Review

1 Corinthians 1:10–13 (NKJV): ¹⁰ Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

 

“Speak the same thing,” “No divisions”

• Division is created not only from what we shout out loud, but what we calmly communicate in the parking lot, what we whisper in the hallway, what we gossip about in the bathroom sink and what we text in group chats.
• When we verbally attack our church, both its leaders and its members, we are attacking Jesus.
  • Acts 9:1–5 (ESV): ¹ But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³ Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. ⁴ And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” ⁵ And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
    + Click to add your own note
    • Instead of attacking Chris’s body, we need to mend Christ’s body.

“Perfectly joined together”

• Instead of using our words to separate our bonds, we must use our words to restore our bonds.
• The process of unification requires that we identify places where there is no peace and create peace with our words.
  • We won’t submit our mouths to the Lord until we submit our minds to the Lord

“Same mind, same judgment”

• When Paul says that we should be of the same mind and the same judgment, he is talking about us all adopting Christ’s mind.
• Our natural thinking does not have the capacity to cultivate spiritual unity or anything else God is leading us to do.

Natural People Can’t Discern Spiritual Things

• 1 Corinthians 2:14–16 (ESV): ¹⁴ The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
  + Click to add your own note
  • You need to filter your judgment through the lens of Christ’s thinking.
  • When you think like Christ, you have the capacity to judge based on how things really are, not simply on how they appear to you, especially initially.

Spiritual Mindedness Qualifies You to Judge

• 1 Corinthians 2:14–16 (ESV): ¹⁵ The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.
  + Click to add your own note
• 1 Corinthians 2:14–16 (ESV): ¹⁶ “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
  + Click to add your own note
  • The mind of Christ is Holy Spirit access to Christ’s thoughts.
• 1 Corinthians 2:12 (ESV): ¹² Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
  + Click to add your own note

Unity Requires Maturity

• 1 Corinthians 3:1–3 (ESV): ¹ But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. ² I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, ³ for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
  + Click to add your own note
• 1 Corinthians 3:1(ESV): ¹ But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
  + Click to add your own note
  • There are spiritual resources that God can’t share with us when we choose to judge, speak and act as people of the flesh.
  • People of the flesh are people who judge, speak and act based entirely on what they see and feel naturally.
  • The flesh does not pick up God’s signals.
    • 1 Corinthians 3:2 (ESV): ² I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
      + Click to add your own note
• Matthew 13:14–15 (ESV): ¹⁴ Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “ ‘ “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” ¹⁵ For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’
  + Click to add your own note
• 1 Corinthians 3:3 (ESV): ³ . . .For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
  + Click to add your own note

Why Strife Must Be Rooted Out Quickly and Definitively

• When you behave “only in a human way,” Satan has access to you.
• Satan operates and camouflages himself within your natural thought process.

Strife is a demonic pathway

• James 3:14–18 (ESV): ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
  + Click to add your own note
  • When you behave “only in a human way,” demonic resources are being trafficked through you into the church.
  • Satan uses the resources he’s been stockpiling in your heart since you were little:
    • Rejection
    • Abuse
    • Bullying
    • Abandonment
    • Ridicule
    • Shaming
    • Poverty
    • Imprisonment
  • And like physical wildfires, they start small, as with a match.
    • Spiritual wildfires start with thoughts Satan plants in our minds
      • Thoughts that make us
        • Cynical
        • Suspicious
        • Anxious
        • Jealous
        • Vengeful
        • Malicious
        • Angry
        • Fearful
      • Those thoughts become words in the form of
        • Gossip
        • Slander
        • Backbiting
        • Murmuring
        • Passive aggressive communication
      • Those words turn into “disorder and every vile practice”
        • Proverbs 26:20–21 (ESV): ²⁰ For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. ²¹ As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
          + Click to add your own note
          • Whisperers and quarrelers are people who constantly start or fan the flame of a conflict with their mouths.

