[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR MONDAY MAY 2

[Donnie Parrett]

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR MONDAY MAY 2

MEMORY SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK

Job 13:15
Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own
ways before him. 

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WORD OF WISDOM

Remember when you talk you only repeat what you already know, but if you
listen you may learn something.

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DAILY DEVOTION

Be Calm 


"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves."
(Matthew 10:16, NKJV)

	 Have you ever seen a sheep pacing in the fields with worry and
living uptight? They're always at ease, yet sheep are for the most part
defenseless. They can't run fast and don't have sharp teeth. They rely on
the shepherd to take care of them. The shepherd keeps the wild animals away,
shows them which way to go, and keeps them from danger. Sheep don't worry,
knowing that as long as the shepherd is there, everything will be fine.
We can take a lesson from sheep. Stay calm, for the Good Shepherd is
watching over you, guiding you, protecting you. Yes, there will be some
wolves in your path, some attacks, some things you don't understand. Don't
fall apart or start complaining. Stay in peace. You don't have to get all
worked up. The Good Shepherd will fight your battles. He'll lead you into
the green pastures and restore your soul. You may go through some valleys,
some difficult times, but you don't have to fear any evil. The Lord your God
is with you.

 	A Prayer for Today

"Father, thank You that You are my Good Shepherd, and You lead me to green
pastures and restful waters. Thank You that even though I walk among wolves,
You are protecting me, guiding me, and keeping me from danger. I declare
that I am resting in You. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

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DAILY BIBLE READING

2 Chronicles 10-12 New King James Version
The Revolt Against Rehoboam
10 And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make
him king. 2 So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (he was
in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), that
Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3 Then they sent for him and called him. And
Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 "Your father
made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your
father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you."

5 So he said to them, "Come back to me after three days." And the people
departed.

6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father
Solomon while he still lived, saying, "How do you advise me to answer these
people?"

7 And they spoke to him, saying, "If you are kind to these people, and
please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants
forever."

8 But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted
the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9 And he said
to them, "What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have
spoken to me, saying, 'Lighten the yoke which your father put on us'?"

10 Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, "Thus
you should speak to the people who have spoken to you, saying, 'Your father
made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us'-thus you shall say to
them: 'My little finger shall be thicker than my father's waist! 11 And now,
whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my
father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with [a]scourges!'
"

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the
king had directed, saying, "Come back to me the third day." 13 Then the king
answered them roughly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders, 14
and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying,
[b]"My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father
chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with [c]scourges!" 15 So
the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events was from God,
that the Lord might fulfill His word, which He had spoken by the hand of
Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

16 Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people
answered the king, saying:

"What share have we in David?
We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.
Every man to your tents, O Israel!
Now see to your own house, O David!"

So all Israel departed to their tents. 17 But Rehoboam reigned over the
children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah.

18 Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of revenue; but the
children of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King
Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has
been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Rehoboam's Reign in Judah
11 Now when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled from the house of Judah
and Benjamin one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors,
to fight against Israel, that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

2 But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 3 "Speak
to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah
and Benjamin, saying, 4 'Thus says the Lord: "You shall not go up or fight
against your brethren! Let every man return to his house, for this thing is
from Me." ' " Therefore they obeyed the words of the Lord, and turned back
from attacking Jeroboam.

Rehoboam Fortifies the Cities
5 So Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah. 6
And he built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, 7 Beth Zur, Sochoh, Adullam, 8 Gath,
Mareshah, Ziph, 9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, 10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron,
which are in Judah and Benjamin, fortified cities. 11 And he fortified the
strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of food, oil, and wine. 12
Also in every city he put shields and spears, and made them very strong,
having Judah and Benjamin on his side.

Priests and Levites Move to Judah
13 And from all their territories the priests and the Levites who were in
all Israel took their stand with him. 14 For the Levites left their
common-lands and their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for
Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to the Lord.
15 Then he appointed for himself priests for the [d]high places, for the
demons, and the calf idols which he had made. 16 And [e]after the Levites
left, those from all the tribes of Israel, such as set their heart to seek
the Lord God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of
their fathers. 17 So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made
Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years, because they walked in
the way of David and Solomon for three years.

The Family of Rehoboam
18 Then Rehoboam took for himself as wife Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth
the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliah the son of Jesse. 19
And she bore him children: Jeush, Shamariah, and Zaham. 20 After her he took
Maachah the [f]granddaughter of Absalom; and she bore him Abijah, Attai,
Ziza, and Shelomith. 21 Now Rehoboam loved Maachah the granddaughter of
Absalom more than all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen
wives and sixty concubines, and begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
22 And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maachah as chief, to be leader
among his brothers; for he intended to make him king. 23 He dealt wisely,
and [g]dispersed some of his sons throughout all the territories of Judah
and Benjamin, to every fortified city; and he gave them provisions in
abundance. He also sought many wives for them.

Egypt Attacks Judah
12 Now it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had
strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel
along with him. 2 And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that
Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had
transgressed against the Lord, 3 with twelve hundred chariots, sixty
thousand horsemen, and people without number who came with him out of
Egypt-the Lubim and the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians. 4 And he took the
fortified cities of Judah and came to Jerusalem.

5 Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah, who
were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them,
"Thus says the Lord: 'You have forsaken Me, and therefore I also have left
you in the hand of Shishak.' "

6 So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said,
"The Lord is righteous."

7 Now when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord
came to Shemaiah, saying, "They have humbled themselves; therefore I will
not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not
be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 8 Nevertheless they will
be his servants, that they may distinguish My service from the service of
the kingdoms of the nations."

9 So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the
treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house; he
took everything. He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had
made. 10 Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place, and
committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who guarded the
doorway of the king's house. 11 And whenever the king entered the house of
the Lord, the guard would go and bring them out; then they would take them
back into the guardroom. 12 When he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord
turned from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and things also went
well in Judah.

The End of Rehoboam's Reign
13 Thus King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now
Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king; and he reigned
seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all
the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother's name was Naamah,
an Ammonitess. 14 And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to
seek the Lord.

15 The acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of
Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? And there
were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. 16 So Rehoboam
[h]rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David. Then
Abijah[i] his son reigned in his place.

Footnotes
2 Chronicles 10:11 Scourges with points or barbs, lit. scorpions
2 Chronicles 10:14 So with many Heb. mss., LXX, Syr., Vg. (cf. v. 10; 1 Kin.
12:14); MT I
2 Chronicles 10:14 Lit. scorpions
2 Chronicles 11:15 Places for pagan worship
2 Chronicles 11:16 Lit. after them
2 Chronicles 11:20 Lit. daughter, but in the broader sense of granddaughter
2 Chronicles 11:23 distributed
2 Chronicles 12:16 Died and joined his ancestors
2 Chronicles 12:16 Abijam, 1 Kin. 14:31