Good morning, today I read Philippians 1-4, Acts 17, and Jeremiah 39-41.
In Jeremiah I read about how the Babylonians captured Jerusalem. I read how Jeremiah was given a choice to go with the Babylonians or stay in Judah with the appointed governor Gedaliah. Jeremiah chose to stay with the governor who told the people to work their land and serve the Babylonians. He said he would speak for them as their governor and everything would go well for them. The people did this and all was going as planned until a guy named Ishmael killed Gedaliah. Ishmael was an Ammonite sent from the king of the Ammonites at that time. I’m not sure why the Ammonites wanted this governor dead…it’s like they went up against the Babylonians really.
In Philippians I read how Paul is encouraging the Philippian believers to grow more and more in their faith so they can understand what is good and bad and choose the good. He says in things that they do not agree on that God will make the truth clear to them. He talks about how the evil people around them, the enemies of Jesus, will be destroyed. He says these evil people do whatever their bodies want and are proud of their shameful acts. This sounds like it could be written today huh. It says they only think about earthly things. Paul contrasts how our homeland is in heaven. He doesn’t say so we should be thinking of the things of heaven, but I am pretty sure he is getting that point across. And we know that we are told to think about what God allows in heaven, and to do those things on earth, many times throughout scripture.
At the end of Philippians Paul is signing off and he is mentioning folks that are sending their greetings also. He mentions God’s people from the palace of Caesar. Interesting. I notice we never hear about Paul actually going in front of Caesar, we only hear that he was given his own rented house, but kept under guard or something like that. Anyway, he apparently knows people, or helped them to become believers, that work at Caesar’s palace.
Good Morning God 