today's meditation (Ps.67) Choosing How We Will Be Judged

(Dear Lord Jesus, guide me and give me insight as I read and study Your word, and let it be the meditation of my heart...)

(Psalm 67:1-7)  God be gracious to us and bless us,

     And cause His face to shine upon us— Selah 
2   That Your way may be known on the earth,
     Your salvation among all nations.
3   May the peoples praise You, God;
     May all the peoples praise You.
4   May the nations be glad and sing for joy;
     For You will judge the peoples with fairness 
     And guide the nations on the earth. Selah 
5   May the peoples praise You, God;
     May all the peoples praise You.
6   The earth has yielded its produce;
     God, our God, blesses us.
7   God blesses us,
     So that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

David is praying that all the Israelites and all the earth may come to know God personally, to believe and be saved.  The Israelites rejected Jesus the first time He came to earth in flesh, but through that, Jesus' work on the cross made salvation possible to all people.  Meanwhile, the Israelites still wait for their Messiah to come and fulfill their covenants.  When they see the signs (the judgements) in the Tribulation, the Israelites as a nation will realize, accept and believe in Jesus, that He is their Messiah.  He is their Lord and King.

In the Millennium, Jesus will rule over the earth so that there is peace and prosperity.  The world will witness how God fulfils His covenants with the Israelites, and  the world will witness how faithful, fair, loving and generous God is.  Still, not everyone who is born into the thousand year reign will choose Jesus, who is the only way to salvation.  

David was a man after God's own heart, because David sought after God and the things that God loves.  God desires that all come to know Him personally.  That is why God came in flesh to pay the price for all sins, for everyone, whether they accept Him or reject Him.  Everyone has the same opportunity to accept His free gift of salvation.  And everyone will stand before God, who will judge with fairness. 

The only decision we all have is to accept or reject Jesus.  This will determine what happens when we stand before Him as our Judge.  Will He be judging all your sins, or will He be judging and rewarding your good deeds which are done in His love, strength and guidance?

today's meditation (1 Kings 14) Understanding God's Fairness

(Dear Lord Jesus, guide me and give me insight as I read and study Your word...)

(1 Kings 14:1-31)   At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. 2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Now arise and disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said regarding me that I would be king over this people. 3 Take ten loaves with you, some pastries, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

4 And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and set out and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see because his eyes were glossy from his old age. 5 Now the Lord had said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you about her son, because he is sick. You shall say such and such to her, for it will be when she arrives, that she is going to make herself unrecognizable.”

6 So when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming in the doorway, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam; why do you make yourself unrecognizable? Nevertheless, I am sent to you with a harsh message. 7 Go, say to Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: “Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over My people Israel, 8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you—yet you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and followed Me with all his heart, to do only that which was right in My sight; 9 you also have done more evil than all who were before you, and you have gone and made for yourself other gods and cast metal images to provoke Me to anger, and have thrown Me behind your back— 10 therefore behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and I will eliminate from Jeroboam every male person, both bond and free in Israel, and I will make a clean sweep of the house of Jeroboam, just as one sweeps away dung until it is all gone. 11 Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, the dogs will eat. And anyone who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat; for the Lord has spoken it.”’ 12 Now you, arise, go to your house. When your feet enter the city the child will die. 13 Then all Israel will mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s family will come to the grave, because in him something good was found toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. 14 Moreover, the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who will eliminate the house of Jeroboam this day and from now on.

15 “For the Lord will strike Israel, just as a reed sways in the water; and He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger. 16 He will give up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he committed and with which he misled Israel into sin.”

17 Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah. As she was entering the threshold of the house, the child died. 18 Then all Israel buried him and mourned for him, in accordance with the word of the Lord which He had spoken through His servant Ahijah the prophet.

19 Now as for the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 20 And the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years; and he lay down with his fathers, and his son Nadab reigned in his place.

21 Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 22 And the people of Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. 23 For they, too, built for themselves high places, memorial stones, and Asherim on every high hill and under every luxuriant tree. 24 There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They committed all the same abominations of the nations which the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel.

25 Now it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak the king of Egypt marched against Jerusalem. 26 And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he took everything; he even took all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 27 So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and entrusted them to the care of the commanders of the guard who guarded the doorway of the king’s house. 28 And it happened as often as the king entered the house of the Lord, that the guards would carry them and would bring them back into the guards’ room.

29 Now as for the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 31 And Rehoboam lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And his son Abijam became king in his place.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

We see how God judges and looks at the hearts of people as to whether or not they are children of God;  like David, who is mentioned in verse 8, who even though he still sinned, he repented and was committed to following God.  Jeroboam's son, Abijah, was seen as a child of God, because in God's eyes "in him something good was found toward the Lord God"...

We don't know how old Abijah was, but "boy" and "child" are used to describe him.  So here is proof that God knows who is or who will become a believer.  Understanding that God knows the future, we can then be confident that God is very fair and just when He allows a child or baby to pass away.  It is very sad for those who have suffered the loss, but we can rejoice knowing that they will be in heaven.

One might think it is unfair that a child wasn't able to live a "full life" here on earth, but keep in mind, life here on earth can be very harsh and very unfair, and that in heaven, there is no suffering!  The child is with God!  How much better is that for the child???!!!  It is only out of selfishness that we want the child  here with us on earth.  But as believers, we should know that one day we will see that child again for all eternity.  How great and how fair is that!!!