Devotional: Isaiah 38
Today’s passage: Isaiah 38
Helpful thoughts:
- In Hezekiah’s prayer and song, the appeal he made to God to prolong his life was rooted in a commitment to be pleasing to God.
- In verse 15, we see Hezekiah’s determination to “walk slowly” (Deliberately) as a result of this experience.
- For the believer, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). However, Hezekiah was right in that he would no longer be able to minister to others and point them to God after his death.
Questions to consider:
- If you were told, “You have ____ years left before you die,” what would you do? What would you want to have in order? What would you change? With eternity in view, how do you want to spend the rest of the time God has given you in this life?
- God calls David, “Your father” when addressing Hezekiah. Both men had sin problems, neither was perfect, but what positive similarities can we find in chapter 37 and 38 between David and Hezekiah? What has Hezekiah done when faced with troubling things? To whom did he turn in these two instances?
- In what way could we also compare Hezekiah to Gideon (Verse 22)? Even when we fervently pursue Christ, are we successful in loving God with our whole heart? Where does our righteousness truly come from?
Devotional: Isaiah 37:21-38
Today’s passage: Isaiah 37:21-38
Helpful thoughts:
- The people of Jerusalem shake their heads at the king of Assyria because they know who he’s now up against. Sennacherib has reviled the Holy One of Israel.
- In verse 26, God informs King Sennacherib that the reason he has had any success was because of the the Lord’s sovereign will. The king of Assyria owed his success to the God of Israel.
- God has total control, he would lead the king of Assyria back to his home like people would their captives or animals (Verse 29).
- Proverbs 21:1 – The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
- God uses leaders to bless and to judge a people (2 Samuel 24:1)
- The Lord did what He promised and Sennacherib certainly saw it come to pass, but he did not repent. Even though God told the king where his success came from, he continued to worship his false god to ask for more.
Questions to consider:
- What would true repentance have looked like for Sennacherib after having heard these truths from the Lord? What did he hear that should have ended his worship of Nisroch?
- Is there a leader on the face of this earth who works independently of God’s sovereignty? Regardless of who is in the oval office, who is on the throne?
- If Sennacherib’s greatest sin was rejecting and reviling God, what is the greatest sin of leaders and citizens in our day? What root sin is the cause of all of the problems we face today? What kind of “grassroots” movement does our country truly need (Matthew 28:18-20)?
Devotional: Isaiah 37:1-20
Today’s passage: Isaiah 37:1-20
Helpful thoughts:
- Hezekiah chose wisely. He went to the Lord and the Lord responded, “I will make him fall.”
- Hezekiah also understood what the king of Assyria did not. God is not one among many gods, He is the one true God, creator of all things, Lord of hosts.
- This prayer in verse 20 appeals to the truth of God’s power and glory, “That all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.”
- No one else had been able to stand against Assyria. No other gods could contend.
- Psalm 46:10
Questions to consider:
- When was Hezekiah justified in his request? With whom had the king of Assyria picked this fight? What was the matter of highest importance in this crisis? What issues may have felt more worrisome at the time?
- What is the most significant issue at stake in our culture today? What issues may feel more worrisome?
- How should we look at the issues in the world around us? How does God through the Scriptures speak to the issues of our day? When people disagree with Scripture, who are they rejecting? What do the people around us need most?
Devotional: Isaiah 36
Today’s passage: Isaiah 36
Helpful thoughts:
- Isaiah 36-39 contains the events recorded in 2 Kings 18:13-20:19.
- A “rabshakeh” was a high ranking military officer in the Assyrian army.
- In verse 7, the Assyrians mistake the removal of the “high places” as an abandonment of the worship of God. On the contrary, the high places were against God’s commands. Hezekiah had ordered their destruction in obedience to God’s will.
- There was a military and a theological threat made on the king and the people of Israel.
- Militarily, they were no match for Assyria.
- Theologically, the Assyrian king Sennacherib was seeking to convince the people they could find more protection and prosperity under his care than under God’s.
Questions to consider:
- What was supposed to be the answer to the questions of verses 4-5? Who was Israel’s true defender?
- In what ways was the Rabshakeh right and in what ways was he wrong? Why would a right understanding of scripture be necessary to think rightly about this offer? How would a wrong understanding (or an ignorance) of scripture cause someone to make the wrong choice?
