2
Chronicles 14-16
These three chapters are all about Asa. He was a great king
who we hardly got to know in 1 Kings 15. As you read these chapters, take care
to think about the time markers that the Spirit is giving. What we're reading
here is both amazing and awful. Asa, like David, is someone you would want to
be like, or name your son after. Yet, like David, he fell. What is frightening
is that the kings will all "fall" differently, and it will look like
something we are just as prone to do. They will have great faith when they are
young, but when they are older, established, secure and strong, something will
tempt them and they'll give in. David gave into dishonesty and adultery.
Solomon gave in to stuff, pleasure and finally idolatry. So here's your job.
Figure out what it was that shook Asa.
2 Chronicles 14
Vs. 1-8 The mentioning of time and years is the key to
understanding this section. They are not here by accident. This is Asa’s first
act of devotion and it established him as a godly king. Notice the mention of
Asa leading the people to seek God and notice that it was God who gave him
peace. You wonder why he spent so much of his energy fortifying the land when
it was God who was helping him. Ironically, none of Asa’s military
strengthening would help him regarding the challenge he was about to face. This
is good to consider.
What would you say is the strength of Asa?
Vs. 9-15 No other king ever faced an army this big. In spite
of his military might, it was small compared to the million men who came
against him. Yet, Asa’s victory came through the Lord, and Asa had faith to cry
out to God.
V. 13 I'll bet it was like Christmas, but the gift God gave
Asa was a Wal-Mart.
2 Chronicles 15
Again, do you see what God required and what Asa did? (Vs.
2, 12-13) Asa was a great man and this is what defined his walk with God and
his leadership. I’m sure Ezra wants Israel to see this.
Vs. 1-7 This is God's promise and blessing to Asa. Asa
responded well because he was a man of deep faith. Notice that with God’s
promise there is also a warning. I’m sure Ezra wanted Israel to see this too.
It is sobering to think that in most of the places God has
warned people, they did exactly what He warned them against. He knew they would
fall in a hole. That should have given God’s warnings an even greater
significance.
Vs. 8-15 This is now the second time Asa cleansed the land.
What is amazing is v. 9. People in the northern kingdom were drawn by Asa’s
devotion and by God’s blessing on the land. I’m sure that this is what God
always had in mind. The godly people of all lands would be drawn to Israel.
Vs. 16-19 This was Asa’s third cleansing. Notice that v. 17
says that Asa was wholly true to the Lord all of his life. Hold that thought.
V. 19 This note is important, and in order to figure out
what happens next, you need to understand how long Asa had lived in peace and
blessing without a fight. How long was it between fights? Asa had peace for 10
years and then there was a huge challenge. Then there was peace until his 35th
year, meaning that from one challenge to the next there were 25 years of peace.
The question is, did his faith grow in that peace or did peace make him weak
and sloppy?
2 Chronicles 16
Vs. 1-6 This seems like a shrewd move, but it wasn't. Asa
was aggravated and threatened. He didn't seek God. This new threat shook him,
irritated him and got him mad. He figured out a way to get even and it was
sweet and tricky and it worked. And it was without God.
Vs. 7-9 This is the verdict and it scares me to read it
because I can see me doing something like this. When he was young and the
threat was great, Asa had outstanding faith and received a great reward. Now,
25 years later (or 15 if a scribe messed up), he reacts in rage and trickery
and doesn't seek God. There are lots of possibilities here as to what motivated
him, but the result is the same.
V. 9 is a famous verse. Who would have guessed it came as
God's judgment on a formerly faithful king?
Vs. 10-14 Asa got mad at God, took it out on the prophet and
hurt some of the godly people, I presume, who tried to get him to see reason.
And then for at least two years nothing happened. God didn’t punish him. Why
not? It looks to me like God wanted to test Asa's heart. If there weren't an
immediate punishment, would Asa come to Him, seek Him? Also, notice the
prophet’s name. You’ll meet his son in 2 Chronicles 19.
Vs. 12 is a terrible commentary to Asa's anger and
stubbornness. The seeking of God, that had been the mark and strength of his
faith when he was young, was gone. When he was younger he had the faith to lead
Israel against the largest army ever named in the OT. But after years of peace,
when he was older, the frustration of a smaller, incessant irritation drove him
to forget God and make an agreement with the ungodly to punish his enemy.
Now, knowing all of this, what did God and Ezra mean by
saying that Asa remained wholly true all his days? It seems to me that although
Asa got mad at God, he never went after other gods. He grew bitter and
backslidden, but he never worshiped anyone but Yahweh.
As disciples, regardless of our acts of faith and obedience
in the past, it is possible, in our comfort, to suddenly become enraged at
something small and persistent that shreds our faith and our desire to seek
God. I have heard of godly people saying and doing the most ungodly and
unspiritual things to office clerks and family members over small, frustrating
things. As disciples we need to keep our hearts before the Lord, always
following and working in the harvest, aware of what the Spirit is showing us
about ourselves. Sin is always dangerous. We always need to submit to God in
the unexpected events that plague us and to seek God.
Romans
9:1-21
So, what is this change of topic all about? Did Paul think,
"I'll write eight chapters about salvation by faith and then eight
chapters about something else?" When you read this section today, you have
to wonder.
It seems to me that all of Romans has to do with the
redemptive plan of God. Chapters 1-8 describe one purpose of God and one way to
salvation and completion in Him. Chapters 9-11 describe one plan of God
involving two peoples, the Jews and the church, and how these are distinct and
yet still one plan. God didn't make a first trial and then come up with a
better idea. Chapters 12-16 don't present any problem. They are practical
chapters dealing with issues in the Roman church.
