For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    If you guarantee a stranger’s debt, make sure that you are able to pay it off. How can you possibly know if they can and will pay the debt themselves?
    Doing wrong may give us a frisson of excitement that we enjoy, but once that has worn off the consequences will be unpleasant.
    If you want your plans to succeed, get good advice. Do not undertake a major risk without first obtaining wise advice.

    If we turn to God when trouble surrounds us, He will turn to us. Let us call out to God, and rely fully upon Him, for rescue from the dangers which overtake us. He will rescue us and protect us. If we do His will, He will not let us be disgraced.

    Paul speaks of his plans to stop in Rome on his way to preach in Spain. We know that he made it to Rome, but that he never went to Spain. This illustrates the importance of remembering that all of the plans we make, no matter how well-intentioned, are subject to change according to the will of God. Paul asks the believers in Rome to pray that the believers in Jerusalem will accept the moneys raised for them by the believers in Greece and Macedonia. This suggests that even then there were those who were willing to sacrifice to meet the needs of others, but were unwilling to accept when others sacrificed for them.

    When Assyria began to invade Judah, Hezekiah strengthened the defenses of Jerusalem. However, he did not point to these defenses, nor to his army, when he encouraged the people of Jerusalem. Rather he pointed to God. He acknowledged that the Assyrian army was more powerful than his own, and that they were capable of breaking down his defenses. However, he publicly proclaimed that God was capable of turning aside even the mighty army of Assyria. The Assyrians, on the other hand, dismissed the possibility that God might be able to stop them from conquering Jerusalem. They did so loudly and publicly, attempting to dishearten both the people in Jerusalem and elsewhere. When the Assyrian army was destroyed and Sennacherib was forced to withdraw from Judah, the surrounding nations recognized God’s power.
    Let us follow Hezekiah’s example. Let us prepare for difficult times, but trust in God to deliver us, not on our own preparations.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    If we spend too much time sleeping, or in other leisure activities, we will end in poverty. Work when the opportunity presents itself and you will have plenty.
    When people are haggling over the price, they will tell the seller that the goods are worthless. Once they have bought them, they will tell everyone how good they are.
    We are better off receiving wise advice than money or precious metals.

    Those who trust in God will not be disgraced. If they follow the path which God lays out for them, their enemies will not triumph over them. God will lead us by His truth down the road which leads us to eternal life and success (as defined by God). God will forgive our sins if we turn to Him and follow His paths. Let me keep my eyes upon the Lord, then I will not fall into the traps laid out for me.

    Paul follows up his injunction (from yesterday’s passage) that we must not be a stumbling block for our fellow believers, by telling us that if we perceive ourselves as strong in the faith we should bear with the failings of those whose faith is weak. Let us not live our lives to please ourselves, but rather to please our fellow believers in order to build them up in their faith.
    Let us ask God to give us unity with our fellow believers and let us live in harmony with them to the degree with which it is in our control. Let us accept our fellow believers, even with their failings, to the same degree which Christ accepted us with our failings. Paul finishes up by writing that he believes those he is writing to already know most, if not all, of what he is writing, but that these were points he thought were worth reminding them about. This is why it is valuable to us to read our Bibles regularly. We may know what is in the Bible well enough to teach others, but we need reminders about some of the things it says.

    Hezekiah decided to celebrate Passover (the passage implies that it had not been celebrated for some time). However, he, his officials, and the community leaders of Jerusalem did not believe that they could be properly purified to celebrate it when it was supposed to be celebrated. So they decided to celebrate it one month later than called for in the Law. Hezekiah sent runners throughout the land inviting the Israelites to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. He sent the runners not just throughout Judah, the land he controlled, but through all of the lands of Israel. Most of the people outside of Judah ridiculed and laughed at Hezekiah’s messengers, but some humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem for the Passover.
    Many of those who came had not properly purified themselves, but Hezekiah recognized that the desire to worship God and return to following Him was more important than getting the forms right. We can learn a lot from what Hezekiah did here. First, he chose to schedule the Passover when they could get ready for it, rather than either do it poorly, or put it off another year. Second, he invited all of those who wanted to come to worship God, not just those who were “the right sort.”

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    No one can truthfully claim to have cleansed themselves of all sin. It is only through the action of God’s Spirit that we can be cleansed and sin removed from our lives. God detests double standards, let us never hold others to a standard we will not attempt to live up to ourselves. Nor should we hold one person accountable for actions we would ignore in another.

    Yesterday we read the first part of this psalm, where the psalmist expressed deep and complete despair. He felt abandoned by God. Today, in the conclusion of the psalm, he expresses his faith in God. He states that he will praise God before the assembled people. When Jesus cited this psalm from the cross, He was citing both the despair of the first part and the faith of this portion.
    God does not ignore the suffering of the needy. He does not consider what we are suffering to be too minor for His concern. He will not turn His back on us, just as Jesus was acknowledging that God had not turned His back on Him. God will listen to the cries for help from those in need. God will provide for the needs of the poor. Those who seek God will discover Him and He will give them joy. The day is coming when the whole earth will acknowledge God.

