I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
God appeared to Solomon to respond to his prayer of dedication. God told Solomon that He would watch over the Temple because it had become dear to His heart. However, if the people of Israel failed to faithfully follow His commands, God would make them an object of mockery and ridicule. If that happened (and it did), those who passed by the Temple would ask themselves why God had done such things to the Temple and the people. The Temple would then stand as a symbol of what happens to those who rebel against God.
In a previous post I had observed that I believe that King David’s governing philosophy and the source of his power was his protecting of the merchant caravans which traveled through that area of the world from bandits, even when those bandits ruled local lands. I believe that Solomon took that one step further and sponsored the merchant caravans and shipping concerns. This passage certainly suggests that Solomon set himself up as the center of a vast trading empire.
Word of Solomon’s wisdom spread through the trade missions he sent out. The Queen of Sheba heard of his wisdom and came to learn if he was as wise as the stories she had heard claimed. She came and asked questions of Solomon. We are not told what sort of questions she asked, but she was impressed both by his answers and by the sumptuousness of Jerusalem. The passage goes on from there describing the great wealth which Solomon acquired.
When word reached Jerusalem about people in Samaria being baptized, the rest of the Apostles sent Peter and John to Samaria. When Peter and John arrived in Samaria, they prayed for the Holy Spirit to descend upon these new believers. Then they laid their hands upon them and they received the Spirit. Simon the former magician saw what they did and was impressed. He offered Peter and John money to give him the power to lay hands on people and cause them to receive the Holy Spirit. Peter rebuked Simon in very strong terms for thinking that God’s gift could be bought. Simon immediately responded by begging Peter to pray to the Lord for him, so that he might not suffer punishment for his presumption. There are stories that Simon the Magician went on to be an opponent of Peter, but none of them are based on first century accounts. For my part, I believe that Simon was at this point a former magician and that he took Peter’s rebuke to heart.
Some time after this, although not very long after, the Spirit directed Philip to take the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. As he was traveling that road, he came upon a chariot carrying the official in charge of the Ethiopian treasury. The official was returning home after worshiping God in Jerusalem. He was reading aloud from the book of Isaiah. The Spirit directed Philip to approach the chariot. When Philip got close he heard the official reading. Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading. The official responded by asking how he could without someone to explain it. He then invited Philip to join him in his chariot.
Philip accepted the official’s invitation and began to explain the Gospel, starting with the passage which the official had been reading. Shortly the Ethiopian official saw that they were passing near a body of water and requested that Philip baptize him. They stopped the chariot and got down. Philip then baptized the official. Immediately, the Spirit of God carried Philip away from there and the Ethiopian official never saw him again. This story offers us a model that I think we should follow more often. At the first opportunity after the Ethiopian official’s confession of faith, Philip baptized him. He did not wait for him to go through a properly approved process and get vetted by the Church authorities. Not only that but it was one believer baptizing another. Philip did not say that they needed to find an appropriately ordained member of the clergy.
The psalmist says that he calls on the Lord from the depths of despair. I will certainly do that, but do I call on the Lord when times are good? OR do I forget God when things are going well for me? I will certainly agree with the psalmist when he says that if God kept track of all of my sins, I would not be able to survive. However, God does not keep track of all of our sins, rather He offers us forgiveness for our sins, so that we might live to learn to fear Him. Once we learn to fear the Lord, we will fear no one and nothing else. If we fear the Lord we will also be able to count on Him to redeem us from every sin.
Fire is used to purify silver and gold, in a similar manner God purifies our hearts by passing us through difficult times. I will strive to be joyful in times of difficulty because I know that God is using those experiences to make me a better servant to Him.