Chapters 9-11 expose a misunderstanding in the thoughts of
some people. How could God begin the plan of redemption one way and then finish
another way? Paul will show it was always one plan, and that Israel, the
nation, will fulfill its destiny. Chapter 9 presents the biggest problem to our
understanding; because Paul gets in the face of those who are "large of
brain" and argumentative, basically saying to them, "Who are you to
try to out-think God and tell Him what He does is unfair?" Remember those
words back in Romans 3:4b, That you may
be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. God will come
out righteous and fair. In chapter 9 Paul and the Spirit sound hard, but this
will soften by the end of chapter 11. These arguments here, though hard to
understand at first, are God’s way of smoking out the arrogant and telling them
to submit themselves and their understanding of the things to a wise, sovereign
God. That is the same argument God used on Job and his friends.
Vs. 1-5 Paul will show that God’s plan with the Jews did not
fail in spite of what people thought. Notice that when he uses the word belong, it is still the present tense.
These things still belong to the Jews.
Vs. 6-13 This is an interesting argument. When I read it, I
thought, "Yeah, that's right." Abraham had Ishmael and Isaac had
Esau. They were all descendants of Abraham, but did not belong to the promise.
V. 13 You have to understand OT history to understand this.
God didn't dislike Esau because he was hairy or chewed with his mouth open.
This has nothing to do with "love" in the emotional sense. Actually
the quote is from the first chapter of Malachi. Both nations sinned against
God. Both were taken into exile. Only one nation returned. Guess which one. Why
did it return: God was faithful to His purpose and calling as promised to
Abraham. It was all a part of God's eternal plan of redemption. If you really
want to see this up close and personal, go back to Genesis and read about Esau.
He was his own raw kind of person, but God still blessed Esau. He just wasn’t a
man of faith in the promise.
This is not saying that the church and Israel are the same
because of faith. As seen in chapter 4, a true Jew not only had the blood
connection to Abraham, but also had the faith connection to Abraham.
V. 14 The question here has to do with unfairness in God’s
calling and use of people. This is definitely a deep subject. The immediate
subjects are Esau and then Pharaoh, but it will extend to the nation of Israel
in a few verses. The only real answer Paul will give is that a person ought to
trust God and not question His integrity. In essence, this is the same answer
God gave to Job.
Vs. 15-21 This break at v. 21 is unfortunate. Keep reading
to v. 24 to keep the thought together.
Vs. 15-16 What is said here needs to be understood along
with God’s love and wisdom. There is no injustice on God’s part, but there
might be a lot we don’t understand.
Vs. 17-18 Pharaoh hardened his own heart and God then
hardened his heart. God used this arrogant man for His purposes.
Vs. 19-21 The key to understanding what Paul is saying here,
and what balances this argument, is v. 20. This is exactly what Job did. He
questioned God. We know from the book of Job that many things were going on
around Job and behind the scenes. God’s answer to Job is simply to trust His
wisdom, and Job shut his mouth and declared God righteous.
The thought to keep in mind is that God doesn't create
anyone just to go to hell, but God can use those who resist Him for His own
ends. We have too much Scripture telling us that God is good and doesn't desire
anyone to be lost.
I think the way to understand this is by God's
foreknowledge, mentioned in chapter 8. God knows who will come to Him and who
won't. (For an interesting thought on this read John 6:64.) Once this is known,
God has the right to mold and make and use a person as He wills. We do
something similar. For example, in the past presidential election, guess who
the large prison population in the US voted for: no one. The guilty forfeit
their rights. Why you need those next verses, 22-24, is to see that God uses
these people for His purpose and still shows them incredible patience and
kindness, knowing full well that they will rebel against Him until they die.
That can't be pleasant for a holy, loving God to be scorned and spit on by
those He made and is seeking to save.
A
final thought: When we come to Christ and become disciples, we also give up our
rights to control or to lead our own lives. We live for Him and His glory,
right? We submit to His purpose and His will, knowing that He is wise and
loving and knows what is best. Right? Romans 8:28, again in the RSV, We know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him, who
are called according to His purpose. The real issue is whether we really believe
and trust that God is wise, loving and good. If so, then as disciples we can
lay it all on the altar as we serve our Lord in the harvest.
Psalm
19
It's interesting being in Romans and then reading this
psalm.
Vs. 1-3 sound like Romans 1:19-20.
Vs. 4-6 Believe it or not, Paul will quote v. 4 in Romans 10
to show that the Jews all heard the Word of God.
Vs. 7-14 Think of these verses in terms of what Paul is
saying in Romans 9. Anyone who would accuse God of being unfair in His dealings
with people does not understand God or this time of harvest.
Proverbs
20:1
To make anything an idol is dangerous. God brings trial,
pain, and "pruning" into our lives to show us our need for Him and to
make us stronger in Him. Putting our hope in wine or anything to "escape
and ease the pain or make us forget or cope" is to be led astray. These
things, like all things in submission to God, can be what He designed them to
be. In Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, when Aslan brings
the thaw and allows Bacchus (the Roman God of wine) into Narnia, Lucy remarks
that if it were not for the presence of Aslan, she'd be afraid of Bacchus and
his girls. The same should be true of us.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year
Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't
work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/
and click on “Every
Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those who are
following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple,
following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship
culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging
each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make
disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our
growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here
or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some
explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My
comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on
Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups
will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with
and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the
harvest.
If you would like a complete description of this model
of being and making disciples you can find it in my book: Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is
still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's
keyed to the NIV, so the result is the commentators are constantly telling you
what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in
fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is
encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the
comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding,
that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but
only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like documents containing an entire month
of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download
these to use on your computer or to print.
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