Isaiah 57
To me, one of the most wonderful things about God is that He isn’t a snob. No matter who we are, no matter where we’ve come from, no matter what we’ve done, when God looks at us, He sees one of His precious children. There is nothing in Him that is aloof or standoffish. He has no interest in maintaining a pecking order in His creation. He will stoop to relate to His creatures anywhere, anytime.
Isaiah 14
In this chapter of Isaiah, we get a glimpse of Lucifer and the insane road he traveled which led him to total destruction: “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.” (vs 12-15)
Psalm 41
Here was, to me, one of the most interesting parts of this chapter: “Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food, has turned against me.” (vs 9)
Does that remind you of anything? It’s pretty much what Jesus said to Judas during the Last Supper (Matt 26:23). And that wasn’t the first time this happened to God. A long time ago, a former friend of His in heaven betrayed Him and started a war (Rev 12:7-9). It seems that God is no stranger to betrayal.
Psalm 15
In English, when we say that somebody is “above board,” it means that they deal completely honestly and fairly with others. Ironically, its origins are from the gambling world: In a card game, if a person put their hand “below the board” (sideboard was a common word for table), it was easier for them to cheat. Keeping their hand “above board” ruled out the option of dishonesty.
Esther 10
In the New International Version of the Bible, the tenth chapter of Esther bears this heading: The Greatness of Mordecai. With such a title, it’s surprising that the chapter is so short. Just three verses! But the third verse is of particular interest: "Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews." (vs 3)
Esther 3
My, my. What a startling portrait of insecurity in the third chapter of Esther: "When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes." (vs 5-6)
Nehemiah 11
Once the temple and the walls had been rebuilt, Jerusalem was in need of a population. But it seems like there weren’t too many people eager to live there. The beginning of chapter 11 tells us how the city was settled: "Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten of them to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. The people commended all who volunteered to live in Jerusalem." (vs 1-2)
Nehemiah 5
It is an interesting trend in our culture that we value rights over responsibilities. Just ask yourself how often you hear language such as "It’s my right!" as opposed to "That’s my responsibility." In fact, we even like to use the smokescreen of "rights" to shirk responsibility. But this is the opposite of what God is like. He values responsibilities over rights.
Nehemiah 2
This chapter, for me, held another stunning example of what God is like, as observed in the actions of His ambassador Nehemiah. After hearing about the state of things in Jerusalem, Nehemiah had prayed to God that restoration would come to that great Israelite city. He determined that, at some time, he would have the opportunity to speak to the king about what was on his heart.
Nehemiah 1
When I was growing up, Bette Midler’s song From a Distance was popular on the radio. Perhaps you remember the last line of the chorus: God is watching us from a distance. I think this is how a lot of people see God—as some sort of distant, unengaged Deity who doesn’t really care about the day-to-day lives of His creatures. He may be up there, and He may be running things, but He certainly doesn’t have time for the "little people."
By the time Jesus came,
the office of the high priest
was highly sought after,
often secured by bribery
and fraud
and murder.
The position had become
synonymous with
power
and prestige
and an opulent life.
But it was never meant to be that way.
The high priest was supposed to be
the one man in Israel
most like God:
consecrated to a life of service
sold out to truth
dedicated to all things right
his only luxury
the burden of bearing the beloved
forever close to his heart.
2 Chronicles 33
It’s kind of hard to believe that—after seeing such a wonderful example of a king in his father, Hezekiah—Manasseh could be so wicked. He virtually reversed every good thing his father had done during his reign. However, maybe that’s what happens when a twelve-year-old becomes a king! Can you imagine putting a teenager in charge of a country? Mercy!
2 Chronicles 5
I heard this quip recently: Wanna hear God laugh? Tell Him your plans. I’ve heard that before, and it always makes me chuckle (although I do believe that God wants to hear what’s on our minds). But I think it’s true that we sometimes have our days and weeks planned out so intricately that we forget about God and the plans He has for us. And even if we remember, often we try to somehow fit His plans into the plans we already made for ourselves.
2 Chronicles 2
After Solomon became king, the first thing he set out to do was build a temple for God. As you might remember from the story in 1 Kings, Solomon enlisted the help of Hiram king of Tyre for building materials and skilled craftsmen. He wanted the temple to be the most glorious, most elaborate sanctuary ever built for a god on the face of the Earth—and indeed it was.
1 Chronicles 29
1 Chronicles 29 recounts the story of David’s "passing the baton" to his son Solomon. In his final speech, he challenged Solomon and the people to remain true to the Lord, and then there was a large celebration with music, feasting, and joy. But tucked away into the description of the festivities was, I thought, a very important lesson about God.
1 Chronicles 3
I am generally amused by one of the accusations leveled at Jesus: He is a friend of sinners. The Pharisees saw Jesus associating with people of "dubious" reputation (according to them), and they couldn’t stand it. They despised those people, so in their paradigm, their God should also despise those people.
2 Kings 22
After years of evil-doing kings in Judah, the chief priest found the Book of the Law in the temple. Apparently, it had been lost—either accidentally or intentionally. Either way, when Josiah (the new king) heard what was in the Book of the Law, he was quite distraught. He tore his robes and wept.
1 Kings 7
Well, now that King Solomon has built a temple for the Lord, he decides to continue building. After all, it’s important for him to have a place to live, right? Perhaps if he hadn’t made his palace so big, he wouldn’t have felt the need to fill it up with 1000 women! But, for me, the size of Solomon’s palace was the interesting thing in this chapter. Given its dimensions, did you realize that Solomon’s palace was more than four times larger than the temple He built for God?
