2 Chronicles 35:1-36:23, 1 Corinthians 1:1-17, Psalms 27:1-6, Proverbs 20:20-21
Today is the 4th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. Welcome. It’s great to be here with you today around the global campfire. I’m here in the rolling hills of Tennessee and wherever you are, we are still connected together by the wonders of technology that…that allow us to be a community. Even though we’re all around the world we’re still all around the global campfire taking the next step forward. And, so, the next step forward in the Scriptures today in the Old Testament will bring us to the conclusion of second Chronicles and then we get to the New Testament portion of our reading, we will be beginning a new letter from the apostle Paul, a letter that he wrote to the believers in Corinth, but before we get there and talk about that let’s dive in and finish second Chronicles chapters 35 and 36.
Introduction to the book of first Corinthians:
Alright. So, that concludes the books of Chronicles, which means tomorrow we will move into new territory in the Old Testament and we’ll talk about that tomorrow but we concluded Paul’s letter to the Romans yesterday, which brings us to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, known as first Corinthians, which is a letter or an epistle, which means letter, to the church at Corinth. And in Paul’s Corinth was a cosmopolitan city, like it was a destination place in the Roman Empire. It was a hub for trade and commerce. In fact, in terms of the Empire, Corinth was the fourth largest city in all of the Roman Empire. So, a lot of people, a lot of people from a lot of places, creating a melting pot of ideas, including a lot of spiritual ideas, a lot of idolatry, a lot of sexual experimentation and everything else that you can imagine that comes with a large secularized society. It’s not like that stuff doesn’t exist in our cities today. But this gives us some context because Paul wrote this letter that we now call first Corinthians as a response to some of the things he’d been hearing that were happening in the church there. And some of the things that were happening in the church there were causing divisions among the people. And, so, Paul is writing this letter, mostly in terms of unity and his words do ring across time and they’re very relevant to where we find ourselves today. And while working our way through this letter, we will for certain find some of the most quoted portions of the New Testament. So, sayings like, “I see through a glass darkly.” That’s in first Corinthians, or “when I was a child I spoke as a child” and then of course the 13th chapter of first Corinthians is known as the love chapter, by far one of the most well-known portions of Scripture and we’ll read the 13th chapter of first Corinthians when we get to chapter 13, but now we’re at chapter 1 verse 1 and we’ll read through verse 17 today.
Commentary:
Alright. So, we’ll have plenty to talk to…talk about from first Corinthians as we move through this letter, but let’s go to the Psalm today because…man…I know that so many are facing depression and anxiety and I know that there are those days that are down for me to. And David’s kind of talking about the fact that he has those experiences too and what happens to his anxiety when he finds himself in the presence of God. So, quoting from Psalm 27, “the Lord is my light and my salvation. Should I fear anyone? The Lord is a fortress protecting my life. Should I be frightened of anything?” So, those are fair questions. Like those are fair questions that we should be asking ourselves because fundamentally what we’re asking ourselves is, “What is it that I believe that is more powerful than God?” and “Where could I find refuge outside of God’s presence because I believe that these things are more powerful than God? And, so, David comes the conclusion that God is all-powerful and there is no other hope. So, David says, “I have asked one thing from Lord, it’s all I seek, to live in the Lord’s house on the days of my life seeing the Lord’s beauty constantly adoring his temple.” So, if we could just hold on to the core of what David is saying in this Psalm, and if it could be planted deep in us…in ourselves then we would be facing in the right direction, we wouldn’t find all this confusion, because the presence of God is the only place in the world that will ever make sense. We were created to be in God’s presence. He is our source of life. Life isn’t going to work any other way. And when we functionally believe that something is more powerful than God and can give us shelter and we run to that thing, that’s what most of the Old Testament is about, idolatry. So, let’s delight today in the fact that we are invited into God’s presence, the only place that we’ll ever be safe, the only place that will ever make sense. And may we really be shocked to find that God wants us to come to Him. He wants us in His presence. He wants to be with us. And when want the same with all of our heart then we’ll realize we are in His presence where we belong.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You. We thank You for this reminder in the Psalms. We need these constant reminders to snap us back to what is real. And so, we run to You. We want to only be in Your presence in all that we do, and all that we think, and all that we say. So, we open our hearts to You. Come Holy Spirit, lead us deeper into the presence of the Father. Lead us into all truth we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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