S – He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the carved images that his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. 23 But he did not humble himself before the Lord like his father Manasseh humbled himself; instead, Amon increased his guilt.
2 Chronicles 33:22–23 CSB
O – Two kings – two different responses. Manasseh realized his sin, humbled himself before God and repented. Amon chose not to repent. Instead, he added to his sin.
A – Repentance leads to “more” for the individual. More freedom, relationships and freedom. Being rebellious leads to more in a negative way. That person carries more burden, pain and guilt. Pride will cause a person to carry more than they should. Humility and forgiveness will allow them to release the burden and walk free.
R – Heavenly Father, you are the only God. Help us to humble ourselves from all pride and ego that compels us to walk separate from you. We ask your forgiveness for our actions that do not honor you. We desire your presence, power and peace today.
S – This same Hezekiah blocked the upper outlet of the water from the Gihon Spring and channeled it smoothly downward and westward to the city of David. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did
2 Chronicles 32:30 CSB
O – Commentary:
He had wealth and honor; he built storage facilities, agricultural settlements, and villages; he rerouted the city’s water supply from the Gihon spring (in the Kidron Valley on the east) to the west side, and succeeded in these and many other undertakings. The tunnel of Hezekiah was dug through solid rock from the Gihon spring to the Pool of Siloam, a distance of 1,777 feet with workmen digging from each end and meeting in the middle
“2 Chronicles,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures
A – The Bible isn’t a storybook. It is where facts and history meet the present day. My wife, Kristin, walked through this tunnel when she visited Israel—one line in the Bible about an amazing premodern accomplishment. We can’t make the Bible about the past. We must continue to make it about us and our relationship with God today.
R – Heavenly Father, you are Holy and there is no rival to you. Give us the ability to read the Bible and apply it to our lives today. The stories and principles of the past are applicable for us in our relationship with you and others. We need your presence more than ever.
S – Hezekiah did this throughout all Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the Lord his God. 21 He was diligent in every deed that he began in the service of God’s temple, in the instruction and the commands, in order to seek his God, and he prospered
2 Ch 31:20–21 CSB
O – Hezekiah’s leadership carried God’s love back to all of Israel. The effects went from the masses to the levels of people down to individuals. God’s relationship with Israel was restored. He did this because he was true before God, diligent in his tasks and wholehearted in his approach. That is how he sought God and God blessed him.
A – As leaders, this is how we should approach God’s purpose for our lives. Start with ourselves and examine our own hearts and motives. Be faithful and diligent with the work given to us. We need to give ourselves completely to the work before us, seeking God in its entirety.
R – Heavenly Father, you are God and there is no equal to you. We desire to honor you for the purposes you established for us. Give us strength and courage to examine our hearts and motives. Give us the faith and endurance to diligently in our relationships and tasks today. We invite your Holy Spirit to lead us in our thoughts, words and actions.
S – The hearing ear and the seeing eye—the Lord made them both
Provebss 20:12 CSB
O – “Hearing” – shâma˓ ;to hear intelligently (often with impl. of attention, obedience, etc.; caus. to tell, etc.):— × attentively, call (gather) together
“Seeing” – râ˒âh; to see, lit. or fig. (in numerous applications, dir. and impl., tran., intr. and caus.):— advise self, appear, approve, behold, × certainly, consider, discern
Hearing intelligently and seeing with discernment is from the Lord.
A – We encounter multiple levels of interaction each day. We have the physical in actual people and events before us. We also have the spiritual level where God and the enemy do their work. In between is “the stuff” – motive, expectations, beliefs, feelings. We need God’s eyes and ears to discern all of these levels, hear his voice, and do his will.
R – Heavenly Father, we honor you above all God’s today. Give us your ears and eyes to see and hear what is going on at all levels. We want to interact with you and each in a way that honors you!
S – The fear of the Lord leads to life; one will sleep at night without danger.
Proverbs 19:22 CSB
O – Commentary:
fear the Lord (i.e., to recognize God’s character and respond by revering, trusting, worshiping, obeying, and serving Him). Rē’šîṯ also means the capstone or essence. The essence of true knowledge is fearing God. Apart from Him a person is ignorant of spiritual things.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary
A – Recognizing God and giving him appropriate reverence and faith leads to fulfillment physically and spiritually. It gives us peace because we know that whatever is coming against us will not stand against Him.
R – Heavenly Father, we worship and surrender to you. We reverence your character and holiness, while inviting intimacy with you so our relationship can go deeper. That depth reveals peace with passes our understanding and allows us proper rest.
S – Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.
Romans 6:4,5 CSB
O – We are united with Christ by identifying with who He is as our savior. To do that we have to believe that his physical actions enabled spiritual ramifications. His death allowed for him to be raised up physically. It allowed us to spiritually crucify our sin and be raised up forgiven and clean.
A – The only way to live victoriously over sin is through Jesus. Our hearts and lives must proclaim this truth in our thoughts, words and actions. We are only fooling ourselves if we say it but do not believe it by faith in Christ.
