Hello everybody, and welcome in to episode 90 of the Bible 2021 podcast. We are reading 1 Kings 8 today and our focus is on when you find yourself distant from God, how to repent and receive blessing from Him again. We are a daily 10 minute podcast, where we will dig in to the truth of the Word of God by reading one Bible chapter a day and discussing it. Welcome to new listeners in . Thanks for listening! Our goal is to encourage DAILY Bible reading, so you can jump in at any time and join with us. We want to invite as many people as possible to join us in daily Bible reading, so help spread the word and share the podcast Don’t forget about our web-page, Bible2021.com – contact page, show notes, transcript and more– Click here for our Bible 2021 reading plan
Today’s chapter is long – in fact, it is the 9th longest chapter in the Bible, so lots of God’s Word today, and just a little bit of commentary. Today’s episode may be a bit longer than ten minutes, but the commentary will be the shortest this year. The main thing we will focus on is the prayer of Solomon, specifically, verses 35-36:
35 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, 36 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.
We see two big things here. Our sin very often brings about the withdrawal of God’s blessing and protection from us. I was struck this morning listening to the consequences of turning away from God that Moses spoke about in Deuteronomy 28 – those consequences are terrible and frightening, and later in Deuteronomy, we learn that most of them seem to involve God pulling away from His people – when He withdraws, bad things happen to us. Here’s Moses counseling the Israelites on what to do when they have turned away from God:
30 “When all these things happen to you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you come to your senses while you are in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and all your soul by doing everything I am commanding you today, 3 then he will restore your fortunes, have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. Deuteronomy 30.
The key point is this: When we find that our sin has separated us from God – we must repent and turn back to Him, and He will graciously receive us. As Hosea 6:1 says, “Come, let us return to the Lord!”
End of the Show: Bible memory verse for March: Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore, [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.”
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