In those letters she wrote: “Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.” – 1 Kings 21:9-10

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 30, 2019): 1 Kings 21

Maybe the word of our day is corruption. Most recently, we have heard a lot about the corruption problem in Ukraine. But there is a level of corruption exists in various governments and businesses. “Transparency International” has published its list of the countries that are perceived to be the most and least corrupt in the world since 1995. Their “Corruption Perceptions Index” defines corruption as “the misuse of public power for private benefit.” In 2018, the least corrupt nations in the world were Denmark, New Zealand, and Finland. At the other end of the list holding down the last four positions as the most corrupt nations in the world were North Korea, Syria, South Sudan, and Somalia. The North American Countries that consider themselves to be the “home of the free” come in on the 2018 list in ninth position (Canada) and twenty-second position (United States). Modern Israel places thirty-fourth on the list. And for anyone interested, Ukraine in 2018 was ranked in 120^th position.

Ahab wanted a vineyard. But the owner of the vineyard did not want to sell the vineyard to the king. Instead, he wanted to use the vineyard and then pass it down to his children, keeping the vineyard in his family. But that was not the answer that Ahab wanted, and so he goes home and sulks about what he cannot do. In the story of “Naboth’s Vineyard,” this is where Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, gets involved. In a classic example of corruption, she decides that if the King cannot get the vineyard through legal means, then she will use corrupt means to get to the King’s goal.

Jezebel plans to hold a gathering and to invite Naboth to it and place him where he can be seen. Beside him, she endeavors to put two people who can be bought to promote a lie. As a result of the lie, Naboth would be executed and removed as an obstacle in the king's plan to acquire the vineyard. The plan exploited the public power of the king to gain a private goal. And it is a plan that angers God.

One thing we need to remember as Christians is that corruption never honors God, no matter what the goal might be that we are chasing. If we can’t achieve our goals through honest means, then maybe we need to rethink what it is that we are doing. Corruption can only bring dishonor to what we do. And for a Christian, how we get there is just as important as where it is that we are going.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 22

He said to the king, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people.’” – 1 Kings 20:42

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 29, 2019): 1 Kings 20

There is a severe heresy traveling around our Christianized culture. It is the “name it and claim it” theology. The basic idea is that God wants to give you all for which you are willing to ask. If you don’t receive it, well, that is your fault. You did not have enough faith. What you need to do is pray for whatever it is that you want and then live as if the prayer you have made has come true. By the way, the “name it and claim it” theology also preaches that God wants you to be rich. He wants people loyal to him to be in control of the economic system of this world. So if what you want is money, well pray for it and claim that truth from your God.

What is wrong with this theology is that it basically places God in the role of a “genie in a bottle,” or maybe an overindulging parent. It changes prayer into something that means that I get to mold God to the way that I think the world should work, rather than a process where I seek God’s will and then shape my world to his ideal. But what maybe the most damaging part of the theology is the way that we treat the faith of others. A simple prayer that asks that “Your kingdom come, Your will be done” becomes a weak prayer lacking faith because we are not asking for something concrete and something that we want to be accomplished in this world.

Years ago, I remember reading a book where the author was asked if he would pray that a father would reach his 100^th birthday. The father, in this case, was still in his early nineties and was in poor health. The author paused over the request and then said “No, I won’t pray for that.” There was a look of shock on the daughter of this man. I mean, isn’t that a reasonable request. Why wouldn’t a loving God want to grant such a request? The author of the book simply replied “I have no confirmation that your father reaching his 100^th birthday is something that God wants.” Prayer is not a magical incarnation that we sprinkle over our lives. Prayer, if it is to have any value at all, has to be a meeting of hearts, ours and God’s. It is a shaping of our will so that it matches his.

Ahab believed that a defeated Ben-Hadad could be a useful tool and that the defeated King of Aram could be used to secure his reign. But God knew something different. Ben-Hadad might have been a supplicant at this moment, but his nature was that he would rebel again, and he would cause much pain in Israel. In full disclosure, I have to admit that I know I would have probably made the same error as Ahab under these circumstances. But God had declared something, and Ahab had chosen his own understanding over that of God. In his actions, he was stating that his way was better and that God would have to mold himself to Ahab’s world. But that is something that God is seldom willing to do, for Ahab or for us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 21

So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. – 1 Kings 19:19

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 28, 2019): 1 Kings 19

Completeness. The idea that we have done everything that needs to be done or that we have everything that we need in life. For me, and I think many, completeness is the dream, and I am not convinced that we ever achieve it. There always seems to be more that needs to be done. I struggle to even clear out all of my emails at the end of the day. As I go to bed, there is always a list of jobs I wanted to get done, but remain incomplete.

Whenever we run into numbers, and especially repeated numbers in the Bible, we need to be careful with how we interpret what is written. In the case of the beginning of the tale of Elisha, we see the number twelve repeated in the story. Twelve yoke of oxen would have been unusual in Elisha’s day. It is evidence of the affluence of Elisha’s family. Elisha was driving the twelfth pair, indicated that he had eleven servants that were driving the other eleven pairs of oxen. And we could stop there, but twelve is also a significant number in Jewish thought. It is a repeated number throughout the Bible. There are twelve tribes of Israel, twelve months in the year, twelve houses in the zodiac, and, in the Christian Testament, twelve apostles.

