[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR FRIDAY APRIL 29

[Donnie Parrett]

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR FRIDAY APRIL 29

WORD OF WISDOM

We all know mirrors don't lie... I'm just grateful that they don't laugh!

___

DAILY DEVOTION

Doing Things God's Way


For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore
it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were
on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that
offer gifts according to the law: Who serve unto the example and shadow of
heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make
the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to
the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
Hebrews 8:3-5

Both the Bible and history are filled with examples of people doing things
their own way rather than the way God instructed. Despite the fact that it
never works, people persist in substituting their own ideas and opinions for
God's revealed truth. Cain wanted to bring his produce for an offering.
Uzzah touched the Ark of the Covenant with the best of intentions-to keep it
from falling. Saul offered a sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel the
priest. But choosing to "please God" by doing things our way when it runs
contrary to His instructions is never pleasing to Him. Rather, God is
pleased when we submit our will to Him and follow the instructions that He
has given us. 
When we place our opinion above what God has said, we are commiting the sin
of idolatry. We would never set up statues and pray to them, but we have
replaced God with our own ideas as the source of authority just the same.
This is the very first commandment for a reason: "Thou shalt have no other
gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). A person who is going his own way and not
following God's pattern is worshiping himself, even when that person is
doing it under the pretense of worshiping God. God has both the right and
the authority to instruct us in our worship of Him as well as in every other
area of our lives. Instead of trying to substitute our way for God's way, we
should submit to His good plan. "Add thou not unto his words, lest he
reprove thee, and thou be found a liar" (Proverbs 30:6).
God always knows better than we do, so His ways are always best.

___

DAILY BIBLE READING

2 Chronicles 1-3 New King James Version
Solomon Requests Wisdom

1 Now Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord
his God was with him and exalted him exceedingly.

2 And Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of
hundreds, to the judges, and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the
fathers’
houses.3 Then Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to 
[a]
the high place that was at Gibeon; for the tabernacle of meeting with God
was there, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness.
4 But
David had brought up the ark of God from Kirjath Jearim to the place David
had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem.  5 Now
the
bronze altar that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, 
[b]
he put before the tabernacle of the Lord; Solomon and the assembly sought
Him there.6 And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord,
which
was at the tabernacle of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on
it.

7 On that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask! What shall I
give you?”

8 And Solomon said to God: “You have shown great mercy to David my father,
and have made me king in his place. 9 Now, O Lord God, let Your promise to
David
my father be established, for You have made me king over a people like the
dust of the earth in multitude. 10 Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I
may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great
people of Yours?”

11 Then God said to Solomon: “Because this was in your heart, and you have
not asked riches or wealth or honor or the life of your enemies, nor have
you
asked long life—but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you
may judge My people over whom I have made you king—  12 wisdom and knowledge
are granted to you; and I will give you riches and wealth and honor, such as
none of the kings have had who were before you, nor shall any after you have
the like.”

Solomon’s Military and Economic Power

13 So Solomon came to Jerusalem from 
[c]
the high place that was at Gibeon, from before the tabernacle of meeting,
and reigned over Israel.  14 And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; he
had
one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he
stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.  15 Also the
king
made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as
abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland.  16 And Solomon had
horses
imported from Egypt and Keveh; the king’s merchants bought them in Keveh at
the current price. 17 They also acquired and imported from Egypt a chariot
for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for one hundred and fifty;
thus, 
[d]
through their agents, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites
and the kings of Syria.

Solomon Prepares to Build the Temple

2 Then Solomon determined to build a temple for the name of the Lord, and a
royal house for himself.  2 Solomon selected seventy thousand men to bear
burdens,
eighty thousand to quarry stone in the mountains, and three thousand six
hundred to oversee them.

3 Then Solomon sent to 
[e]
Hiram king of Tyre, saying:

As you have dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build himself
a house to dwell in, so deal with me.4 Behold, I am building a temple for
the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to Him, to burn before Him 
[f]
sweet incense, for the continual showbread, for the burnt offerings morning
and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the New Moons, and on the 
[g]
set feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.

5 And the temple which I build will be great, for our God is greater than
all gods. 6 But who is able to build Him a temple, since heaven and the
heaven
of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I then, that I should build Him a
temple, except to burn sacrifice before Him?

7 Therefore send me at once a man skillful to work in gold and silver, in
bronze and iron, in purple and crimson and blue, who has skill to engrave
with
the skillful men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my
father provided. 8 Also send me cedar and cypress and algum logs from
Lebanon, for
I know that your servants have skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and indeed my
servants will be with your servants, 9 to prepare timber for me in
abundance,
for the 
[h]
temple which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.

10 And indeed I will give to your servants, the woodsmen who cut timber,
twenty thousand kors of ground wheat, twenty thousand kors of barley, twenty
thousand
baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.

11 Then Hiram king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon:

Because the Lord loves His people, He has made you king over them.

