Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Bible Reading Challenge Week 20 Day 2

Our reading challenge for the day is 1 Kings 16-20. I’ll hit a few highlights. You make comments too and fill in the gaps. What strikes you as specially significant?

1 Kings 16 - The way the kings of Israel were destroyed should have served as a warning. Yet king after king comes to a bad end. These kings die for their sins. How merciful it is that God in Christ died for the sins of all the world and applies that forgiveness to all who believe. We do not die in our sin, but Jesus, God’s own Son, does.

1 Kings 17 - We are introduced to Elijah, one of the great non-writing prophets. What parallels do we find between Elijah’s miracles and those of Jesus? Here we see provision of food as a foreshadowing of raising the son from the dead.

1 Kings 18 - God has preserved a remnant even in Samaria, the seat of power in Israel. not only is Elijah there but there are also other faithful prophets. God preserves his people where we least expect to find them. In Elijah’s confrontation of the priests of Baal God shows he is the one who is living and powerful. Do we look to the mighty and living God or do we trust in something of our own making?

1 Kings 19 - We see that Elijah is no hero. He is just a prophet. God is the hero. Without the Lord’s calling and anointing Elijah or any prophet is just like everyone else. How do we treat our pastors? They aren’t heroes. Only our Lord is the hero.

1 Kings 20 - God even uses unrighteous Israel and Ahab against Syria. What does this say about the idea that success demonstrates godliness?

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