Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from 1 Kings 18:1-16.

“Now it happened after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth.”  So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab.  Now the famine was severe in Samaria.  Ahab called Obadiah who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly;  for when Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water.)  Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys;  perhaps we will find grass and keep the horses and mules alive, and not have to kill some of the cattle.”  So they divided the land between them to survey it;  Ahab went one way by himself and Obadiah went another way by himself.

Now as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him, and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is this you, Elijah my master?”  He said to him, “It is I.  Go, say to your master, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’”  He said, “What sin have I committed, that you are giving your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death?  As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent to search for you;  and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the kingdom or nation swear that they could not find you.  And now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here.”’  It will come about when I leave you that the Spirit of the LORD will carry you where I do not know;  so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the LORD from my youth.  Has it not been told to my master what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, that I hid a hundred prophets of the LORD by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water?  And now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here”’;  he will then kill me.”  Elijah said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.”  So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him;  and Ahab went to meet Elijah.”  1 Kings 18:1-16.

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We can see the fear of Obadiah when he was told by Elijah to tell his master, Ahab, that he (Elijah) was here.  

Elijah himself felt fear at times.  “Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.”  Romans 11:3.

We may feel fear at times.

But, there is hope!

There was hope for Obadiah.  Ahab did not kill Obadiah.  Obadiah could remember that although he hid prophets of the LORD from Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, Ahab still made Obadiah over his household and worked with him.  Verses 3 and 5-6.  Obadiah got to meet Elijah and probably witnessed or at least heard about Elijah’s miraculous victory over Ahab’s prophets on Mount Carmel in the following Scripture.  See 1 Kings 18:20-40.

There was hope for Elijah.  “But what is the divine response to him?  “I HAVE KEPT FOR MYSELF SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.”  In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.”  Romans 11:4-5.

And, there is hope for us today.  “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.”  2 Timothy 1:7.

Consider the following from the Heidelberg Catechism.  

Q. 1.  What is thy only comfort in life and death?

A.  That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ;  who, with His precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil;  and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head;  yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto Him.

“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”  Romans 8:11.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;  and these whom He predestined, He also called;  and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things?  If God is for us, who is against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”  Romans 8:28-32.

“Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
3 Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
4 Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
5 Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.” Psalm 103:1-5.

Today’s devotion comes from 1 Kings 16:15-34.  Here is a link to this Scripture – 1 Kings 16 NASB1995 – – Bible Gateway

I quote only the following Scriptures.

“In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days at Tirzah.  Now the people were camped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.  The people who were camped heard it said, “Zimri has conspired and has also struck down the king.”  Therefore all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp.  Then Omri and all Israel with him went up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah.  When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house over him with fire, and died, because of his sins which he sinned, doing evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, making Israel sin.  …  

Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts:  half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king;  the other half followed Omri.  But the people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath.  And Tibni died and Omri became king.  …    

Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, and acted more wickedly than all who were before him.  For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sins which he made Israel sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel with their idols.  …  

Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.  Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him.

It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him.  So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria.  Ahab also made the Asherah.  Thus Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.  In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho;  he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.”  1 Kings 16:15-19 and 21-22 and 25-26 and 29-34.  

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“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.  For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;  Avoid such men as these.  For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.  But they will not make further progress;  for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra;  what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!  Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”  2 Timothy chapter 3.

Today’s devotion comes from 1 Kings 15:25-34.

“Now Nadab the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.  He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father and in his sin which he made Israel sin.  Then Baasha the son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.

So Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place.  It came about as soon as he was king, he struck down all the household of Jeroboam.  He did not leave to Jeroboam any persons alive, until he had destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, and because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, because of his provocation with which he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.

Now the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah became king over all Israel at Tirzah, and reigned twenty-four years.  He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel sin.”  1 Kings 15:25-34.  

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“The LORD has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all.” Psalm 103:19.

“The LORD has made everything for its own purpose,
Even the wicked for the day of evil.” Proverbs 16:4.

Even though Baasha did evil in the sight of the LORD as stated in verse 34, the LORD ruled and governed Baasha to strike down the all of the household of Jeroboam “according to the word of the LORD”.  Verse 29.

Consider the following from the Belgic Confession.

“Article 13:  Of Divine Providence.

We believe that the same God, after he had created all things, did not forsake them, or give them up to fortune or chance, but that he rules and governs them according to his holy will, so that nothing happens in this world without his appointment:  nevertheless, God neither is the author of, nor can be charged with, the sins which are committed.  For his power and goodness are so great and incomprehensible, that he orders and executes his work in the most excellent and just manner, even then, when devils and wicked men act unjustly.  And, as to what he doth surpassing human understanding, we will not curiously inquire into, farther than our capacity will admit of;  but with the greatest humility and reverence adore the righteous judgments of God, which are hid from us, contenting ourselves that we are disciples of Christ, to learn only those things which he has revealed to us in his Word, without transgressing these limits.  This doctrine affords us unspeakable consolation, since we are taught thereby that nothing can befall us by chance, but by the direction of our most gracious and heavenly Father;  who watches over us with a paternal care, keeping all creatures so under his power, that not a hair of our head (for they are all numbered), nor a sparrow, can fall to the ground, without the will of our Father, in whom we do entirely trust;  being persuaded, that he so restrains the devil and all our enemies, that without his will and permission, they cannot hurt us.  And therefore we reject that damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that God regards nothing, but leaves all things to chance.”

“9 “Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
11 Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man of My purpose from a far country.
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, surely I will do it.” Isaiah 46:9-11.

Today’s devotion comes from 1 Kings 15:1-7.

“Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah.  He reigned three years in Jerusalem;  and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.  He walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him;  and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, like the heart of his father David.  But for David’s sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem;  because David did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.  There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

Now the rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?  And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.”  1 Kings 15:1-7.

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There is also hope for us that a Son shall be given to us, namely Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  In the following well-known and well-loved Scripture, we see His eternal and almighty qualities revealed by His name and what He will do for us.

“6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.” Isaiah 9:6-7.

Today’s devotion comes from 1 Kings 14:21-31.  Here is a link to this Scripture – 1 Kings 14 NASB1995 – – Bible Gateway

I quote only the following verses.

“Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put His name there.  And his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.  Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked Him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, with the sins which they committed.  For they also built for themselves high places and sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and beneath every luxuriant tree.  There were also male cult prostitutes in the land.  They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel.”  1 Kings 14:21-24.

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It seems as if Rehoboam, king of Judah, was as bad as Jeroboam, king of Israel.  We may point our fingers at others thinking that we are naturally better than others.  But, what does Scripture state?

“What then?  Are we better than they?  Not at all;  for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;  as it is written,

“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
13 “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE,
WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,”
“THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”;
14 “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”;
15 “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD,
16 DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS,
17 AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.”
18 “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God;  because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight;  for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”  Romans 3:9-20.

But, there is hope!

“But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe;  for there is no distinction;  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;  whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.  This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;  for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Where then is boasting?  It is excluded.  By what kind of law?  Of works?  No, but by a law of faith.  For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.  Or is God the God of Jews only?  Is He not the God of Gentiles also?  Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.”  Romans 3:21-30.