Psalm 40

Tell someone today!
I did not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I spoke about your faithfulness and salvation;
I did not conceal Your constant love and truth from the great assembly.
(Psalm 40:10)

Read it here.

1 Kings 21-22

Today we wrap up our journey through 1 Kings.  Jezebel displays the full splendor of her wickedness.  Her cruelty and Godlessness in unbridled.  And she leads ur unwitting fool of a husband down the path of destruction.

But even wicked Ahab receives mercy from God when he humbles himself.  Clearly no one is beyond the reach of God's compassion.

Read it here.

1 Kings 19-20

The first chapter you'll read has a memorable account of a heroic prophet collapsing in weakness.  But God met him there.  Even the strongest among us is weak and susceptible.  But God knows us and meets us there.

The next chapter continues the saga of King Ahab.  He is weak and faithless.  But God is still at work even in spite of the human leader that is in place.

Read it here.

1 Kings 17-18

Don't miss today's reading.  It is one of the most incredible and memorable in all of the Old Testament.

Today we find the epic story of Elijah who stood for God in the midst of the most wicked of kings, Ahab with his wife, Jezebel.  The light of Elijah's heroic faithfulness stands in stark contrast to the wickedness of the times in which he lived.

May it be true of us!

Read it here.

1 Kings 15-16

Like father, like son.

Abijam walked in all the sins his father before him had committed, and he was not completely devoted to the Lord his God as his ancestor David had been.  (15:3)

Asa did what was right in the Lord's eyes, as his ancestor David had done. ... Asa's heart was completely devoted to the Lord his entire life.  (15:11, 14)

Nadab son of Jeroboam...did what was evil in the Lord's sights and followed the example of his father and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.  (15:25)

And then we have Ahab and Jezebel.  Stay tuned!

Read it here.

1 Kings 13-14

As we begin to toggle between the happenings of Judah and of Israel it is parallel stories of spiritual confusion, apathy, rebellion and judgment.  Yet God always has His true followers to speak on His behalf.

May we find ourselves true to Him no matter what the kingdoms around us are doing.

Read it here.

1 Kings 11-12

King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh's daughter ... and they turned his heart away from the Lord. (11:1-4)

A divided heart in the king resulted in a divided kingdom for God's people.  The people had clamored for a king.  They had begged for a king.  Now God let them have what they wanted and the result was civil war and idolatry.

Read it here.

1 Kings 9-10

Solomon began to rule and prosper.  But with the prosperity he began to evidence a pride-filled heart.  He made allegiances with pagan nations, following in their ways of slavery and inhumanity.  If only Solomon would have stayed faithful to the unmatched wisdom God had given to him.

King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the world in riches and in wisdom.  The whole world wanted an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart. (10:23-24).

Would my heart have been overtaken with pride if I were in his shoes?  I can only imagine!

Read it here.

1 Kings 7-8

Solomon was never confused about one thing - as magnificent as the Temple was, God did not "live" there (in the sense of being contained in those walls).

But will God indeed live on earth?

Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You,

much less this temple I have built.

But it was to represent God and become a focal point of prayer.  Reading his petitions of prayer is inspiring!

Read it here.

1 Kings 5-6

As you read about the detail and the artistic/aesthetic extravagance that went into building the Temple, let your mind imagine what it would have been like to see such magnificence   Then remember that this was nearly 1,000 years before the time of Christ!

The awe that the Temple would have inspired was to be directed toward the One who was worshipped there!

Read it here.

1 Kings 3-4

Solomon asks wisely of God ... "So give Your servant an obedient heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

God answered Solomon in spades ... "God gave Solomon wisdom, very great insight, and understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore."

Let's ask God for an obedient heart and discernment!

Read it here.

1 Kings 1-2

The book of 1 Kings is the sequel to 1 and 2 Samuel.  It begins with David handing the throne to his chosen son, Solomon.  But by the time the book is over, there will be a revolution and a divided kingdom.

There is a lot of bloodshed, even from the beginning.  It was a tumultuous time in the land.  The people had clamored for a king.  Sometimes we should be careful what we ask for!

Read it here.

Isaiah 65-66

Even though many reject the loving outstretched arms of God, some will respond and will be called His people.  And for those who do, there is a great promise of a new heaven and a new earth (just as the final chapters of Revelation promise).

And what is the Lord looking for?  "I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive is spirit, and trembles at My word." (Isaiah 66:2)

Read it here.

Isaiah 62-64

Check out the promise of God's deliverance followed by the prayer of God's people (63:15ff).  It is, in many ways, a model prayer.  Having understood God's promises of both punishment and deliverance, God's people call out to Him for undeserved mercy.  They know that they don't deserve God's favor.  But they appeal to His love for them.

We should do the same!

Read it here.

Isaiah 60-61

When God chooses to restore His people, the description is lavish!  "I will make you an object of eternal pride, a joy from age to age" (60:15).

