Read To Me Daily Semester 4Uzorak

2CHRONICLES 33:
The account in 2 Chronicles of Hezekiah’s victory through prayer over the vast Assyrian army is summarized. It is much more dramatically related in 2nd Kings. Hezekiah’s experience with the envoys from Babylon can be used as a spiritual parable for us. We need to be careful what we just accept as fate, without asking God for something better.

ECCLESIASTES 9:
A nugget of exceptional wisdom from Solomon was in yesterday’s reading, and it brings with it a problem in translation. I like how GNT made the overall pessimistic meaning clear by including quote marks in 12-13. NLT does not interpret that part as an argumentative quote and casts the meaning in an optimistic light. I will try to read the pessimistic quote from the GNT so that you can hear it.

Ecc. 8:11 GNT Why do people commit crimes so readily? Because crime is not punished quickly enough.
12 A sinner may commit a hundred crimes and still live. Oh yes, I know what they say: “If you obey God, everything will be all right,
13 but it will not go well for the wicked. Their life is like a shadow and they will die young, because they do not obey God.”
14 But this is nonsense. Look at what happens in the world: sometimes the righteous get the punishment of the wicked, and the wicked get the reward of the righteous. I say it is useless.

MATTHEW 21b:
In yesterday’s reading at the first of Matthew 21, we heard of the triumphant entry, Jesus cleansing the Temple and cursing the fig tree, and the question about what right He had to do such things as cleansing the Temple.

Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, You are our sovereign King. You come to us so humbly, yet You are the Lord of all. So today we throw open the gates of our hearts and, O, if only we could give You the red carpet treatment! But I am sure that You will find our house needs cleaning. First of all Lord, as You come into our hearts, throw out the things that keep us from making our hearts like a house of prayer. All the filth needs to go, and even distractions. Please forgive our unclean thoughts and help us to put them to death. Thank You for what You said when the disciples asked about the fig tree. We must believe that You and the Father will answer us about the things we ask you for in prayer. Certainly if we don’t become devoted to You in prayer, doing the steps of cleansing and purification, we cannot hope to be led by your Spirit in believing and in praying. One of the things needing to be cleaned out of our ‘house’ is our selfishness. So, dear Lord, we ask You today to cleanse our hearts from all the things that make our prayers unworthy and tainted by sin.