But the number also adds up to the number three. There are three Patriarchs; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There are three pilgrimage festivals; Passover, Shavuot or Pentecost, and Sukkot or Tabernacles. Both the number three and twelve are numbers of completeness. And it likely indicates that beyond the idea that Elisha was affluent, he was also experiencing a completeness in life. The idea of affluence and completeness is possibly what is trying to be communicated here. Elisha was not looking for a second career. And there might not have actually been twelve yoke of oxen.

But as Elijah moves onto the scene and places his cloak, or mantle, on the shoulders Elisha, Elisha realizes that he is being called to something else, something more important. Elisha would have understood the ceremony. He would have also understood that this was not an act of Elijah, but of God. In a manner that many pastors wish they could experience, God was now calling Elisha into a prophetic ministry.

God was calling Elisha out of his imagined wholeness. To follow God, he would have to give up the affluence and completeness symbolized by the oxen. The call had been extended, and now Elijah waited for the reply.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 20

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.” But the people said nothing. – 1 Kings 18:21

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 27, 2019): 1 Kings 18

As Christians living in an increasingly secular culture, it maybe shouldn’t be surprising that we often focus on wrong things when it comes to matters of faith. Sometimes it is hard to cut through the clutter and get to the heart of the issue. And as Christians, we have way too much clutter. A recent opinion piece argued about the dangers of Christianity and spent most of its ink on the threat that Christianity poses to the role of women in our society. As a Christian who has always assumed equality between the genders, the focus of the opinion piece was confusing. Yes, the Bible does have some instruction which differentiates between gender roles, but the teachings are easily read as culturally biased. The authors of the biblical books did not live in a vacuum; they lived a taught in a patriarchal society. If their teachings were going to be respected in that culture, then they had to have a patriarchal focus. In the same way, if Christianity is going to have any influence in our culture, then it cannot have that same patriarchal cultural bias, because our society is moving toward an egalitarian understanding of the genders. To boil Christianity down to gender roles is to miss the point. By the way, to boil down Christianity to a particular view on homosexuality, which is mentioned a total of seven times in the Bible, is equally misguided. It is not that we cannot have opinions on these and many other subjects, but our responses to these issues do not define our Christianity or lack thereof. Our Christianity is defined by our willingness to trust God wholeheartedly, our acceptance of Jesus as the Son of God, and our determination to love across boundaries in our society.

The result of our confusion is that we often seem to want to base our Christianity on wrong things. Our assurance of faith is bound up with our beliefs about peripheral issues. The same seems to have been true during the time of Elijah. Worship of God was seen as a direct result of following certain rituals and believing certain things. If you were pure in these areas, then there was no problem in following other gods as well. Pastor David Guzik makes this observation:

Spiritually speaking, Israel was like an unfaithful partner in a marriage who doesn’t want to give up their marriage partner, but also does not want to give up their illicit lover. The marriage partner has a legitimate claim to the exclusive devotion of their spouse (Italics his).

In our culture, we don’t have a temptation to follow after Baal. Jesus argued that we could not serve two masters. We cannot serve both God and Money (Matthew 6:24). And this is our temptation. We somehow believe that we can go through the motions, considering right things about God, arguing that women are not equal with the appropriate biblical passages, or protesting against same-sex marriage, and believing that it is these actions that will save us. And yet we hesitate to put our full trust in God. Our money is our backup plan. It becomes our lover. And we don’t want to give up either our marriage partner or our lover.

Elijah’s words are essentially “how long will you dance between two lovers?” Pick one and commit to the one you choose. If it is money that is your salvation, fine. If it is God, then give yourself to him, but don’t be confused that your devotion to peripheral issues will save you. Love the Lord your God and serve him only. Live without a back-up plan.

Does that mean that we shouldn’t have conversations around peripheral issues? Of course not. I love those discussions. But I know that neither I nor the one to whom I am speaking is either saved or condemned by our conversation. That is dependent on whom we are willing to truly trust.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 19

Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. – 1 Kings 17:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 26, 2019): 1 Kings 17

I have to admit that I love solitude. I know that not everyone does. I love to sit in my office on quiet days and just work on whatever needs doing. In the evenings, if there isn’t something that needs to be done, I am comfortable sitting with a book and reading. And I read pretty much everything. In fact, and again I know that I stand with the few in this, I would rather read the story and allow my imagination to soar, then to have it read to me in the form of an audible book, or even watch the movie version of the story. One of the books that everyone else seems to have read in school, but was never on my reading list was “To Kill a Mockingbird.” But I watched the old black and white movie version of the book a few years ago and realized that I needed to read the story from the pages written by Harper Lee. A few summers ago, I accomplished that task and loved every minute of it.

But I think there might be two reasons why I love solitude. First, I was forced into isolation as a child by illness. I learned at a very early age to live in my own world. I learned to pretend and imagine and dream because sometimes these were the only activities in which I was able to participate. It was there, in the quiet of my room, that I fell in love with books, reading everything on which I could lay my hands. But the second reason for my love of solitude is that I seem to live in a hectic world. And it is good once in a while to be forced to be by yourself.

Elijah bursts on to the scene with a message. A drought is coming, and rain would not return until Elijah said that the drought was finished. And then God sends a message to the prophet. Leave and go and hide in the Kerith Ravine. Kerith carries the meaning to be cut off, a theme that follows throughout the life of Elijah. And Elijah’s forced solitude in the Kerith Ravine was for his own protection. It is important to note that throughout the story of Elijah, God leads the prophet one step at a time. He doesn’t tell Elijah about the Kerith Ravine until after Elijah has delivered his message to Ahab. God won’t tell the prophet about Zarephath until after the brook at the Kerith Ravine finally dries up. This step by step leading of God will frustrate the prophet later in the story, as it sometimes frustrates us, but it seems to be the way God takes us into our future.

