READING FOR JULY 2, 2025: 2 CHRONICLES 1, COLOSSIANS 3, PSALM 63 2 CHRONICLES 1 Remember as we move back and forth between 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, we are often covering the same events. In 2 Chronicles, though, we are reviewing these events from the perspective of Ezra and the exiles returning from Babylon hundreds of years after the fact. Ezra is trying to show the people the meaning of their task of rebuilding the Temple and reinstating proper worship by looking at what God’s original plan was with God’s people at the outset of the original temple. In this chapter, we see many similarities to what we studied in 1 Kings 3, just two days ago.
In this account, Solomon speaks to the assembly of the national leaders and then they all went to Gibeon, where the tabernacle that Moses had constructed was still located. Although David had brought the ark to Jerusalem, Gibeon was the central location for sacrificial offerings made on the bronze altar Bezalel forged around 500 years beforehand. Solomon had 1,000 burnt offerings made on the altar that day. No doubt he was exhausted. That evening, God appeared to Solomon in a dream to ask what Solomon wanted to receive from Him.
As we remember from 1 Kings 3, Solomon pleased God by his request for wisdom. God then granted this to Solomon and, as a bonus, gave him riches, wealth, and honor. We have already discussed how Solomon’s marriage to Pharoah's daughter likely sowed a problematic seed for Solomon later in the life. This chapter gives a peek and another such dangerous seed. We see Solomon both acquiring many horses for himself and importing horses wholesale from Egypt to sell retail to the Hittites and Aramites. God gave Israel this warning for its kings hundreds of years before: “He is not to acquire many horses for himself, nor shall he make the people return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’” (Deut. 17:16). Let’s live our lives today in total obedience to God word so as to not lessen our effectiveness for God tomorrow.
COLOSSIANS 3 This chapter eventually focuses on practical living among family members and work colleagues in the here and now. You may have heard the phrase, “She is so heavenly minded that she is no earthly good.” Paul contends just the opposite. Unless we intentionally set our minds upon heavenly truths, we will be an earthly disaster. Living life as God intended on the earth God created requires constant focus on Jesus, plus a vigilant rejection of the sinful values that currently dominate our world. Oh, and this lifestyle will also fit us well when Christ is fully revealed, and we are revealed with Him in heaven.
Paul starts by listing some sins, mostly of the body, that we should never consider as even a possibility for us anymore: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed. Jesus
READING GUIDE FOR JULY 2, 2025 CONTINUED: COLOSSIANS 3, PSALM 63
saved us from all that so we can live a better, happier life—not to mention that this sinful lifestyle rightfully invites God’s wrath. Paul then lists sins that might seem more common but are equally deadly: anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene speech, and dishonesty. Surely, we don’t need these dead weights in our lives anymore. Our new primary identity in life must be Jesus Christ. This far supersedes any other characteristic of our personhood such as race, class, occupation, age, education, political party or nationality. Resist those cultural pressures, even if connected with the church, that separate us as believers based upon those identifiers.
Christianity, unlike some religions, is much more than just avoiding sins. It should be primarily a relationship with a loving God, who empowers us with His Spirit to develop positive, John Wesley would say holy, characteristics, such as compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness. These may strike some as a bit weak, but to practice them calls for great internal strength to go against the cultural norm of self-centeredness. This strength can only be developed through interacting with the Bible and the church body through the Spirit.
That finally brings us to verse 18 and the practical guidelines for family and work. These guidelines are much the same as found in Ephesians 5-6 and in 1 Peter 3. To those of us who find them amusingly out of date, we might do well to consider Peter’s thoughts on the authority of scripture: “And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture becomes a matter of someone’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Pet. 1:19-21). But does this include Paul’s letters? “Our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which there are some things that are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Pet. 3:15-16).
PSALM 63 David begins by claiming the God who created and rules the universe is also his God, with whom he has an intimate connection. Some of us have walked in the Arizona or California desert and know the feeling of intense thirst. That is a picture of David’s thirst for his God. Due to his experience of the magnificent reality of God, David knows how worthy He is of our total praise. Experiencing this reality is more satisfying than any other pleasure. In fact, thoughts of God come to David when lying awake at night. These naturally evoke additional meditations upon God. Yes, David is endangered by enemies, but his joy in his God gives him confidence of God’s ultimate protection. Is our relationship with God this reassuring? In an episode of “Peanuts,” Linus says to Lucy, “Sound theology has a way of doing that!”
