Reading for today
Old Testament: 1 Kings 7, 8, 9
New Testament: Acts 11
Thoughts from today’s reading
1 Kings 8:46-58. King Solomon finished building the temple and in his prayer of dedication he prayed that if the Israelites were carried away to another land because of their sins, that when they came back to themselves, the Lord should have compassion on them and accept them back in their land of heritage. These verses here are very similar to what happened to the prodigal son, he came to himself in a foreign land and when he came to himself, he went back home and the father had compassion on him and received him back into the house of his inheritance.
1 Kings 9:10-14. King Hiram provided a lot of the material used to build the temple and Solomon gave him a gift of land in Israel to thank him. The Jews were never supposed to give up land even to another tribe of theirs, let alone to a stranger from another nation. This was a great honour that Solomon gave to Hiram, however, when Hiram saw the land, he was not pleased with it and called it Cabul which means good for nothing. The land happened to be Galilee where Jesus was raised in the town of Nazareth. That is why Nathaniel said in John 1, can anything good come out of Nazareth?
The land that was termed good for nothing was the land that housed the Lord of glory. The stone which the builders rejected became the chief cornerstone.
Acts 11:27-30. The prophet Agabus prophesied a famine in the land and the believers at Antioch determined to give help to the church at Judea on the basis of the prophesy. They had decided what they would do even before they saw the manifestation of that prophesy.
The word of prophesy comes before hand to prepare us for what we must do. We should not wait for the manifestation of the prophesy before we start doing what was revealed.
Prayer
1. Heavenly Father, thank you that your compassion is available for us to return to you when we go astray. Thank you that when we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us, restoring us. We give you praise for the blood of Jesus that ever lives to make intercession for us as a continual advocate to the Father.
2. Lord, may I always be grateful for the gifts that have been given to me without despising them. Open my eyes to see the treasure you place in earthen vessels, open my eyes to see the goodness of God in what has been called good for nothing in Jesus name.
3. Father, as the word of prophecy comes forth, I receive the grace to prepare myself effectively for what has been revealed. May I not despise prophecy and may I not be slow to act on it in Jesus’ name, amen.