2 Chronicles 14:1-16:14, Romans 9:1-24, Psalms 19:1-14, Proverbs 20:1
Today is the 25th day of July welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today as…well…this is our last full week in the month of July, the seventh month of the year and it’s a privilege and an honor that we can be together and step-by-step move through this week together as we continue our journey through the Scriptures which leads us back to second Chronicles in the Old Testament and the letter to the Romans in the New Testament. We’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week and picking up the story and second Chronicles today with chapters 14, 15 and 16.
Commentary:
Okay, let’s take a look at what we read in the book of Psalms today. Psalm chapter 19, it’s a favorite of mine because at some point for some reason I memorized Psalm 19 when I was a kid. And, so, I’ve kind of always loved Psalm 19, not so much because of what it says but because I knew what it said. But now as a person who is an adult and grown and has a family and as a person who has devoted my life to reading and interpreting and understanding and teaching Scriptures, I love this psalm. Basically, we begin with…with worship and declarations about the Lord and then there are some like truth statements that are then fleshed out and then there’s a prayer of repentance and kind of a closing meditation. And, so, Psalm 19 begins telling us the heavens keep telling the wonders of God and the skies declare what He has done. And the Psalm is essentially saying, look, every time the sun comes up, every time the sun goes down, every time the moon comes up, every time the moon…like every time this happens, nature itself, the heavens themselves are declaring the glory of God. Whether we observe it or ignore it, it is there, it is true, it is happening and it affects every single person alive on earth, right? We would be profoundly affected and terribly confused if not gone if the sun didn’t come up tomorrow. Every day this rhythm happens. It’s happened since the second we were born. We’ve never been without it. We wouldn’t even know how to live if that rhythm of day and night that’s constant were eliminated. Every day that we open our eyes and there’s daylight, we are reminded yet again that the Lord is sustaining us, all of us, He’s sustaining everything in the cosmos. And Psalms points out that all this happens without a word. All of this happens without it being explained. It doesn’t take paragraphs or pages. It happens. It’s a faithful thing that happens. And because this happens, it’s saying something, it’s pointing us to something, that God is sustaining us. And then we have these core statements of truth. The law of the Lord is perfect. And then that’s kind of unpacked. The law of the Lord is perfect, and here’s why. It gives us new life. His teachings last forever, and they give wisdom to ordinary people. So, as the sun comes up and sets every day and comes up again and sets again regularly, predictably, faithfully, so we also are to understand that God’s teachings last forever, and they give wisdom to ordinary people. And then we have another statement. The Lords instruction is right. And then here’s why. It makes our hearts glad. His commandments shine brightly, and they give us light. So, following the instructions of the Lord, obeying his commands make our hearts glad and give us light. We’re looking for those things, right? We want our hearts to be glad and we want to see where we’re going? Then we must seek the Lord’s instruction and obey His commands. And then we have another statement. Worshiping the Lord is sacred. And again, it’s unpacked. So, here’s why. He will always be worshiped. All His decisions are correct and fair. They are worth more than the finest gold and are sweeter than honey from the honeycomb. And, so, we begin to understand that offering our hearts in surrender, and worship to the Lord, offering ourselves to God, giving ourselves in worship to the Lord brings our hearts to a place of trust where we rest as the sun comes up and goes down. We rest in God’s decisions knowing that He is righteous, that he is correct and fair. And understanding that the decisions of the Lord as we walk with God become more valuable to us than gold and become more sweeter to us than honey. And, so, what we begin to realize is that as we meditate upon and rest in the steadfastness of God and His righteousness, His rightness, His goodness, His wisdom we are led to a place that Psalms brings us to, which is the prayer. By your teachings Lord I am warned. By obeying them I am greatly rewarded. None of us know our faults. Forgive me when I sin without knowing it. Don’t let me do wrong on purpose Lord or let sin have control over my life. Then I will be innocent and not guilty of some terrible fault. Let my words and my thoughts be pleasing to you, Lord, because you are my mighty rock and my protector. That’s beautiful and gives us wisdom, insight, and instruction.
