Daily Encouragement

April 14 – Long Days, Lachish, and Lazarus

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
Joshua 9:3-10:43
Luke 16:19-17:10
Psalm 83:1-18
Proverbs 13:4

Joshua 9:14 — 

“When we neglect prayer, we can be easily deceived and make wrong decisions. And when leaders do not pray, they also fail the people under them.”

GraceValley.org

Joshua 10:13 – What happened here? BlueLetterBible.org lists seven theories of what happened, as well as cautioning against “reports of a ‘missing day’ in ancient Egyptian, Chinese, and Hindu sources … [and] the story of a Yale astronomer who found that the earth was twenty-four hours out of schedule.”

Reverence for God’s Word should encourage us to suspend judgment until more evidence is available. In the meantime, no single explanation can be made a test of orthodoxy.

(Donald H. Madvig, “Joshua,” The Expositors Bible Commentary, p. 304)

Joshua 10:32 – Lachish now entered into the Israelite orbit. “Among cities in ancient Judah, Lachish was second only to Jerusalem in importance (Biblical Archaeology Review).” Lachish is mentioned twenty-four times in the Old Testament.

Luke 16:20 – 

In the story, Lazarus never speaks. He is silent; he’s only there for contrast. He is not the object of the story. The story is not about his experience; it’s not about heaven. It is about the rich man’s experience in hell.

John MacArthur

Luke 17:10 – Serving the Lord is not doing Him a favor; it is but our reasonable service (Romans 12:1).

Psalm 83:18 – Not that they may be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:14), but that they may know Who is the Most High.

Proverbs 13:4 – Will you be a sluggard, or will you be diligent?

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