Read To Me Daily Semester 2Sample

2SAMUEL 1:
Today we start 2nd Samuel! At the ending of 1st Samuel, David returned from being sent home from the battle with Israel only to find that his town had been ransacked by the Amalekites. He found strength in God, asked for God to direct him, and succeeded in retrieving everything, and even much more. However in Israel, Saul and his three sons died, and the Israelite army was completely defeated.

PSALM 107a:
Our poem for today is the first half of Psalm 107, which is another of my favorite psalms. In E.C. Olsen’s book on the Psalms— which is a transcription of his radio programs— he said that this psalm has a message for America. That message is in the repeated refrain found in this psalm. Then Olsen gave examples of the Great Depression starting in 1929, the Dust Bowl plagues in 1933-34, and the drought of 1936. Olsen observed, “Do you think we heeded [God’s warnings]? Indeed not. … Did we cease our wicked doings? Indeed not.” And I similarly ask us to think about the increasing pace of disasters in recent years. My observation is that we as a nation turned to God when we confronted some of the biggest disasters. But our turning to God lasted only a few days. Now, even as natural disasters multiply, we steadfastly talk of Climate Change and never talk about God. Consequently, we do NOT do like the people we hear about in this psalm.

ROMANS 11a:
As Paul said in his topic sentence in this book (Romans 1:16-17), the way God has revealed for making people right with himself is— from start to finish, by means of fully believing. In chapter 10 we have a great and succinct summation of the content that we are to ‘fully believe’. Our confessing the belief that is in our hearts is also important. At the end of chapter 10 there are a series of Old Testament quotes. Two of those quotes are about the non-Jews. Paul was not changing his topic. He is still talking about Jewish rejection of the Gospel. The two Old Testament prophecies about the non-Jews (verses 19-20) are quoted as a powerful sign to the Jews. This is the topic Paul continues with in chapter 11.

Let’s pray.
Holy and awesome heavenly Father, we thank You for the thrilling words, “Whoever (no matter who we are), whoever who believes in Him (Jesus) will never be disappointed.” Lord Jesus, we’re not sorry that You called us away from the corruption of this world to become your followers. And we’re not ashamed of the powerful message you have given us to share. We share Paul’s desire that the Jewish people would finally have their eyes opened to recognize their Messiah. We pray that You would make clear to them that You, Lord Jesus, are Him. And Lord, the Muslim peoples are told in their Al Koran that they are to believe in Isa (the Arabic name for Jesus). Yet the same book prevents them from getting a clear view of who You are. Lord, please continue to call thousands of Muslim people around the world to Yourself. And Lord, we will bring others to you by name now, asking you to save them for the sake of your glory, and that they might share your glory.