R – Heavenly Father, Jesus is the one true way to a relationship with you. We believe your truth and put our faith in you. We identify with Christ’s burial and resurrection as it is displayed in our own lives. We love you today!
S – For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:7–9 CSB
O – Commentary:
A person willing to die for a righteous man or for a good man obviously is offering himself as a substitute so that the righteous or good man can continue to live. This is the highest expression of human love and devotion. However, God’s love contrasts with human love in both nature and degree, because God demonstrates (“keeps on showing”) His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (hyper, “in our place”). Though a few people might possibly be willing to die to save the lives of good people, though that is rare, Christ went well beyond that. He died in the place of the powerless (“feeble,” v. 6), the ungodly (v. 6; 4:5), sinners (5:8), and even His enemies! (v. 10).
“Romans,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures
A – The message of the gospel is humbling. In our sins, Christ saved us by going to the cross. We are grateful for a savior who sees a value in us that goes beyond comprehension.
R – Heavenly Father, you are God. Your love for us is hard to comprehend. Thank you for Jesus dying on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. Thank you for the bloodshed on our behalf. Please help us live today, honoring all you have done for us.
S – And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us
Romans 5:3–5 CSB
O – Commentary:
This is spiritual glorying in afflictions because of having come to know (from oida, “to know by intuition or perception”) that the end product of this chain reaction (that begins with distress) is hope. Suffering brings about perseverance (hypomonēn, “steadfastness,” the ability to remain under difficulties without giving in; cf. Rom. 15:5–6; James 1:3–4). Only a believer who has faced distress can develop steadfastness. That in turn develops character (dokimēn [“proof”] has here the idea of “proven character”), which in turn results in hope. As believers suffer, they develop steadfastness; that quality deepens their character; and a deepened, tested character results in hope (i.e., confidence) that God will see them through.
5:5. A believer’s hope, since it is centered in God and His promises, does not disappoint him. “Disappoint” means “put to shame because of disappointment” in unfulfilled promises
“Romans,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures
A – Distress brings the ability to remain, developing a proven character with confidence that God will fulfill his promises. Living in a relationship with God, we see this cycle routinely. The growth that comes from this is exponential – each level builds on the foundational levels beneath it. It is hard to embrace but necessary to mature in our relationship with God.
R – Heavenly Father, thank you for our relationship with you. We know there are challenges and you are with us at all times. Help us to mature in our perseverance and character so we can walk confidently in hope. We love and trust you.
S – But I have trusted in your faithful love; my heart will rejoice in your deliverance
Psalms 13:5 CSB
O – Commentary:
David expressed his trust in the Lord’s unfailing love (ḥeseḏ), the loyal love the Lord has for those who trust in Him. The enemies of David were challenging the faithfulness of God’s love to one of his covenant believers.
“Psalms,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures
A – We face the same question today. What is our expression when facing challenges? Is it to trust in God’s unfailing love or do we dismiss God for not meeting our expectations? David’s enemies knew that if they could disrupt David’s relationship with God, he would be vulnerable. We are as well if we don’t continue solidifying our relationship with God daily.
R – Heavenly Father, we love you today. The enemy wants to bring distance between us. We fight for intimacy with you. We desire a relationship with you in which we know you fully as you know us. Let that closeness give us your presence, peace and power.
S – The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
Romans 3:22–24 CSB
O – Commentary:
Any prior privilege the Jews had is gone in this Age when God is offering a righteous standing before Him to all sinful people on the basis of faith in Christ alone. Since all are “under sin” (3:9), salvation is available “to all” on an equal basis.
3:23. Paul explained that “no difference” existed among human beings because all have sinned. The Greek is literally, “all sinned” (pantes hēmarton). The same two Greek words are used in 5:12 (cf. comments on that verse). Since the entire human race was plunged into sin with Adam, all (whether Jews or Gentiles) are sinners. It is impossible to say there is a “difference,” that the Jews’ privileges (2:12–21; 3:1) exclude them from God’s condemnation.
Not only did all sin, but also all fall short. This single Greek verb is in the present tense, stressing continuing action. It can be translated “keep on falling short.” The simple fact is that as a sinner not a single human being by his own efforts is able to measure up to the glory of God. God’s glory is His splendor, the outward manifestation of His attributes. God desires that humans share that splendor, that they become like Him, that is, Christlike (cf. “glory” in 5:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; Col. 1:27; 2 Thes. 2:14). Yet their sin keeps them from sharing it.
3:24. In view of man’s sin God has stepped in with His provided righteousness, because all who believe are justified (the pres. tense may be trans. “keep on being declared righteous,” i.e., each person as he believes is justified). “Justify” (dikaioō) is a legal term, meaning “declare righteous” (not “make righteous”; cf. Deut. 25:1).
“Romans,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures
A – We are all sinners and continue falling short each day. God loves each of us equally. Each of us must choose to believe Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Only then, is there a path leading us out of unrighteousness and separation from God.
R – Heavenly Father, we chose You as our God. We accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. In doing so, we ask that you forgive our sins and unrighteousness today. We desire a relationship with you that leads us to live according to your Word and Truth.
Just Add Water . Chris Bonham 