{"id":4717,"date":"2023-04-24T11:01:10","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T16:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=4717"},"modified":"2023-04-24T11:01:10","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T16:01:10","slug":"devotional-on-1-kings-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-1-kings-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on 1 Kings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-ATAjK71neW4\/XkW_snPhTPI\/AAAAAAABDyM\/WPJiNu8sGcQgTXYAP1Wps5ebq8sH4YMLgCKgBGAsYHg\/s1600\/100_4550.JPG\" width=\"1600\" height=\"901\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">2015 &#8211; Finn Road Campground &#8211; Essexville, MI &#8211; trail<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nTrading bronze for gold<br \/>\n1Kings 14: King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields.<br \/>\nSolomon\u2019s son Rehoboam sits on the throne of Judah, sovereign of what\u2019s left of his father\u2019s great kingdom. While it\u2019s true that rival Israel is worse off than Judah, both of these kingdoms are unraveling. Up in Jerusalem, idol worship is taking root and a mixture of Jehovah and idol worship is common. When Egyptian forces raid Jerusalem and carry off the gold shields that Solomon made, Rehoboam simply replaces them with bronze shields. They\u2019re not as beautiful as the gold ones, but they\u2019ll have to do. Rehoboam orders that these substitute shields are to only be used for special occasions and kept in storage the rest of the time. I think this substitution of bronze shields for gold ones reflects what\u2019s happening in the life of the people of Judah. Under David and Solomon they had the \u201cgold\u201d as they worshiped the God who had brought them to this land in the first place. Now, though, they settle for a cheap substitute. Those shields aren\u2019t the real deal but they look a lot like the gold ones. How often do we substitute bronze for gold in our own lives? We could have the real deal, but we settle for a mere replica instead. Many years in the future Jesus will tell us that God is looking for people who want to worship \u201cin truth.\u201d I\u2019ve already decided that I have no time or patience for just going through the motions. I want to know God, to live in him, and to experience him. I won\u2019t settle for \u201cbronze\u201d when \u201cgold\u201d is available.<br \/>\nTake Away: The Lord\u2019s best is simply \u201cthe best\u201d \u2013 nothing else even comes close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trading bronze for gold 1Kings 14: King Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields. Solomon\u2019s son Rehoboam sits on the throne of Judah, sovereign of what\u2019s left of his father\u2019s great kingdom. While it\u2019s true that rival Israel is worse off than Judah, both of these kingdoms are unraveling. Up in Jerusalem, idol worship is taking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1471,7],"tags":[113,897,1169],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4717"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4717"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16536,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4717\/revisions\/16536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}