2 Kings 18:13-19:37, Acts 21:1-17, Psalm 149:1-9, Proverbs 18:8
Today is July 1st welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I’m Brian, it’s great to be here with you today. Day 182 of our year together, the beginning of the seventh month together, and the beginning of the second half of our year together and I’m so glad that we can be together to take this next step forward into this second half of the year. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, actually, then around this Global Campfire together with you as we move forward so we’re in the same week, we’ve been reading from the New International Version this week, which is what will do today, well for the rest of this week. We are in the Book of 2 Kings which is what we were in yesterday and will continue that journey second Kings chapter 18 verse 13 through 19 verse 37 today.
Commentary:
Okay, it’s pretty dramatic as we begin the second half of the year, what’s going on in Jerusalem. The Assyrians have invaded the land with the intention of taking over Judah. Let’s remember that it’s the Assyrians, who have carried the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel into exile and have brought other people and so they’re trying to take over the entire land. And wow, can we just watch how they do this, it we’ve seen a bunch of how this was done back in ancient times; surround a city, starve it to death until everyone is either dead or can’t fight, is too weak to fight so that there’s an onslaught to break in and the nobody has any will to fight or strength to fight so they just wipe them out or they can surrender and be sent into exile. There’s all kinds of smaller cities that are just kind of trampled along the way and then and then the intimidation, the intimidation against the walled cities so King Sennacherib sends his commander and we read all of the intimidating message that was sent “has any god ever been able to withstand me,” and they’re like “can you talk to us, you know, in your language we understand your language, don’t intimidate the people” and they just shout louder “you’re going to be drinking your own pee,” you know, like intimidation and we can probably like, all understand we faced in one way or another that kind of voice of intimidation whether that be like a voice of accusation within ourselves or external to us, you probably know what we’re talking about here, but on the level that were talking about in the Book of 2 Kings this in a tight, this is the city of Jerusalem the Holy City of Jerusalem to protect the temple of the Lord God, this is a big deal. And the thing is, the taunting, what’s happening from Sennacherib what’s happening from the Assyrians is true. Like no one had been able to stand in their way. They were leveling people so the king of Israel, Hezekiah’s his posture, his response something to take note of is certainly he’s everybody in everybody’s afraid for what’s gonna happen. And the Assyrians come to attack, so Hezekiah goes humbly before the Lord and spreads out the letter that he received, lays it before the Lord and just essentially says there’s no way out of this one, like we’re not, they’re right they have destroyed everything. And, did you hear what they said about you. And, of course we read this story and the prophet Isaiah, who we’ll get to know now going forward for a while, sends a message back confirming that God has heard and God will prevail and God will not Sennacherib get away with this. And then we read the rest of the story. These voices of intimidation and these circumstances that look impossible. Maybe they are, but there was no hope without God before we recognize that. Like, it was true before we realized it when we realized there’s no hope, but God, we fall to our knees and say there is no hope but you. But the thing is that is never not true. That is always the case. We just become aware of it when we feel challenged or intimidated. Maybe if we live from that place of utter dependence. These intimidating things that come our way would have a whole lot less power in our lives. But then I also feel like we can’t really go into the second half of this year without paying attention to the Proverb that we read today because it’s so vital to our life experience, our community experience. The words of a gossip are like choice morsels they go down to the in most parts. I mean everybody knows what gossip is right, peddling information behind people’s backs, in a sort of way that’s maligning them in, and bare minimum, having conversations about people that they’re not there to clarify in any sort away and so we get together and make clarity for ourselves out of whole cloth we invent what’s going on and sometimes like it’s spread further and it was never true. And then you got gossip and it’s spreading and it’s like a choice morsel to be passed around. But it’s also a scary thing because it’s something that can go down into your in most parts. That is the key here; is gossip what we want in our inmost parts, like in the depths of our hearts. Is this really what we want floating around inside of us, deeply inside of us? Cause if it is gossip is easy to find and easy to engage with, its much more difficult to resist it or try to avoid it, than it is to be involved in it. But the real question is do we want that in our inmost parts?