12 
[i]
Hiram also said:

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, for He has
given King David a wise son, endowed with prudence and understanding, who
will
build a temple for the Lord and a royal house for himself!

13 And now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, 
[j]
Huram my 
[k]
master craftsman14 (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his
father was a man of Tyre), skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and
iron,
stone and wood, purple and blue, fine linen and crimson, and to make any
engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him, with your
skillful
men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.

15 Now therefore, the wheat, the barley, the oil, and the wine which my lord
has spoken of, let him send to his servants.  16 And we will cut wood from
Lebanon, as much as you need; we will bring it to you in rafts by sea to 
[l]
Joppa, and you will carry it up to Jerusalem.

17 Then Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel,
after the census in which David his father had numbered them; and there were
found
to be one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred.  18 And he made
seventy thousand of them bearers of burdens, eighty thousand stonecutters in
the
mountain, and three thousand six hundred overseers to make the people work.

Solomon Builds the Temple

3 Now Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount
Moriah, where 
[m]
the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had
prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan
[n]
 the Jebusite. 2 And he began to build on the second day of the second month
in the fourth year of his reign.

3 This is the foundation which Solomon laid for building the house of God:
The length was sixty cubits (by cubits according to the former measure) and
the width twenty cubits.  4 And the vestibule that was in front of 
[o]
the sanctuary was twenty cubits long across the width of the house, and the
height was 
[p]
one hundred and twenty. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.  5 The larger

[q]
room he paneled with cypress which he overlaid with fine gold, and he carved
palm trees and chainwork on it.  6 And he decorated the house with precious
stones for beauty, and the gold was gold from Parvaim. 7 He also overlaid
the house—the beams and doorposts, its walls and doors—with gold; and he
carved
cherubim on the walls.

8 And he made the Most Holy Place. Its length was according to the width of
the house, twenty cubits, and its width twenty cubits. He overlaid it with
six hundred talents of fine gold.  9 The weight of the nails was fifty
shekels of gold; and he overlaid the upper area with gold. 10 In the Most
Holy Place
he made two cherubim, fashioned by carving, and overlaid them with gold.
11 The wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits in overall length: one wing
of
the one cherub was five cubits, touching the wall of the room, and the other
wing was five cubits, touching the wing of the other cherub;  12 one wing
of the other cherub was five cubits, touching the wall of the room, and the
other wing also was five cubits, touching the wing of the other cherub.
13 The
wings of these cherubim spanned twenty cubits overall. They stood on their
feet, and they faced inward.  14 And he made the veil of blue, purple,
crimson,
and fine linen, and wove cherubim into it.

15 Also he made in front of the 
[r]
temple two pillars 
[s]
thirty-five cubits 
[t]
high, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.
16 He made wreaths of chainwork, as in the inner sanctuary, and put them on
top of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates, and put them on
the wreaths of chainwork. 17 Then he set up the pillars before the temple,
one
on the right hand and the other on the left; he called the name of the one
on the right hand 
[u]
Jachin, and the name of the one on the left 
[v]
Boaz.

Footnotes
list of 22 items
a. 
2 Chronicles 1:3
Place for worship 
b. 
2 Chronicles 1:5
Some authorities it was there 
c. 
2 Chronicles 1:13
Place for worship 
d. 
2 Chronicles 1:17
Lit. by their hands 
e. 
2 Chronicles 2:3
Heb. Huram;  cf. 
1 Kin. 5:1
f. 
2 Chronicles 2:4
Lit. incense of spices 
g. 
2 Chronicles 2:4
appointed 
h. 
2 Chronicles 2:9
Lit. house 
i. 
2 Chronicles 2:12
Heb. Huram;  cf. 
1 Kin. 5:1
j. 
2 Chronicles 2:13
Hiram,  
1 Kin. 7:13
k. 
2 Chronicles 2:13
Lit. father,  
1 Kin. 7:13,
14
l. 
2 Chronicles 2:16
Heb. Japho 
m. 
2 Chronicles 3:1
Lit. He,  following MT, Vg.; LXX the Lord ;  Tg. the  Angel of the Lord 
n. 
2 Chronicles 3:1
Araunah,  
2 Sam. 24:16ff
o. 
2 Chronicles 3:4
The holy place, the main room of the temple, 
1 Kin. 6:3
p. 
2 Chronicles 3:4
So with MT, LXX, Vg.; Arab., some LXX mss., Syr. twenty 
q. 
2 Chronicles 3:5
Lit. house 
r. 
2 Chronicles 3:15
Lit. house 
s. 
2 Chronicles 3:15
eighteen,  
1 Kin. 7:15
; 
2 Kin. 25:17
; 
Jer. 52:21
t. 
2 Chronicles 3:15
Lit. long 
u. 
2 Chronicles 3:17
Lit. He Shall Establish 
v. 
2 Chronicles 3:17
Lit. In It Is Strength