    This is one of my favorite Bible passages. It contains so much for us to study. Paul tells us to offer up our bodies as living sacrifices to God. We should treat our bodies as Holy and belonging to God. They are not ours to use to bring us pleasure. Our bodies belong to God and should be used to do His will and bring Him pleasure. We should not allow ourselves to conform to the expectations and thought patterns of the world around us. Rather, let us allow God’s Spirit to renew our minds and transform us into God’s image, so that we think and act according to His will.
    Let us not think more highly of ourselves than is appropriate. Seek to honour others rather than seek to be honoured. Look at the gifts which God has given us and exercise those gifts to their fullest extent. Do not pretend to love others, but do so genuinely. Do not think of ourselves as too important to spend time with poor, needy, or otherwise “little” people. We are not too good to associate with them.
    When others wrong us, it is not our place to exact revenge. God has stated that He will pay back those who are so deserving. If anyone has done us wrong, God will extract our revenge. Instead of doing wrong to those who have done us wrong, let us do good to them. Let us show the world that we will not be brought down to its level, but will live according to God’s love.

    Joash became king when he was seven years old. He was put on the throne by Jehoiada, the high priest. For as long as Jehoiada lived Joash served God and was a good king. He was not just a puppet of Jehoiada because we are told that he confronted Jehoiada over his failure to restore the Temple as Joash had ordered. However, Jehoiada’s influence led Joash to consider what God’s will was in all of his decisions. After Jehoiada’s death, Joash came under the influence of advisers whose priority was not serving God. Those advisers led Joash into sin and idolatry. This passage reminds us of the importance of surrounding ourselves with godly companions.

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    Procrastination can lead to problems. Just as there is a time when crops must be planted in order to gain a harvest, so too must many other tasks be completed at the appropriate time or the benefits will be lost.
    Not everyone who can offer us good advice will freely give it, some people do not even know that they have good advice to give us. However, the person with understanding will learn to recognize sources of hidden wisdom and find ways to get those who possess it to share.
    Many people will claim to be a friend who can be relied upon, but you will never be sure who the truly reliable people are until the chips are down.

    If we trust in the Lord He will give us victory. Those who oppose Him will be consumed and destroyed, but God will preserve the life of those who trust in Him.

    Having established that the only route to salvation is through belief in Jesus, Paul then points out some important things. No one can believe in the Gospel unless they hear it. They cannot hear the Gospel unless someone tells preaches it to them. Finally, Paul tells us that no one will preach the Gospel to the unsaved unless someone sends them.
    My experience in the Church is that we seem to have a pretty good understanding of the need for Christians to preach the Gospel to the unsaved. We often have a much less developed understanding of how to do so, but we understand the need. However, I am not so sure we pay enough attention to the final piece of Paul’s message here. Do we seek out those among us who have the gift of preaching the Gospel to the unsaved and commission them to go and preach? I know that when someone feels the call to go and preach to the unsaved, we support them. But, do we find those who have not realized their gifts, or are unsure of their calling, and encourage them to make use of the gifts that we see in them?
    Paul and Barnabas did not decide to go out on their fist missionary journey. The Church in Antioch sent out on that journey. If we go back a little further, it was not Saul who decided he should go to Antioch to help build up the Church there. Barnabas went and brought Saul to Antioch because he recognized that Saul had gifts which the Church in Antioch needed. How will the unsaved be saved if we do not send those God has given the gift to preach the Gospel to them?

    I commented yesterday that Jehoshaphat’s alliance with Ahab led to problems later. Today, we have mentioned that when Jehoshaphat returned from going to war with Ahab a prophet confronted him. The prophet told Jehoshaphat that God was angry with him for allying himself with someone who was wicked. Despite being angry with Jehoshaphat over his alliance with Ahab, God was pleased with the way he ruled his own kingdom.
    Jehoshaphat traveled throughout his kingdom, encouraging the people to faithfully follow the Lord. He appointed judges to judge the various disputes. He instructed the judges to act in an honest manner and to make their judgements in fear of the Lord. Jehoshaphat further instructed the judges to encourage the people to follow God’s laws and not to sin.
    The surrounding nations allied together to make war against Jehoshaphat and the kingdom of Judah. Jehoshaphat was frightened by the size of the army mustered against him. Rather than follow his father’s example and seek an alliance with another nation to defeat his enemies, Jehoshaphat turned to God for guidance. He called on the people of Judah to fast and pray to God. He asked them to come to Jerusalem for a gathering before the Lord. There in front of the gathered people of Judah, Jehoshaphat cried out to God and admitted that he did not know what to do. God sent His Spirit on to one of the men so gathered to prophecy that the army should march forth to meet the enemy, but that they would not need to fight.
    The next morning Jehoshaphat led the army out to battle. He told them that despite the fact that they were facing an overwhelming force, they should believe God’s prophets and trust in Him. He then led the army in songs of praise as they marched into battle. At the same time, that the army of Judah began singing praise to God, the armies of the nations gathered against them turned on one another. By the time the army of Judah arrived at the battlefield, the opposing armies had wiped each other out. Jehoshaphat won a great victory without having to enter into battle at all. As a result of this victory, Jehoshaphat had peace for the rest of his life.