Prayer:
So, as we begin this second half of the year Father, we began it with that question. Is that what we want within us? The advice of wisdom is that it’s not something that we want within us, the advice of the Scriptures is that gossip can be incredibly damaging and can eat away at us inside at our character and at our well-being like a cancer. And so, we don’t want this in our inmost parts. And yet, if we examine our lives, it’s probably there. So, come Holy Spirit as we consider that today. Help us to rid ourselves of things that are harmful, harmful not only to us but to everyone else around us, things like gossip. Come Holy Spirit we pray in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here, it’s where the Global Campfire is and so be aware. Check it out. Check out the Community section, that’s where the Prayer Wall is, check out the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. And less than a week until our Daily Audio Bible holiday on 7the of July which is a day we call the Long Walk and it is what it sounds like it’s a day that we circle on the calendar, kind of clear everything that we can go somewhere beautiful, go for a long walk with God. Just understanding that we are crossing through the center of the year, a really good time to take a moment to reflect, a good time to get out in the nature and drink it in and go for a walk with the lover of our soul, the one who has been waiting for an opportunity like this. There’s so much to say, there’s so much to hear, there’s so much to reprioritize and reorganize as we go into the second half of the year, with the intention of finishing strong and finishing well, taking advantage of every single day of this year as we immerse ourselves in the Scriptures, and so we plan to succeed. We plan to finish strong and finish well and that happens by staying connected to our own story and that is a story we get disconnected from all the time. So, the 7th of July is an opportunity to reconnect, reconnect with our own soul, reconnect with the Lord. Go for a Long Walk and just enjoy the presence of God. So, that is this coming Wednesday a week from yesterday. Looking forward to that very much so I’ll put that on your calendar. We will post a post on the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page about the long walk and then wherever you go, take a picture, take a video and we can post into that post, and all of a sudden we get to kind of journey all around the world and see the beauty of God’s creation. As we look into each other’s Long Walks. So, plan that for next week. Looking forward to it very much.
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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.
Prayers and Encouragements:
Hey guys, it’s Travis from Alberta, Canada. Long time listener, I haven’t called in for many years. My prayer request is I’m a first-year pastoral student in bible college and I got put into a internship I’m really excited for pastoring a small church here in northern Alberta. It’s just a small mountain town, I just want to say that it can be really hard at times pastoring. It can be very lonely so I’m just asking for prayer that God will continue on using me and this time of depression and anxiety would just be gone. Yeah, thank you for your prayers. Thank you, Brian for the Daily Audio Bible. I think it’s about my 13 or 14th year listening. So, yeah thank you guys, again this is Travis from Alberta, Canada. Bye.
Hi DAB family, my names Jesse from New Jersey. And I am dealing with a lot. My dad wants me to take over his business but if I do that I won’t be able to have a relationship with him and I’ve made a decision not to do that and I’m gonna go work somewhere else and he is very hurt by that. But we don’t get along. He’s a good man but he’s a very kind of cruel man. He’s a good man but he’s cruel. I love him and I want him to be saved. I’m new to Christianity and this is my first time listening to the Daily Audio Bible but I just I’d like a prayer for him. That the Holy Spirit could find him and reach him and touch him and that he may be safe. So, please just save him, pray for him. This is Jesse in New Jersey, thank you, my first time calling.
Hi DAB family this is Daniella calling from Arizona. I am a longtime listener for probably more than 13 years for sure. I have never called in this is the first time calling in. I do try to listen every day and when I hear the prayer requests I try to pray for each and everyone. I do believe that God answers prayer and uses this community to answer prayer. I would like to ask for prayer for a little girl, she’s four, her name is Natalie. She’s the daughter of a coworker of my husband’s and she’s in the hospital right now a Children’s Hospital in Phoenix and she has cancer. She has a brain tumor a mass growing on her brain. She already had surgery to drain the fluid in her brain and they’re going to have another surgery and going to extract the tumor, the mass. I just pray that you will join me in prayer and ask that God would heal her and that the surgery would go really well and they you just pray that God would pour his grace upon all of them and that he would save and more importantly little Natalie and her mom and her brother and her dad as well. Thank you so much for praying. I really appreciate it.
Hi my name is Lain and I am calling on today June 29 in response to a caller I think his name was John who indicated he was so very tired and he really sounded as if he was tired and I just wanted to offer this to him if I may please. Isaiah 40:28 have you never heard or understood? Don’t you know that the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of all the earth. He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out. He offers strength to the weak. Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up but those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint. Be blessed my brother in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is Dorothy from Destin Wrapped in His Unfailing Love. And this prayer is for John, this is the 29th of June and you called in and saying how really, you’re tired, you’re weary and you feel overwhelmed. And as I was listening to your prayer, I just thought of a child who is so tired and his dad just lifts him up and puts him on his shoulder and the child immediately relaxes and goes to sleep as his dad is just carrying him on his way. And I remember feeling that way as a little girl when I was just so tired and my dad would pick me up and I would wonder how he could not be so tired. But we have an all-powerful God and Father who does lift us up and he tells us that you know, His burden is light and He is our strength. So, Lord I just lift up John to you and ask that you would bless him and give him Your strength, and Your peace, and Your joy, and Your comfort, and let him just call on Your name for that piece peace and strength and comfort and thank you for his heart for his friends and his family. I love you Family, thank you so much for being who you are and thank you Brian and Jill for this ministry. Love you all, bless us, Lord Jesus. Amen.