II Chronicles 3:1-5:1

Dear RTB’ers,

Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. (v. 3:1) It’s always been interesting to me that the temple was built on Mount Moriah, the place where Abraham had gone to sacrifice his son, Isaac. (Genesis 22) God had intervened before that human sacrifice, and Abraham offered a ram as a burnt offering instead of his son. Then some thousand years later the temple was built on this location for animal sacrifices as substitutionary offerings for Israel’s sins. So interesting…

Gold is mentioned nine times in chapter 3 and seven times in chapter 4, often as a covering but other times as the construction material itself. President Trump has a fascination for gold, mostly as an overlay on walls, statues and other items. Perhaps his fascination comes from these Biblical accounts?

Finally, similar to John’s “one other thing”, The cherubim stood on their feet, facing the nave. (v. 3:13b) This is the first time that I can recall noticing that the cherubim were standing on their feet. We don’t find that mentioned in I Kings 6:23-28, the earlier account of the construction of the temple. I had always imagined the cherubim somehow suspended up against the back wall. Again, interesting…

Blessings!

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See also:

• May 11 (2023) / I Kings 5-6; II Chronicles 2-3 (again)
• May 12 (2023) / I Kings 7; II Chronicles 4

II Chronicles 1-2

Dear RTB’ers,

Back to history, the Chronicler’s history, his own “take” on the Kings and Samuel books. You will recall that the Chronicles author had written his history so as to portray David favorably. But now David is gone; I Chronicles 29 ended with his death, so we move on.

We begin with Solomon also shown in a positive light, asking for wisdom instead of riches or honor. Solomon was wise in asking thusly, given that he would be the leader in David’s kingdom. The question that comes to me is, what would I ask for if the Lord appeared directly to me? And it’s an easy answer – I would like to think that I would ask to know Him more, to give me a stronger relationship with Him.

And not surprisingly, He has already answered that request – I have His Holy Spirit already living within me. And how to know Him more? …better? Just what I’m doing right now – Scripture, prayer, time. Just more of that, all day long, not just in these early hours.

So that’s my goal – time with Him, set aside more often during the day.

And the rest of you? Your request?

Blessings!

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See also:

• May 3 (2023) / I Kings 3-4; II Chronicles 1
• May 11 (2023) / I Kings 5-6; II Chronicles 2-3

Psalms 137-138

Dear RTB’ers,

O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock! (vv. 137:8-9) I was remembering how the Babylonians had killed Zedekiah’s sons in his presence, then gouged out his eyes. (Jeremiah 39:6-7) What a horrible people!! Barbaric. So the psalmist is somewhat justified to wish evil on his captors…!!?? Maybe so!

For though the Lord is high, He regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar. (v. 138:6) Both halves of this verse moved me. A couple of days ago I reread my post from a few years back, as to how the Lord redirected me over and over through the years. Back then I was certainly among the lowly. Then as time went on I have had many “haughty” moments, pleased with my own achievements, forgetting that it was the Lord who had given me talents and opportunities and guided my steps. I have tried to be better about that, but that demon pride keeps showing up in my life! Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:24-25) Too true…!

Blessings!

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See also:

• December 15 (2022) / Psalm 137
• December 16 (2022) / Psalm 138

Psalm 136

Dear RTB’ers,

It would be easy to be “distracted” by the main line, “His steadfast love endures forever” and not really see the beginning line of every verse in this Psalm. But when we look only at those first lines we see the psalmist thanking God for who He is (Ps. 136:1-3), for His creation (Ps. 136:4-9), for His deliverance of Israel from Egypt (Ps. 136:10-22), and for His provision for the Israelites in their present state (Ps. 136:23-25), with a final closing verse of simple thanks (Ps. 136:26). Most of the Psalm (Ps. 136:3-22) is only one sentence, with an introduction in verse 3 of giving thanks to the Lord for all that is included in the next 19 verses.

So yes, the Lord is all that and has done all that. And the foundation of all His activity is His steadfast love. We need to really embrace that understanding, the difference that it should make for us personally that His steadfast love endures forever. Amen. Glory!

Blessings!

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See also:

• December 13 (2022) / Psalm 136:1-12
• December 14 (2022) / Psalm 136:13-26

Psalm 135

Dear RTB’ers,

Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. (v. 6) It’s a comforting verse, to know that the Lord does as He chooses. That is, in whatever is happening in our lives, in our church, in our country, in the world – the Lord knows it all and has allowed all events to occur exactly as we see them. Our vision is no doubt clouded by our own biases, but He is God and we are not. We need to thank Him for who we are, for where we are, and for what we are doing. We need to praise Him for who He is and what He is doing.

Today’s Psalm begins and ends with that word, “praise”. Let’s follow the psalmist’s example. Praise in the morning, then all day long, then as we prepare to sleep. Praise Him!

Blessings!

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See also:

• December 11 (2022) / Psalm 135:1-12
• December 12 (2022) / Psalm 135:13-21

Psalms 133-134

Dear RTB’ers,

Only six verses today – not a lot to choose from! But for me one verse clearly stands out, Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! (v. 133:1) Unity is good and pleasant, but disunity brings bitterness and discord. Sadly, when I think of disunity, divisiveness, our political realm (to me) is most prominent. No further comments there. But unity in the church…? Do we have that? Yes, I think so, in our basic beliefs. That is, I think that most people in our major Christian denominations would agree on the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Denominational differences seem to arise from worship preferences and on social issues. Again, no further comments there.