- In times of trouble, to whom or to what do you turn? Whose counsel do you receive? How can you ensure it is pleasing to the Lord and in accordance to His Word?
Devotional: 2 Samuel 24
Today’s passage: 2 Samuel 24
Helpful thoughts:
- Compare verse 1 with the parallel passage, 1 Chronicles 21:1. God is sovereign over all.
- David’s pride in the matter (The reason Joab was right to question his motive) was in trusting in the battle readiness of the people over the protection promised by the LORD of Hosts.
- David chose the third option in order to put his hope in the mercy of God, though God could have stopped any of the three options whenever He deemed right.
Questions to consider:
- Why was David right to repent? What did he do that was wrong? Why is conviction of sin such a great gift from God?
- Why is it always right to turn to the Lord in our sin? Who is the final judge? Who alone can extend mercy?
- On what grounds are you and I given mercy? What offering provided our peace and forgiveness from our sin?
Devotional: 2 Samuel 23
Today’s passage: 2 Samuel 23
Helpful thoughts:
- God’s formula for a great king:
- Rule with justice.
- Fear the Lord. No king is the final authority.
- All of David’s mighty men had this in common, their might came from the Almighty.
- The final name mentioned is Uriah the Hittite, the first husband of Bathsheba whom David had killed in battle.
Questions to consider:
- What did David know he was writing (Verse 2)? How does this compare with 2 Peter 1:21?
- What is the answer to David’s question in verse 5? Did David’s house (His family and the kings that followed him) rule the way God had instructed? Whose integrity guaranteed this everlasting covenant?
- How does Jesus perfectly fulfill God’s requirement for the perfect king?
Devotional: 2 Samuel 22
Today’s passage: 2 Samuel 22
Helpful thoughts:
- This chapter and Psalm 18 are very similar.
- The song was written later in David’s life.
- This song states the hows and why of God’s deliverance. The right response to God’s grace and kindness is praising the Lord among the nations, that others will know who alone deserves their praise.
- Verse 27 reveals David’s knowledge of why he could say what he did in verse 21. He was righteous because he had been purified, a sinner saved by grace.
Questions to consider:
- How will God show His steadfast love to His “Anointed” forever? Who is the Lord’s Anointed who will reign on the throne forever?
- Why is it so important that we understand verses 26-29 so that we can rightly interpret verses 21-25? Would David have qualified if he really believed he accomplished verses 21-25 without God’s grace in verses 26-29?
- How does this understanding of God’s grace in the Gospel ensure that we sing His praises to the nations instead of…our praises? Do we want people to be just like us or do we want them to know the One who cleanses and gives us eternal life? How does the Gospel give us reason and motivation to proclaim Christ to others?
Devotional: 2 Samuel 21
Today’s passage: 2 Samuel 21
Helpful thoughts:
- The last four chapters in 2 Samuel go back and highlight different times during David’s reign. They are not chronological.
- The Gibeonites had been promised peace after they tricked Israel in Joshua 9:3-27.
- David’s victory over Goliath wasn’t the only time Israel saw a giant fall. David wasn’t more powerful than the rest of the Israelites. They all had the same God.
Questions to consider:
- How did David respond after he saw the attempt at respect that was shown to the bodies of the deceased by Rizpah? How do we tend to respond to people who conduct themselves and treat others with respect?
- Why were these other Israelite men able to defeat the other Philistine champions? What had God promised them? Who was their faith placed in?
- What is the great enemy God has promised to defeat for us through Christ?
Devotional: 2 Samuel 20
Today’s passage: 2 Samuel 20
Helpful thoughts:
- Sheba was a part of Saul’s tribe and took advantage of the division at the end of the last chapter.
- David did not lay with his former concubines after they had been with Absalom during his rebellion.
- After Amasa failed to bring the army together, David turned to Abishai instead of Joab. But, by the end of this event, Joab was reinstalled over the army
- The wise woman had the right to appeal for peace in Israel (Deuteronomy 20:10).
Questions to consider:
- What kind of leadership/power did Joab possess if he was able to disobey David’s orders for command and still have troops readily loyal to him?
- On what basis did the woman make her appeal? What did she want to prevent Joab from doing to a city of Israel?
- Who was right in this chapter? Is there a true hero? Is Joab being loyal to David or to Israel or both or neither? How does this narrative further point us to our need for a true sinless hero in King Jesus?
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