Wed.’s Devo - Courage to Do What is Right

Read: 2 Kings 17:1-18:12; Acts 20:1-38; Psalm 148:1-14; Proverbs 18:6-7 In Israel, King Hoshea ruled and was evil, but not as evil as the kings before him. He was attacked by King Shalmaneser of Assyria and forced to pay Assyria tribute which he did at first. He went to King So of Egypt to ask him to help Israel free themselves of Assyria’s hold on them. When Assyria found out, they seized Hoshea and put him in prison. The king of Assyria besieged Samaria for three years until it finally fell. The people of Samaria were exiled to Assyria. This all happened because Israel had continually worshiped idols and sinned against God. These rituals done to worship these gods included child sacrificing, all sorts of perverted sexual practices and sorceries. God had sent his prophets to warn them to repent but they refused to listen. God finally swept them away from his presence and only allowed Judah to remain in the land. When the people of Judah rebelled against the Lord, He had to reject them also. The people of Israel were taken by the Assyrians and assimilated into the earth. People from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sephrvaim were sent to Samaria to take their place. Since they didn’t worship the Lord, God sent lions among them. A message was sent to the king of Assyria telling him that since his people he had sent to Israel didn’t know how to worship the Lord, they were being attacked by lions. The king of Assyria responded by sending back one of the exiles to Bethel to teach them the customs of God. The people just added the worship of God to their list of gods. In Judah, Hezekiah was ruling. He ruled for 29 years and did what was pleasing to the Lord. He removed the pagan shrines and cut down the Asherah poles and god rid of all the gods the people had worshipped and trusted in the Lord alone. God was with him when he revolted against the king of Assyria and refused to pay him tribute. He conquered the Philistines around him and recovered land. He was reigning in Judah when the Assyrians came against Samaria and exiled their people to Assyria. In Acts, Paul was glad the riot was over and he was free to go to Macedonia. He stopped in Greece and stayed there for three months encouraging the people. He had to flee for his life and continued his journey to Macedonia. They stopped at Phillippi to celebrate the Passover and then continued to Troas where he joined his friends. Paul stayed a week and the last night he was there he preached till after midnight. A man named Eutychus was sitting on the windowsill when he fell asleep and dropped three stories to this death. Paul went down and embraced him. He awoke and they took him back upstairs where they shared the Lord’s Supper. They talked all night and left the next morning. In Assos, they boarded a ship and sailed hoping to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost. They landed at Miletus and preached. Paul’s message was his testimony of how his life was an offering to the Lord and he wanted to fulfill everything God had destined him to do. It included jail and suffering but he was innocent before God because he had not shied from teaching the truth. He encouraged them to do the same and told them he would probably never see them again. Lord, may our lives be like Paul’s who gave everything for the Kingdom. Lord, may nothing of the world keep us from what You have for us to do for you.