The Kerith Ravine is a long way away. It is on the east side of the River Jordan and out of the control of Ahab. No one will search for the prophet in such an out of the way place. It is a place where Elijah can truly be alone. But this solitude is not a punishment visited on Elijah by God. This solitude is for the benefit of the prophet. And, sometimes, the solitude that we face is for our benefit as well, even when we don’t really want to be alone. I love the words of F.B. Meyers concerning our time in the Kerith or, as he spells it, Cherith Ravine.

“We must not be surprised, then, if sometimes our Father says: ‘There, child, thou hast had enough of this hurry, and publicity, and excitement; get thee hence, and hide thyself by the brook – hide thyself in the Cherith of the sick chamber; or in the Cherith of disappointed hopes; or in the Cherith of bereavement; or in some solitude from which the crowds have ebbed away.’”

There are times when we all need to be alone. And yet we know that with God, we are never really alone. It was a truth that Elijah came to understand during his time at the Kerith Ravine.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 18

Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful; he built forts and store cities in Judah and had large supplies in the towns of Judah. He also kept experienced fighting men in Jerusalem. – 2 Chronicles 17:12-13

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 25, 2019): 2 Chronicles 17

Narmer reigned as Pharaoh in Egypt late in the fourth century B.C.E. He came to power at a time when Egypt was divided against itself. City-states had evolved along the Nile River that ruled over small areas of the country. Gradually these city-states began to coalesce into provinces with authority over regions of the country. Narmer, who is likely also known as Menes and was probably the King Scorpion in Egypt, sought to take power away from the states and invest it into a central government under his control. Narmer was a crucial historical leader because he is the first ruler to attempt a centralized government. And Narmer’s attempt to centralize the government was successful.

Centralized governments were important in the concept of developing nations. Under these enterprising rulers, a group of territories began to be ruled by one ruler, with one direction and a single purpose. Centralized governments featured a universal ruler, a joint military, and often a common religion.

One of the problems that Israel suffered under was that it often seemed that the tribes pulled against each other. And even within the tribes, the city-states were often very independent in what the actions that they desired to undertake. Under some kings, the government was centralized. Part of the success of David was that he was able to unite the tribes and get them to act together, and in the process they accomplished a common purpose. But under Solomon, the neglect of the tribes began to cause division to reign among the nation. This division set the stage for the northern tribes to secede from the country under the leadership Jeroboam in the days following the death of Solomon. The success of Israel and Judah seemed to depend on the degree that the government was centralized in the capital cities; Jerusalem in Judah and Shechem followed by Samaria in Israel.

The success of Jehoshaphat was that he, like David, was successful in centralizing the government in Jerusalem. He was able to get Judah moving in the same direction, worshipping the same God and actively removing the high places wherever they were found, and contributing to a joint military that was headquartered in Jerusalem. In return, Jehoshaphat had influence in the cities and towns of Judah. He maintained a presence in the cities, contributed to their defense, and was able to build stores of supplies in the various towns, and that contributed to a bright future. And because he was successful in these things, the king became more and more powerful.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 17

Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the LORD’s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. “Let there be a treaty between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.” - 2 Chronicles 16:2-3

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 24, 2019): 2 Chronicles 16

Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of Britain as the winds of the war to end all wars part two began to blow across Europe. And there seemed to be no real consensus as to what should be done about the impending storm that was building around Nazi Germany. Chamberlain’s response, which he defended for the rest of his life, was appeasement. His chosen path was to give to Hitler whatever it was that Hitler wanted. The policy of appeasement is seen most clearly in the betrayal of Czechoslovakia at Munich in 1938. It was at Munich that the country was handed over to Hitler and Germany – despite the military alliance that Czechoslovakia had with France at the time. Chamberlain would argue that, at that moment in history, there was absolutely nothing that either France or Britain could have done to save Czechoslovakia. If not for the betrayal of Czechoslovakia in 1938, the British Empire would have been lost.

In 1940, Chamberlain’s detractors finally won the battle against the Prime Minister, and Chamberlain resigned. It is said that a young Princess Elizabeth cried during Chamberlain’s resignation speech. He would be replaced by Winston Churchill. Churchill seemed to be the man of the hour. This was the moment in history for which it seems that Churchill was designed. He would not have been a great politician under any other circumstances, but here he was great. Chamberlain, who was a great politician in his own right, would be forever remembered by his policy of appeasement and his betrayal of Czechoslovakia. All the good that he had done during his career was quickly forgotten in the wake of the destruction initiated by Adolf Hitler.

Asa was a good king. During his reign, he accomplished many good things and had relentlessly followed God. But all of the good that Asa had done was put on the line by one act near the end of his life. As so often happens, Asa began to long for peace in his own final days, and so he decided to take the treasures of the temple and give them to the King of Aram so that and alliance between Aram and Israel would be broken and Asa and Judah could have peace. It was a good goal, but the action showed a weakness in Asa’s character - Asa lacked trust in God. It was not that the treasures were more important than the people, but rather that the only path to the lasting peace, a goal that both Asa and Judah so desperately desired, could be found in a foundational trust of God.

Fear can be described as faith in the wrong things or faith in reverse. Asa was a good king, and yet he is remembered more for this one act of fear than for all of the good that he did. At this moment, Asa took the trust that had once resided only with God, and he gave both that trust and the wealth that God had given him and to the King of Aram – hoping that the pagan king would turn out to be his savior.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 17

See Also 1 Kings 15:18

King Asa also deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down, broke it up and burned it in the Kidron Valley. – 2 Chronicles 15:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 23, 2019): 2 Chronicles 15

Priapus was a minor Roman god of fertility. He is the god of your home garden, and of the farmer and rancher. He protects the fruit trees and the bees and the flowers. And he is the protector of male genitalia. Priapus is depicted as a man with a permanent erection, which gives rise to the modern medical term priapism. Priapus became a vital character in Roman erotic art and the subject of a series of short Latin poems intended to be both humorous and obscene.

King Asa Grandmother had constructed a repulsive image. She had likely placed the idol in a grove of trees and had begun worshiping the image. The NIV calls the image “repulsive.” It has also been called “obscene” or maybe even better it was a horrible image that violated the sensibilities of the King and those who strove to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We don’t have an actual description of the image, but most scholars believe that it was some sort of phallic symbol. Adam Clark, writing in the early nineteenth century, imagines the image of Maakah this way:

“From the whole, it is pretty evident that the image was a mere Priapus, or something of the same nature, and that Maachah had an assembly in the grove where the image was set up, and doubtless worshipped it with the most impure rites. What the Roman Priapus was I need not tell the learned reader; and as to the unlearned, it would not profit him to know.”      

Asa was offended both by the image and with the religious rites that were being celebrated in worship of Maakah’s idol. And just because Maakah happened to be the Grandmother of the King, did not mean that she was above the retribution of the king. Asa deposed her; he suddenly removed her from her position as the Queen Mother. She would no longer hold a position of influence in the Royal Court. And this decision and the reason for it was made public. If the King was not going to tolerate this kind of behavior in his own family, then he would not accept it from those to whom he was not related. The standard had been set. Asherah and the other local gods would not be worshiped in Asa’s Judah. And the message was clear, even your relationship with the king will not save you from the consequences of your actions.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles

I lifted you up from the dust and appointed you ruler over my people Israel, but you followed the ways of Jeroboam and caused my people Israel to sin and to arouse my anger by their sins. So I am about to wipe out Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat. – 1 Kings 16:2-3

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 22, 2019): 1 Kings 16

President Donald Trump ran on the promise to “Drain the Swamp.” He intended to inject new life into American Politics. Whether he was successful or not probably depends on your political point of view. And to be honest, we need to recognize that Trump was not the first prospective President to make the commitment. The problem seems to be that no matter how much we want political change, politics has the potential to make all of us, well, “swampy.” We can bring new, clean water into the situation, but it just ends up being more of a swamp.

In American politics, I think there have been a couple of Presidents during my lifetime that have honestly tried to do politics differently. President Carter at the end of the 1970s and President H. W. Bush at least made an effort to drain the swamp and do things a little differently. Both were voted out after a single term. So maybe, when it comes down to it, we kind of like the swamp.

God raised up Baasha to erase the evil reign of Jeroboam. We mentioned earlier in this blog that Baasha’s job was to remove the descendants of Jeroboam, and not necessarily that Baasha would be a better king. But Baasha was given the opportunity to “drain the swamp” and do things differently. He failed. Baasha erased the mark of Jeroboam on Israel, but then became a king who looked just like Jeroboam. Baasha’s swamp remained “swampy.”

And so God tells Baasha that since he was determined to echo the leadership of Jeroboam, he would also share the fate of Jeroboam. Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, served as King of Israel for two years before Baasha killed him (1 Kings 15:28). The same script awaited the son of Baasha. Elah, the son of Baasha, reigned for two years after the death of Baasha (1 Kings 16:8). And then Elah was assassinated by Zimri, who took the place of the son of Baasha on the throne of Egypt. The story of Jeroboam had repeated itself in the reign of Baasha from beginning to end. And after the reign of Elah, the houses of two kings had been swept away, but Jeroboam’s swamp still remained.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 15

He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. – 2 Chronicles 14:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 21, 2019): 2 Chronicles 14

Early twentieth-century novelist Marcel Proust argues that “Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.” I just had breakfast with some friends, and as we closed our dialogue one of the group commented: “Thing sure aren’t the way that they used to be.” It is a valid comment. I am typing on a computer instead of a typewriter, I carry my phone in my pocket, my car has a camera built into it to show me what it is that is sitting behind me, and my vehicle plays the music that I want off of my phone and begins playing that music soon after I enter the car without me needing to do anything. My TV has over a hundred channels (I remember when there was only three), but I rarely watch live presentations preferring to view digitally saved or on-demand shows more than sitting down at a specific time so that I wouldn’t miss my program. However, none of this was what my friend meant. He meant that things used to be better. And that I am not convinced is true.

Proust is right; we remember things differently. The good times are a lot better in our memories than they were at the time that we lived them. And in the same way, the bad moments are often remembered to be a lot worse than they were. Seldom do we remember events the way that they really happened. There are discrepancies in what we remember, and what we remember is just a version of what was.

