Judges 2:10-3:31, Luke 22:14-34, Psalms 92:1-93:5, Proverbs 14:1-2
Today is the 24th day of April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and, as is the case every day, It’s a pleasure to be here with you to take the next step forward. That’s what we’ve come to do, the next step, the next step forward as we continue to move through the Scriptures this year. And we’re kind of launching ourselves into the book of Judges, which is essentially the story of what happens after Joshua, what happens after the people get into the land and begin settling it. And, so, we’ll pick up today where we left off yesterday. We’re reading from the God’s Word translation. Judges chapter 2 verse 10 through 3 verse 31.
Commentary:
Alright. So, we are moving in, now have been introduced to a couple of Judges. Some of the stories in the book of Judges will meet these people who were very, very influential over the culture for their lifetime, but all of that will be encapsulated into just a very small couple paragraphs. Others will chase their stories down and get full detail. And the book of Judges isn’t particularly a flowery book. It’s the story of what happens after Joshua. And, so, we’re going to cover quite a few generations of back-and-forth. And the children of Israel are in the Promised Land but they are doing exactly what they were warned against. And, I mean, if we remember the book of Deuteronomy, we remember Moses going at length in great detail over every possible eventuality and warned them about the trajectories that they could choose once they get into the land. Joshua did the same thing and here we are and they’re making these choices that are leading them away from God and into idolatry and mixture that they were warned about. So, from a macro level, here we are. The children of Israel have been, you know, chasing the Promised Land since the beginning of the Bible. Now they’re in the Promised Land and everything that they’ve been warned about they’re doing. So, let’s just watch where the road goes because this is a mirror of our own lives. And we do the same thing, right? We can do what we know is wrong willfully, continually, habitually and it goes somewhere and it’s not good and then we turn around and blame God or everyone else. And, so, you know, let’s just watch this playout in the book of Judges.
And then, of course, in the book of Luke we are at, you know, we’re entering into the passion story once again through Luke’s eyes.
And then we come to Psalm 92 and 93, which are beautiful, beautiful Psalms to read. But right up at the top, right in the beginning of Psalm 92, embedded just almost as like a little secret is a tip, a practice, one that if we will put it into practice in our lives will most assuredly change the atmosphere of our days. ‘It is good’, the psalmist says, ‘it is good to announce your mercy in the morning and your faithfulness in the evening.’ It’s good to announce these things. In other words, it’s good to wake up and as your brain kind of engages and your heart and your body all get reunited from a good night’s sleep and you get up and you get moving. It’s good to declare the mercy of the Lord that is new every morning over your life, over your family, over the world, over all of the events of the day. It is good to announce God’s mercy in the morning according to the Psalms. And it’s good to announce His faithfulness in the evening, right? At the end of the day when you can look back and see that you have basked and bathed in the mercy of the Lord all day long and He has been faithful. This practice in the morning and in the evening would only ever orient our heart to God. And according to the Psalms it’s good. This is a good idea. This is a good thing to do. So, that’s simple enough. Write that one down. Begin to put that in practice. Try it the rest of this week. See what it does inside of you and continue it forward and you’ll find that every morning and every evening you are orienting your heart back to God and paying attention to what is happening in your life.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, we invite You into that by first saying, Your mercy is new every morning and we see that and we declare that and we announce Your mercy. And Your faithfulness, Father, it chases us through every day. You are always with us. We are not always paying attention. But You are always with us. You are faithful in so many things that we don’t even take the time to observe. But we’re working on that and we invite Your Holy Spirit to help us so that at the end of each day we can announce Your faithfulness. And we can do it specifically. We can see the specific ways that as we’ve become aware of Your presence and listened to the guidance of Your Holy Spirit, that we’ve seen You be faithful. So, come Holy Spirit as we begin to pay attention to these little instructions that do so much inside of us. Come, Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to check it out.
Check out the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible shop, including all of our Wind Farm coffee and tea. The journals that we have that have been specially formulated and made and writing utensils to just take notes, continue to journal your story through the Bible this year. There are number of resources available. So, check that out.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you. We are a community. We call this the global campfire. It’s always burning. The word of the Lord is always being spoken and someone’s always around the campfire. And this wouldn’t happen if we didn’t do this together. So, thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are you using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hey everybody it’s Margo from Australia. I was actually going to call in about something else today but I’ve just heard on today’s reading, oh, darn it, I’ve forgotten her name from Arizona. Anyway, her husband has cancer and his name is Boyd, I remember that. And it occurs to me that of all the calls and of all the prayer requests we get on here, this is the one, this is the sharpest call of most vital significance. I want you to know beautiful lady I am praying for Boyd. He has cancer and is dying and he may not know the Lord. So, this is…this is a crucial prayer request. And I want to encourage everyone right now, stop what you’re doing and pray for Boyd because this is a man who may die without knowing Jesus. So, I’m praying, I’m believing in Jesus’ name that the Lord will reveal Himself, reveal His face to Boyd and Boyd will make a genuine, 100% devoted commitment to Jesus before he dies. And I’m going to commit to keep praying for that. And I’m really asking everyone else to do the same. This is…this is, as I’ve said, the most important type of prayer request that we could ever receive. God bless you. Have a lovely day. Bye for now.