Christ-minded people are peace-minded people

James 3:17-18 (ESV): ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2025

 

Review

I Corinthians 1:10 (ESV): ¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

1 Corinthians 1:10 (NKJV): ¹⁰ Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

 

How Speaking and Thinking Go Together

• How you speak is an indication of how you think.
• Words carry thoughts to other people.
  • Your words influence how other people think.
  • “The use of party cries always tends to deepen and perpetuate division and Paul calls for their abandonment.”–Leon Morris [Leon Morris, 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 7, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 45–46.]

What Division Looks Like

• People shouting out different allegiances, difference priorities–different visions for the group
• In church, we’re often not shouting our disagreement out loud, but calmly communicating it in the parking lot, whispering it in the hallway, gossiping it at the water cooler
• Gossip, slander, defamation and backbiting are lethal to a church:
  • Definitions:
    • Gossip = casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true. [Oxford Languages, Google]
    • Slander = the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage another’s reputation [Dictionary.com]
    • Defame = to attack the good name or reputation of, as by uttering or publishing maliciously or falsely anything injurious [Dictionary.com]
    • Backbiting = malicious talk about someone who is not present. [Oxford Languages, Google]
  • People who gossip, slander, defame and backbite are arsonists.
    • They do to churches what the fires are doing to Los Angeles:
      • James 3:5–6 (ESV): ⁵ So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.
        + Click to add your own note
        • Three analogies for the church in Corinthians:

Body

Field

Building

• When you deploy divisive speech at your local church, its leadership and members, you are tearing down an edifice that God is building.

• To avoid this, we must carefully assess our speech and our motives:
  • Psalm 19:14 (ESV): ¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
    + Click to add your own note
  • James 4:1 (ESV): ¹ What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
    + Click to add your own note
    • Strife is caused internally, not externally.
    • When you find yourself in a conflict look inward:
      • Psalm 139:23–24 (ESV): ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! ²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
        + Click to add your own note
• A simple tool to assess words and motives:
  • Think twice before you think once:
  • T.H.I.N.K.
    • T= Is it True?
    • H = Is it Helpful?
    • I = Is it Inspiring?
    • N = Is it Necessary?
    • K = Is it Kind?
  • If the answers to these questions are “No,” then why do you want to speak?
• What if you actually need to address a conflict with your words?
  • If you follow what we’ve already discussed, you’ll have less conflicts in the first place.
  • There are biblical ways to address conflict that we will address in future lessons.
  • We have a member of our church who has written and spoken extensively on this subject.
    • 30 Days to Taming Your Tongue by Deborah Smith Pegues
    • Confronting Without Offending: Positive and Practical Steps to Resolving Conflict by Deborah Smith Pegues

What Unity Looks Like

• Let’s go back to our passage: 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NKJV): ¹⁰ Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
  + Click to add your own note
• ESV: “Be United”
  • The main idea, but not the literal translation
• NKJV: “be perfectly joined together”
  • Closer to the literal translation
    • καταρτίζω (katartizō): make adequate, furnish completely, make sufficient, hence, in some contexts, mend, restore [James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).]
      • Mark 1:19 (ESV): ¹⁹ And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.
        + Click to add your own note
      • “Paul looks for them to be perfectly united, where his verb is used of restoring anything to its right condition.” –Leon Morris [Leon Morris, 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 7, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 45–46.]
• Let’s bring together the principle about words with the principle about mending or joining perfectly together
  • Our words are healing agents.
  • Instead of expecting a conflict free church, go into places of conflict to bring peace.
  • Become a peace agent.
    • Go precisely where there is no peace and become an adhesive, not a separator of bonds.
    • If you a fire, put it out; don’t fan the flame with your mouth
    • That’s what unity is in practice.
      • “To ‘speak the same thing’ can be a first step to real unity”–Leon Morris [Leon Morris, 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 7, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 45–46.]
• Let’s go back to our passage: 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NKJV): ¹⁰ Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
  + Click to add your own note

Bible Reading Plan (Beginning Monday, February 3^st)

Adults

Foundations: A 260-Day Bible Reading Plan for Busy Believers

Teens

Required:

• NLT Student Life Application Study Bible
• Foundations – Teen Devotional: A 260-Day Bible Reading Plan for Busy Teens

