2 Kings 23:31-25:30, Acts 22:17-23:10, Ps 2:1-12, Pr 18:13
Today is the 4th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. It’s a big holiday here for us who live in the United States. This is Independence Day. This also happens to be my wife, Jill’s birthday. So happy birthday my love. She is doing a great job encouraging many, many, many of the women in this community. So it’s a day of celebration and it’s also a day. And every day, no matter what’s going on, we take the next step forward in the Scriptures, centering ourselves. And God will speak to us through his word. So we’ll take the next step. We’re reading from The Voice translation this week. 2 Kings 23:31-25:30.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we today completed 2 Kings. And 2 Kings concludes with Jerusalem being destroyed by the Babylonians. And with this story of King Zedekiah trying to escape and being captured. And pretty grizzly scene there where all of his sons are killed before his eyes and then his eyes are put out. And it’s a pretty tragic scene. Pretty catastrophic for those who lived in Jerusalem and it brings to an end the Israel that we have been following since we met Abraham back in January in the book of Genesis. Obviously, this does not bring an end to the people. But this united monarchy known as Israel that formed when the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land and solidified under King David’s rule and then was brought to its apex with Solomon’s rule. We remember how the story goes. The country split into two. The northern tribes were called Israel and the southern tribes were called Judah. They’re both gone now. Assyria came and conquered the northern tribes and carried them away. And now Babylon has invaded and taken Judah into exile and destroyed Jerusalem. So, this is effectively the end of ancient Israel as we have known it. A remnant of exiles will be able to return. They will begin to rebuild and there’s much for us to know there, but this is the end of an era. And this did not have to happen, as we see through the voices of the prophets. Even the events that we’re reading about today. We will revisit them when we get to the prophet Jeremiah who is right in the thick of this, speaking into this. It didn’t have to happen. The rebellion of the people and the systematic falling away and chasing after other gods deteriorated and undermined everything that they were and it’s the end of this part of the story.
And of course, in the book of Acts, we’ve turned a page and we’re fully focusing on the Apostle Paul, but his story has turned the page and we’re in a new era of his story. And we see that Paul was arrested in our reading from yesterday. A mob formed around Paul trying to beat him to death. Roman soldiers captured him and then Paul was able to share his story under to the protection of the Roman military to the very people who were trying to beat him to death. So, he was able to share the gospel. In today’s reading, which is the next day, the Roman officials had discovered Paul was a Roman citizen so his treatment changed. He was about to be flogged and once he was discovered as a Roman citizen that went away. So, he’s safe under the protection of the Roman military. They call the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council together. Paul gets to go before them under Roman guard and shares the story with them, which certainly causes a stir. But Paul is protected. So, what we’re seeing is that Paul certainly has been arrested and has lost the ability to just go wherever he wants to go, but the Roman military who are protecting Paul to try to figure out what’s going on, is allowing Paul to share the gospel with people who otherwise wouldn’t listen to it. And this is going to be a recurring theme.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for the stories found in it, the nuances of life, all there for us to discover and apply to our lives. And we find ourselves so often in so many of these stories. And You’ve offered us the wisdom of where the choices and the paths lead and we thank You for that. We invite Your Holy Spirit to come. Lead us on the path today, the narrow path that leads to life. Lead us into all truth. We ask in Jesus name Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here.
It’s a big holiday so everybody’s got the day off in the United States today. Maybe not everybody, but it’s a national holiday. But we have our own little tradition, our own little holiday, coming up this Saturday, the 7th of July, which is the Daily Audio Bible Long Walk. So, certainly make plans to participate in that. Go somewhere beautiful, go for a long walk, spend some time with God. Say all the things that you need to say. Listen to all the things that He needs to speak. And just disrupt yourself enough to get out into nature and hear the quite, hear the stillness. And wherever you go, take a little video, take a picture, take something to commemorate your long walk but you can share that on the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page facebook.com/dailyaudiobible. And we will share in each other’s long walks all over the world starting on Saturday. So, make plans for that. It has been a tradition for over a decade and it’s always been a beautiful thing. So, make plans to go for a long walk with God this Saturday.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. And I thank you humbly and deeply for those of you who have clicked that link. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the button in the upper right-hand corner. Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O 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 here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Good morning DABbers. I am a Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of Our God and King. I just heard a prayer request coming from a heart broken father whose son Tanner passed away, whose son had cerebral palsy. And I just want him to know, I know today’s your anniversary, I think one month anniversary, with the DAB. You are on the right track. I want to know that I am praying for you and your family, and indeed your right that God heals the brokenhearted and you’re right that your son Tanner is __ with Jesus in heaven today. And I pray that God will allow you to see the gift that He gave in the life of Tanner and that God will show you that all things work together for good and He will help you to see that good in Tanner’s life brought you and your family. I pray that God will show you that Tanner’s life not only impacted your family but the rest of the world. And just hearing your prayer request, I didn’t know your son but I was moved by your request and I want you to know that his life has already touched me. And I will continue praying for you and your family. Love you guys. God bless. Bye.
Hey. It’s Cole from Canada. First time caller. I just want to thank everybody for prayers, that you give out. And I need some prayer for myself right now dealing with my anxiety and depression that I’m going through, the situation that I’m going through right now. I feel very lost, very, just wandering around with no real purpose in life right now. And I just ask that people would pray for me and that I can be better, that I can serve the Lord better, that I have a purpose for my life that I feel. That’s all. I just thank you for your prayers. Thank you.
Hi. This is Victoria and I’m calling from Alabama. And I am calling because I just want prayer. I always…I just covet everybody’s prayers. Today, I am struggling as I am just going through…I lost my husband on May 15th. He passed away from cancer and it just all happened so fast. I feel like I am doggy paddling as fast as I can and it’s hard to just handle everything that’s coming at me and in different directions and I want to keep my focus on God and I get so frustrated at all these details that keep coming up. I need to, I mean, I’m just being really real but I have his ashes and my son passed away in December and I have this kind of burial plot. I’m trying to sell his truck. And there’s just so many details that I feel overwhelmed sometimes. And then just asking you to pray that I would have wisdom and things that just seem so hard right now to become easier, which I know that God wants things…He says the burden is easy…it’s light. And I just think this is a small part of my life, if I could just get through it, you know, God’s gonna make a way where there doesn’t seem to be away. I keep saying that to myself, I can do all things with Christ who lives in me. And then, you know, something else will hit or another call will come in and I’m like, gosh, I don’t know what to do about this one. So, just pray for me for wisdom and peace. That’s my prayer, wisdom and peace for Victoria from Arizona. I appreciate it. Have a blessed day.
Hi. This is Scottish Tom calling from the Cleveland Ohio area. I did put a post on Daily Audio Bible Friends on Facebook. I said I would call back when I got into the USA. Things went through hell with my mom. Recently, just for the last two weeks, the leukemia was back. The chemo wasn’t working and she had gotten a pretty bad infection. And she told me two weeks ago I should probably think of coming over and there was no rush, you know, being a week or two and then the next day I got a call from her doctor saying I really needed to get there ASAP. So, we recently jumped on a plane, five hours later and we got there the next afternoon and she was still alive. She was very unresponsive though, but she did muster the energy to get up and set up and she was hugging me and my wife and telling us that she loved us. And then she passed away the next morning. And I want to thank everyone that has been praying for my mom and I ask you to continue to pray for her soul and pray for myself, my wife, and my dad, who is still back in Scotland. He seems to be doing okay. He’s now getting back to normality after we left. So, he’s got quite the people that are going to look after him over there. So, once again thanks for your prayers. And I just wanted to keep you all informed. Thank you. Bye.