Ezra 1:1-2:70, 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5, Psalms 27:7-14, Proverbs 20:22-23
Today is the 5th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we move into the work week. And, of course, yesterday we began Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church known as first Corinthians, as well as concluding second Chronicles. So, today as we move into the Old Testament portion of our reading, we’re moving into new territory. Our next book is called Ezra.
Introduction to the book of Ezra:
The book of Ezra is going to historically pick up essentially where we left off in second Chronicles. So, the children of Israel are in exile. They’ve been carried off for their rebelliousness to God. And, so, the book of Ezra covers about the next 80 years, and three different kings, Cyrus the great, Darius, and in Artaxerxes. All these kings actually provide favor and cover for the Israelites who are returning to their homeland. So, Cyrus the great begins that process literally having a desire to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem for the worship of God and about 42,000 Israelites who have been in the Babylonian exile crying and weeping for the day that God would restore them, well they finally begin to make trips back under the leadership of a person named Zerubbabel to rebuild. Of course, they’ve been gone for nearly a century so they’re gonna face all kinds of opposition from the people that are there and we see this in in the intimidation that takes place and then the political maneuvering that takes place but they stick to the task. It’s a great reference point for us. This is a great point in the year for us to encounter the book of Ezra in our own lives as we stick to what we know God has given us to do in our calling in life regardless of what opposition we may face. So, having said that, we begin today the book of Ezra and we’re reading from the God’s Word Translation this week.
Commentary:
Okay. So, have you ever sat down and started thinking through your faith only to be kind of lead into a day, a season, an hour of doubt we’re you’re like, “this doesn’t make any sense…this is all nonsense…like what is it that I’m believing here? This is a foolish.” I mean, some of you are like, “no, I’ve never felt that way ever in my life.” I have, lots of times. And it’s the apostle Paul, in this letter to first Corinthians today, who acknowledges that feeling, like affirms that that’s what it looks like. So, quoting from first Corinthians, “the world with its wisdom was unable to recognize God in terms of its own wisdom. So, God decided to use the nonsense of the good news we speak to save those who believe. Jews ask for miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but our message is that Christ was crucified. This offends Jewish people makes no sense to people who are not Jewish, but to those Jews and Greeks who are called, He is Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom. God’s nonsense is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” And for me, like personally, that’s been very very frustrating. I would be a Greek in this story, one seeking the truth, seeking wisdom. Like, I’ve spent so much of my life studying theology trying to make it all harmonize when in the end you are at a precipice and you have to step where there is no solid ground and it’s called a leap of faith. Like all of it leads us to faith. And, so, what Paul’s talking about in first Corinthians is simple enough. God can’t be found inside the confines of human intellect or human experience alone. He’s far bigger than that and we can’t categorize with human reason alone all the things that He will or will not do. So, our very best attempts are weak at best. To find God it’s a blind leap of faith, a leap that might look very foolish to many. But, the thing about it is that foolish leap for us when we take it, it turns us right side up. Like, we see the foolishness that we’ve been living under all along and the futility of it all. That just really reveals how spiritually disoriented humanity has become and that’s what Paul’s speaking to when he says, “God’s nonsense is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength, but God shows what the world considers nonsense to put wise people to shame. God shows what the world considers week to put what is strong to shame. God chose what the world considers ordinary and what it despises, what it considers to be nothing in order to destroy what it considers to be something. As a result, no one can brag in God’s presence.” It’s kind of at this point where you have to acknowledge you’re not going to figure it out. Like, we do not know all that we think we know about anything, especially God. And God is not a being that can just be co-opted to become a part of our lives, like the add-on to our lives while we remain in control as essentially our own functional God, our own sovereign. And, yeah, it seems foolish to give up control of ourselves and believe in what we can’t see, but it’s that foolishness that brings us to the end of ourselves. Like where our strength ends is where we can encounter God.
Prayer:
God, Father, it is Your presence we seek, it is Your presence that we need. In every conceivable way we need You. Even when we are running from You and try to figure it all out in our mind, we need You. And, so, we realize it’s a leap of faith, it’s a surrender and when we are in Your presence, we can’t really explain it to somebody who doesn’t know. It seems like nonsense and foolishness to them even when we try to put it into words it might seem like nonsense and foolishness to us and yet at the deepest core of our heart, at the deepest place of our identity we know. We know You’re there. We know it’s true. And, so, come Holy Spirit and allow us to let go of the nonsense of trying to figure it all out and rest in the faith that Your presence is all around us and we are going somewhere together. Come Holy Spirit we pray, in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home, it’s the website. It’s where you find out what’s happening around here.
