King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Chapters: 1 CHRONICLES 24-25, PSALMS 131,138-139
Study: What God Knows
Hello My Friend,
I am a little despondent this morning, or I was until I read the chapters for today, sometimes it feels like we never get a break from affliction, we may get some peace, but it always seems to be one thing after another. When I was praying this morning, I even told God that I did not feel like talking to Him because it has been one issue after another since we got in our house and we have not even been here a year yet. I did not even care that I was being afflicted, I wanted Him to give my mom some relief and even went as far as asking Him to afflict it on me because I deserve it, but she did not. Then I read this passage and for some reason I saw it a lot differently than I usually do, [Psalms 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.]
With my job, I discovered that before you are even considered that they do an extensive background check on you due to the nature of what we would be around all the time. This brings me to understand that God has already searched our heart and our thoughts and He definitely tries them, but is not Him that needs to know what is in our hearts and minds because He already does. What He is doing when He tries us is two things, one; proving to ourselves what is really in our heart and mind. And two; He is proving to the devil that even though we do not understand things much higher than our human hearts and minds can comprehend, we are still faithful. David, penned it right when he said this short, but thought provoking song, [Psalms 131:1-3 A Song of degrees of David. LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. 2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. 3 Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.]
[neither do I exercise myself in great matters,] Great matters, those things that we try so hard to figure out, but just have to let them go and trust that God knows a little bit more than we do. Of course, there are things that God does want us to do, He does not want us to just sit here and expect something to happen as faith without works is dead. Now, David knew that his time on earth was nearing the end, he was not able to do much as he was becoming quite feeble, but what he did do is make sure that the nation of Israel would be in good shape when he left, including the temple that would be built under Solomon’s reign. As we continue in the reading of 1 Chronicles, David, organizes the priests in their order.
[1 Chronicles 24:1-5,19 Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 2 But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children: therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest’s office. 3 And David distributed them, both Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, according to their offices in their service. 4 And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar; and thus were they divided. Among the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen chief men of the house of their fathers, and eight among the sons of Ithamar according to the house of their fathers. 5 Thus were they divided by lot, one sort with another; for the governors of the sanctuary, and governors of the house of God, were of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar. 19 These were the orderings of them in their service to come into the house of the LORD, according to their manner, under Aaron their father, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him.]
[And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar] Chief men means they were the head of the household, there were eight positions for serving in the tabernacle, which would be the same as in the temple after it is built. When David saw that there were more heads of men of Eleazar’s descendants, he divided them into two and kept Ithamar’s as it were since there were eight of them, that way they could have rotating shifts. This particular account may be of little use to us now, but, when Ezra penned it, it was of great use to direct their church affairs after their return from captivity into their positions again. He is also quick to point out that it was not David who set this in order, it was God. We are all appointed things that God has set for us, it is how we choose to handle them that makes all the difference, [1 Thessalonians 5:8-10 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.]
As long as we understand that Jesus is with us whether we are here on earth or in heaven we have already won this battle. Look at it this way, saved or not, God knows every single thing about us, after all He made us, He is everywhere, and I guarantee you that the people in hell right now are definitely seeing God.
[Psalms 139:1-10 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. 7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.]
[Thou hast beset me behind and before,] There is not one thing that we have done in our past that God does not know about, even those things we forgot about when we were like four years old and just learning what our sin nature is all about, although we did not know that we had a sin nature. He even knows what is coming ahead of us, and all the other pains and shortcomings that we will go through. I tell you what, there are times that I do look up to God and just say, “Why?” the problem is that I really do not want to know the answer to that because deep down I do know why sometimes. And then all of a sudden something strange happens when you think of the why’s, God tells you that He does not even know what you are talking about because all of those sins were covered under the blood of His Son. Well, as long as we have received Him as our Saviour, [1 Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:]
How is that for a reminder? We are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb! Praise God! And while we may get angry, despondent, discouraged, or heartbroken, we cannot forget that He still loves us and thinks the world of us, and that is why we can still praise Him.