There is no doubt that Asa was a good king. Asa was more like his ancestor David than his father Abijah had ever tried to be. But the question is this: How good was Asa really? There are essentially two biblical sources that give us the story of this good King. One is the Book of Kings, whose stories were probably gathered starting somewhere around 620 B.C.E. with the history’s final form being ready somewhere around 550 B.C.E. The second document is Chronicles which is a little later history, gathered and produced somewhere between 400 and 250 B.C.E., but most likely around 300 B.C.E. or around two and a half centuries after the first history. And the agreement between the two accounts is remarkable, but with Asa there is a small disagreement, especially concerning the high places. The high places were personal places of worship that were, throughout the history of Israel, hard to find and remove. Several good kings either did not or were not able to remove the high places. The Book of Chronicles says that Asa accomplished this task, making him even more like his ancestor David. But the author of Kings is not quite sure. Even though Asa did a lot of amazing things during his life in support of God, the author of Kings states that he struggled with the removal of the High Places. “Although he did not remove the high places, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life” (1 Kings 15:14).

Did Asa remove the high places? The best that we can say is that that is a definite maybe. Remembrance of things past is not necessarily remembering things as they were. But whether Asa was able to remove the high places or not, there is no doubt that this was a good king who wanted to serve his God to the best of his ability. And God never asks of us anything more.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 16

Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah the ambush was behind them. – 2 Chronicles 13:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 20, 2019): 2 Chronicles 13

It happened during a “paintball” game. If you have never played paintball, it is a battle simulation where you are armed with guns that fires little balls of paint, instead of a more lethal ammunition. The paintball is fired out of a weapon and then explodes when it hits the target, leaving a spot of paint, and if that target happens to be you, then you are “dead” and out of the game. The game is played often in some sort of an arena with many things that a person can hide behind. Paintballs are non-lethal, but that does not mean that it is not painful to be hit by a paintball, especially if it is a point-blank shot or a shot fired over a very short distance. And so, often, if you have someone at close range, you allow them to surrender rather than shooting them.

The game in which I was involved was being played in an outdoor setting, and I had been working through a dense bush area to get at my targets. It was slow going, but eventually I arrived where I needed to be. I was standing just around the corner of a building from what sounded like three or four girls from the opposing team planning their next attack. As quietly as I could I rounded the corner and leveled my gun at the now confirmed three girls. Did I mention a point-blank paintball shot is painful? I didn’t want to hurt them, which was my first mistake. Instead, I asked a question. Mercy? Do you want to surrender here and now, or do you want me to shoot? The first girl wisely put her gun down and stood up with her hands in the air. The second girl silently did the same thing. And here I made my second mistake. They hadn’t said anything. They had simply risen and indicated with their actions that they were surrendering. As I watched the first two girls stand up, I missed the third girl had not put her gun down. Instead of rising had aimed her gun. As the second girl moved out of the way, the third girl fired and hit me point blank with a paintball. Instead of removing three players from the game, I had been removed from the game, with a lesson learned. Next time, mercy might not be offered.

The war between Jeroboam of Israel and Abijah of Judah was more serious than my paintball game. But Jeroboam employed a similar strategy. The two nations, complete with their armies, met on the battlefield. But first, the leaders held a conversation. Was this conflict something that could be worked out without the death of many of the soldiers on both sides? Abijah was negotiating in good faith. His army stood down while the conversation was going forward. But Jeroboam had decided to use a different strategy. For Jeroboam, the conversation was a ploy giving him time to surround the army of Judah with his men. 

It was a dishonorable ploy that took advantage of the momentary peace that existed while the terms of the battle were being negotiated, placing the Judean military at a severe disadvantage. But the problem with the tactic is that it only works once, because no one is going to trust you during a second negotiation.

In the case of Abijah and Jeroboam, Abijah was now at a severe disadvantage and would need a miracle if he was to make it through the coming battle.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 14

Nevertheless, for David’s sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong. – 1 Kings 15:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 19, 2019): 1 Kings 15

I think I come from a phenomenal family. There are so many special people that I am related to, who fill me with pride. My paternal Great-Grandfather was Hallett Mullen, a preacher in eastern Canada. He died before I was born, but I still have a collection of his handwritten sermons in my personal library. Apparently he was known as “the Singing Mullen” to differentiate himself from other prominent Mullen pastors in the area. My paternal Grandfather, Deverne Mullen, was a song evangelist in Canada and the United States. I have a number of his records in my office, featuring both him and his brother Paul.

On the other side of the family were more ‘Salt of the Earth” type people. I remember my maternal Grandfather, Murray Baker, insisted that he “didn’t sing or preach,” but he would do whatever he could do to “support those who do.” It was a commitment that he lived up to the length of his life. Former University of British Columbia President, Leonard S. Klinck, is hiding in my family tree through my maternal grandmother, Aura Baker (nee Klinck). My aunts and uncles are phenomenal people, and I love each one of them deeply.

I am the son of Duane and Shirley Mullen. My grandson carries the name James Duane Mullen, and when I posted the name on Facebook, the response that I received back was that that was big name for the child to have to live up to. I continually meet people who were impacted by the lives of my parents.

And then there is me. The names of my family might not mean anything to you, but they do to me. And one of my deepest fears is that I will not be able to live up to the name that they have given to me. I desperately want each one of them to be proud of me. And, maybe I just listen to my critics too much, often I feel like I fail. And that is something that I do not want to do.