I’d rather dwell on blessing, which we see in Psalm 134. “Bless the LORD” appears in each of the first two verses, with blessings on us in the third verse, May the LORD bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth! Every Internet source that I looked at expressed divine overtones for bless and blessing. Here’s a Mirriam-Webster dictionary definition: “To bless is to hallow or consecrate by religious rite or word.” A less formal AI statement says that to bless someone means “…to ask for divine care, protection, or favor…” So, when the psalmist asks for the Lord to bless us, he is asking for the Lord’s care, protection, favor. I like that. Thus, when I end RTB posts with “Blessings.”, I am essentially asking for the Lord’s blessing, for His care, protection, favor on each of you. Yes, I like that. I’ll continue with that closing from here on, but adding an exclamation mark instead of a period!

Blessings!

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See also: December 10 (2022) / Psalm 133-134.

Psalm 132

Dear RTB’ers,

Hello from Nitra, SK! Carol and I are at our new home in Slovakia for the next three months. I have long tried to get my comments posted before 9:00 am each day. I should have little trouble doing that for the rest of this year, since we are six hours ahead of you!

So, for today: For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: “This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell…” (vv. 13-14) So, Zion. Is that just Jerusalem or is it all of Israel? For example, going back to King David, And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land… [and] David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. (II Samuel 5:7) So, Zion is the “city of David” (Jerusalem)? On the other hand, there are people who are known as “Zionists”, supporters of the nation of Israel. So, Zion is all of Israel? Your choice. I’ll go with Zion as Mt. Zion, the city of David. It’s the place that the Lord has chosen for His dwelling.

But even if we pick one or the other, the city or the nation, in the end it hardly matters. Stephen (one of the first deacons) was quoted by Luke in his speech before he was martyred: Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, ‘Heaven is My throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?’ (Acts 7:48-50a) The Lord dwells wherever He chooses to dwell. And because He is omnipresent, He can dwell in multiple locations at multiple times and at an infinite level that we cannot comprehend. Our simplest bottom line is that He dwells in each and every one of us: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (I Corinthians 3:16) We are His dwelling place. Believe that and live it!

Blessings.

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See also:

• December 8 (2022) / Psalm 132:1-10
• December 9 (2022) / Psalm 132:11-18

Psalms 130-131

Dear RTB’ers,

I am sitting in an airport in Brussels, Belgium, waiting for a connecting flight to Vienna, then on to Nitra, Slovakia where Carol and I will spend the next three months. I have left behind my Study Bible and our Search the Scriptures companion book, so I will be a bit hampered the next three months. However, I will continue to post, making use of Holy Spirit inspiration and Internet sources.

Today’s verses, If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared. (vv. 130:3-4, NASB) Our psalmist knew of his iniquities, but he also knew of God’s forgiveness. That forgiveness (to him) may have come in the form of animal sacrifices. He could not have known of the forgiveness that Jesus gives, that He offers to us through His substitutionary death on the Cross. Thankfully, we don’t do animal sacrifices anymore. But sadly, however, we do have our iniquities to deal with. Let’s not take Jesus’s forgiveness for granted!

Blessings.

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See also:

• December 6 (2022) / Psalm 130
• December 7 (2022) / Psalm 131

Psalms 127-129

Dear RTB’ers,

Since we began with Psalm 120 a few days ago we have been reading psalms with an introductory title, “A Song of Ascents”. That will continue for another five psalms. Scholars agree that these songs of ascents were likely sung by pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem for one of the three annual feasts or by residents of Jerusalem as they walked to the temple. Accordingly, most of these psalms are happy, joyful, full of praise for God’s glory.

Today’s third psalm does not follow that pattern. Instead, the psalmist’s attention is toward his enemies: May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward; may they be like grass upon the housetops which withers before it grows up… (vv. 129:5-6) The psalmist speaks of his attackers, of the wicked. It seems like a strange psalm for us to be singing on our way to church!

Jesus taught us differently, to pray for our enemies. He might have even been thinking of this psalm as He delivered His sermon on the mount: You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…’ (Matthew 5:43-44). The second half of today’s final verse (although introduced in the negative) is the song that we should be singing: The blessing of the LORD be upon you! We bless you in the name of the LORD! (v. 129:8b) Yes, blessing, not cursing!

Blessings.

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See also:

• December 3 (2022) / Psalm 127
• December 4 (2022) / Psalm 128
• December 5 (2022) / Psalm 129

Psalms 124-126

Dear RTB’ers,

Yesterday’s word was “protection”. That same word jumped out at me today: If it had not been the LORD who was on our side… when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive… Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. (vv. 124:1-3; 125:1) The lead verses in both of today’s first two psalms speak of protection and our trust in our great Protector. It may not be physical armies that are battling against us, but there are still issues troubling us, fears haunting us, unknown thousands of difficulties that we could be facing. The Lord knows all of them and watches over us to protect us.

Those verses and their application are super important for Carol and me as we head off tomorrow, flying some 5,000 miles from home and then additional untold distances overseas for the next three months. It would be an impossible journey for us if we did not have our trust in the Lord to watch over us. Thankfully we already have a church and a homegroup and dozens of friends when we arrive, all of whom make our journey less difficult. Still, our trust is in the Lord to protect and watch over us.

And the rest of you…? Where are you headed today? …tomorrow? …whenever? Who is watching over you? Spend some time today chatting with Him about your day, your week, your life…!

Blessings.

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See also:

• October 31 (2022) / Psalm 124
• December 1 (2022) / Psalm 125
• December 2 (2022) / Psalm 126