself by what he chooses to do].
(Rom 14:22 AMP)

Psalm 24:1-10

7
Open up, ancient gates!
Open up, ancient doors,
and let the King of glory enter.
8
Who is the King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, invincible in battle.
9
Open up, ancient gates!
Open up, ancient doors,
and let the King of glory enter.
10
Who is the King of glory?
The LORD Almighty--
he is the King of glory.

I love the above refrain it gives me Goosebumps. It brings me back to my childhood when I became excited when a parade was coming down the main street. The marching bands the drum major and the twirlers. It is a sense of something big is coming, a sense of anticipation and great expectations. I think that sense, that child’s sense of opportunity and hope should be our state of mind every time we opened up the Bible to read, something good this way comes.

Proverbs 20:12

The hearing ear and the seeing eye--the Lord has made both of them.
(Pro 20:12 AMP)

Hmmm, if God has made both the ear and eye, then we are without excuse when we say about His Words, I didn’t see or hear that, or know that. We have been given the facilities to use in asking, seeking and knocking to discover God and the His will for our lives.

[John A.]

Romans 14:1-23

When we critique, criticize , or make a fuss about non-essentials in another's Christian life, we are in a small way - playing God. If the person is a true believer then God will deal with the actions and words of another believer. God does not need your help in this area.

Our job is to love and build-up one another. The building up should be in character and regarding the essentials of the Christian faith.

We do not know where this person came from (in totality) before becoming a Christian, and we do not know how God is working in their lives. We certainly do not know their heart like God.

There is enough to do with sharing the gospel, and with sharing our gifts with the Body of Christ. Getting caught up in non-essentials is a waste of time - and satan LOVES it!

[John A.]

2 Chronicles 29:1-36

VERSE 3

1. Hezekiah wastes no time in bringing forth spiritual reform to the nation. The first thing he does is to re-open the house of worship, the temple, and to repair it. Why did he have to do this? Because during his fathers reign, Ahaz closed everything up that had to do with the Lord. We are told in II Chronicles 28:24 "So Ahaz gathered the articles of the house of God, cut in pieces the articles of the house of God, shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem." Thus, Hezekiah is going to open the doors of worship once again, the place where spiritual revival is to begin.

VERSES 4-5

1. The temple was used as a big storage area where all the junk, all that was worthless was kept. And I think many times we fill our hearts with all kinds of garbage, like bitterness, anger, covetousness, all kinds of carnality, and in doing that or having that in our hearts, we have a hard time worshipping the Lord. You see, we are the temple of God, and God wants us to remove that garbage from His temple, and the amazing thing is, that as God purges more and more of that garbage from our hearts, from our lives, the easier it is to worship Him.

VERSES 12-17

1. As the priests came together, they sanctified themselves before the Lord and then began to clean the house of the Lord. During the reign of Ahaz the house of the Lord, the temple, became a big storage area for junk. It took them 8 days to clean the outer court and another 8 days to clean the temple proper or the holy place and the holy of holies. 16 days in all to remove all the junk that had been stored there and to restore the house of God to a place of worship. That tells me that the temple was trashed, for it was not just a couple of guys doing the cleaning, but the priests came together to assist in this work, and they took the trash out to the Brook Kidron. This was a major cleaning project and yet it was so important in re-establishing the worship of God.

http://www.ccmanitowoc.org/Library/Guglielmo-Joe/Studies/TH/14-2CH/TH1066.HTM