Abijah’s reign in Judah was short. It lasted only three years, but the years were not good ones. Abijah failed at his main task, which was to lead Judah towards God. His ancestors were not honored by his life. But God decided to bless Abijah anyway, not because of the good that the king had done, but just because he was a descendant of David. God’s love for David had flowed down through the years even to an evil King name Abijah.

And God’s blessing was two-fold. First, God gave to Abijah a son who would bring honor to the family of Abijah. Asa would follow after Abijah as king sitting on the throne of David, and Asa would be a good king. Asa’s actions honored both God and David, and in the process, Asa honored his dad, Abijah. Second, God made Jerusalem strong. And Abijah benefited by both of these gifts because God wanted to honor the lineage of David. And Abijah was able to hand a strong Jerusalem over into the possession of his son, the good king Asa.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 13

The LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the family of Jeroboam. Even now this is beginning to happen. – 1 Kings 14:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 18, 2019): 1 Kings 14

There is a reality that we don’t want to admit is accurate, and it is this: Tomorrow is built on the ashes of today. In the Christian Church, we would prefer to ignore that fact, and somehow believe that God will do a miracle in our lives and change that reality. We hope that God will somehow allow tomorrow to be miraculously disconnected from today. But that is not the normal progression of our lives. Tomorrow is always built on the ashes of today, just as today was built on the ashes of yesterday.

And what concerns us is that the Bible seems to stress this point. A case in point is found in the teaching of Jesus as he spoke about the lost. Luke 15 presents us with three stories of the lost, and the last story presented in that chapter is the story of the lost son. In that tale, Jesus tells of a younger son who demands from his father his inheritance early. Dad decides to give in to his son’s demands and gives him his inheritance. The boy then goes out and squanders his newfound wealth. The son goes from a life of abundance to a life bound in poverty, and he finally decides that he will return to his father’s house and ask him for a job. He understands that he is not worthy of being called his son, but he hopes that, in memory of what once was, Dad might give him a job on the farm.

Of course, Dad still recognizes the young man as his son. He has searched for him and hoped that the day would come when his youngest child would return home to the place where he belongs. He sees his son on the horizon and runs to him, embraces him, and throws a party for him. It is proof that Dads are forgiving and want, more than anything else, to have a relationship with their children. What this is not is proof that, in the Kingdom of God, there is a disconnect between yesterday and today. We sometimes miss it, but Jesus adds this comment to a conversation between the father and his eldest son. “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours” (Luke 15:31). Today is built on the ashes of yesterday. And the time would come when the father would die, and everything that the father owned would go to the eldest son. The youngest son had already squandered his, and there would not be a second chance for an inheritance, not even in the forgiving Kingdom of God.

The prophecy about the House of Jeroboam was that the lineage of Jeroboam would not continue. The foundation laid by Jeroboam made the continuation of the rule of Jeroboam not possible in the eyes of God, especially in the light that Jeroboam remained unrepentant. And the process had already started. For a time, the rule of Jeroboam would continue. This was not indicating an immediate judgment on Jeroboam. His government would continue for a time, but the end of the reign had now been set. Jeroboam had built his today on the ashes of yesterday, and that meant that tomorrow would continue to be built on the ashes of today.

Jeroboam died soon after this prophecy. And he was succeeded by his son Nadab. And Nadab’s reign was short; he reigned for only two years. After that time, Nadab was assassinated by a general in his army named Baasha. Baasha became King in Nadab’s place and put to death every member of the house of Jeroboam. It is important to note that the prophecy did not say that the next King would better than Jeroboam. Baasha cannot make that claim. It was only prophesied that the House of Jeroboam would end. This was Baasha’s job and a job that he accomplished very efficiently.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 15

After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the LORD. – 2 Chronicles 12:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 17, 2019): 2 Chronicles 12

Professional Counsellor Craig Lounsbrough argues that “If the truth gets in the way, I will remove it. But truth be told, removing the truth never removes the truth.” Sometimes it seems that this is the way that life works. We cling to the truth as long as truth is convenient and works for us. But when truth no longer gets us what we want, we easily discard the truth and embrace a lie. And this pattern permeates every area of our lives. This exchange might be the most obvious in the public areas of our lives, but the lie doesn’t just live there. The ever-present temptation that we all face is to accept into our lives what benefits us the most, whether it is the truth or not.

As Rehoboam’s reign began, he needed God. The nation was divided over his reign. It seemed that at every turn, there was a threat to his position as King. But Rehoboam knew that God had promised his grandfather David that there would always be a descendant of David’s on the throne of Israel. And that meant Rehoboam. In the fragile moments at the beginning of Rehoboam’s reign, he clung to that promise and the God who had made it.

But as time went on, Rehoboam began to feel constrained by God. He became more secure in his reign and thought that he no longer needed the God of David. And so he left the truth of God and embraced a lie that gave him the freedom to do whatever it was that he wanted to do. The truth (God) had gotten in the way, and so the truth (God) had to be removed from the life of the king. But that did not mean that truth or God ceased to exist. We can pretend that truth is not truth or that truth is not necessary for our lives, but that does not mean that truth stops existing. The lie of our culture is that truth is relative; what is true for me may not be true for you. But the reality is that truth, real truth, is true for all of us. Truth is a knife that cuts both ways. And rather than arguing that truth is not really truth, maybe we need to begin to make our peace with truth and learn to live within its dictates.

