1 Kings 11:1-12:19, Acts 9:1-25, Psalms 131:1-3, Proverbs 17:4-5
Today is the 13th day of June welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today, great to be here with you any day, great to be here with you every day as we move forward in the Scriptures and take the next step forward together. And that next step of course will lead us back into the book of first Kings. We are enjoying a time of peace and prosperity in the nation of Israel. And as we’ve talked about on a number of occasions this really is the pinnacle of the experience that we worked from Abraham all the way through all of the trials of the children of Israel until now and Solomon brings them to their finest hour. And we’ve been enjoying that for a couple of days watching all of the developments in Israel. Today is where we kinda begin to make the turn. Things begin to slide in the wrong direction and we’ll see that as we go forward. Today first Kings chapter 11 verse 1 through 12 verse 19.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we have some fairly profound transitions that have taken place in the Bible today in both old and new Testaments in our reading. In the book of first Kings, we have come to the hand of King Solomon’s reign, and we see that the end of his reign and his latter years were years in which he drifted and fell away from God. It was his foreign wives who worshiped other gods, grew up worshiping other gods, but he took them as wives and provided for their worship in the country of Israel to false gods and made that available and drifted away. So, like this wisest person on earth who brings Israel to their mountaintop experience doesn’t finish well. The wisest man in the world didn’t finish well. That’s pretty monumental to even consider, especially after all we read about who Solomon was and what he knew and what he accomplished. But his wives seduced his heart away from God, and he finished poorly, and God came to Solomon and stripped the kingdom away. And He didn’t do it in his lifetime, but He told him He would strip it away in the lifetime of his son. Well, we met that son, the successor to the throne. His name was Rehoboam. We also read the story of a man named Jeroboam who a prophet came and told him that he would to be the king of 10 of the tribes of Israel one day. When Solomon found out about that he tried to kill Jeroboam, who had to flee and live in exile in Egypt until Solomon died. But when Solomon died, Jeroboam returned and was a spokesperson for the people when they came to ratify Rehoboam as the King over all of the tribes of Israel, the united tribes of Israel, as it were. And this was said to take place at Shechem. And we just read the story. The people asked Rehoboam to simply lighten up on the expectations, the taxation, the workload and they would serve him as their king. He sought counsel. He got good advice that he should honor and serve the people in this way. He got bad advice from the friends that he grew up that he should act like a tough guy. And that’s what he decided to do, act like a tough guy. And, so, he told Israel not only was he not going to make their burden lighter he was going to make it heavier. If they thought that his father Solomon was tough, they had no idea what was coming, basically, and 10 of the tribes revolted. We’ll have to see how this all plays out. But like yesterday we were reading the mountaintop experience of Israel and Queen Sheba coming to visit and his wisdom being renowned all over the world one day later the whole thing is falling apart. Solomon’s died. He did not finish well. His son, Rehoboam succeeded him on the throne, but now out of the 12 tribes of Israel 10 have deserted and begun a rebellion against Rehoboam. That is indeed pretty dramatic, and transitional material that we read today, and we will continue with the story tomorrow.
In the book of Acts we also have some incredible drama and transition taking place in the life of a man named Saul who had been a witness at the stoning to death of Stephen. And we read of Stephen’s testimony, and then he got to the very very end of his testimony and connected the story to Jesus and essentially told all of the council that they were responsible for what they had done, and they killed Stephen over it. Saul was a witness to this. He saw it happen. He was glad about it. Stephen was the first recorded martyr for the name of Jesus. Blood was spilled in the name of Jesus to stamp out the followers of Jesus, and Saul was pretty glad about that. He was zealous to stamp this name of Jesus out and got authorization to travel to other cities, including Damascus which is where he was on his way when a light shone down upon him, blinding him and forcing him to the ground. And we just read this. He met Jesus who asked him, why are you persecuting me, why are you attacking me? And Saul is basically like, who are you? And Jesus is like I’m Jesus. Go into Damascus and wait for the…for the next instructions. And, so, that’s what Saul did. Blind, couldn’t see, wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t drink, just seen a vision of Jesus. You can only imagine what is going on in Saul’s heart and mind. Everything is being reframed. And a person name Ananias is sent by the Lord to lay his hands on Saul and give him his sight back which is what happens. And Saul is baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and goes to the synagogues that he was intending to go to in order to hunt down followers of Jesus and instead speaks in the name of Jesus. We already know very likely that this Saul is the one who will become Paul the apostle. A incredibly dramatic transition in Saul’s life and in the life of the early church. And the reverberations of this echo until this very day. We will be spending a lot of time with the apostle Paul as we continue in the New Testament.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the transitions that we see in Your word. Sometimes those transitions are a downward spiral and sometimes they are a dramatic victory, and we were able to witness one of each in today’s reading. And, so, Holy Spirit we ask that You plant this in our lives as we transition through these stories and move into what comes next. Lead and guide us by the power of Your Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
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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:
Hi DAB this is Prairie Sky. I haven’t called in a while but I’m going through a really rough time again. My depression is really taking a nosedive lately. I’m having trouble to keep going. I’ve really having trouble finding friends making and keeping relationships and just finding a reason to stay living. I could really use some prayer right now. Thanks.