Optional:

• The Action Bible Devotional: 52 Weeks of God-Inspired Adventure
• The Simple Truth Bible: The Best Minute of Your Day (365 Daily Devotions for Students)

Children

Foundations for Kids: A 260-day Bible Reading Plan to Help Your Kids HEAR God

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2025

Review of 2024

Theme for Last Year

“Grown: Embracing Christian Adulthood”

• The world’s concept of adulthood is a license to act childish.
• Biblical adulthood is measured by how much we submit our lives to the Father.
• Jesus is God’s definition of adulthood.
• The more you are like Christ, the more of an adult you are.
• Becoming like Christ is about inner life development but is reflected in our outer life practice.

The “Jireh” Series

• In that series, we talked about trusting God for resources and growing to a place where we can manage those resources well.
• All of that hinge on inner life development.
• Building wealth God’s way requires that we are first rich internally.
• The purpose of wealth is human flourishing.

The “Rest” Series

• We learned that we find rest in the process of spiritual formation.
• Spiritual formation is the process of God forming our inner life in such a way that it is more and more like Christ.

The “Hustle” Series

• Don’t let technology, inflation and working conditions bully you into a life that just goes faster and faster to the point of becoming unsustainable.
• At some point, we have to take the time to sit at the feet of Jesus.

The “Words of Jesus” Series

• They took you back to the words of Jesus.

“The Sacredness of Singleness” Series

• Single life is as honorable as married life.
• God does not press you about marriage. He presses you about motives.
• Your motives are hidden in your heart.
• The status of your heart affects the status of your life.
  • Your single life.
  • Your dating life.
  • Your married life.
  • Your divorced life.

Ordinary People

• The nourishment we receive from God in church is not just through pastors, elders, deacons, and platform communicators, but through the ordinary people we see every day and week.
• We discussed that as we are intentional about gathering together out of obedience to the Lord, we are building a temple for the Lord to dwell.
• Scripture calls us the stones that make up the temple of God.
• We build Him a house; He builds us a house.
• We said that as we fulfill the vision of discipleship within the context of small groups, He will fulfill the vision of the building that we’re renovating.
• When we gather together in small groups, Pastor Jesus is present to minister through our spiritual gifts.

The “Before You Say I Do” Series

• 5 things you should do to flourish in your dating life:
  • The first is to Enjoy your single life (in the Lord). [or you will date for the wrong reasons]
  • The second is to Treat ordinary people well.
  • The third key is to Secure a quality group of friends, acquaintances and advisors.
  • The fourth key is to Take dating life seriously (and not casually).
  • The fifth is to Spend quality time with people from your local church on a regular basis. (for advice and accountability)

The “What Just Happened?” Series

• God is not asking you to deny how you feel, but to honor how He thinks.
• In His wisdom and sovereignty, God uses all things—good and bad—for the good.
• God uses and puts flawed people in power—some of them flat out evil—for the purpose of the greater good.
• But just because God uses them doesn’t mean that He’s endorsing everything they say or do.
• Which means that for Trump—or any other person in a public office—we can respect how God may be using them while still holding them accountable to ethical behavior.

Hear and Obey

James 1:22 (ESV): ²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

The Struggle is Real

Pray Like David Prayed

• Psalm 139:23–24 (ESV): ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! ²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
  + Click to add your own note
• Psalm 51:10 (ESV): ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
  + Click to add your own note

Living My Life Like It’s Golden

The Rich Young Ruler

Matthew 19:16–22 (ESV): ¹⁶ And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” ¹⁷ And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” ¹⁸ He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, ¹⁹ Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁰ The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” ²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²² When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

The Option Flex

“Jesus, I will follow you, but first. . .”