Do you recall when Jesus went into a synagogue and carefully opened the scroll to read from Isaiah 61:1-2?  But if you look at that passage (Luke 4:16-21) you will notice that Jesus didn't finish the whole passage.  He broke off midway through Isaiah 61:2, right in the middle of a sentence.  Strange.  Or is it?

Jesus very intentionally ended with, "to proclaim the year of the Lords' favor...", rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.  They all just sat and stared at Him.  Then He said, "Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled" (Luke 4:21).  In Jesus' first coming, He brought good news and healing and liberty.  That was His mission and it was being fulfilled before their eyes.

Jesus will take up the scroll and finish the verse one day.  Isaiah 61:2 concludes: "...and the day of our God's vengeance."

Read it here.

Isaiah 58-59

Often we blame God when God seems far away from us.  That is what Isaiah's readers were doing.  But God explains that the root problem is their sin, not him.  They fast and do lots of other religious things, but they don't care for the poor and they don't obey God's commands.  This passage is a great call to repentance, to ask ourselves where we are falling short in these areas and to seek forgiveness and to begin obeying.  In chapter 59 we see that the problems of sin and injustice are rampant, and that ultimately it is God and God alone who will bring justice and salvation.  Read it here.

Isaiah 56-57

One of the themes in Isaiah, is that the good news is good for more than just Israel.  In Isaiah 56 two groups traditionally excluded from worship are given hope: they will be brought to the house of God to worship, they will be invited to join in prayer with God's people.  We are beneficiaries of that promise.  Jesus was frustrated with the people of his day who ignored it and did not take seriously the idea that God's temple was to be a place where all nations would pray to God. The passage then moves to an accusation against those who are wicked, but ends on another note of comfort.  Those who are humble will receive grace.  It is a great reminder that the path to God is always repentance and humility not pride and boasting.  God in chapter 57 sees the sin, yet accepts those who are contrite.  Read it here.

Isaiah 54-55

I don't think it is a coincidence that after presenting us with a vivid account of the good news about Jesus in Isaiah 52-53 that the tone of the book of Isaiah begins to change.  In light of Jesus having suffered for us, God can now reassure us that the day of his wrath toward us is over.  In fact he can invite us to come to him.  Chapter 55 is a beautiful picture of blessing and grace.  When God says that his thoughts are not our thoughts, that we cannot understand his ways, he speaks the truth.  Isaiah himself didn't even understand the full implications of what he was writing.  But God's word was not going to be in vain. His promise to send his servant to suffer and the invitation to return to him that that made possible would surely come to pass, but not for many years and in ways no human could have predicted.  These verses are a great opportunity to begin looking forward to the future blessing we have in Christ and to know that just as God's promise to them came true, so will his promise to us.  Read it here.

Isaiah 52-53

Today we reach the highpoint of the entire Old Testament.  If the whole point of the Old Testament was to prepare us for and point us toward Christ, if Christ himself was the end of the law (Romans 10), if Jesus could open the scriptures and show how they all pointed toward him (Luke 24), then we must delight in Isaiah 52-53.  For the Ethiopian eunuch, the confusion about who the servant was that had been building as he read Isaiah reached its highest point when he got to chapter 53.  This is the last and greatest of the servant songs.  In it we see Jesus described more vividly than anywhere else in the Old Testament, how he bore our transgressions and how he is brought back to life and vindicated by God.  Take time just to worship a God who suffered for us and who has also triumphed for us.  Read it here.

Isaiah 50-51

Today we have another one of the "Servant Songs" in Isaiah.  Do you remember how in the book of Acts the Ethiopian eunuch had been reading from this part of Isaiah and was confused about who it was talking about?  He was confused for a good reason.  Isaiah uses "I" here, so he doesn't seem to be talking about Israel.  In fact in places in these chapters there is a contrast with Israel.  We might think "I" is Isaiah himself, but in places in these chapters the I seems to be God.  But the picture of God as a suffering servant didn't seem to make sense either.  God intended for these verses to be confusing until Jesus would come to fulfil them.  He is the one who allowed himself to be beaten and humiliated.  He is the one who would remove the cup of God's wrath by drinking the cup himself.  Read it here.

Isaiah 48-49

Now the focus shifts back to Israel.  These chapters show the depth of God's love for his people.  On the one hand, he loves them to much to let them go in their sin and rebellion, but on the other hand he will not let them go in captivity, he will free them.   Chapter 49 in particular has a lot of incredible imagery that shows the depths of God's love for his people.  It will be a long time before I can read 49:16 and not remember the drama Cornerstone did about the wood carver.  Read it here.

Isaiah 46-47

In these chapters the focus is on Babylon.  These would have been words of hope to those living in exile under Babylonian rule.  God used Babylon to punish Israel, but God sees its wickedness and will humiliate both it and its gods.  When I read passages like this it is a reminder that whatever powerful forces there are in our day that set themselves up against Jesus Christ will not triumph in the end.  In their day and in ours, God wins.  Read it here.