Morning it’s Eyes of a Dove. Yesterday on one of my job sites the construction bucket…actually it was Wednesday, today’s Friday June the 10th…somebody wrote that they were going to shoot everybody dead on our job site in Bellevue WA and that it would happen today and that he felt sorry for anyone that would show up today. So, they’ve closed down the job site. We’re investigating active shooting as it’s prevalent since the Texas shooting incident and now it’s just all these shootings and deaths everywhere right? And as I drive to work this morning is weighs heavy on my heart and I just pray for everybody at that Bellevue Plaza a job site that they’d be safe today although they are shut down the safety team is there investigating. Just pray for everybody on that job site. __ a hedge protection around them. And Father I pray for the gentleman that has threatened to kill people. Father I pray that You get into his heart right now, today as he thinks about this being that day. Pray for him that he seeks help, that he finds a way to deescalate his anger and that he finds You Jesus and so that the demonic is not a source of his activity but that You are in his life spring. And Father I pray for ember mini me Braden Ryland and all of our children that are attending school today in Lord Jesus. Put angels around the boundaries of their schools. Put a legion of agent angels Lord God. Protect and shelter every single student that is at school today. Father that You would provide in the budget, security they can watch over our dear ones and Father that You would be loud in the years of the children if there’s an active shooter they’d know to run and hide and not be in crowds…
Hey everyone, this is Robert and Alabama. This prayer is for Vicki in Texas. Just wanted to let you know you’re not alone. My wife and I have been taking care of my mother for multiple years now. My mother and I have always had a strained relationship but just recently had a major bearing through and it’s not surprising that the devil came calling, he attacked us by supposedly missing finances, supposedly harsh treatment of my mother. And of course, these are all my family members. I pray for you today, Vicki, I really do in Jesus’ name. We have been totally vindicated on any missing money, totally vindicated that we do not treat my mother poorly. And the family members accusing us didn’t even have the decency to say we’re sorry we accused you. Because we had a meeting that they chased destroyed us. Our hearts are so broken. And we just sat there and took it. It reminds me of the feelings that Jesus must have had when he was taking all the abuse verbally physically how we just turned the other cheek. And I felt like I can’t turn my cheek anymore. I just feel so hurt. My heart is just destroyed. We’re in a better place now slowly coming out of this. We’ve made adjustments to satisfy the family and keep our sanity, but I just want to let you know you’re not alone girl. Just keep going. We’re all gonna make it through this and the devil will not win in Jesus’ name.
Good morning family I’m calling in for a prayer request that I heard today from Richard in Ohio. His daughter is dealing with crushing anxiety, and she sees no hope in the future and he’s asking that we pray that she just turn to Jesus. Father God, I come to You on behalf of this Young lady Father God. She is Your beautiful creation, Lord God. You love and care for her more than even her own Father does Lord God, her earthly father. Gpd, that’s just who You are Father and we’re asking for a miracle Lord God. She doesn’t see any hope. And of course, there’s no hope unless we have our eyes on You Jesus. You are our hope. Lord God You’re our strength You’re our comfort. You are the lifter of our heads God. You lift up our anxiety when we come to You in prayer Father. But if someone doesn’t know You or look to You God what then Lord God? What then? We ask Lord God that You would intercede on her behalf Lord Jesus. We pray with all our hearts that You would turn this girl towards You Father, that we’re asking for a miracle Lord God, that You lift her head Father, that You bring hope into her life or God, and You would enable her to trust You Jesus Lord God and we pray be all these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hello my DAB family I am going to try to get through this call without crying too much. This is Patty used to be from Florida now in Tennessee. I need you all to please fervently pray for my 2-day old grandson Noah who apparently was born with a blood infection that was not diagnosed for 36 hours and is now in the NICU unit in Cincinnati. Please pray for Noah. He possibly had a seizure last night and we’re just praying and praying and praying that God will completely heal his little body. Mommy and daddy are there with him. I’ll be with big sister at home. And I love you all so much. Thank you for praying.