Week of 2/10-2/16: Scattered - The Rise and Fall of the Northern Kingdom

Day Two: 2 Kings 17:6-11 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria. He deported the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah and by the Habor, Gozan’s river, and in the cities of the Medes.[This disaster] happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt and because they had worshiped [a] other gods. They had lived according to the customs of the nations that the LORD had dispossessed before the Israelites and the customs the kings of Israel had introduced. The Israelites secretly did what was not right against the LORD their God. They built high places in all their towns from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. They burned incense on all the high places just like those nations that the LORD had driven out before them. They did evil things, provoking the LORD. They served idols, although the LORD had told them, “You must not do this.”

WE ARE USUALLY REALLY GOOD at spotting other people’s flaws. In fact, we’re often a lot better spotting others’ flaws than our own. We can see so clearly the problems, quirks, and bad decisions of others, but in our own lives we are often blind. One of the things we can often see others doing, to our astonishment, is abandoning a good thing in order to embrace a lesser thing.

An example I have personally seen is a husband abandoning

his wife and family to embrace somebody else. Everyone around him can see the damage he is causing to his children, his wife, his friends, and himself, but he seems oblivious to it. The abandonment of his family is fueled by a desire to embrace another person.

Before we shake our heads in disappointment, we must recognize our propensity to do similar things in our own lives. Many of us, without realizing we are doing it, abandon God’s Word and embrace our idols. We abandon the clear commands of Scripture that should govern not only how we act or behave, but how we think and what we know is true. Anytime we choose to abandon Scripture’s clear teaching about something for the sake of our own way or our own wants, we are embracing our idols.

PAUSE AND REFLECT

▷▷Why is it easier to see the flaws in others than to see the flaws in ourselves?

▷▷What can we do to uncover our own flaws?

▷▷How do we go about correcting our flaws?

Week of 2/10-2/16: Scattered - The Rise and Fall of the Northern Kingdom

Day Three: 2 Kings 17:12-18 Still, the LORD warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments and statutes according to all the law I commanded your ancestors and sent to you through My servants the prophets.” But they would not listen. Instead, they became obstinate like their ancestors who did not believe the LORD their God. They rejected His statutes and His covenant He had made with their ancestors and the warnings He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, following the surrounding nations the LORD had commanded them not to imitate. They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God. They made for themselves molded images— even two calves—and an Asherah pole. They worshiped the whole heavenly host and served Baal. They made their sons and daughters pass through the fire and practiced divination and interpreted omens. They devoted themselves to do what was evil in the LORD’s sight and provoked Him. Therefore, the LORD was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained.”

MY DAUGHTER IS STUBBORN with a capital “S.” Recently, just before bedtime one evening, I told her to come with me to brush her teeth, as we do every night. For some reason, on this particular night, she responded with these words: “No daddy, mommy brush my teeth.” Since my wife was busy at the moment, I gave her a choice. I told her that she could either, A) go brush her teeth with daddy immediately, or B) wait for mommy, but also have her brand new Barbie swimming pool taken away for an entire day. Since the Barbie swimming pool was a new toy, and this 3-year-old thought it was about the coolest thing in the world, I was certain that this plan would result in a quick teeth-brushing. Boy was I wrong!

Instead of just doing as she was told, she voluntarily decided to just take her punishment. She knew what was expected. She knew the consequences of her actions. Yet she still chose that path.

The crazy thing is that we often do this exact same thing with God. 2 Kings 17 shows a great example of this truth. God gave clear expectations. And He told of the punishment to be expected if the expectations were not met. We must learn to take heed of God’s warnings and be obedient to His word!

PAUSE AND REFLECT

▷▷Why do people often do things that they know are wrong?

▷▷How do we stop ourselves from doing things that we know are wrong?

▷▷How should we respond to sinful actions and thoughts in our lives?

