The One Year Bible - Day 194

David had learned his lesson from the first time he tried to move the ark and Uzziah reached out to steady it and ended up dead. God had told them that the ark was to be carried on poles by Levites who would have done all the necessary preparation and not on a wagon pulled by Oxen, funny how we think we don't always think that God knows what He is talking about. If God says it, it is important! God doesn't say pointless things. It is easy for us to do the same thing with what the Bible says, to dismiss the bits we don't like or don't agree with.

The One Year Bible - Day 193

We are counting all these warriors that have chosen to fight for David and it is easy to miss what it says about the tribe of Issachar: "All these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take". What a great thing to be said of someone. It is akin to being prophetic and saying that somebody can see more than the physical and emotional and can actually see the reality of the situations they are in. There are those in the church who can see through nonsense that sometimes happens in churches although they are sometimes labelled as trouble makers and people who are not encouraging enough!

The One Year Bible - Day 192

We read again today about the amazing exploits of David's mighty men. It is interesting that although David was obviously all-round good and Godly, some of these people excelled in fighting more so than David himself. A single man who killed 300 with a spear in a single battle! It makes me think that in churches where the main leader might be known as a good all-rounder but where individuals are more gifted than that leader in perhaps every field - the difference between a specialist and a general practitioner. The question is whether we give those people the chance to use their gifts since they are not the main leader!

The One Year Bible - Day 191

We have a slight confusing set of passages today as the first talks about exile to Babylon even though this is much too early on for the full exile that occurs when Israel is attacked by the Babylonians and everyone is taken prisoner. This must therefore refer to an earlier smaller exile that we read about in Kings when the Babylonians attacked Judah and took prisoner the people who lived there. What is strange is that at this point, the kingdom had not even divided, remember that Saul was the first king of Israel! Your homework therefore is to work out what is going on here!

The One Year Bible - Day 190

We read about various tribes of Israel and their descendants. I've never really compared the numbers but one of the wonderful things is that they are not considered equal in size or skills or relevance to what God is doing. Life is not about equality, it is about being faithful with what you have, whether much or little.

The One Year Bible - Day 189

"They cried out to God during the battle and He answered their prayer because they trusted Him"
This is easy to agree with but in reality, our attitude needs to be more than just, "Oh yeah, God supplies what we need" but we need a much more fully surrendered helplessness before God. If we don't have that, then we are presuming that God only needs to top up the areas we are weak in rather than to provide everything from the ground up.

The One Year Bible - Day 188

1 Chronicles 4 and we read of Jabez. There was quite a famous book called the "prayer of Jabez" which is perhaps drawing quite a lot from 2 verses but think about his prayer. Does your attitude match his prayer? Does your heart want God to expand your spiritual territories? I'm not sure about the keep me from trouble and pain bit but it appears that God honoured an honourable man. At the end of the day, it is a matter of whether we consider God a necessary burden in our lives or as the source of all blessing.