{"id":35756,"date":"2025-05-06T22:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T05:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=35756"},"modified":"2025-04-29T15:54:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T22:54:04","slug":"2-kings-17_34-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2-kings-17_34-41\/","title":{"rendered":"God Is Our Deliverer and Strength"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Kings\u00a0 17:34-41 \u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Kings 17:34-41.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

2 Kings 17:34-41 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n34\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worship the\u00a0LORD\u00a0nor adhere to the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel.
\n35\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the\u00a0LORD\u00a0made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them.
\n36\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But the\u00a0LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices.
\n37\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You must always be careful to keep the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other gods.
\n38\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods.
\n39\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Rather, worship the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”
\n40\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices.
\n41\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Even while these people were worshiping the\u00a0LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a034-41:\u00a0 We see some of the main lessons of\u00a02\u00a0Kings\u00a0reiterated here in these verses:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0We were made to worship the Lord alone (v36).<\/strong>\u00a0 Three times in this short passage it says “Do not worship other gods” (v35, 37, 38). Despite being admonished repeatedly to worship the Lord alone, the Israelites stubbornly persisted in their idol-worshiping ways, putting other things before God (v34, 40, 41a).\u00a0 We too can be stubborn in our idol-worshiping ways.<\/p>\n

How do you know if you’re worshiping something other than the Lord?\u00a0\u00a0Whatever we put first in our lives is what we worship.<\/strong>\u00a0 What you worship is often reflected in three things: your wallet, your time and your thoughts.\u00a0 What we spend the most money, time and thought on is an indicator of what we truly worship.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0Only in the Lord do we find real hope and deliverance (v39).\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Verse 39 says,\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cRather, worship the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.\u201d \u00a0Over and over the Psalms describe God as our deliverer.\u00a0 For example:
\n
\nPsalm 3:8 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0From the\u00a0LORD\u00a0comes deliverance.\u00a0May your blessing be on your people.\u00a0Selah<\/em><\/p>\n

Psalm 18:2 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;\u00a0my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.<\/p>\n

Psalm 70:5 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Yet I am poor and needy;\u00a0come quickly to me, O God.\u00a0You are my help and my deliverer;\u00a0O\u00a0LORD, do not delay.<\/p>\n

Psalm 144:2 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He is my loving God and my fortress,\u00a0my stronghold and my deliverer,\u00a0my shield, in whom I take refuge,\u00a0who subdues peoples under me.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going through a stressful or scary time right now, take refuge in the Lord.\u00a0 Hide in His promises.\u00a0 Spend time with Him and call upon His name.\u00a0 God is our deliverer and strength.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 The children and grandchildren of the Israelites would follow in the idol-worshiping tendencies of their parents and grandparents (v41b).\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0if we want our children and grandchildren to be living in the fullness of God’s blessing, it begins with us modeling for them what it means to put God first in our lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, I call on Your name today and I take refuge in You.\u00a0 You are my deliverer and strength.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Kings 17:34-41.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

2 Kings 17:34-41 (NIV)
\n34\u00a0\u00a0To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worship the\u00a0LORD\u00a0nor adhere to the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel.
\n35\u00a0\u00a0When the\u00a0LORD\u00a0made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a034-41:\u00a0 We see some of the main lessons of\u00a02\u00a0Kings\u00a0reiterated here in these verses:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0We were made to worship the Lord alone (v36).\u00a0 Three times in this short passage it says “Do not worship other gods” (v35, 37, 38).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35758,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35756"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35759,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35756\/revisions\/35759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}