Wed.’s Devo - Righteous Obedience

Read: 1 Kings 15:25-17:24; Acts 10:24-48; Psalm 134:1-3; Proverbs 17:9-11 The Book of Kings are the history of the kings of Israel written by the prophets. The Book of the Chronicles are the history of Judah’s kings written by the priests. Kings highlights the kings of Israel and the way that the prophets relate to them but also gives us the kings of Judah and what year they are in which is important. Today, we see that the kings of Israel change from Jeroboam to Nadab to Baasha to Elah to Zimri to Omri to Ahab all in the same reign of Asa in Judah. Asa was a good king so he was blessed with a stable kingdom and a long life. The kings of Israel were evil and worshipped idols so their lives were cut short by murder, treason and sedition. At one time there were two kings in Israel. The capital of Israel was moved from Tirzah to Samaria and ended in the worse king of all - Ahab. Ahab married Jezebel who was the daughter of a people who worshipped Baal. The first thing Ahab did as king was to build a temple to Baal and then he set up an Ashtarah pole. He did more to provoke the anger of the Lord than any of the other kings before him. During his reign, Hiel rebuilt Jericho. Joshua had cursed Jericho since it was the seat of Satan and said that whoever rebuilt that city would lose their first born son when he laid the foundation and his youngest son when he set the gate. This happened to Hiel. God sent Elijah, the prophet to Ahab to tell him that it would not rain until he said it would. Then God told Elijah to go and hide by the Kerith Brook.. God would send ravens to feed him and he could drink from the brook. Elijah stayed there till the brook dried up then God told him to go to the town of Zerephath where a widow would feed him. Of course, the widow didn’t know that, so when Elijah found her, she was preparing the last meal she had for her son and her and then she was going to die. Elijah told her to fix him a meal and her flour and oil would never run dry. She obeyed and God provided for her and her son and Elijah. After a while her son became sick and died. She blamed Elijah but he went and laid on the son three times crying out to the Lord. God heard and revived the boy. Elijah brought him down and gave him to his mother. Her faith was renewed. In Acts, Peter arrived at Cornelius’ house where he bowed down to worship Peter. Peter would have none of that and told him to stand up. Cornelius told him that he had asked for him because he wanted to hear the word that the Lord had given him. Peter realized that God had indeed extended his grace to the Gentiles and preached to them the gospel of Jesus Christ. They believed and were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. Peter was amazed that God saw everyone as equal - Jew and Gentile. Lord, may we learn the lesson from Israel and Judah, that walking in righteousness is rewarding and leads to life. Help us to see everyone through Your eyes and not our prejudice. May we love as you love.