[Psalms 138:1-8 A Psalm of David. I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee. 2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. 3 In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. 4 All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, when they hear the words of thy mouth. 5 Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD. 6 Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off. 7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. 8 The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.]
[before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.] Not gods, meaning some other supernatural being, because there is only one Supreme and supernatural being, and that is God, but the leaders of the world, sometimes referred to as gods. While we may not always agree on His methods, and guess what, He does not expect us to, we are still better off on His side, then those who do worship these idols and gods of their nations. I remember when Barrack Obama was president, people worshiped him like some god, and he thought he was one too, and must have close ties with the Pharaohs of Moses’s day because they all thought they were as well. There is no man or woman on earth who can do for us what Jesus has done. And I tell you what, when you have no idea what is going on, the best way to overcome it is when after you have vented to God, that you praise Him.
[1 Peter 3:13-15 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? 14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:]
[yet hath he respect unto the lowly:] [Lowly; Having a low esteem of one’s own worth; humble; meek; free from pride.] If you were to read through the Scriptures that describe Jesus, you will discover that He is described as someone who is lowly, and comely actually, [Isaiah 53:2-5 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.]
Being lowly goes along with that meekness and fear, in fact, what better way to discover that is is when you feel as though you are completely worthless that is when Jesus shows up and shows you that you are worth much more than anything on this earth, [2 Corinthians 13:4-5 For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. 5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?]
Wow! What a powerful truth. Do you see why we do not have to ask God to search our heart? He already knows it, it is we who have to examine ourselves. When you stop to think about the fact that we do have things appointed for us, some very difficult and heartbreaking things that had we had known that they were going to happen, we would have never taken a chance to begin with. God does not want us to live that way, and that is why He keeps those things from us, but He does encourage us to stick close to Him so that when they do come, we can make the right decisions. Now, as David continues to appoint the Levites for their duties, he does not leave the musicians out, this would be Asaph and his family.
[1 Chronicles 25:1-2,4-6 Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of the workmen according to their service was: 2 Of the sons of Asaph; Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah, the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king. 4 Of Heman: the sons of Heman; Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamtiezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth: 5 All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. 6 All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the LORD, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God, according to the king’s order to Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman.]
[All these were under the hands of their father for song] And now we know why so many of the Psalms are written by or addressed to Asaph, his entire family learned to write, play, and or sing, for God. This reminds me of when I when younger and the instruments I learned to play, but no longer play, the viola, piano, clarinet, and even a saxophone. Mrs. Charlotte, the one who taught me about Jesus, taught me what little bit of the piano that I still remember, and is actually the one who gave me my first King James Bible, which I still have. There is something else to consider when we think about things being appointed for us, God has everything planned out already. He even knew when they would happen, and yet, His only thoughts of us are precious.
[Psalms 139:13-18 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.]
[How precious also are thy thoughts unto me,] Psalm 139 is my favorite Psalm and I really do need to memorize all of it because it really is something to keep in my mind when these things happen and I have no clue what I going on. There are a lot of people who despise what they call as fate, they do not like the idea that their lives were already planned out and they had no say in it. Well, they really have no idea what fate is because that is not how God works. Yes, there are things that are predestined for us, but fate is so much more than the things we have to face, it is what we do with the freewill that God gave us that fills in all the space in between. Remember, it is God who has already searched our heart, and regardless of what those freewill choices are, He works it all out got good as long as we love Him.
[Romans 8:27-30 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.]
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You, for loving me and not giving up on me, even when I get despondent and do not want to talk to You because I am hurting inside and have lost all understanding of how to handle anything, let alone the affliction I am facing. You let me vent, complain, cry, and even ask you “Why?” only to remind me right after I do that it not for me to know why, it is for me to know that You have a plan and are working out for good. You also are quick to remind me that I am covered under the blood of Your Son, and that is all I need to understand sometimes. Lord, Lead me and guide me, life me higher than the things that are too wonderful for me to understand. You truly have searched my heart, and thoughts and have tried them only to prove to me and the devil that I belong to You and nothing will ever change that. And I thank You for that. I love You and need You, and am nothing without You, and pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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