Week of 1/27-2/2: Develops - Wisdom for New Lives

Day One: Prov 1:1-7 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: For gaining wisdom and being instructed; for understanding insightful sayings; for receiving wise instruction in righteousness, justice, and integrity; for teaching shrewdness to the inexperienced, knowledge and discretion to a young man—a wise man will listen and increase his learning, and a discerning man will obtain guidance—for understanding a proverb or a parable, the words of the wise, and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

PROVERBS ARE SHORT SAYINGS that generally hold a nugget of truth or wisdom. The book of Proverbs is full of them, but there are many more proverbs that vary from culture to culture. Which of these proverbs have you encountered?

“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.”

“A penny saved is a penny earned.”

“The early bird gets the worm.”

“A picture is worth a thousand words.”

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

The reason proverbs are embedded in culture is because they offer a pretty astute commentary on the world. These are general principles that have been passed down from generation to generation, helping inform the subsequent generation about the realities of life.

There is one key difference between these modern day proverbs and the proverbs found in God’s word. The modern day proverbs have arisen from intense observation by those who live in the world. When people see occurrences over and over again, they tend to have a pretty good idea about the circumstances surrounding those occurrences.

God’s proverbs, however, aren’t collected as mere observations. They are not generated by one who merely observes the world, but rather by the one who created the world. All genuine wisdom and knowledge is rooted in God. If we are to pursue wisdom, we must do so by pursuing the giver of wisdom and knowledge. Only through a growing relationship with God can true wisdom be obtained.

PAUSE AND REFLECT

▷▷What is wisdom?

▷▷Why should we pursue wisdom?

▷▷How do we pursue wisdom?

Week of 1/27-2/2: Develops - Wisdom for New Lives

Day Two: Job 1:20-21 Then Job stood up, tore his robe and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshipped, saying: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I will leave this life. The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. Praise the name of the LORD.

THIS PAST MOTHER’S DAY the Raleigh News and Observer ran an amazing story about an incredible mom. This young mother has dealt with more tragedy than most of us can imagine.

The story began several years ago. This mom was still learning to adjust to life as a new mother when the unthinkable happened. While at work, she got a call informing her that her 9-month-old daughter had been in a car accident and was being rushed to the hospital. Upon arrival, she was given the terrifying news that her baby had died.

In the midst of this immense pain, the family maintained their faith. They were able to have another daughter and begin to enjoy life again when the news came that they were going to have a third child, this time a boy.

Life was exciting as they were preparing for the arrival of their son. About a month before his expected arrival, he stopped moving around in her belly. A subsequent doctor’s appointment confirmed the fears: Her son had passed away in the womb.

This mother now had to schedule a time to deliver a deceased baby. The normal excitement that accompanies the pain of childbirth was absent. The excitement was replaced with heavy hearts and sadness.

In just a few short years, this woman had to bury two children for two completely different reasons. In spite of these awful circumstances, she has remained faithful to God. In fact, the most incredible line of the entire article was this: “Though she’ll never fully understand God’s plan, (she) accepts it with an unwavering faith.”

This is precisely the same attitude we find in the book of Job. Job, too, endured more pain and suffering than we can fathom. His entire household was destroyed. His children were taken away from Him. Yet in spite of the circumstances, he remained faithful to his creator. The fact that we live in a fallen world means that we, too, will endure tragedy in this life. We must learn to be like Job, and praise the name of God in the midst of those tragedies.

PAUSE AND REFLECT

▷▷How have you responded to tragedies in your life?

▷▷How are we supposed to respond to tragedies?

▷▷How can we prepare ourselves to respond to tragedy in a Job-like manner?

Week of 1/27-2/2: Develops - Wisdom for New Lives

Day Three: Ecc. 12:13-14 When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity. For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

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Song of Songs 6:3 I am my love’s and my love is mine.

“I WANT TO BE A PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE.”

If you were to poll elementary aged boys about their life ambitions, this would more than likely be the most common response. Boys dream of growing up and becoming famous athletes. They imagine a life full of big money, tons of accolades, and a beautiful spouse. Being a pro athlete appears to provide the best that life has to offer.

But does reality mirror this pristine picture? Are professional athletes really the happiest people in the world? According to an article printed by Sports Illustrated in 2009, the answer to both of these questions is a resounding “NO!” The following statements were printed in that article:

* By the time they have been retired for two years, 78 percent of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce.

