TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
1 Kings 12:20-13:34
Acts 9:26-43
Psalm 132:1-18
Proverbs 17:6
1 Kings 12:24 — Interestingly, if they had only obeyed God earlier, they wouldn’t have had to assemble for war.
1 Kings 12:26-27 — Poor Jeroboam! Ahijah promised Jeroboam that if he would obey the LORD (1 Kings 11:38), the LORD would guarantee the kingdom. Ahijah promised him the kingdom before he was a king, but the promise of the LORD wasn’t enough. Instead, he “created” a sin that lasted for hundreds of years (1 Kings 12:30). All because of unnecessary fear.
1 Kings 13:2 — God cared so much that He sent a prophet to prophesy His judgment on the apostasy. Interestingly, Josiah would not be born for another 300 years. This is more significant than Isaiah 44:28 – it was just 100 years in advance.
1 Kings 13:6 — Jeroboam just wanted temporary healing, not permanent repentance.
1 Kings 13:18 — We feel the LORD was unjust for punishing the man of God and not the old prophet. But a man of God must be discerning. Gideon was fearful and questioned God’s greetings (Judges 6:13), command (Judges 6:15), promise (Judges 6:17), and asked for multiple signs (Judges 6:36 and 39). If God had changed His directions to the man of God, the man of God could have asked for a sign.
1 Kings 13:33 — The danger is thinking that ministry is something that is just a wish, not a God-given desire (1 Timothy 3:1). This desire comes from delighting in the LORD (Psalm 37:4).
Acts 9:27 — God is pleased with those who intercede to make peace between His followers.
Acts 9:38 — Oh, to inspire the admiration that Dorcas had! People wanted her alive again! It reminds me of the funeral where the husband, Herman, was being remembered, and as they took out the casket, the pallbearers bumped the door. All of a sudden they heard a groaning. The bump had woken the presumably dead husband out of his paralyzed comatose state. Several years passed, and the husband was taken up for dead once again. After the funeral as the pallbearers took up the casket, the wife urgently yelled out to them, “Watch the door this time!” Be a Dorcas, not a Herman.
Psalm 132:12 — The Davidic Covenant was unconditional (2 Samuel 7:16). But the descendant covenant was conditional as we see here. Jeremiah 22:30 shows how the curse of Jeconiah was warned against in our passage here.
Proverbs 17:6 — Like the grandparent said, “If I had known grandchildren were so much fun, I would have had them first!”
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