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April 14 + Daily notes & readings

DAY 104

DAILY READINGS

2 Kings 12-14 & Psalm 104

DAILY NOTES

2 Kings 12

  • Did it take 23 years (Verse 6) to realize that the temple wasn't being repaired?  No one called a trustee meeting?
2 Kings 13
  • We aren't told what illness Elisha had.  He has been a prophet for about 50 years!  Remember him praying for that double portion of Elijah's spirit?  Even as he is dying, he keeps maintains his prophetic role--his power is felt even after he is dead!
    • When the king came and wept before Elisha, he said the same thing that Elisha said when Elijah went up in the whirlwind.  Something to reflect upon?
2 Kings 14
  • Kind of feels like some kings just want to keep fighting, right?
Psalm 104
  • God is the God of all Creation.  God even plays with the sea monsters (Verse 26)--God's rubber ducky?  Because of God's care for us and all Creation, God is worthy of praise.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

Those pesky poles!

Have you noticed that even when a king comes along and does good, those poles still stay up?  The poles represent places of worship.  There may have been times when the people worshiped God at the poles, but the impression is that they were where people gave worship to other gods.  

What is it about that worship that the people cannot shake off?

I makes me think of the hymn O Jesus, I Have Promised.  The second verse says, "I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear."  That makes sense; I get that.  It reminds me that there are sights and sounds of the world trying to attract me away from the Lord.  But I love the way the Spanish version says it: es necia la pasión.  That reminds me that the forces all around me are stubborn.  They don't just go away.  I'm going to have to work to make them stay away.

When someone "officially" professes faith in Christ or joins a United Methodist Church, one of the questions we ask them is, "Do you accept the freedom and power God give you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?"

May the Lord gives us the courage to cut down the poles we keep standing today.

Stay blessed...john

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