And we’re looking forward to something that’s happening a little later this month, The Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. So many of us have been on this journey for so long, and some of you have just come and stepped onto the ship for, you know, this is your first journey through the entire Bible. And, so, it’s a virtual community. We’re all over the world and yet every day we come around the global campfire and we know that were not alone and over the course of the year we kind of get to know voices, especially those who’ve called in and stuff that we’ve had some sort of interaction with and this is an opportunity to step out of that and into face-to-face, like being able to see each other…like I know you…I’ve been…I’ve known about you…I’ve have known your story for a long time and now I’m seeing you face-to-face. It’s a beautiful thing. I mean, in some ways, selfishly, it’s a beautiful thing for me because I love to shake your hands and hug your necks and know that we have…we’ve been on this journey together, but it also just makes my heart happy to watch that happening among the community. So, come, come to the rolling hills of Tennessee August 31st over Labor Day weekend where we’re gonna have the family reunion out on the lake. It’s gonna be quite a time and you can get all of the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. Just look for Family Reunion 2019. If you’re using the app, it’s easy enough, just…there’s a little Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app and that will open up and you’ll see Initiatives in there. So, all the details are there, and I hope to see you there in a few weeks.
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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:
Hello Daily Audio Bible friends this is Patricia from New Orleans Louisiana. I want to thank the lady who called in to say __ for me. Thank you very much. I want to ask…I just…please…please pray for me that the whole pain that I’m in each day all day long and also pray for me to get my regular life back please. I thank you all and God bless each and every one of us. Thank you and God bless you. Bye now.
Hi family this is Karen from Pennsylvania and the reason I’m calling is for my son Jake. Last year I had left a request of the line and some people got back to us and I so much appreciate that. Thank you family. Jake was 18 last year and he was diagnosed with MS. And family he’s been suicidal really bad since the diagnosis. He says that he doesn’t want to live, and he doesn’t care where he ends up and he that hates people, and this is not my Jake. This is not my kid. I mean, it is but he says things that I never would’ve expected to hear him say and I know that God is with us and I try not to be afraid, but I am afraid. I’m very afraid because he talks about it all the time but he’s so adamant that he doesn’t want to be here but sometimes he says that he just wants to be with our Father and then other times he says he doesn’t care __ he just wants to die. So, please pray for Jake…
Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Jonathan from North Carolina. Just wanted to call and pray for Ben and his marriage. Called in on or was played on the 31st. I just pray for restoration for his marriage. Lord, thank You so much that we can come before in prayer. Thank You that there is nothing that is beyond Your power, and no relationship to broken, and no situation to desperate that You can’t restore. And I just want to thank You for Ben and for his obedience to You and calling and asking for prayer and for restoration of his marriage and obedience to You not even first of all knowing if that is Your will or not. And I just thank You Lord that You’re for marriage and that Ben is thinking about his kids and his family and what it would mean to them to have a family that was functioning well. And I just pray Lord that You would restore his marriage and that You would restore his family and that You would, as it says in Your word, restore __ if the yoke is heavy. And, I guess, thank You so much that You are for Ben, You are for his wife and You are for their children and that You have good plans for them. So, Lord I just pray for Your honor and glory and that You would restore them, that You would bring them close Yourself and that You would receive all the honor and glory in Jesus name.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family, this is Jay from Nashville. Just wanted to give you folks an update. I’m doing pretty well. Just pray for me because I’m…I’m needing to change the depression medication that I’m on because it’s causing me some severe drowsiness and it’s making things a little difficult for me being tired all the time but praise God for pharmaceuticals, praise God for doctors, praise God for modern medicine. And if you’re dealing with, you know, any mental health issues. just know that, no you’re not crazy, you know, you just need…you might need some counseling or some therapy or some medication. That’s okay. You know, I don’t know about most people but in my community, you know, my family in the area where we grew up, you know, we were labeled if we had any mental health issues as crazy people and nobody wants to be called crazy. Nobody wants to feel crazy when the reality is mental health is a real issue, it’s not something to shove under a rug and pretend that it’s not there because the longer you wait to deal with it the more problems, you’re going to cause yourself in the long run. So, let’s erase this mental health and get the help that we need, you know. I love you guys and just keep praying for me and have a great day.
Hey this is Sheila calling from Texas. Today I want to speak blessings upon your life. This will help somebody. I speak to you who constantly receive curses and no words of affirmation. Today by the authority in the name of Jesus Christ I cancel every negative word ever spoken over your life and I speak blessings upon you in the name of Jesus. God loves you and wants you to remember that He sees those wounds deep down in your heart. He wants you to release those that have cursed you over the years. He wants to give you a brand-new heart free of any wounds. Yours is just to forgive and now receive the blessings of the Almighty God. Shalom. Next, I want to pray for Duane of Wisconsin. I just want to remind you that you’re very, very much loved. You fell from your bicycle and now you injured your muscle and it’s torn you need to have surgery. I ask that the Almighty God will heal you and that the blood of Jesus will cover you from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. May you receive healing and be made whole and me you call back and testify. God bless you. Blessings upon everyone on DAB. We love you. Bye-bye.