Luke 9:59 (ESV): ⁵⁹ To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

• For context, let me quote Bible commentator Robert Stein: “For a Jew this was a religious duty having precedence over everything else. Only in the case of a temporary Nazirite vow (Num 6:6–7) or if one were the high priest (Lev 21:10–11) could one be absolved from this duty.” –Robert Stein [Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 301.]
  + Click to add your own note

Luke 9:60 (ESV): ⁶⁰ And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

• • Matthew 6:33 (ESV): ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
    + Click to add your own note
    • • “Jesus demands an allegiance transcending even this greatest of filial obligations.” –Robert Stein [Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 301.]

Luke 9:60 (ESV): ⁶⁰ And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

• “This saying contains a play on the word dead. “Let the [spiritually] dead bury their own [physical] dead.” –Robert Stein[[Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 301.]
  + Click to add your own note
  • Romans 1:17 (ESV): ¹⁷. . . . “The righteous shall live by faith.”
    + Click to add your own note
  • Which means that if you are really as righteous as you think you are and say you are, then you will commit to Jesus in faith.

Luke 9:61 (ESV): ⁶¹ Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”

Luke 9:62 (ESV): ⁶² Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

• Fit: εὔθετος (euthetos) (yoo’-thet-os) —1. suitable, fit, usable 2. useful, of value [James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).]
  + Click to add your own note

I Corinthians 1:10 (ESV): ¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

The Fast 

 

• Monday, January 6th – Sunday, January 26th 2025
• We will fast at least two days a week (of your choosing) for each week of the fast.
• On fasting days, we will eat no solid foods until 5pm.
• See further instructions here or go to zoecenter.us and click on the banner at the top that reads “21-Day New Year Fast” 

 

Bible Reading Plan (Beginning February 1^st)

Adults

Foundations: A 260-Day Bible Reading Plan for Busy Believers

Teens

Required:

• NLT Student Life Application Study Bible
• Foundations – Teen Devotional: A 260-Day Bible Reading Plan for Busy Teens

Optional:

• The Action Bible Devotional: 52 Weeks of God-Inspired Adventure
• The Simple Truth Bible: The Best Minute of Your Day (365 Daily Devotions for Students)

Children

Foundations for Kids: A 260-day Bible Reading Plan to Help Your Kids HEAR God

Parents

• We’re asking all parents to volunteer at least one Sunday or event per year with Children’s ministry, Youth ministry and/or Young Adult Ministry.
• Register your commitment here or go to zoecenter.us and click on the banner at the top that reads “Student Ministry Interest” 

Men 

• We are asking men to mark their calendars for our next Man Cave on Thursday, February 20th at 7:30pm.
• Our focus will be discipleship and small groups. 
• Our guest speaker will be Pastor Kenneth Mulkey from Cottonwood Christian Center. 

 Small Group Leaders 

 For all small groups leaders and small-group-leaders-in training, mark the following dates for small group training:  

• Saturday, January 25th at 9:30 am 

• Tuesday, February 25th at 7:30 pm (Virtual) 

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2025

Bible Study and Devotional Resources for Teens

Required:

• NLT Student Life Application Study Bible
• Foundations – Teen Devotional: A 260-Day Bible Reading Plan for Busy Teens

Optional:

• The Action Bible Devotional: 52 Weeks of God-Inspired Adventure
• The Simple Truth Bible: The Best Minute of Your Day (365 Daily Devotions for Students)

Review

In sum, we can respect how God may be using Trump while still holding Trump accountable to ethical behavior.

(Isaiah 55:8–9 (ESV): ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.)

Habakkuk’s Complaint

Habakkuk 1: 1-4 (NLT): ¹ This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision. ² How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. ³ Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. ⁴ The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted.

The Lord’s Response to Habakkuk’s Complaint

Habakkuk 1:5–11 (NLT): ⁵ The Lord replied, “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it. ⁶ I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people. They will march across the world and conquer other lands. ⁷ They are notorious for their cruelty and do whatever they like. ⁸ Their horses are swifter than cheetahs and fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their charioteers charge from far away. Like eagles, they swoop down to devour their prey. ⁹ “On they come, all bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind, sweeping captives ahead of them like sand. ¹⁰ They scoff at kings and princes and scorn all their fortresses. They simply pile ramps of earth against their walls and capture them! ¹¹ They sweep past like the wind and are gone. But they are deeply guilty, for their own strength is their god.”