Hello DABbers. This is EZ and I wanted to reach out because I heard in the community prayer, the prayers for the infant named Pierce who has just had a terrible, terrible time. And I wanted to kind of use this as kind of a lead in to say, what is going to say the other day, it was just to share just a small bit of my story. I was 1 pound when I was born. I was 4 months premature. I dropped down to underneath the pound. I had pneumonia, head bleeds, seizures, meningitis - all at the same time, simultaneously. It was a giant international news story. CNN covered it. We got letters and phone calls from all over the world, including a beautiful, incredible letter from Pres. Reagan when he was still in the White House. Those of you who are old enough to remember, know what a great communicator he was. And it was something that if Brian wants me to I’ll send it in and let him read it…on the program. It’s amazing. Basically, that there is a purpose. And as long as there is life there is hope. And one day we will all understand why I and now Pierce have gone through the things what we’ve gone through. I never looked at it as a struggle. I came home 4 months later. They found out I was going to stay blind, which I have. But I have succeeded by the grace and power of God, the faith of people all over, and an amazing family and friends. And I believe firmly that he will do the same because when you are enveloped and surrounded by prayers and you are surrounded by the peace that passes all understanding, the plan that He has for you is going to come to fruition no matter what adversity is thrown at you. I am living proof of it. And I claim that promise now for Pierce. I just…
Hello Daily Audio Bible. This is __ calling from Syracuse New York. And I just heard Vicki call in from Arizona about her husband who is dying from cancer. And the Lord just really prompted me to call back because I had called a month ago. And Vicki, I’m in the same boat. My 55-year-old wife of almost 28 years is dying from a horrible, horrible type with ovarian cancer. And it’s so sad to see her body just decaying and just being corrupted. And I guess, to be honest with you, my hope lies in the Scripture that I’ve just been searching day and night and it’s there. And there’s a beautiful piece in Corinthians. ‘Therefore, we don’t lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are renewed day by day for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal.’ And I, just absolutely amazed at the power that comes from the Scriptures. And even later in Corinthians, when Paul was talking about the resurrection, he said, ‘so it is with the resurrection of the dead, that what is sown is perishable but what is raised is imperishable. What is sown in dishonor is raised in glory.’ So, Vicki, just keep looking to God, keep looking to Jesus Christ. He is the answer. Love you so much and my prayers are with you. God bless you. Bye-bye family.
Hi. This is Nancy from Delaware. I wanted to pray for Vicki who called in on April 22nd from Arizona. She was praying for salvation for her husband of 37 years. Vicki, I just want to tell you, I prayed for 35 years and three years ago my husband gave his life the Sunday before he died. I would pursue him with the gospel and have faith that God did promise you’ll have full salvation. So many people prayed for my husband as I know they probably have pray for yours. And just keep believing that before he leaves this world that the good Lord is going to take him. I was with my husband in a miraculous way the day he died. And after everybody left I was alone with him as he died and it was such a blessing. __ such hourly. And I just wanted to encourage you from somebody. I was married 35 years with my husband. And I know __ you and I just wanted to encourage you. Keep praying. God is so good. And I know he’ll hear your prayers. God bless you Vicki.
Daily Audio Bible brothers and sisters. I want to thank you so much for being a part of my spiritual family. I also want to remind those of us that worry about our family and our children and our friends about their everlasting lives, that we have to trust in the Lord. And if they’ve been saved then we have to believe in their salvation and not fret over it because their spiritual journey is not our spiritual journey and their relationship with Christ is not the same as ours. So, we just have to believe in that. Do not waste a moment of your time and your love of that person worrying about their salvation. Love them, walk in love, let them see Christ in you and maybe you will be able to start to see Christ in them. Love each other. Thank you so much brothers and sisters for letting me be a part of this family, even though normally I just listen. And I pray for you. And I am so thankful. I’ve been a part of this family for 11+ years and it has truly been a blessing to my life. Talk to you guys later. Love you.