One Way

Today I read 2 Samuel 6. This is when David and all of Israel are bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. The first time is a failure (the dude touches the Ark and dies, David gets spooked, and lets some other guy take care of it for a while), but I focused my study on the second part of the chapter, when they're bringing it in again the right way. It says that David danced before the Lord (and subsequently all of Israel) with "all his might". There were shouts, and trumpets, and other musical instruments blaring, I'm sure. Then David began "leaping and dancing" in celebration and thankfulness before the Lord. Not only is David held in honor by the people for this whole-hearted display (as we find out later in the chapter), but David also blesses the people by giving them all food. However, David's wife Michal (Saul's daughter), despises and condemns David for his dancing, saying that he made an utter fool of himself before the people....

For a couple of reasons, I decided to do a study on the feeding of the five-thousand. Did you know that it's one of the few stories that is in all four Gospels? Neither did I till this past week! It can be found in Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, and John 6. So far I've taken notes on the accounts in Matthew and Mark, and plan on studying the Luke and John accounts in the next few days. To set the scene (put things in context), John the Baptist has just been beheaded, and the disciples have just returned from their "missions trip" of casting out demons. Jesus decides that they all need a little rest, so they slip away in a boat to just chill. The people recognized Jesus, however, and the account in Mark says they literally ran to go see him. So they (Jesus and disciples) get to this remote place, hoping to have some quiet time, when these thousands of people show up! At this point, I would be pretty frustrated, as I'm sure the disciples were. John just died, so I...

This morning I was going to read a few Psalms that involved praise and nature (I was sitting outside on our back porch), and then jump back into my study of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Weeeeeeell, let's just say I figured out pretty quickly you can't just read a few Psalms, and then move on, at least, not with the Psalm I read. Psalm 19 is a beautiful Psalm, and is well known by it's first line, "The heavens declare the glory of God…" and so forth. The last verse is also quite memorable, but I didn't realize it was in the same Psalm… Psalm 19:14-- "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." That verse really stuck with me, and I thought, "Okay, now I can't go on without a bit of further study here." But what about this verse should I study, I thought, for there are a few different key words--words, mouth, meditation, heart, pleasing, Rock, Redeemer. ...

This morning I did something a little different in my quiet time. The idea must have been Spirit given, because when I woke up and walked out of my room, I knew what I had to do. As you know, I've been reading in 2 Kings lately, and have been seeing how Hezekiah and Josiah smashed down false idols and altars. I asked the question, "What are the idols in our own hearts?" Although I asked this question, I didn't really do anything about it. I knew I had idols in my heart (things that maybe I don't  necessarily hold above God, but at least on par with Him), but I was afraid to look. So this morning, I knew what I had to do. I would dig deep, and write down the list of my idols. First, though, I needed to prepare the scalpel that would undertake this surgery…the Word of God: Habakkuk 2:18 - "Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that can not speak....

This morning I read in 2 Kings chapter 23--all about Josiah King of Judah, son of Amon, grandson of Manasseh--a HORRIBLE king--and great-grandson of Hezekiah. Josiah is the one who became king at 8 years old, found the Book of the Covenant, and did some pretty awesome idol bashing! He even went a step farther than Hezekiah and went into Israel (who were in captivity at this point), and took out their old idols/high places/priests/etc! Josiah is described similarly to Hezekiah-- "Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did--with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength..." (2 Kings 23:25a) That's pretty serious! However, even after all Josiah did, God's anger (incited by Manasseh) did not cool down this time. But God did promise that Josiah would not see the destruction of Judah in his lifetime. In the end, Josiah was killed in a battle with Pharaoh Neco. Josiah is an amazing role model to any...

The past couple days I've been reading in 2 Kings about Hezekiah and the kings just before and after him. Hezekiah was king in some pretty difficult times. Israel had just been deported to Assyria, and the Assyrians are now sitting on Judah's doorstep. The first question I asked when reading about Hezekiah is, how did he turn out so good?!?!? His father, Ahaz, was an extremely wicked man. Back in 2 Kings chapter 16, Ahaz is described as follows: "...he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire..." (2 Kings 16:3) And yet in chapter 18, Hezekiah is described as a man who "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done." (2 Kings 18:3) He removes high places, smashes altars, cuts down idols, and followed the Law given to Moses. In short, "Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among a...