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

Habakkuk 1:12–17 (NLT): ¹² O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal— surely you do not plan to wipe us out? O Lord, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us, to punish us for our many sins. ¹³ But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil. Will you wink at their treachery? Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they? ¹⁴ Are we only fish to be caught and killed? Are we only sea creatures that have no leader? ¹⁵ Must we be strung up on their hooks and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate? ¹⁶ Then they will worship their nets and burn incense in front of them. “These nets are the gods who have made us rich!” they will claim. ¹⁷ Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests?

Habakkuk Waits on The Lord

Habakkuk 2:1 (NLT): ¹ I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint.

The Lord’s Second Response to Habakkuk

Habakkuk 2:2-3 (NLT): ² And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. ³ For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Faith vs. Humility

Habakkuk 2:4 (NLT): ⁴ “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.

• Bible Commentary: Kenneth Barker (Commentary on Habakkuk): “The one whose life is puffed up in pride and arrogance will die; the righteous, in contrast, by his faithfulness will live.”–Kenneth Barker [Kenneth L. Barker, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, vol. 20, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 325.]
• Examples of God addressing kings who are puffed up:
  • King Nebuchadnezzar
    • Daniel 4:28–33 (ESV): ²⁸ All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. ²⁹ At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, ³⁰ and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” ³¹ While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, ³² and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” ³³ Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.
      + Click to add your own note
  • King Herod
    • Acts 12:21–23 (ESV): ²¹ On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. ²² And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” ²³ Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.
      + Click to add your own note

For the rest of chapter two, God details the punishment he will inflict on Babylon for its sins:

• Bible Commentary: Kenneth Barker (Commentary on Habakkuk): “God answered Habakkuk’s questions. How could God use a wicked people such as the Chaldeans to punish a nation more righteous than itself? God’s answer was that though he might use Babylon to punish Judah’s sins, he also would punish Babylon for its sin. “The day of calamity” would come on Babylon. What an amazing transformation! Because the prophet had been honest with God and took his genuine questions to a caring God, Habakkuk began to look at the world from a different perspective. Habakkuk had moved from “how long?” (Hab 1:2) to “I will wait patiently.”–Kenneth Barker [Kenneth L. Barker, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, vol. 20, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 374.]

God’s Ahead of Us by 93 million Light Years and Counting

Habakkuk 2:14 (ESV): ¹⁴ For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Habakkuk’ Prayer

Habakkuk 3:2 (ESV): ² O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

• For most of the rest of the chapter, Habakkuk recounts God’s works

Habakkuk is Moved by the Revelation and History of God’s Mighty Works

Habakkuk 3:16 (ESV): ¹⁶ I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.

Habakkuk Rejoices in the Lord

Habakkuk 3:17-19 (ESV): ¹⁷ Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, ¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. ¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.

Habakkuk’s Example: Be at Peace and Be in Prayer

Jeremiah 29:4–7 (ESV): ⁴ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵ Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. ⁶ Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. ⁷ But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

1 Timothy 2:1–4 (ESV): ¹ First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, ² for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. ³ This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024

 

God Wants to Dwell with us

John 1:14 (ESV): ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

There is Blessing in the Dwelling

Psalm 133:1, 3 (ESV): ¹ Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!. . . .³. . . .For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

Dwelling is a Divine Project, not a Human Project

When We Dwell, God Dwells

1 Corinthians 6:19 (ESV): ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

1 Peter 2:5 (ESV): ⁵ you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house. . . .

What Dwelling Requires

Dwelling together requires a commitment to God.

Dwelling together requires a commitment to fellowship. 

• Hebrews 10:24–25 (ESV): ²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
  + Click to add your own note

Dwelling together requires a commitment to submission.

Ephesians 5:21 (ESV): ²¹ submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024

Review

• God does not think like you. (Isaiah 55:8–9 (ESV): ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.)
  • God made His mind accessible to us through the written Word.

Government Begins with God

Genesis 1:26 (ESV): ²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 1:26 (NASB95): ²⁶ . . . .let them rule. . . .

