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A Prophet of the Lord? (2 Chronicles 18:6)

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  Tuesday, July 2, 2024 Psalms 5; 6 2 Chronicles 17:1-13; 18:1-8 Titus 2 A Prophet of the Lord? (2 Chronicles 18:6) Thank God there are people willing to stand against the mob! King Ahab, of the apostate northern kingdom, had surrounded himself with people who told him what he wanted to hear. If we ever find ourselves in the majority, we should be quick to turn to God to make sure we haven’t strayed from the narrow path into heaven. Sometimes the majority opinion is correct, and God will let us know, if we read his word and listen to his voice in prayer. But a majority opinion can also come about through deceit and ill-will, a result of rebellion against God. So we must always be asking the question, just to make sure. This culture in the northern kingdom was so on-the-nose and obvious that when king Jehoshaphat came to visit he saw through it straight away. He starts on the right foot: he commands that God be asked what they should do. But when he is gi
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God's Greater Holiness

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  Sunday, June 30, 2024 Sixth Sunday after Pentecost Mark 5:21-43 God's Greater Holiness When I was very young and I didn’t know how babies were made, I just assumed they came out of nowhere. I had some sort of logical process: that when a couple got married, God decided whether to give them babies, and how many. But it didn’t really go much further than that. It was all a mystery of God. But then I got older and learnt a bit more. And I began to realise just how many things can go wrong: as soon as that human being starts growing in the womb, every little stage needs to go just right. We look like a little fern slowly unfurling, except instead of green leaves, we have kidneys, eyes, fingers, toes, and all sorts of things that have to come out in a certain way at a certain time. Then there is the birth itself, full of new dangers. It is not for nothing that the old prayer book had a church service specifically to give thanks to God every time a baby was born
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A Foolish Thing (2 Chronicles 16:9)

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  Monday, July 1, 2024 Psalms 1; 2 2 Chronicles 16 Titus 1 Observance: Coming of the Light, first missionaries to the Torres Strait (1871) A Foolish Thing (2 Chronicles 16:9) I think we all hope that, as we get older, we also get wiser. The Biblical command is for the young to listen to the old, ideally so that the wisdom of years is passed on to the next generation. But is it possible that we might go the other way; that we might become foolish as we age? King Asa had a turbulent experience in life. He had his ups and downs. His first major decision as king ended up upsetting the northern kingdom and throwing them into rebellion against them. But then he learnt from that mistake, and listened to and trusted in the Lord. This listening and trusting held him in good stead when he was threatened with the enormous invasion of a million men, when the Lord won him a mighty victory against an army that outnumbered his own more than two to one. But now i
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But You, Take Courage! (2 Chronicles 15:7)

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  Saturday, June 29, 2024 Psalm 145 2 Chronicles 15 James 5 Observance: Peter and Paul, apostles and martyrs But You, Take Courage! (2 Chronicles 15:7) Let’s take a quick moment to remember what the overall intention of the books of Chronicles are. They were written at a time when the Jews were really battered and hard done by; when the exiles were returning from Babylon and rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and the temple. When they needed a bit of encouragement from their history to remind them of the big picture. It can feel like the words of the prophets are always about doom and gloom. The three big ones, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, certainly have a lot of hard words to read. But here in Chronicles we have the words of God through the prophet Azariah, and they are very encouraging. He tells us that the Lord is with us when we are with him. If we seek him, he will be found by us. St James tells us to take courage from the example of the prophe
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A Million Men (2 Chronicles 14:9)

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  Friday, June 28, 2024 Psalms 143; 146 2 Chronicles 14 James 4 Observance: Iranaeus of Lyons, bishop and teacher (d. c. 200) A Million Men (2 Chronicles 14:9) Judging by the opening verses of this chapter, it seems like Asa was a pretty good king. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, ruled faithfully, and got rid of all the places where people worshipped goat-demons. “In his days the land was quiet”. That sounds like things going well, as they should be. But then there is an invasion from the south. And we begin to appreciate the fact that the Bible gives us specific numbers of things like the troop count of armies. Asa had an army of 480 000, which sounds like a lot. Yet the invaders had over a million! No king before him ever had to face such an enormous army like Asa did. Asa, knowing what his job was, stands on the field of battle and doesn’t give a rousing speech to the men. He hasn’t sent for help from Egypt or any other foreign po
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Willing To Yield (James 3:17)

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  Thursday, June 27, 2024 Psalm 140 2 Chronicles 13 James 3 Observance: Cyril of Alexandria, bishop and teacher (d. 444) Willing To Yield (James 3:17) The Christian pilgrimage is a journey that is always asking us to go deeper. We don’t want to just do worship, but to produce it from within. It is not enough just to be nice; we want to love. And instead of seeking to do what is right, we want to be able to do what is wise. Every so often the Bible will give us a program, or a to-do list, such as the one given here in James 3:17. Wisdom is highly desirable, and St James has expanded out the definition of true wisdom for us. True wisdom, the wisdom from above, the wisdom of God, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. One of these sticks out: “willing to yield”, so let’s look at that one. There are certain things on which we cannot be willing to yield, if we ar
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Knowing The Difference (2 Chronicles 12:8)

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  Wednesday, June 26, 2024 Psalms 137; 138 2 Chronicles 12 James 2:8-26 Knowing The Difference (2 Chronicles 12:8) Let’s be honest for a moment. It is all too easy to look around ourselves, at the world around us, to see how non-Christians are living their lives, and wonder if the grass over there might be greener. Our Lord’s commands often seem confusing, or burdensome, and if we were to pack it all in and go our own way, might not things be easier? Becoming lords of our own destiny is the ongoing temptation of the human race. From the fruit in the Garden of Eden, to today’s mantra of “be all you can be”, we have been trapped in this to-and-fro between the intentions of our Creator and the desires of our own hearts. And why not, thought Rehoboam? Why shouldn’t I look at the success of my own rule, and abandon the law of the Lord? Or perhaps he justified his apostasy not from his success, but from his failure to bring the northern kingdom back in line. P
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