Maybe the worst comment regarding Rehoboam’s reign was not that Rehoboam exchanged truth for a lie, but rather that he led the nation to do the same. All of Israel, or more precisely Judah, here and elsewhere in 2 Chronicles, followed the example set by the king. Rehoboam had not just exchanged the truth for a lie, but he led the whole nation to do the same. But that did not mean that the truth was erased. And as is true in our lives, when we ignore truth, there is always a price that we have to pay.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 14

‘This is what the LORD says: Do not go up to fight against your fellow Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’ So they obeyed the words of the LORD and turned back from marching against Jeroboam. – 2 Chronicles 11:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 16, 2019): 2 Chronicles 11

Winston Churchill said that “A kite flies against the wind, not with it.” And if there is no wind, the kite can’t get off the ground. A kite requires opposition to get up into the air. And a kite is a lot like life. We dream of a life without problems and opposition. But that is not life. We need some resistance to grow and get stronger. Resistance allows us to learn how to navigate life and develop best practices. This is a physical reality. Of course, the reverse is also true. If we do not have the right posture or desire to persist in the presence of the wind, then opposition can, and will, crush us. A kite might fly against the wind, but if it does not have the proper design, a kite will do nothing in the presence of the wind but crash.

But God also uses opposition to help us develop spiritually. We are not supposed to live in echo chambers where everyone agrees with us. We are supposed to be open to different ideas and conversations because it might just be that God is trying to speak through those ideas. God is actively trying to strengthen us and mold us. There might be nothing more damaging to our spiritual health than the belief that we have somehow arrived and that every orthodox thought that we hold in our brains comes straight from the throne of God. For this reason, sometimes the orthodoxy of the church is also one of the greatest enemies of the movement of God.

Jeroboam and the Northern Tribes have rebelled against Rehoboam and the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Essentially, the ten Northern Tribes have seceded from the Union of the United Kingdom of Israel. Judah does not agree, and Rehoboam decides to raise an army to fight against the Northern Tribes, mainly to try to subdue them, forcing them to stay in a United Israel.

In the middle of the process, a prophet steps up and says, “No, don’t do this. God is doing something.” What was God doing? The easy answer is that he was shaping his people on both sides of the border. Jeroboam was rebellious, and that rebellion needed to be tamed. Rehoboam needed to mature and grow up. And history records that maybe neither of these goals were actually achieved. God might have been at work, but while he speaks to us, we also have to be willing to listen to his words. As far as the Northern Kingdom was concerned, they never had a king who followed the God of Israel. All of them would follow the example of Jeroboam.

Judah’s history was more mixed concerning God, but Rehoboam never fully served the God who was trying to guide him. And his son, Abijah, would follow the example of his father. And the directives and shaping actions of God continued to fall on deaf ears. The wind was blowing, but both Judah and Israel were out of balance, and therefore all they could do was crash.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 12

Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. – 2 Chronicles 10:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 15, 2019): 2 Chronicles 10

Tradition. The word often separates us. Inside of any social organization, there are always two discussions that are going on among its members. The first argument is this: “Just because we have always done something in a certain way does not mean that we need to do it that way again.” Accompanying this argument is often the assertion that “the definition of insanity is doing something the same way and expecting a different result.” The second argument is short and sweet: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Both are making comments about tradition. One is for and the other against the concept of tradition.

The truth is that tradition is involved in both positions. If we do something the same way twice, we are following tradition; the tradition is just newer. But we are also not very original people. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther presented his “Ninety-five Theses” and effectively started the Reformation. However, while Luther’s academic disputation represented a severe departure from what had gone on in Christianity before, it was still built on the traditional house of the Christian Faith. There were some things that even Luther couldn’t imagine doing without that we have discarded in our contemporary Christian belief. Tradition is essential in everything that we do, but as revolutionary as this thought might be, tradition also changes, and that change is happening almost continually.

So Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, went to Shechem to be crowned as King. And there are two conflicting thoughts about this coronation. First, it was a traditional move. A lot of important events had happened at Shechem. Abraham had worshipped there. He arrived at Shechem and received a promise from God concerning the future of his family and descendants. God promised that this land, at the time the home of the Canaanites, would be given to the descendants of Abraham, and Abraham built an altar there (Genesis 12:6-7). Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, bought land at Shechem and built an altar which he called “El is the God of Israel.” Joshua ‘s bones were brought back to Shechem, after the wilderness wanderings, and buried there (Joshua 24:32). And it was at Shechem that Joshua delivered his famous speech to the tribes of Israel which contained these words; 

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

Shechem was also at the geographical center of the nation. It was a common meeting place.

But on the other side, Rehoboam’s grandfather and father had worked hard to make the political and religious center of Israel Jerusalem, not Shechem. So for some, Rehoboam’s coronation at Shechem is seen as a sign of weakness and a recognition of the fragility of Rehoboam’s kingdom.

But, whatever the reason, Rehoboam became King at Shechem and not Jerusalem. And all of Israel, for a moment, celebrating the crowning of their new king.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 11

The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift.” – 1 Kings 13:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 14, 2019): 1 Kings 13

Thank you. It is so easy to say. It doesn’t take much time out of our day to speak the words, and yet I am not sure that we speak them enough. I don’t think that anyone expects to be thanked for the things that they do to support a stranger, but it is also noticed when the sentiment is absent. If you hold a door open for someone, maybe you aren’t expecting a thank you, but if gratitude is not shown, then there is a noticeable void in the situation. When we let someone into our lane in traffic, we do so because we know that someday we may be the ones who need to be let in, but a thankful wave or a momentary acknowledgment from the “four-way flashers” acknowledging our actions can make a huge difference in our day. Saying “thank you” is one of the crucial moments of a life lived in community.