God Never Stopped Giving Us Permission to Rule

Romans 13:1–2 (ESV): ¹ Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ² Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

• Humans only rule because God allows it.

Why does God Allow Imperfect Humans to Rule?

Romans 13:4 (ESV): ⁴ for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

Romans 8:28 (ESV): ²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Genesis 50:20 (ESV): ²⁰ As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Proverbs 16:4 (ESV): ⁴ The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.

Proverbs 21:30 (ESV): ³⁰ No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord.

Proverbs 21:31 (ESV): ³¹ The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.

God Manipulates Human Government

Proverbs 21 (ESV): ¹ The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

Proverbs 21:1 (NKJV): ¹ The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.

Daniel 2:21(ESV): ²¹ He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;

Just Because God Uses You Doesn’t Mean He Endorses Everything You Do

Gideon

Judges 6:11–12 (ESV): ¹¹ Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

Judges 8:22–28 (ESV): ²² Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” ²³ Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.” ²⁴ And Gideon said to them, “Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.” (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) ²⁵ And they answered, “We will willingly give them.” And they spread a cloak, and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. ²⁶ And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels. ²⁷ And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. ²⁸ So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel, and they raised their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.

Jehu

2 Kings 9:1–10 (ESV): ¹ Then Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Tie up your garments, and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. ² And when you arrive, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. And go in and have him rise from among his fellows, and lead him to an inner chamber. ³ Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee; do not linger.” ⁴ So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. ⁵ And when he came, behold, the commanders of the army were in council. And he said, “I have a word for you, O commander.” And Jehu said, “To which of us all?” And he said, “To you, O commander.” ⁶ So he arose and went into the house. And the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I anoint you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. ⁷ And you shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. ⁸ For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. ⁹ And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. ¹⁰ And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.

2 Kings 10:28–31 (ESV): ²⁸ Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. ²⁹ But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin—that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan. ³⁰ And the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” ³¹ But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024

 

Review

Key Principle:

• God is not asking you to deny how you feel, but to honor how He thinks.
• About Everything.
• Isaiah 55:8–9 (ESV): ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
  + Click to add your own note

The Father of Lights

• James 1:17 (ESV): ¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
  + Click to add your own note
• Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV): ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
  + Click to add your own note

It’s All Good

• Romans 8:28 (ESV): ²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose
  + Click to add your own note

The Example of Joshua

• Joshua 1:2–3 (ESV): ² “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. ³ Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.
  + Click to add your own note
• Joshua 1:9 (ESV): ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
  + Click to add your own note
• Joshua 5:13–14 (ESV): ¹³ When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” ¹⁴ And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”
  + Click to add your own note
• Joshua 2:1–6 (ESV): ¹And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. ² And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” ³ Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” ⁴ But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. ⁵ And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” ⁶ But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof.
  + Click to add your own note

God’s Sting Operation

• Romans 9:14–18 (ESV): ¹⁴ What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. ¹⁷ For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸ So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
  + Click to add your own note
• Daniel 2:20–23 (ESV): ²⁰ Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. ²¹ He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; ²² he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. ²³ To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”
  + Click to add your own note

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024

Jonah Reading Reflection Questions for Teens 

 

1. What did God tell Jonah to do? 
2. Why did Jonah run away? 
3. Jonah tried to get away from the presence of God. Is this possible? 
4. What was the result of Jonah’s disobedience? 
5. Why do you think Jonah was able to sleep through the storm? 
6. What did Jonah do to make God let Him out of the fish. 
7. How long was Jonah in the belly of the fish? 
8. What made the people of Nineveh repent? 
9. How long did it take for the people of Nineveh to repent when Jonah started preaching? 
10. Where did Jonah get his forty-day deadline from? 
11. Why was Jonah displeased? 
12. If Jonah knew so much of God’s grace and compassionate heart, why was he so surprised that God did not destroy Nineveh? 
13. What parts of the Jonah story surprised you?

 

Review

 

93 billion Light Years and Counting

God is not asking you to deny how you feel, but to honor how He thinks:

• Isaiah 55:8–9 (ESV): ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Jonah’s Attitude

Seeing the President from God’s Perspective

Does God Rig Elections?

 

• Romans 13:1 (ESV): ¹ Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Our Way of Being Right Is Inherently Flawed

• Romans 3:10–12 (ESV): ¹⁰ as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ no one understands; no one seeks for God. ¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

We Need to be Constantly Reminded of God’s Thoughts

• Psalm 1:1–2 (ESV): ¹ Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ² but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
  + Click to add your own note
• Ephesians 5:18 (ESV): ¹⁸ And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
  + Click to add your own note
• Hebrews 10:24–25 (ESV): ²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
  + Click to add your own note

The Limitations of Our Personal Ethical Standards

• Isaiah 5:21 (ESV): ²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!
  + Click to add your own note
• Proverbs 26:12 (ESV): ¹² Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
  + Click to add your own note
• Proverbs 3:7 (ESV): ⁷ Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
  + Click to add your own note
• Proverbs 12:15 (ESV): ¹⁵ The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
  + Click to add your own note
• Proverbs 21:2 (ESV): ² Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.
  + Click to add your own note

Lord, Show Me Your Ways!

• Psalm 139:23–24 (ESV): ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! ²⁴ And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
  + Click to add your own note
• Psalm 119:12 (ESV): ¹² Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!
  + Click to add your own note
• Psalm 119:18 (ESV): ¹⁸ Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
  + Click to add your own note
• Psalm 119:24 (ESV): ²⁴ Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.
  + Click to add your own note
• Psalm 103:7 (ESV): ⁷ He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
  + Click to add your own note
• Psalm 25:4–5 (ESV): ⁴ Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. ⁵ Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.
  + Click to add your own note

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024

Introduction

A Reminder of This Year’s Theme: Grown

Ephesians 4:11–16 (ESV): ¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

1 Timothy 4:1 (ESV): ¹ Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

Jonah Gets Triggered

Jonah 1:1–3 (ESV): ¹ Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” ³ But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord.

“Stonewalling is way of intentionally or unintentionally, verbally or nonverbally withdrawing from a conflict. While some people stonewall on purpose to assert control or do harm, the behavior is often inadvertent.” (“Deconstructing Stonewalling” https://health.clevelandclinic.org/stonewalling-in-a-relationship)

• “ ‘You’re having a conversation and all of a sudden, the other person shuts off. Not just verbally or physically — they emotionally disengage.’ ” (“Deconstructing Stonewalling”)

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/stonewalling-in-a-relationship)–Susan Albers, Ph.d.

Jonah Goes Through the Process

Jonah 3:1–10 (ESV): ¹Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” ³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. ⁴ Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” ⁵ And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.⁶ The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷ And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, ⁸ but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. ⁹ Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” ¹⁰ When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Jonah 4:1–11 (ESV): ¹But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. ² And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

Jonah 4:3-4 (ESV): ³ Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” ⁴ And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

Jonah 4:5-11 (ESV): ⁵ Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. ⁶ Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. ⁷ But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. ⁸ When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” ⁹ But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” ¹⁰ And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹ And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024

 

PRAISE CURE     

              

Acts 16:25-26

(25) But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying AND singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 

(26) Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.”

Praise keeps our heart and mind in a place of peace

• That is where wisdom flows
• From a place of peace 

What Gods says about wisdom?

Proverbs 3:17

Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

Isaiah 26: 3

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: “because he trusteth” in thee.

2 Chronicles 20:12-30

(12) O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, “but our eyes are upon You.” 

(13) Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord. 

(14) Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. 

(15) And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 

(16) Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. 

(17) You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” 

(18) And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. 

(19) Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel WITH VOICES LOUD AND HIGH. 

(20) So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood AND SAID, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” 

(21) And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.” 

(22) Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.

(23)  For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. 

(24) So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.  

(27)  Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. 

(28) So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord. 

(29) And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. 

(30) Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.”

Much of what we need in life will come in a place of praise. Let praise continually be on your lips.

 

Psalm 34:1

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

© Bishop Ed. Smith, Ph.D., 2024