July 7 (Tuesday) -- Their Throat Is an Open Grave

A bunch of begats: 1 Chronicles 4:5-5:17

More on Paul’s trail: Acts 25:1-27

Throat like a grave: Psalm 5:1-12

Offended like a barred gate: Proverbs 18:19


You know, David had to go through a lot of mess. A lot of folks wanted to kill him, at different times in his life.

And in today’s Psalm he pleaded with God to help him from his enemies’ attacks. Yet he wasn’t talking about the sword. He was talking about their words.

Verse 6 has “those who tell lies”. Verse 9 has “not a word from their mouth can be trusted”. That same verse has, “their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit.”

We, as Christians, need to watch what we say about others. It’s not our place to stir up a bunch of mess toward people, even if they’ve done us wrong.

July 6, 2009

July 6

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1 Chronicles 2:18-4:4

Acts 24:1-27

Psalm 4:1-8

Proverbs 18:16-18

Luke (the author of Acts) seems very interested in giving us a lot of details about Paul's trial here.  I believe that one thing that is going on is his desire to show that, just like Jesus, Paul is very much falsely accused of breaking the Jewish law in following the way of Jesus. Following after Jesus in no way breaks with the Old Testament, breaks in no way with what it means to be an Israelite, to be of the people of God. As Paul talks with Felix during the trial, he speaks of the coming judgment, the judgment that will be righteous and completely true. This makes Felix nervous and he really mostly wants to have nothing to do with Paul, kind of like Pilate in Jesus' trial. He keeps Paul in prison as a favor to the Jews. He is working out of pleasing man and not pleasing God.  As the Psalmist spoke of in a passage from last week, God is more to be trusted than earthly princes, earthly judges, who make bad choices and who will one day die and be no more. God's law remains forever and his people will be righteous before his throne.

July 5, 2009

July 5

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1 Chronicles 1:1-2:17

Acts 23:11-35

Psalm 3:1-8

Proverbs 18:14-15

Jesus let his disciples know before he went to be with the Father, that they would themselves experience persecution as he himself had. A servant is not greater than a master. Paul is displaying this very persecution here. The Jewish leaders were adamant about holding back Paul, who was powerfully preaching the gospel all over the Mediterranean world.  40 of the Jewish leaders pledged to not eat or drink until they had killed Paul. As they were preparing an ambush, Paul learns of the plot and has the Roman guards who were holding him captive to take him somewhere safe. Though Paul is in danger, God is always with him, he is always in control of the situation.

July 4, 2009

July 4

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2 Kings 23:31-25:30

Acts 22:17-23:10

Psalm 2:1-12

Proverbs 18:13

When reading Acts it is important to always keep in mind the great commission. The Great Commission is the speech Jesus gives to the disciples at the end of the gospel of Matthew to spread the good news of salvation to all the earth. He also says here that "I will be with you always". God is always with us and we need him especially when we are bringing his good news to the world. Sometimes this is challenging, as Paul here sees, there are many people who don't trust Paul because of his past or who outright don't like what he has to say, but in this section of Acts we see God constantly comforting, encouraging, reassuring Paul.  With God's presence Paul is able to stand up to his accusers, pointing out their hypocrisy and blindness. 

July 3, 2009

July 3

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2 Kings 22:3-23:30

Acts 21:37-22:16

Psalm 1:1-6

Proverbs 18:11-12

After reading the final Psalm, a call for all to praise God in any way that we can we

rewind back to the first Psalm.  Where that chapter summed up the entirety of Christian

living, this opening Psalm is like a jumping off point. That's a good way of thinking of

the Psalms, a guidebook for the Christian life as it is expressed in song. There may be

certain songs that mean a lot to you in your life, songs that say something special about

how you look at yourself, God, your family, your friends. This opening Psalm points us

to the pathway of Christ. This Psalms shows us that it is not blessed to sit in a council

of men who don't fear God, but it is blessed instead to meditate on God's word, to live

in the light of his salvation and revelation. This is like a tree planted next to a river,

a tree with a good source of life. 

July 2 -- Cymbals are cool!

Reversing the shadow: 2 Kings 20:1-22:2

Away with him! Acts 21:18-36

Praise him with cymbals: Psalm 150:1-6

Slackers are working for destroyers: Proverbs 18:9-10


Today I want to blog about the passage from 2nd Kings. If you recall, Hezekiah was a king of Judah who flat out loved the Lord. Hezekiah had no sons. For anybody living in that part of the world at that time, dying with no kids was the worst shame you could have. The idea was that you must be a really horrible person to be cursed with being childless. Add to that the fact that Hezekiah as a king and had no son to pass the throne too. This was no doubt part of Hezekiah’s desperation in his praying to God.

Then something kinda cool happened – God heard Hezekiah’s prayer & healed him! I say “kinda” because it may not have been the best thing. You see, because God healed Hezekiah, Hezekiah went on to have a son, who grew up to betray the Lord & even encourage others in his kingdom to do the same. Amon even sacrificed his own son, Hezekiah’s grandson, to the fire god. I bet if Hezekiah had forseen what God did, he would have prayed a prayer that was more of “Your will be done”, than “please, oh please save me.”

Martin Luther once said, “"Blessed is he who submits to the will of God; he can never be unhappy. Men may deal with him as they will...; he is without care; he knows that 'all things work together for good' for him"”

July 1 -- hook in the nose

Hooked by the nose: 2 Kings 18:13-19:37

Ready to be bound or die for the Lord: Acts 21:1-17

Let the saints rejoice in his honor: Psalm 149:1-9

Gossip is like food: Proverbs 18:8


When I read stuff like in Acts 21, I can’t help but think about how cushy our lives are in America. We have no persecution for being a Christian, especially in Alabama. But Paul was willing to do whatever the Holy Spirit guided him to do for the Lord, even though it meant his life would be in danger.

I believe our country is slowly heading towards a day when Christians will be persecuted. If it happens in our lifetimes, I’d like to think we’d have enough spiritual mettle to stand up for the Lord with a no-matter-what, no-matter-who kind of ‘tude.

But the million dollar question is: why don’t we go ahead and stand up for the Lord now, when it doesn’t hurt us?