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...  and 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 site?  Would you want other people to read about your life today?  What would a chronicler capture on the scroll of your life today?

 

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."

 

Then 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...  I have not crossed the threshold of marriage in my life, so really can't speak much wisdom into why marriages last or don't last.  My hunch 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?

What verses or insights jumped out for you in today's readings?  Please post up in the Comments section below!

Grace,
Mike

Comments

[Ramona]

I Chronicles 7:8-40

The following little passage really caught my eye,

21 … Ephraim's sons Ezer and Elead were killed trying to steal livestock from the local farmers near Gath. 22Their father, Ephraim, mourned for them a long time, and his relatives came to comfort him. (NLT),

I’m thinking well if the two boys were stealing cattle and someone stopped them with deadly force, what was Ephraim mourning about for so long? Was he mourning because they were stealing and got caught then killed or because they were just killed. Cattle rustling is a serious offense even today, don’t mess with folks’ livestock.

I did a little digging and read a commentary, Matthew Henry, and other translations, and it seems that in the Hebrew it is unclear who were the ones doing the actual stealing, Ephraim’s boys or the farmers near Gath. I can imagine what Ephriam was thinking when these two boys died, “The promise and blessing my grandfather prayed over me wasn’t worth a hill of beans. (Gen 48:19)” But God has this thing with resurrecting dead things and things that appear dead, like dreams, hopes and promises.

Acts 27:1-20

Mike mentions the ignored advice given by Paul and warns us not to do the same, valuing the advice of the ship’s caption and the world over that of a godly man. I began thinking why we ignore the Word of God over the word of man. The captain of the ship and the owner were “experts” of the way of the seas, Paul was a tent maker as for as his occupational training, a former student of The Law and a current follower of the Way.

We call in expert witness to testify in court cases; we want the medical professional who is an expert in his/her field when we have serious illness. People who are knowledgeable in their fields because they have an acceptable number of degrees behind their names proving who they are and where they studied are the ones we turn to, rely on for the real info on governmental and financial matters. Sunday morning is filled with expert talking heads on programs that tell us which stock to invest in, which world and local leadership will rise and fall.
Paul wasn’t an expert in the ways of the sea so ignore him. “Hey Paul, mind your business and make those tents. Do something that you know!” We follow everything under the sun; but forget to follow the Son.

10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. (KJV—The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Church at Corinth—1 Corinthians) Which voice will I continue to give significance too?

Psalm 7:1-7

Mike thanks for pointing out that doing and being (a heart issue) are two different things. You gave some great insight too the verse. We grow accustom to reading words but we fail to really read what is there and understand, Thank you.

I wanted to find out who this Cush was the man who inspired David to write this Psalm. The only thing I could find was a man from Cush, (Ethiopia) but I don’t think the man from and the man Cush were one and the same. This Cush was a Benjamite the man from Cush was a foreigner in Israel (II Samuel 18:19-23)

Proverbs 18:22

Hmm, I’m not so sure that this refers to women but it could and I’m not going to split hairs. However, I see something in this other than what is on the surface, a wife does not mean every women when married is one. I probably came to that conclusion by reading this verse in the Amplified Bible,

22 He who finds a [true] wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.

Well if there is a true wife then there has to be a false wife. Some folks have trouble in their marriages because what they married was not a wife, although she was female. Reading Proverbs one will find there are different types of married woman spoken about, some good and some bad.

And to balance this all out, one is a male by birth but is a man by choice.

When I was a child …: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (I Corinthians 13:11) The putting away of childish things is a conscious decision by the individual it is not something grown out of. So in balance, not every man is a husband. He just may be an immature boy in a grown body unable and unwilling to accept the responsibilities of a family

Grace and peace,
Ramona