Skip to main content

bible reading sept 18



Bible reading for September 18. 


2 Samuel 14.


"Now Joab the son of Zeruiah knew that the king's heart went out to Absalom." (2 Samuel 14:1) 


CONFLICTED. Joab is imitating Nathan the prophet (12:1-7), but his counsel was not good. David's dilemma was the result of a long period of neglecting the counsel of God: as king he was not to take multiple wives (he did). He could not have known his children well. As king he should have vindicated his daughter Tamar and brought Amnon to justice (he did not). He is obviously conflicted about Absalom. Does he love his children more than God? Was he over-indulgent or absent as a father, neglecting the godly discipline they needed? Even with the return of Absalom, David is compromising and not dealing with things. 


NICE HAIR. Absalom is a train wreck about to happen. He is winsome, charismatic, handsome. When his long locks were cut once a year, his hair weighed five pounds. He'll soon rank high in the polls and win the hearts of the people. But he is cruel and destructive, seen not only in the murder of Amnon but also in setting Joab's field on fire. He's a bad apple and will soon cause his father much more heartbreak. No one can hurt us like family. 


REFLECT. Sometimes our biggest family problems are of our own making, the result of long periods neglecting the counsel of God. We must ask ourselves, where am I neglecting God's will in order to indulge my family? Am I a good disciplinarian like our Father in heaven? Do I embrace the truth that love + discipline = "the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it" (Heb 12:11)? Our goal should be to love God by loving our children, and vice versa, to love our children by loving God first. 


==============  


2 Corinthians 7.


"I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy." (2 Corinthian 7:4) 


PAUL'S HEART. From time to time people have said to me, "I love Jesus, but I don't really like the Apostle Paul." This, of course, is dealing with caricatures. People read a few things Paul wrote and think, well, he's the brainy theologian who wrote Romans. Or, he's just a rabbi who hated women. Yet, there was probably no one in all of history who was more Christ-like than Paul. The Apostle Paul loved his Lord Jesus supremely and served his people with zeal and passion. He yearned for people to know the Lord and to grow in the Lord. We catch a glimpse of his heart in this chapter. He's emotionally connected to these people: "I rejoice, because I have perfect confidence in you" (v 16). 


GODLY GRIEF. As we saw in today's reading in 2 Samuel above, love means that we care enough to confront. We love God by loving others, and we love others by loving God first. There is a place for reproof in the Christian life, and there is a place for sadness when we realize our sin: "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death" (v 10). The difference for the Christian is, reproof leads us to confess our sin to the Lord and to know his abundant forgiveness. The sadness we may feel at our failures before the Lord is not the final goal. Turning around is the goal. Returning to the Lord is the goal. Knowing afresh his forgiveness, his love, his life, and his good salvation is the goal.


REFLECT. We must ask ourselves from time to time, what am I sad about? Is it leading me to the Lord or to despair? Faith makes the difference. If I am suffering the reproof of the Lord (or of his church), then I should look up and realize this truth: "...he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it" (Hebrews 12:9-11).      


Image credit: photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash. We are following the Robert Murray M'Cheyne (RMM) two-year reading schedule, as arranged by D. A. Carson. Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The NET Bible is a free, online resource, and a ministry of bible.org.

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

clement quotes hebrews

Clement of Rome wrote to the church in Corinth around AD 90.  This is perhaps the same Clement, companion of Paul, mentioned in Philippians 4:3.  Many hold him to be the first bishop / pope in Rome, aka St. Clement I.   Clement quotes from the letter to the Hebrews.  Origin suggested that Clement was in fact the writer (as transcriber or amanuensis) of Hebrews.  Perhaps this letter began as a "word of exhortation" given by Paul at the synagogue (Heb 13:22; cf Acts 13:15) which then became a circular letter for the churches.  Other possible authors of Hebrews include Luke, Barnabas, or Apollos.  The theology is Pauline, but the transcriber is obviously second-generation (Heb. 2:3-4). At any rate, this early church leader in Rome, is already quoting Hebrews in his letter in AD 90:    CHAPTER 36  ALL BLESSINGS ARE GIVEN TO US THROUGH CHRIST This is the way, beloved, in which we find our Savior, even Jesus Christ,  the High Prie...
Post a Comment
Read more

Howard Hendricks on OT books chronology

When I was in seminary, Howard Hendricks (aka "Prof") gave us a little card with the books of the OT chronologically arranged. The scanned copy I have was a bit blurry and I wanted to make something like this available for our church class in OT theology ("Story of Redemption"). A few minor edits and here it is...
2 comments
Read more

sword and trowel

"From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me." (Nehemiah 4:16-18 ESV) The great London preacher, Charles Spurgeon, published a monthly magazine called The Sword and The Trowel; A record of combat with sin and of labour for the Lord. It was published from 1865 to 1892. The cover of the journal had a drawing taken from Nehemiah 4, which included both a trowel (representing the work) and a sword (representing the fight). The sword was necessary to protect what the men with trowels were building. These citizen-soldier-builders would successfully complete the wall aroun...
Post a Comment
Read more