READING:
One-year plan: 1 Chronicles 13:1-16:6, John 18:28-19:24
Two-year plan: Deuteronomy 16:18-18:22, Luke 2:1-20
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It’s another of the contrasts in the Bible that speaks volumes in just a few phrases. In today’s Old Testament reading, David and his troops defeated the Philistines at Baal-perazim. So serious was the routing that the Philistines apparently determined the gods they carried with them into battle were hardly helpful—so they abandoned them on the battlefield. David then ordered that the idols be burned.
I can just see the picture: man-made idols once assumed to be powerful now lying on the place of battle. Useless. Powerless. Helpless. And, ultimately burned. There’s hardly much deity in that description.
But . . . and here’s the contrast: when the Philistines struck again, David sought help and guidance from his God, “and God answered him” (1 Chron 14:14). The idols had lain in the dust, but the God of David ruled over the dust. The idols were impersonal and unspeaking, but David’s God granted him direction for the conflict. The Philistines gods were no match for the true God. It’s still the case, of course, that there is only one God—and He has graciously allowed us to be His children.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Have you praised the Lord yet today?
PRAYER: “God, You are almighty. Amen.”
TOMORROW’S READINGS:
One-year plan: 1 Chronicles 16:7-18:17, John 19:25-20:18
Two-year plan: Deuteronomy 19-20, Luke 2:21-35