For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
We should embrace the signs of aging rather than attempt to hide them. They are signs that we have experience from which we have learned (believe me, if you have not learned from your experience, that will show as well). It is a good thing to take chances in life where we think the possible benefits outweigh the possible risks. However, we need to remember that we do not control how those things turn out, that is decided by God. Which supports the proverb preceding it. We are better off patiently waiting for God to present us an opportunity than being powerful enough that we think we can force things to go our way.
I have found this psalm to be true, the more I follow God’s ways the more joy I have in my life. As I keep His commands and put doing His will at the forefront of my actions the more I enjoy the things which God brings my way.
Stephen continues to tell his story, the story of the people of Israel. However, now he starts to make the point he is working towards. He points out how the ancestors of the people present that day had rejected Moses and turned from God. He goes on to point out that while the Temple was a place to worship God, God does not live just there. God is not limited to the Temple. A secondary point Stephen was making was that those who controlled the Temple neither controlled God, nor did they control access to God.
This is a lesson we must remember today. Those who control our congregations and denominational bodies do not control access to God. When they begin to get in between people and God, God will go around them. He will marginalize them, just as He did with the priests and mainstream religious leaders of Stephen’s day. Whatever our position today, whether one of leadership or not, let us strive to facilitate others coming to God and hearing His voice, rather than trying to be intermediaries translating His words for them.
At the end of yesterday’s passage we learned that Solomon spent seven years on the project to build the Temple. At the beginning of today’s passage we learn that he spent thirteen years on the project to build his own palace. This seems to reflect the sort of misplaced which led to the division of the kingdom upon Solomon’s death. While Solomon used his position as king of Israel to bring glory to God, he spent even more time in an attempt to bring glory to himself.