But there are also times when saying thank you can be problematic. Jeroboam is healed by the man of God. He is thankful for the action that was undertaken on his behalf. And he should have been grateful. So, as a way of saying thanks, the king invites the man of God to his home for a meal and promises a gift. On the surface, it seems like an appropriate reaction.

However, there is a problem with Jeroboam’s thankfulness. The whole situation arose because of the sin of the King. He had set up false gods for the Northern Tribes to worship and had even stolen the glory of the God of the Temple in Jerusalem by declaring that these were the gods who had brought Israel out of Egypt (1 Kings 12:28). The prophet from Judah had come to proclaim the sin of Jeroboam. He needed to understand the nature of his error. Jeroboam’s sin was not that he had divided the nation of Israel, splitting into a Northern Israel and a Southern Judah, but rather that he had built false gods to be worshipped by the Northern Tribes. It was a sin from which the Northern Tribes would never recover. Jeroboam had then compounded his guilt by ordering the arrest of the prophet sent to declare the error of the King. At this point, his arm withered and became useless, until the prophet restored it.  

Jeroboam was thankful that his arm was restored, but did nothing to correct the original sin. And that was a problem. The prophet would rather that Jeroboam repents from the sin that got him in trouble in the first place than be thankful that the punishment had been removed. As far as the prophet was concerned, the moment of thanks was out of order. First the king needed to repent of his sin. And unless that moment of repentance happened, then the prophet could never accept any gesture of thanksgiving that Jeroboam might want to give to him.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 10

When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. – 1 Kings 12:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 13, 2019): 1 Kings 12

In 1933, Albert Einstein took a vacation away from his home in Germany, but he never returned home. The newly elected German government (the Nazis) had decided that what Einstein had been teaching in the universities was wrong. This conclusion on Einstein’s teaching was not based on empirical data or experiments that had proved Einstein’s theories incorrect (that is still something that we have not been able to do). The new German government had decided that Einstein was wrong simply because Albert Einstein was a Jew, and Jews couldn’t be right. It is still hard for me to believe that Albert Einstein was the subject of book burnings in Germany in 1933. As they burned his books, all of the scientific contributions that arose from this phenomenal and original mind was lost to a generation of German students.

Albert Einstein was also a noted pacifist. Even with everything that he was watching develop on the world stage, Einstein thought that war was wrong. A group of Hungarian scientists, who happened to be refugees in the United States, had tried to warn the American government in 1939 that the German scientists were working on an Atomic Bomb. Their thought was that the United States needed to turn up their own efforts to develop an Atomic weapon. But the scientists were not taken seriously by the government officials. So they approached Albert Einstein, asking him to join with them in their efforts to convince the President of the danger that was lurking in the not too distant future. Einstein ignored his convictions about war and put his signature on a letter to President Roosevelt concerning the state of German atomic research. Roosevelt took Einstein seriously and started to put more money into what was then being codenamed “The Manhattan Project.” The increased effort resulted in the United States winning the World War II race to the bomb. All of this was made possible because they were willing to listen to the advice of a scientist who the Germans had discredited based on his heritage.

The reality of life is that our decisions and mistakes often come back to haunt us. The horrible World War II reality is that had Einstein been honored in Germany, the renowned pacifist may have never encouraged the United States to develop the Atomic Bomb. And Germany might have won the World War II Atomic race, changing history forever. Our decisions have consequences.

Jeroboam had been an official in King Solomon’s government. But he began to become concerned about the high level of disconnect between the Northern Tribes and King Solomon’s Jerusalem. And he started to believe that he needed to be the voice of that Northern discontentment, speaking truth to power, in King Solomon’s court. But Jeroboam’s actions and sympathies for the North led to a rebellion against Solomon. And Solomon was forced to put down the rebellion. But the reality was that Jeroboam and his compatriots were never really dealt with; the issues that had caused the uprising in the first place were never resolved. The only result of the rebellion was that Jeroboam left Jerusalem and Israel and began to live his life in exile in Egypt.

But when Solomon died, all of the issues surrounding the Northern discontent came back to Jerusalem – including Jeroboam. And what Jeroboam was unable to do under Solomon, he was more than ready to do during the reign of his son, Rehoboam. The problems that had never been dealt with in the past with now caused a significant challenge for the future.

For Nazi Germany, the problem was never Einstein; it was an unhealthy view of foreigners, specifically the Jews of central Europe. For Solomon, the problem was not really Jeroboam, but rather a significant feeling of disconnect that was growing among the Northern tribes, the truth was that the discontent had been present from the beginning of David’s reign, but the Northern feeling of rejection was now coming to a head, possibly because of the massive commitment of resources that had been necessary to build the Temple in Jerusalem in a single generation (Solomon’s Temple was one of a handful of significant structures that was completed by the same ruler who started the process. Usually, these kinds of projects, in the ancient world, took generations to complete.) It was this disconnect between Jerusalem and the North that set the stage for both Jeroboam’s rebellion under Solomon and for his return to Israel to continue the uprising at the beginning of the reign of Solomon’s son.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 13

See 2 Chronicles 10:2