Sun.’s Devo - The Acts of the Apostles

Read: 1 Kings 12:20-13:34; Acts 9:26-43; Psalm 132:1-18; Proverbs 17:6 Jereboam was made king over Israel while Rehoboam only reigned over Judah and Benjamin. Rehoboam started to send his army to restore the kingdom back to himself but was stopped by a prophet named Shemaiah. He told him that this was the Lord’s doing and he should not go and fight his own brothers. He obeyed the word of the Lord and returned home. *** Jeremiah was not faithful to the Lord. He built Shechem to live as king. He was afraid if the people returned to Jerusalem every year for the feasts, they would turn against him as their king, so he had two gold calves made and put one in Bethel and one in Dan. He told the people to worship them as the gods who brought them out of Egypt. He appointed priest of his choosing who were not from the tribe of Levi. *** Then Jereboam established a counterfeit Feast of Tabernacles one month after the original. He went to Bethel to celebrate this new feast. As he was offering sacrifices on the altar he had built, a man of God came from Judah and gave him a word. He spoke against the altar and said that a son would be born to the house of David whose name would be Josiah and he would sacrifice the bones of the priests of Jereboam on this altar. As a sign that what he was saying was true, the altar would split and the ashes would be poured out. *** Jereboam stretched out his hand to point to the prophet and told his men to seize him. But, his hand became stuck and he could’t move it. The altar broke and the ashes poured out. Then the king begged the prophet to pray for the Lord to restore his hand. *** The prophet did pray for Jereboam and his hand was restored, but his heart was not changed. Jereboam asked the prophet to come back and eat with him and he would give him a reward, but the prophet told him that God had told him not to eat here nor return the way he came. So, they parted. *** An old prophet was told by his sons what had happened and he went after the young prophet and told him that an angel had told him to bring him back to his house and feed him. The young prophet believed the lie and returned to his house. While they were eating the old prophet gave the young prophet a word. He told him that he had disobeyed the Lord by coming and eating with him. Because he did this he would not be buried in his family grave. *** The young prophet left and was attacked by a lion. The old prophet brought his body back and mourned his death. He laid him in his own tomb and told his sons to bury him beside him. *** None of this makes much sense to me, but it is a lesson to all of us to not ever honor a man’s words over God’s Word. We find out later that Josiah did come and have his men dig up the bones of the prophets and burned them on the altar that had been torn down. He stopped when he came to the tomb of the young prophet and his did not get dug up or burned. I wonder if the other prophet who asked to be buried with him didn’t get burned either. I have more questions than answers. *** In Acts, when Saul came to Jerusalem, he wanted to join the disciples but they were afraid of him. Barnabas defended Saul to the apostles and told them of Saul’s conversion and how he had preached boldly about Jesus in the synagogue at Damascus. *** Saul went throughout Jerusalem preaching boldly and debating with the Hellenists. They wanted to kill him, but the believers found out and sent Saul to Tarsus. *** Now that Saul was a believer, the church in Judea, Galilee and Samaria had peace and multiplied. *** Peter went down to Lydda and met a man who had been bedridden and paralyzed for 8 years. He told him to rise in the name of Jesus Christ and he rose and walked. All of Lydda witnessed this miracle and turned to the Lord. *** A pious woman named Tabitha who lived in Joppa died. They washed her body and laid it in an upper room. Peter was sent there and when he arrived he told the mourners to leave the room. He knelt and prayed, then told Tabitha to rise and she did. He brought her out to her friends, alive. Many in Joppa heard about this and became believers. Peter stayed in Joppa with Simon the tanner. *** Lord, we don’t have to understand everything to know that you are the Lord of everything. Your word stands through time and endures forever. May we hide your word in our hearts that we don’t sin against you.