READING FOR OCTOBER 30, 2025: 2 CHRONICLES 18, HEBREWS 11, PSALM 115:1-8 2 CHRONICLES 18 This chapter is a close retelling of 1 Kings 22, which was studied yesterday. Perhaps the most significant difference here is the additional fact we learn in vs.1: “Now Jeho- shaphat had great riches and honor; and he allied himself by marriage to Ahab.” Ezra may have consider- ed this detail vital because he was so keen for the returning exiles not to marry unbelieving spouses: Shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there would be no remnant nor any who would escape? (Ezra 9:14)
A duplication from 1 Kings 22, which was not commented upon yesterday, is the first part of Micaiah’s prophetic word to the two kings: ““I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These people have no master. Each of them is to return to his house in peace’”(vs. 16). Jesus quoted from this prophecy during his teaching and healing tour: “Seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. There- fore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest’” (Matt. 9: 36-38).
Notice the “lack of a shepherd” in Micaiah’s prophecy suggests the people did not have ade- quate leadership to go into battle. Thus, they should go home. The Jesus’s “lack of a shep- herd” comment speaks to all the people who don’t know Him as Lord and Savior. Thus, work- ers should go out to tell them about Jesus. Who will answer this call of Jesus in Yorktown?
Another part of the story that was duplicated from 1 Kings but was not commented upon yesterday was Ahab’s attempt to disguise himself. King Ahab seemed aware that Aram’s main focus would be on killing him—not other soldiers or even King Jehoshaphat. So, he convinced Jehoshaphat to wear his clothing, thinking that would draw the attackers to him. It did at first. “But Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him, and God diverted them from him” (vs 31). Even though it was a mistake for Jehoshaphat to go into battle alongside Ahab, God still protected him. He apparently judged that Ahab was guilty of the greater sin. The New Testament also suggests that God makes these kinds of nuanced judgments about degrees of sin: “Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no authority over Me at all, if it had not been given to you from above; for this reason the one who handed Me over to you has the greater sin’” (John 19-11).
HEBREWS 11
This chapter goes through the history of the Bible and lifts-up several of the patriarchs who showed faith by their actions: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Rahab.
READINGS FOR OCTOBER 30, 2025 (CONTINUED): HEBREWS 11, PSALM 115:1-8
The progression of the author’s thought about faith is (all from NIV):
Verse 1 – Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Verse 6 – And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Verse 13 – All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
Verse 39-40 – These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
It is only through faith that we can believe in God. It is only through belief in God that we can have hope. Through faith and hope we can hold on to the promises of Jesus Christ. We can be assured of our salvation. We can hold on to the faith that God has something better for us.
In each case of the Old Testament examples, each person showed their faith by their actions. They acted in faith because they believed and hoped in the promises of God. Their actions were fruit of their faith.
Our faith is shown by our actions. We live out the hope we have in the promises of God, by living in assurance of those promises. Our faith in God shines to all the world by what we do.
PSALM 115:1-8 Psalm 115 is a hymn of praise. It offers praise to God for God’s love and faithfulness toward God’s people. The psalm is split into two parts. The first eight verses are a call to praise. The last 10 verses are a call and response. We are to praise God for it is God who is worthy. We don’t deserve the glory and honor. We have done nothing that warrants praise. It is God who is all-loving and God’s faithfulness to us that is worthy of praise.
The enemies of those who worship God taunt when things go wrong for the faithful. They ask where is God? Where is God amidst the tragedy? The psalmist reminds us that our God sits enthroned in Heaven. God is with us always. God is with us in the hardships. Where our God is alive and well, the God that our detractor’s worship is nothing but an idol. It is made with human hands. It is voiceless, sightless, without life.
Our society is full of idols. It may be beliefs (like secular humanism or atheism); it may be one of the false religions; it may be the worship of science in the name of enlightenment. People will belittle our faith in God, the Creator. They will question our faith. For me, I find comfort and strength in our Creator. I find the answer to the creation in the work of God: I find awe: “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place” (Psalm 8:3, NIV).