* Within 5 years of retiring, an estimated 60% of former NBA players are broke.

* By common estimates among athletes and agents, the divorce rate for pro athletes ranges from 60 percent to 80 percent.

The fact is, life is fleeting. If we devote our lives to being successful in this world, we’ll end up just like the countless pro athletes described in this study. Shortly removed from their playing careers, they find themselves broke and alone. The fairytale life they were promised clashed with the harsh realities of the world.

King Solomon, one of the wealthiest and wisest men to ever life echoed these sentiments. The book of Ecclesiastes details all of the ways he tried to find lasting happiness in this world. Ultimately, he concluded that genuine and lasting worth is found in God alone. Our lives ought to be wholly devoted to worshipping and obeying our loving Creator. Earthly fame and wealth pale in comparison to the glory of God.

PAUSE AND REFLECT

▷▷What does genuine happiness look like?

▷▷How can we obtain genuine happiness?

▷▷Why do so many people search for happiness apart from God?

Week of 1/20-1/26: Develops - Songs for New Hearts

Day One: Psalm 1:1-6 How happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path of sinners or join a group of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the LORD’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not survive the judgment, and sinners will not be in the community of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

I HAVE A TENDENCY TO TALK more about how healthy I eat than I do actually eat healthy. For some reason I think that if I talk about being healthy and eating healthy then I will magically eat healthier things. This obviously is not true. The truth is I like to eat, and, more specifically, I like to eat sweet things. It doesn’t really matter what the particular sweet thing is as long as it has some form of sugar. It’s my delight. I talk a good game about how being healthy is my delight but my late night runs to the cookie cabinet tell a different story.

We are good at talking about what our delight is. In other words, we are trying to convince ourselves and others what is important to us, but our actions always tell the truer story. We are good at telling people that God’s Word is our delight and that reading it is very important to us, but the problem is that our actions, or lack thereof, tell the truer story. We don’t really delight in God’s Word because we are too busy actually delighting in lesser things.

The Psalmist was not just a “talker” about delighting in God’s Word. He actually did delight in it and His actions told the full story. He meditated on it day and night. We seem to struggle to spend five minutes in the Word a day. How do we cultivate our delighting in the Word? It’s not unlike a decision we have to make about food: as good as apple pie may be, an apple is always better.

PAUSE AND REFLECT

▷▷What does it mean to delight in God’s word?

▷▷Do you delight in God’s word, or just say that you do?

▷▷How can you delight in God’s word today?

Week of 1/20-1/26: Develops - Songs for New Hearts

Day Two: Psalm 51:1-5 Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion. Wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me. Against You— You alone—I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight. So You are right when You pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge. Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

THERE ARE FEW THINGS MORE REWARDING as a parent than being present but unnoticed by your child while they do something they know is wrong. The moment you clear your throat to let them know you are there is classic. They immediately begin justifying, excusing, and even denying what you (and they) know they did.

Without fail it’s the same story when it comes time for them to apologize. It goes like this: “Son, don’t just say you are sorry, tell me what you did and why it was wrong.” He usually fires back, saying “You saw what I did.” For some reason there is a road block to actually verbalizing the wrongdoing. It is a lot easier just to say, “I’m sorry,” than it is to confess, which means verbalizing the wrongdoing and agreeing that the wrongdoing was wrong.

God doesn’t just want to hear us say we are sorry—that is easy to do and it is only a superficial response, as opposed to a genuine heartfelt confession. Why is this a big deal? God is after our heart and just saying we’re sorry isn’t a heart issue.

King David is heartbroken over his sin and Psalm 51 is a far cry from a superficial “sorry.” It is a heartfelt, detailed account of his sin, which leads to complete restoration with God. A restoration that doesn’t come from a simple “Sorry.” Does God know we sinned? Yes, He was right there. Naming your sin in front of the One who saw you makes you see how bad it is and how bad you need forgiveness. When confession is met with a plea for forgiveness it ends in restoration.

PAUSE AND REFLECT

▷▷Why is it hard for us to say we’re sorry?

▷▷Why does God require more than just an apology when we sin?

▷▷How does David’s confession set a model for us?