September 19, 2012

"You Have Nothing in Common with Us" (9/19)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Ezra 4-6; Psalm 137.

When the people returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, they received an offer of assistance from an unexpected source – the enemies of Judah and Benjamin.

“Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, ‘Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.’ But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, ‘You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us’” (Ezra 4:1-3).

Were the leaders of the people justified in rejecting this help? After all, these “enemies” did believe in God and offered sacrifices to Him. But just because they believed in the Lord and offered some kind of sacrifices, that did not make them brethren.
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September 18, 2012

Undocumented Priests (9/18)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Ezra 1-3.

We hear people today talk about “undocumented immigrants.” This term refers to immigrants who have come into this country but do not have the necessary papers (documentation) showing that they can legally be here. This has led to a great political debate about what to do with these “undocumented immigrants” – deport them, grant them amnesty, ignore their lack of documentation, etc.

When the Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, they had to deal with another “undocumented” group. Certain priests did not have the appropriate documentation showing their ancestry and, therefore, could not prove that they had a lawful place in the priesthood. Notice what was done with these undocumented priests:

“Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was called by their name. These searched among their ancestral registration, but they could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood. The governor said to them that they should not eat from the most holy things until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim” (Ezra 2:61-63).

Notice a few points about the undocumented priests.
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September 17, 2012

"From the First Day That You Set Your Heart on Understanding" (9/17)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Daniel 10-12.

Daniel received a vision regarding what would happen “in the latter days” (Daniel 10:14). The text indicated that “he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision” (Daniel 10:1). How could he have such an understanding of this revelation? Notice what the messenger told him:

“Then he said to me, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words’” (Daniel 10:12).

From the first day Daniel set his heart, he was heard; and the revelation was sent to him. It is important to notice what he set his heart to do, because these things are necessary if we wish to understand the will of God today.
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September 16, 2012

An Everlasting Kingdom (9/16)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Daniel 7-9.

When we think of prophecies in the book of Daniel regarding the Lord’s kingdom, we typically think of the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2:44-45). But the following passage also speaks of the coming kingdom:

“I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).

There are a few points to notice from this text about the kingdom:
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September 15, 2012

Violating the Law but Committing No Crime (9/15)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Daniel 4-6.

After being delivered from the lions’ den – which was his punishment for praying to the Lord – Daniel declared his innocence before the king.

“My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime” (Daniel 6:22).

Daniel said he was innocent toward the king and had “committed no crime.” But was this accurate? After all, Daniel violated a law that had been signed by the king.Continue Reading

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September 14, 2012

Praise for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego (9/14)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Daniel 1-3.

Daniel’s three friends – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego – were thrown into a fiery furnace for their refusal to bow down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected. After they were miraculously delivered, Nebuchadnezzar offered some praise to these three men.

“Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God’” (Daniel 3:28).

Nebuchadnezzar mentioned four things that these men did that we must be willing to do also if we wish to please God today.
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September 13, 2012

Why the Righteous Do Not Beg

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The psalmist had an interesting observation regarding the state of the righteous and how they were blessed by God.

“I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread” (Psalm 37:25).

This is not to be interpreted as an absolute statement. There may be times when godly people are in such dire straits that they have no other option than to beg. Lazarus was one example of this. We know he was righteous because when he died he was “carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom” to enjoy a place of paradise (Luke 16:22). Yet during life, he was “a poor man…covered with sores” who longed “to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table” (Luke 16:20-21). After he died, because he was righteous, he was “comforted” in a place of paradise (Luke 16:25).

Although there are exceptions, generally speaking, those who are righteous will be far less likely to have to beg than others. Even now when God no longer operates miraculously as He did during Bible times, the psalmist’s statement is generally true. Why is that? There are several reasons we can find in the Scriptures that explain why the righteous, in general, do not beg.
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