Choices That Could Change Our Lives

By Debra DuPree Williams https://twitter.com/@ddupreewilliams

My husband and I continue our journey through the chronological reading of our Bibles. There are some very uplifting moments in the Bible, but there are some equally dark moments. Most of those dark moments come about due to the people disobeying God. They made choices that could change their lives just as we make choices that could change our lives.

As we get deeper and deeper into the OT, I can’t help but ask myself over and over, what were the Israelites thinking? We’re now in I Kings and II Chronicles. Things are bad here, but they’ve been bad since the beginning – since Eve gave Adam that apple in the Garden of Eden.

SECOND CHANCES

Time after time, God comes forth as tells them they need to follow His commandments, and then He will bless them. But they continue to disobey, and they fail to tell their children of the goodness of God, time after time. Sons who become king disobey. They lead their people down dark and dangerous paths. They forsake the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. They allow pagan gods to be built and worshiped. I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine having been captive in Egypt all those years and then finally being freed, and then, forget it was God who made it happen. I’d be shouting it from the mountaintops. And you can be assured that I would have passed that story down to my children and grandkids.

Yet time and time again, God forgives them when they realize their misdeeds and they repent. God loves His children and wants to give them good things. The same God who sent them Moses to lead them out of captivity in Egypt, who chose David, a shepherd boy, as their King is the God they turned their backs on. They made choices that could change their lives.

But amongst all the evil people, there always seems to be at least one righteous person. One who still heard and listened to the voice of God—Noah, Moses, David, Elijah. Those who reminded the people of who they are and to whom they belong.

I’ve sung Handel’s Messiah many times. And I’ve sung portions of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and I’ve sung Braham’s German Requiem, Rutter’s Requiem, all of which take portions of their texts from the Old Testament. I’ve even sung odd pieces of music here and there whose texts come from the Old Testament. Yet, every single one of them does exactly as the Old Testament does—they point to a living Christ. You’ll see this clearly when you read your Bible chronologically.

TRINITY – HERE FROM DAY ONE

God, the Holy Spirit, and Christ were present from the beginning, back in the book of Genesis 1:2 and Genesis 1: 26. All three were present from the beginning of time. They were there when the Judges were so evil. They were there when the Israelites turned their backs on God and His laws and chose to worship metal idols.  In I Kings 18: 21-40, Elijah shows them the error of their ways. When Baal doesn’t bring forth fire, but God does, the people finally declare that the God of Israel is, indeed, God, verse 39.

This is where we ended our reading today. Things and people aren’t so different today, are they? Even today, we have many who have chosen to follow Baal rather than God.

JOIN US

Let me challenge you once more to begin a chronological reading of your Bible. It truly is eye-opening and life-altering. https://debradupreewilliams.com/faith/what-are-you-holding-in-your-hand/  If you had been the Israelites or one of the kings, what would you have done? You can’t have both as some of the very unwise, evil kings thought they could do, worship God and Baal. We must choose. We must make choices that could change our lives.

One means life— Eternity with God.

The other—death.

The choice is yours.

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Here is where we go to get more about what we read each day. https://www.thebiblerecap.com/