Tag: who God is

Herod’s Plans vs. God’s Plans

Old Testament: 2 Samuel 3 & 4

Poetry: Proverbs 18

*New Testament: Acts 12

The Bible was written for the purpose of revealing theological lessons. Throughout the whole Bible we can see cross references and common themes that unite every book into God’s complete and perfect word that he wrote for His creation. There are times when the Bible seems to be more historical or moralistic, but overall, everything can be tied back to a theological lesson on who God is and how we can have a relationship with Him. We can learn so much about the character of God. We can also see how a passage of scripture fits into the big picture of God’s plan of restoring the world to what it was in the garden of Eden. 

Acts chapter 12 records Peter’s miraculous escape from prison. This comes in the middle of the apostles and the early church being under persecution by the Jews, and right after the apostle James became a martyr for the sake of proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah. Verse 3 says that King Herod arrested Peter once he saw how much the Jews supported the execution of James. The Jews did everything they could to resist the early church from growing. But here we see God step in and provide protection to Peter because of all the work that God had chosen in advance for him to complete. We just learned in the previous chapters that Peter was the disciple that God specifically assigned to proclaim Jesus to the Gentiles and extend salvation to them. 

This shows how important the message of the Messiah Jesus is to God. God was prepared to intervene and open and close doors in order for Jesus to continue to be proclaimed. No tactics of man, neither from the Jews nor royalty could thwart the plans of God. God’s will will come to pass. God provided a way for Peter to escape prison – and all without him even understanding what was happening. This happens all too often because God is all-knowing, and we are limited in our knowledge as humans. 

When you first look at the account of Herod’s death, it simply looks like a historical record of a king. But is there a theological lesson that is beneath the surface? What was the point of including this story in this chapter of Acts? Well first of all, in this case, there is significance from a historical perspective because we can see a very similar account written by the Jewish historian Josephus. The historian recorded that Herod was compared to a god and did not reject the claim and therefore died. This can be used as proof of the accuracy of the Bible and the information recorded in it. The Bible is real and can be accepted as truth. But when it comes to a theological message, we can see that God is a jealous God who does not put up with idol worship. It’s sad how the Jewish people refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah, yet they were so quick to exalt Herod Agrippa to the status of a god. Men cannot come close to being worthy of the glory of God, God deserves it all. Herod Agrippa was the grandson of King Herod the Great, who ordered the killing of the baby boys at the time of Jesus’ birth. Herod Agrippa was also the nephew of the Herod who beheaded John the Baptist. Therefore Herod grew up surrounded by influences that persecuted those who followed God, yet God consistently found a way around the plans of these men so that the name of Jesus could be proclaimed. 

The chapter ends with a common theme of the whole book of Acts. It says, “But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.” Herod did not have enough power to overcome his fate nor the spread of the name of Jesus. Instead, we see the minuteness of Herod compared to God. By the end of this single chapter, we are reminded that God is playing a game of chess while all His enemies are stuck playing checkers. He has all his moves planned out and he can see how the game ends when it will all come to fruition. 

-Makayla Railton

Reflection Questions

  1. Where have you seen God’s plan trump man’s plans? Is everything that happens part of God’s plan?
  2. How can we work at being a part of God’s plan rather than going against it?
  3. What else can we learn about God in our Bible reading today?
sgl23bibleplanDownload

Pouring Out My Soul

1 Samuel 1-3

1 Samuel 1 15c NIV

Raise your hand if you are in the habit of writing out your prayers.

I am not consistent with the practice, but whenever I do, I’m glad that I did. I’ve gone back and read some of my past prayers and I wonder who in the world wrote them. It’s like I’m a different person when I write out my prayers. As I write out my thoughts while praying, I spend much more time acknowledging God and less time on my own wants. When I write out my prayers my words are more intentional than when I speak. When I write out my prayers my ideas seem to be more in alignment with who God wants me to be compared to when I ramble on in my own mind without recording my thoughts.
As I read 1 Samuel 2, I take in the words of a woman who fully expresses who she has experienced God to be. He is her Rock, her God. God is one who knows her heart and strengthens her when she stumbles. God blesses her and sends thunder against her enemies.
I am thankful that this particular prayer was recorded for us to read. It’s an encouragement for us to persist in prayer. It reminds us of who God is and of his power and might, his peace and his love, his provision and his holiness.
If you are already in the practice of writing out your prayers, spend some extra time this week, going back and reading previous prayers. What have you learned since? How have you changed?
If you do not already write out your prayers, I encourage you to spend some time this week, recording your prayers. How do your written prayers compare to your verbal prayers? What might you gain or learn from the process?
Keeping a prayer journal is a discipline that has many benefits. Learn from Hannah and spend time praising God.
Bethany Ligon
Today’s Bible reading, 1 Samuel 1-3, can be read or listened to at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Samuel+1-3&version=NIV
Tomorrow’s reading will be 1 Samuel 4-8 as we continue on the 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan

To Know God

Job 40-42

Job 42 3 NIV

The last chapters of Job leave us with a terrifying and convicting picture. God continues to describe his wonders through his creations. We may have a pretty tame view of God based on a Santa Claus version of him that is popular in churches today. However, when we think about the fact that God, who made every great and mighty thing in the world from alligators to great white sharks to tornadoes and hurricanes, also controls them. He is greater and mightier than anything that exists.

 

When God tells these things to Job, Job recognizes how small and insignificant he is – just like we do when we stand on a mountain top or look at the vastness of the ocean. Job, before this moment, knew a lot about God. He knew the right theology and lived righteously. At the heart of the matter though, he didn’t truly know the depth of who God was, and because of that, he tried to put God in a box. He tried to put limits on God based on his own limited human understanding.

 

If you’ve grown up hearing about God, whether the things you heard were true or not, you may have a mistaken understanding of who God is. It’s like the game of telephone, where one person starts off a chain of spoken words. We all can remember some of the hilarious phrases that are morphed out of simple sentences when we don’t get the original saying from the source. When we try to base our understanding of God on what we’ve heard by word of mouth, we may have some pretty wacky understandings of God. When we come face to face with Him through the scriptures, we begin to see with clarity the awe and majesty of God.

 

That’s our hope for the new year. By the end of the year, we should say, like Job, “I had heard rumors about You, but now my eyes have seen You” (Job 42:5). Let’s commit to this goal together to desire to know God instead of just learning more about God this year.
~Cayce Fletcher
Meet God face to face in His Word.  You can read or listen to God here https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+40-42&version=CSB
We have finished the book of Job – tomorrow we return to the book of Genesis (chapters 12-15) in our 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan
%d bloggers like this: