October 31

2 Kings 13 “John, you need to be bolder in your witness.” Man it’s uncomfortable when somebody corrects you, especially when you know they are right. The young woman and I were returning from going out to invite youth to a revival service which my brother was preaching. I no longer remember her name, but I do remember she was right. By nature I am a very reserved person lacking any self-confidence. Even when I know I am in the right, I just have trouble being zealous about it. I can’t help but think that if I could somehow shed this lack of zeal in my very personality, then greater victories are possible. God dealt graciously with Jehoash, or Joash. Note that he continued to walk in the sins of his fathers by mixing worship of Yahweh with the worship of idols. God allowed the country to be reduced by Syria to an army of a mere fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen. But as we have seen before when God reduces someone, it can be an opportunity for God to show His glory through them. Elisha was dying. The little good left in Joash is seen by his decision to visit Elisha on his deathbed. The words from his mouth were, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!” These are the exact same words that Elisha had elicited upon the departure of Elijah on the chariots of fire. After Elijah’s departure, Elisha picked up Elijah’s mantle and declared, “Where is the God of Elijah?” Elijah had at least 7 miracles recorded. Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit and performed at least 14 miracles. Was Joash actually hoping for a similar enablement from Yahweh? Elisha sees a spark of possibility in Joash. He first teaches him with the metaphor of an arrow of the Lord giving him victory over Syria. Then he tries to draw out of Joash that commitment to unite with Yahweh in zealous battle against the enemy. Elisha gives Joash a handful of arrows and commands him to strike the ground with them. Not understanding, Joash tentatively strikes the ground three times. His tentativeness is representative of his commitment to the Lord. Elisha is furious. Joash could have complete victory if he would just wholeheartedly unite with the Lord, but he won’t. Consequently, he will have to settle for only three victories over Syria. On a positive note, even three victories with only fifty horsemen, ten chariots and ten thousand footmen is impressive, but could have had complete victory! Lord, how often have I failed to obtain all that You have for me simply because I lacked the zeal to follow through on completing what you have commanded? That is a scary thought, and a thought so full of promise. You want so much to reveal Your glory in and through me, but I fall short because like Joash, I will not completely abandon myself to Your glory alone. O let me see Your glory so clearly that I cannot but help to abandon myself in You! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

October 30

2 Kings 12 Over the years I have frequently heard the complaint against churches for the amount of money spent upon buildings by churches. On the one hand they have some valid complaints. How is it that we can spend billions on buildings while people’s needs go unmet? How can we spend billions on buildings while one third of the world has never even heard the name of Jesus, much less been given an opportunity to repent and believe in Him. On the other hand there has to be a place for the church to congregate for worship and to perform various ministries to meet people’s needs. On the one hand the Catholic church spent great riches in the middle ages building gorgeous cathedrals while peasants wasted in poverty. On the other hand, the cathedral was the one place of manmade beauty which the peasants could enter and enjoy. There they could look up and consider the majesty of God. Should the building which houses the worship of the Almighty be a shoddy thing? How should it reflect His glory? Jehoash had a passion for the glory of God. Yahweh only had one temple. Jehoash’s grandmother had desecrated it. It needed repair. Is it not odd that Jehoash’s zeal for the upkeep of the temple seemed to exceed the zeal of the priests? But then as king and not priest, perhaps his focus was more upon the material realm as opposed to the priests being focused upon the spiritual realm. A friend of mine is an architect. He reports that the balance between building a building of beauty and a building that is cost effective for its purpose is a problem for architects who design church buildings. But there was only one temple in Jehoash’s day, so it seems to me that a little lavishness upon that building to bring glory to God was excusable. That one building served millions of people. Jehoash was doing what was right to demand that the temple of the Lord reflect the Lord’s glory. Even today there is only one temple that serves the people of God. Both Ephesians 2:21 and 1 Peter 2:4,5 tell us that today the temple of the Lord is not the physical buildings which we build, but it is the spiritual build of which we are the building blocks. Is the Lord most glorified in the physical building or the spiritual building? Obviously the answer is in the spiritual building. Let us have the zeal of Jehoash in building that spiritual temple! Yes there is a need for physical buildings of some sort, but let us never let the beauty of the physical temple eclipse the beauty of the spiritual temple. Let us never let the focus on the physical building drive the growth of the spiritual temple. Yes both should reflect the glory of God, but when all is said and done the physical will be destroyed. Only the building of the spiritual temple will result in true glory for our Lord. Let us pursue that! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

October 17

1 Kings 20 It was my job to block him, and I couldn’t do it. He was first string and I was second string. The second string quarterback was understandably getting perturbed with me. The quarterback was occasionally getting creamed by him. In my defense he was at least 40 lbs. bigger than I, and it was all muscle, not fat. We came in from football practice, and in the shower he scowled, “I beat your . . .” What could I say? He had! But that did not stop the anger. I’m a slow burner. I don’t explode unless I’ve been burning a long time. I burned all night long. I was going to have to do the same thing the next day. The more I thought, the angrier I became. He had some other comment the next day before practice. “Let not him who puts his pads on boast like him who takes it off.” I was boiling now. When it came time, coach was chewing on me again, “Chaffin you’ve got to get under him.” But the lower I got, the lower he went. The physics of that extra 40 lbs. was still working against me. I despaired. If I couldn’t get under him, I’d at least make him hurt. I have always had a hard head. I quit trying to get under him. He was low enough; I went straight for his helmet. Play after play it was my helmet on his helmet as hard as I could hit him. I don’t think I ever properly blocked him, but I did notice that he was no longer penetrating like before. He wasn’t quite on edge like he had been. In the locker room someone asked him a question. He couldn’t remember the answer. They started asking other simple questions. He couldn’t answer them. He had a slight concussion. “Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.” I felt only a tiny bit of shame. Ahab was a dirty rotten sinner, so was Ben Hadad. Ben Hadad’s country was bigger and stronger than Israel. Is God obligated to protect us when we are in rebellion? Was God under any obligation to protect Ahab? Absolutely not! Ben Hadad was not simply controlling Ahab, he was humiliating him. The Lord treated this as an opportunity to show His rebellious king that He is indeed the Lord and there is no other. He intervened on Israel’s behalf and Israel defeated Syria. It was also time for Syria to learn that Yahweh is the only wise God, and there is no other. But Ben Hadad was insolent, and rather than seeing that his loss was due to the intervention of the Almighty, he attributed it to, “Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they.” He was impugning the glory of God. God would not permit that. Did Ahab deserve to be protected? Absolutely not! But for defense of His own glory God destroyed Ben Hadad. Ben Hadad should not have boasted like he was taking his armor off. Is God obligated to protect me? Absolutely not! But he will defend his own glory. Let no one who has finished the course boast like one who has finished the course. Like Yogi Berra says, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” We might despair now, but it’s not over yet. When it is over, we will look back and see that God will have glorified Himself. No, I may not understand right now, but I will then. Therefore, I should choose a course of action which will please Him. Getting angry and beating people on the helmet won’t satisfy. But letting God be the judge will because it is all about His glory, not mine. If I make it about my glory, I will make it more than a tiny bit of shame. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

October 16

1 Kings 19 I think it was February 14, 1981. I was in my house in Portland, Oregon studying for a Greek exam. A low rumble like a giant truck going down the street began. As it increased, the bookshelves on the wall in front of me began to bounce. It finally dawned upon me, “This is not a truck.” I turned on the radio, and sure enough, I had experienced my first felt earthquake. It was November 5, 2011; OSU was playing Kansas State University. OSU defeated KSU in a dramatic finish in the closing minute of the game. Seconds later, as the fans left the stadium, the ground literally rumbled under a slight earthquake. The next day, November 6, 2011, Oklahoma trembled under a 5.6 magnitude earthquake. Later that night flash floods and hail storms swept through the state, and on Nov. 7 the largest November tornado on record swept through the state. I am not sure, but I would guess that during that time our fire department responded to a fire somewhere in our community. Earthquakes, tornados and fires, they are all dramatic events which are pegged in our memories and fill the headlines or our newspapers. They are full of power to change and alter lives. Elijah had been used by God to stop the rain from falling for 3 years, been fed by ravens, caused flour and oil to miraculously multiply, raised a boy from the dead, called fire down from heaven, killed 450 false prophets and caused the rain to fall again. He could do this because he knew and trusted the glory of God. But when Jezebel threatens to kill him, he ran like a scared rabbit. What’s up with that? After he ran south to Horeb, Sinai, the Lord asks him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Note that Elijah’s answer is focused upon himself not the glory of God, “I have been very zealous. . . I am the only one left. . . they seek to take my life.” So what does God do? He sends him out of his cave to stand on the mountain and experience wind, earthquake and fire. I have experienced tornadic weather. It is exhilarating to say the least! I’ve been in earthquakes. It is indeed a fearful happening. My house has burned down. I was powerless to stop it. They were all dramatic events, I did not meet God in the tornados or the earthquakes or in the fire, but in those events God did speak to me. It was not an audible voice. It was in the stillness of my spirit. It was an impression in my mind, heart and spirit. God simply said, “I love you, and I am with you.” The drama did not cease, but I knew that He was with me. It was not in the dramatic events that Elijah met God, it was in the still small voice. I tend to think of the glory of God as being the dramatic big events, winning the victory, shaking the earth, blowing buildings away, burning up things, but really His glory is found every bit as much, if not more, in His still small voice in the midst of life’s drama, heartaches, victories, defeats, amazements, he speaks softly. It is the relationship of the Infinite One stooping down to me as the finite one and whispering, “I love you and I am with you. Be still and know that I am God.” Yes, I am replaceable, but He will stoop down in my despair and lift me up. In the still small voice He asks me in my despair, “What are you doing here?” The dramatic deliverance wasn’t enough. I need to hear His still small voice. It calms my soul and restores me. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john On top of Mount Sinai. Somewhere in this rugged terrain Elijah hid in a cave, experienced earthquake, wind and fire, but the most life changing event was the still small voice of God.

October 15

1 Kings 18 In 2011 and 2012 we had less rainfall in Oklahoma than any consecutive two year period during the dust bowl. Ponds and lakes dried up and vanished. We were getting desperate. Many ranchers were forced to sell off much of their herds in order to protect themselves, the land and the future of the herds. Early in 2013 the Governor called upon the churches to begin praying for rain. We prayed in our church. Soon after the churches began praying, the drought broke, but we are still behind in rain. Some ponds and lakes still have not fully recovered. What was God trying to say to us about our spiritual state through the drought? Do you suppose that He was speaking to us about how we had twisted His glory? So it had been three years since there had been significant rain in Israel. Like a mad-man, Elijah had appeared before king Ahab and pronounced the drought and then he promptly disappeared. Ahab has had time to think about it. They had to kill much of the livestock because of the drought. The land was now desperate. They were scouring the land for hidden springs to find water for what little livestock they had left. Elijah reappears to challenge the cultural and political mindset as to who Yahweh really is. Elijah challenged 50 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah to a dual. Whoever could call down fire from heaven would reveal himself as Lord. Archaeologists have found rock carvings of Baal holding a club in his right hand and a lightning flash and spear in his left hand. Elijah is going to challenge Baal to his own game-brining lightning/fire from heaven. Additionally, he challenges the 400 prophets of Asherah. Asherah was the goddess who was the escort of Baal. She controlled fertility. It wasn’t just Jezebel that had wrong thoughts of Yahweh. Hershel Shanks wrote that in 1975 the archaeologist digging at Kuntillet ’Ajrud found pottery shards which might depict Yahweh as having the consort Asherah. The shards were from the late 9th century B.C. Elijah was from the middle 9th century B.C. Kuntillet would perhaps have been a location that Elijah went past on his way south when he ran from Jezebel (chapter 19). If that is indeed the proper interpretation of the shards, it presents an interesting insight into the conflicted cultural and religious mindset of Elijah’s day. Their concept was indeed warped and shaped by the other religions around them. That Yahweh should have a consort indeed warps His glory. It makes Him in our image, instead of we a marred image of Him. The religious milieu of the day needed to be opposed. Elijah was just the man that God chose to challenge that milieu! Elijah walks into the strength of the false prophets because he knew that His God was the Creator of the Universe and there was no other. It was no contest at all. He could boast and mock the false prophets because he knew His God. The false gods were no match for the glory of Yahweh. Their idols have ears, but they do not hear. Their idols have eyes, but they do not see. Their idols have hands, but they do not deliver. Our God has no physical ears, but He hears our cries. He has no physical eyes, but He sees our distresses. He has no physical hands, but He delivers us from sin. How do you think we have twisted His glory? Do we redefine holiness to excuse our sin? Do we redefine blessing to excuse wasting wealth on ourselves? Do we have a passion for seeing our world through God’s eyes, or through our own desires? How we view His glory makes all the difference in how we answer those questions. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john Alas, there was not enough time to see everything. We did not have time to get to Mt. Carmel, nor Jezreel, but we passed by Megido and stopped. Megido is between Mt. Carmel and Jezreel. This picture is looking east-southeast from Megiddo. Jezreel would have been located before the mountains in the distance. The mountains are the mountains of Gilboa. Not shown in the picture a little to the left (north) would be Mount Tabor. The Brook Kishon (where Elijah killed the prophets) runs from Mt. Tabor and empties into the sea near Mt. Carmel. Megido lies south of the Kishon. The Kishon often floods the valley under heavy rains. Can you picture Elijah in a footrace across the plain to Jezreel? Of course the sudden downpour of rain helped Elijah. He could keep running straight for Jezreel while Ahab’s chariot would have had to stay on the roads because of the rains. Elijah could swim straight across sudden streams, where Ahab would have to have traveled to a ford or a bridge.

October 12

1 Kings 15 I had a godly grandmother. As a young teen, I remember her asking me, “Jesus asked the Pharisees to explain the Psalm,‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” ' If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?”—Can you explain that?” My mom started to explain for me when I hesitated. Grandma interrupted, “I want to hear what John has to say.” Her question was not because she wanted an answer. Her question was because she wanted me to learn to think for myself—a very rabbinic way of teaching. Many years later I was spending the summer in Ocean City, New Jersey. She sent me a letter. Within the letter she let me know how she had been praying for me and was still praying for me. I still possess and cherish the letter. A year and a half later she went into the presence of the Lord on Christmas Eve-massive heart attack. The extended family began to suffer many different problems. Our prayer covering was gone. My godly grandmother had a quiet but powerful influence in my/our life. What if her influence had been away from the Lord rather than toward it? What if she had been a Pagan or a Wiccan? Let’s assume that I was emotionally close to here and that she wanted me to follow in her Pagan ways. What would it take to convince me that her Pagan ways were wrong and that I should reject them to follow the Lord? Furthermore, what if she was a public figure and so was I? What if my following the Lord meant a public disgracing of her Pagan ways? It would indeed have been a decision which would have required great moral fortitude and great conviction that following the Lord was the right thing to do. Asa’s grandfather, Rehoboam had 18 wives and 60 concubines. By them he had 88 children. I would expect that when one has that many wives, concubines and children that one really could not have a close relationship with all of them. 2 Chronicles 11:21 tells us that Rehoboam loved Maacah, Asa’s grandmother, more than all his wives. She was the Grandaughter of Absalom. She probably followed the religious influence of Absaom’s maternal grandpa, the Canaanite king of Geshur. Worship of Asherah probably ran deep in her family. She certainly whole heartedly embraced it. Asherah was a female goddess and a wife of the god El, sometimes referred to as Baal. Her worship was popular among women in Canaan. She was the goddess of love and fertility, not war. Her worship symbol, a pole, a tree trunk with the branches lopped off was clearly a phallic symbol. She clearly had great influence not only on Rehoboam but also her son and grandson. What would it take to pry him away from the worship of the Canaanite gods to follow the Lord? Furthermore, what would it take for him to not only follow the Lord, but to also remove his grandmother from office because of her rabid devotion of Asherah? I submit that while Asa was certainly not perfect, he had seen enough of the glory of the Lord that the beauty of His glory was all the motivation which he needed to remove her. That is how glorious our Lord is. When we are focused upon His glory, it breaks through even our most fundamental relationships and changes us. Unfortunately, Asa did not stay focused on the glory of the Lord. It resulted in some really poor decisions later in life. But it did sweep in right action in this decision. Help me Lord to remain focused upon you. Keep my feet planted on you as the Solid Rock. Keep me seeing Your glory at all times. I am week and need your help! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john

October 10

1 Kings 13

            Okay, I admit it. I want to be great. I remember in my college years, a friend who was a girl-not a girlfriend-told me, “John, I really think that God has something really significant for you in your life. He wants to do great things through you.” Man, talk about appealing to my pride. Obviously after 35 years, I still remember the statement and cherish it. Something deep inside me desires that I be recognized by others as having done something really significant in the world. I’m talking about encyclopedia-type significance. Obviously, it hasn’t happened. Every once in a while, I look in the mirror and recognize the desire to be great. I quickly and painfully shove it back down into the deep hole from whence it crawled out. Maybe, if I bury it deep enough, it will go away. It doesn’t go away. It slowly eats on me like a cancer. Sometimes I think it is the source of a depression that occasionally comes over me. What’s so wrong with wanting to be great anyway? Nothing-as long as it is sourced in and subordinate to the glory of the Lord. But that is the catch, one usually wants it for oneself, not for Jesus.

            Today’s passage is a case study of two men who both wanted to be great. In so doing they manipulated the glory of the Lord in order to attempt to achieve greatness for themselves. Rehoboam was the favored recipient of the throne of Solomon. He chose to have his coronation in Shechem. Why Shechem? Jerusalem was the capital of Israel. David had captured it and made it the capital. Solomon had expanded it by building a magnificent temple. He built palaces for himself and his wives. He increased the economy so well that silver became almost without value. How could Rehoboam improve on that? Certainly to top Solomon and David would be difficult. Shechem lay to the north of Jerusalem about 16 miles as the crow flies. The mountains of Ephraim run north south through Israel and one of the best east-west passages runs between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerazim. Shechem lay in the valley between the two.  So Shechem was economically strategically located for unity of the country from east to west. The differences between the northern tribes and the tribe of Judah had never really been settled under David and Solomon. Being farther north than Jerusalem Shechem was politically more advantageous at uniting the country north to south. But more than anything else, Shechem had a deep spiritual representation. It was the first place that Abraham built an altar to the Lord after arriving in Canaan (Gen 12:6,7). Jacob built an altar there after returning from Padan Aram (Gen 38:18-20). Jacob dug a deep well there (John 4:12) which Jesus visited. Upon conquering Canaan under Joshua, the nation gathered there to pronounce the blessings of the law on Mt. Gerazim and the cursings of the law on Mt. Ebal (Joshua 8:30-35). Joshua gave his farewell address here (Joshua 24). It is as though Rehoboam was trying to use the glory of the Lord to build his repertoire to advance his own glory.

            Jeroboam seizes upon the passing of power to make old rivalries fester. He leads the people in what would appear to us as a reasonable request. When one is bent on using the glory of God to build your own glory, reasonable requests often seem distorted. Intent on being seen as greater than his father, Rehoboam gives that infamous reply which led to the division of the country. So in seeking to use the glory of God to promote his own glory, Rehoboam falls flat on his face, and the nation experiences a civil war from which it never recovers.

            Jeroboam successfully becomes king of the northern tribes. The northern kingdom needs a recognized capital. Shechem is the logical place. Jeroboam also sees Penuel as significant. Penuel, next door to Mahanaim straight east on the other side of the Jordan River is where Jacob wrestled all night with God.  Mahanaim is the stronghold to which David fled when running from Absalom. David had received strong support from there when he needed it.  Surely the grandson of David, Rehoboam, might find some allies in that area.  Yes, securing Penuel in his quest for greatness was a wise move. Jeroboam now controlled all the area east of the Jordan and all the area north of Jerusalem on the west side of the Jordan. But Jeroboam faces the age-old problem that all men who form a coup face.  What if the people tire of him as their leader, and what could cause them to be tired of him?

            The temple in Jerusalem is the only temple of the Hebrews. It is a magnificent structure. What would happen if in the midst of celebrating the yearly festivals in Jerusalem, the people decided that it wasn’t so bad being part of the same country? They might want to be reunited. His greatness would be challenged. Something had to happen to help the people gel not only politically but also spiritually. He appealed to making worship easy, “It’s too hard to go up to Jerusalem.” He made two places in Israel for worship, one in the south and one in the north. No one ever had go that far again. Sounds a little like a drive-in church or internet church. The God worshipped in Jerusalem was a little difficult to grasp; there were no images of Him. An image of this god would make it easier for the people to understand him.  Also the people of other cultures who lived in their midst had their images. It was a good cultural fit. Yes, Jereboam made his greatness secure, but at what cost? He eclipsed the true glory of our Lord.

            I have to admit; I too want to be great. I’d like to have people point at me and say, “Now there is a really great pastor. Look at all the lives that have been changed because of his ministry! Look at all the people that flock to his church and buy his books.” But at what cost? I hope I can faithfully finish my life saying, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”  It is really all about Him.  It is about His glory.  Help me Lord! I want too often to eclipse You. It is only Your glory that ever matters! Indeed we serve a glorious King.  Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john