1 King 22 - 2 King 1-2

"But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, ' first seek the counsel of the LORD.'

So the king of Israel brought together the prophets–about four hundred men–and asked them, 'Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?'

'Go,' they answered, 'for the Lord will give it into the king's hand.'

But Jehoshaphat asked, 'Is there not a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?'

The king of Israel answered Jehoshpat, 'There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.'"

(Story recap) King Ahab, who did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, wanted to go to war against Aram to take back Ramoth Gilead, and he asked the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, to join him. Ahab's heart was very much set on going to war, and he didn't want to hear anyone else tell him otherwise. (End recap)

As I was meditating on this passage, God reminded me of the song, "In the Potter's Hands", Helen sang last night at the meeting. "Take me, mold me, use me, fill me, I give my life to the Potter's hands. Hold me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me, I give my life to the Potter's hand." Are we set on our ways this day, or are we willing to let God mold us into who he wants us to be?

All of us are naturally like Ahab. We don't want to hear the truth about ourselves (or The Truth of God's word). We say we do, but we easily get defensive or offended when anyone else confronts us with things we don't want to hear. We are so set in our own ideas, attitudes, and beliefs. We all think we know what's best. And like Ahab, we often seek counsel of people who share our views and tell us what we want to hear. We reject the truth in order to live the way we want.

Let's humble ourselves before God and others ("others" is the hard part...) this day. Let's allow ourselves to be a clay to be molded by God. Jesus died so we can experience and live in complete freedom from all the ugliness and pride within us, and so he can live for us. Let us live in the good of this wonderful promise and truth:)

Isaiah 12-14

"How you have fallen from heaven. O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit."

Above describes the fall of Satan. Just like other angelic beings, he was created to worship and serve God, however, he became very prideful and rebelled against God. Ever since then he's been doing everything he can to tempt and torture human kind. He along with his followers will be judged and condemned forever.

This is such a contrast picture to what Jesus has done. Because of his obedience and humility, he made a way for every man to be saved. And God has lifted him up so that every knee shall bow before him and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord.

God is calling us to live a life of humility. God wants to use us for his purpose and glory, however, he can't do this because often times we are too stubborn, selfish, and prideful. As we go about this day, let us meditate on what Jesus has done for us and pray that God will help us to live a life of humility and sacrifice for him and for the people around us. Let us be a blessing and an instrument of his blessing!

1 King 16-18

"So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, 'How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.'"

(Story recap) Many kings of Israel that succeeded Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Ahab was one of them. God sent one of his prophet, Elijah to confront Ahab and the people of Israel of their sinful ways. (End recap)

This may be going off topic, but as I read this passage, God reminded me of how my heart wavers between the idols in my life and God way too often. As we know, idols are anything in our lives that keeps our eyes off of the Lord our God. And I was reminded this day that the biggest idol most of us (or is it all of us?) face is ourselves, our pride.

Sarah, I'm so encouraged that you took this new job you just started. By you taking this job, you really humbled yourself and lifted up to God all that you thought you deserve from your job.

That word "deserve" is a really scary word. It's one of those words that make me feel like a hypocrite so often. Because when I am before God, I say, "God, I deserve nothing!", yet when I am before other people, I often think, "I deserve everything!" How many times have we grumbled about how we are not getting the things we deserve? Things like how we deserve to be getting paid more at our jobs, how we deserve more respect from others, how we deserve more support from our loved ones, how we deserve more time for ourselves, and the list goes on and on and on.

Once we start on this path of what we deserve, our eyes are completely off of God, for we cannot serve two masters. We have pretty much started worshiping ourselves.

But it's so easy to do this, isn't it? It's just how we talk. If all of us truly believe we are thankful for all that God provided and that we don't deserve anything, we would not hear any complaints from anyone whatsoever. but the reality is we all complain all the time. there's always something...

I have to be really careful, too. I'm about to graduate and I need to get a job in the next few months. And my heart is constantly telling me of all the great jobs and money that I deserve...

But thank God that he knows our hearts. And I'm so glad that you and I can learn this lesson together of humbling ourselves and trusting in him. I don't doubt that God will bless you and I with more than what we can imagine. God is telling us we don't need to worry about what we deserve. When we make a choice to give all of our hearts to him fix our eyes upon him, he will take care of everything in our lives. Let's rejoice in the Lord this day for he, indeed, is good:)

Isaiah 4-6

"Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight."

This book was written for the people of Israel. God spoke to them through prophet Isaiah. Just like us, Israelites were prideful and sinful people. They refused to believe and serve God, so God warned them through Isaiah.

As I was driving yesterday, I heard a sermon on the radio, and one thing that the pastor said was we need to realize we are nothing without God. Also, when we were praying yesterday, you mentioned how we are weak and in desperate need of God's help.

How often do we think that we are wise and clever in our own eyes? Especially, when everything is going well, we think it is because of what we have done. We forget about God's goodness, faithfulness, and grace. I always pray that God would humble me, but I don't want to just pray that but truly learn to be humble before God acknowledging that we are just dust, mere breath without God. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Let us repent of our pride and humble ourselves trusting God in everything we do this day.

"Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."

1 King 10-12

"As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods."

It's hard to believe that the above quote is about Solomon. The previous chapters that describe all the wisdom, wealth, and honor that God blessed him with is amazing beyond belief. And we learned earlier that God blessed him because he humbled himself in the beginning of his reign as king and asked God for nothing but wisdom. So how did Solomon end up falling away from God and worshiping other idols?

Solomon knew that God has commanded Israelites to not to intermarry with people of foreign nations, because they "will surely turn your hearts after their gods". Yet, that is exactly what he did.

I believe God is reminding me this day about the heart of men. Solomon, at some point, must have grown comfortable with his stature and his surroundings. He had all the wisdom, wealth, and honor that anyone can ever ask for. I'm sure, after a while, Solomon became proud and thought he was wise enough to avoid falling away from God. He must have thought, "It's okay. I got this. I have everything under control."

I am reminded of many times in my life when I'd convince myself that I am doing pretty good. I'm going to church, I'm reading God's word, I'm praying, etc. That's when I let my guard down and allow myself to go against God's word thinking that I can handle it. It usually starts out with a small thing (a little compromise here or there). And when I let that go unchecked and not repent of it, it almost always snowballs to a point where I become distant from God. (We must truly ask God to let us know what those "compromises" are in our lives. They are usually things we've convinced ourselves time and again of being harmless.)

With that said, praise God that he will never stop testing our hearts! He desires nothing other than for us to have hearts that are fully devoted to him and him alone. So let's shed our pride and lift up all our weakness this day (we must first truly realize that we are weak), and ask God for his power to keep our eyes fixed on him. There is no limit to what God can do and will do through those whose hearts are fully committed to him:)

Song of Songs 2-8

It is hard to talk about this book because I never studied it. We are already aware of its content. As I was reading the chapters, I thought about God's intention for marriage. When he realized that Adam was in need of a companion and helper, he made Eve. He brought them together into a family. God created marriage so that two people would help and love one another, yet the world has distorted his intentions. The world defines it as everything except what God says it is. And because of that, there are so many broken families even among our families and friends.

The youth group is going over the book of Nehemiah starting yesterday. And we talked about how Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem to restore the walls around the temple. I believe God wants to restore us in every way especially in our relationship with him. As described in Song of Songs, God wants to have a very close, intimate relationship with us even closer than a marital relationship. That is how much God loves and desires us. I do find it hard to draw closer to God. I want to have more passion and love for God and people around me. And I know that it is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray to God for restoration in our hearts this day so that we may love and desire him more than ever before.