Prayer:
Father, we invite You here as we meditate upon these statements as we meditate upon these truths that are laid out for us in a way that we can very clearly understand. And we do come to the same place where we have to say the same thing. Let my words and my thoughts please You, Lord, because You are my mighty rock and my protector. There is no other. There is no other hope. And, so, all of our hope is in You because You are steadfast and constant. You are our Creator and our Father. And, so, we trust You completely with this day as the sun moves from the sky and we trust You with this night as the moon makes its journey knowing that Your mercies will be new in the morning. Come Holy Spirit into this. Comfort us, lead us, instruct us, guide us, we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
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Community Prayer and Praise:
Hi to my DAB family it’s Rosie from British Columbia. Special shout out to God Smiles. So thankful to hear you on July 22nd. And yeah, I’ve missed you. I’ve missed hearing from you, and you sure have been on my heart. The last few weeks I’ve been really praying for you and really sorry you’ve been having a rough couple weeks. So, I just bless you. I’ve been having a challenging time with one of my sons. I have three boys and my oldest is really struggling. And, so, I’ve been posting on the Prayer Wall and have been so grateful for the prayers that have been prayed on our behalf and just beyond grateful. So, thank you so much. So, about that. On last Sunday I woke up and started to pray for my son and I just sensed Lord saying what if just for today you lived like everything in your life in a lives of your kids was just perfect? And I thought…well…that’s a strong word, perfect. Well, I made the decision on Sunday to go through the day like I had no problems no worries no concerns from my family. Wow! What a day. It was a great day and a really turned a corner in my heart that day. I lived like the Lord was holding my family and His hands which of course He does. So, that’s my encouragement to you today. Live…live for a day like you don’t have any problems, like the Lord has it all in His hands busy ‘cause He surely does. Blessings and love and so thankful for my DAB family.
Hey Daily Audio Bible family this is Jeremiah God Gives Good Gifts. Just wondering if anyone wants to get down with some answered prayer, Hallelujah. I had my meeting with my parents, and it was amazing. Thank you so much for your prayers and your support. God’s presence was there, and I was just filled with this just unspeakable peace. Anxiety and fear and worry wanted to come after me and I just said no I’m going to hold on to my peace and was able to communicate with them, just that I had forgiven them, that I didn’t hold anything over their heads. And they were able to sincerely apologize. It was amazing. And just walking out that forgiveness, walking out that piece, all of the hooks that were in my back since I was a little boy, they were gone and God’s peace and joy just filled my heart. And, so, I just want to encourage you that we gotta walk this out, we gotta walk out this faith. And even if we have suffering for decades, through endurance, through character, through forgiveness God has healing for us. God has new life for us. He is so worthy. I just wanna lift up my voice lift up my heart to him and just exalt him today. Let’s exalt him together. Wherever you’re at just lift up your hands. [sing starts] I exalt thee. I exalt thee. I exalt thee oh Lord [singing stops]. He is worthy, He is worthy, He is worthy. We love you Jesus thank you so much for your answered prayers for your faithfulness for your love. Hallelujah.
Hey DAB family this is Connie from Rhode Island. My friends Rick and Aaron told me about this app, and I’ve been loving it. I’ve probably only been listening for a month or two now. So, I’m probably one of the baby dabbers. I do have a prayer request. Personally, I had a shoulder procedure yesterday where they took the calcium out of my tendon that had formed. So, I’m just praying for healing that God would heal that tendon and heal up that hole where the calcium was so that I don’t end up getting a tear because then I would need a full-on surgery which I would like to avoid. And I have to say I just love this app and I love hearing the prayer requests. Of course, I love the word being read by Brian. It’s so beautiful and just hearing the word every day. But the prayer requests really touched my heart. And Justin with your anxiety…I hate to say your…let’s not even say your…it’s not your anxiety, it’s from the devil, right? You reminded me of my son with anxiety. And he suffers on and off with some depression issues and you just broke my heart with that. But I’ve been praying for you. And as you all are calling in and sending in your requests, I agree with you and prayer for each and everyone. I already love you guys. I’m so grateful for you. God bless.
Hi this is Donna from California and I listened to you July 22nd. Today the podcast was just amazing. Brian you’re doing such a fine fine job of breaking down Romans and the teachings of Paul in ways that are just so graspable. So, thank you. And I wanted to respond to Rula from Australia. And she was the first caller today on the prayer line. And she…you Rula, you called in I think one of the most heartfelt prayers that I have heard in a long time anywhere. It just…I know there are people who have the gift of praying out loud and who do just a fine job of…a beautiful job of putting forth…composing a prayer and just doing it just like that. And I…I also don’t have that gift. I struggle with finding words. And I think what you said was just so from the heart. And you spoke…and you know it reminds me there is a scripture that, you know, when…when we don’t know what to pray God…God…the Spirit is in there and it intercedes…it inter…you know…it already knows what…the Spirit, He…He knows what…what to bring out. And I find myself relying on that more and more and more instead of my own perfectionistic tendencies to try and get it right and get it right and then just getting more and more frustrated. But I just wanted to let you know that it was a…it really touched me what the words you spoke. I love you sister.
Good afternoon I just listened to Val from Vegas. First, I want to say how happy I am for this format. It has really blessed me, and I’ve been spreading the word about DAB. But I just want to thank Val from Vegas, your uplifting spirit. You are such a bright light my sister. And I thank you for that prayer you gave about mental health and healing. May God continue to bless you. And every time you come on there you are so bright and cheerful and I really appreciate this. And this format has been such a blessing. And May God bless and keep everyone. And I hope this continues to grow. Brian and his family, kudos to you. May God continue to uplift you and bless you as you continue your work. You are appreciated and I thank you all. God bless and keep you all. This is Mal in college.