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| On My Hike This Past Week to Roaring Fork Falls - Near Mt Celo Church |
My Lessons and Applications from Today's Readings
God Overrules the Plottings of Man - Ezra 5 and 6 - For 16 years adversaries of the Jewish nation were allowed to stop the rebuilding of the temple after the laying of the foundation. God has now raised up the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to encourage and help with the rebuilding. Again the enemies attempt to stop the building by writing to the Persian King, Darius, to see if Cyrus commanded and covered the cost of rebuilding the Jewish temple. Darius searches and finds Cyrus' proclamation, demands no impediment be placed before the Jews or their temple work, sets taxes on the region to pay expenses for the construction, mandates provision of all livestock, food, oil, wine, salt to the Jews for their required sacrifices without fail, "that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons." Threat of death and destruction of his home is over anyone who alters the edict or destroys the house of God. The temple is completed, the dedication celebrated with joy, the Passover kept with the Levites who had purified themselves, and "then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate together with all who had separated themselves from the filth of the nations of the land in order to seek the LORD God of Israel. And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for the LORD made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel."
Suffering for Speaking the Truth - Acts 23:1-15 - Paul is before the council declaring his good conscience before God, that he was as they - a devout and zealous Jew but now called by Jesus to preach the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles. For this he is struck on the mouth by the high priest. He then perceives (discerns) a better answer. He divides the Sadducees and Pharisees on their doctrinal differences saying that he, as a Pharisee, is being accused because of the hope and resurrection of the dead. The scribes of the Pharisees protest that Paul has done nothing wrong, that if a spirit or angel has spoken to him, they should not fight against God. The Sadducees who believe in neither angels nor resurrection - become enraged, and Paul is removed by the commander to a barracks for fear the apostle will be killed. The Lord stands by Paul that night telling him, "Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome." A group of Jews band together with an oath to refuse all food and water until Paul is killed and try to convince the council to be a part of their murderous plot.
My Lessons and Applications - 1) understanding the Sovereignty and Providence of God. Man may rule, but God will overrule if the thing is not in His Will. 2) waiting on His time and adjusting to His way. 3) celebrating, "offering sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise" for God's blessings and interventions in my life, giving back to Him the blessings He has given me 4) learning to ask the right questions; giving the right answers. In the first successful attempt of the adversaries with King Artaxerxes, the question was whether the Jewish nation had been accused (not found guilty) of sedition, of breaking the laws of the kings. The second attempt to sway King Darius was whether or not King Cyrus has actually sent out such a magnanimous proclamation regarding the rebuilding of the temple. It was truth, and that truth was revealed. In Paul's account, as with Jesus, as with the prophets and the apostles, speaking the truth may have deadly consequences in this temporal life but have long-term blessings and impact for God's Plan and His kingdom work. As I look back on situations, I often wish I had asked better questions - honed to discern the whole or deeper truth. I have learned well that honest answers can have awful consequences (as we also see in the Bible), but...usually....while the short-term consequences are not good, the long-term consequences reveal the wisdom of that earlier spoken truth.
The Warnings of Our Conscience (Acts 23:1) Charles Stanley gives 7 Biblical Examples of Consciences: 1) a good conscience, 2) a blameless conscience, 3) a clear conscience, 4) a weak conscience, 5) a defiled conscience, 6) an evil conscience, 7) a seared conscience. How do we maintain the blameless conscience? +We must trust Jesus as our personal Savior and Lord, +We must set the Word of God as our standard of living, +We must not allow anything in our life that contradicts the Word of God, +We must surrender to the Holy Spirit, + We must have daily cleansing by confessing of sin and repenting of it. Life Principles Daily Bible, pg.894 For more on this, you might benefit from watching the video, "Can Your Conscience Be Your Guide?"
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