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JULY 12
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth;
For You shall inherit all nations.
17:7 contrary to the decrees of Caesar. One
of the most serious crimes in the Roman
Empire was to acknowledge allegiance to any
82:8 You shall inherit all nations. The psalmist king but Caesar (John 19:15).
prayerfully anticipates the future when God will
set up His kingdom and restore order and perfect
justice to a sin-cursed world (Pss.96;97;Is.11:1–5). Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.”
8 And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of
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the city when they heard these things. So
when they had taken security from Jason and
Proverbs 20:29–30 the rest, they let them go.
29 The glory of young men is their 10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul
strength, and Silas away by night to Berea. When they
And the splendor of old men is their arrived, they went into the synagogue of the
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gray head. Jews. These were more fair-minded than
those in Thessalonica, in that they received
30 Blows that hurt cleanse away evil, the word with all readiness, and searched the
As do stripes the inner depths of the Scriptures daily to find out whether these
heart. things were so. Therefore many of them
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believed, and also not a few of the Greeks,
Acts 17:1–15
prominent women as well as men. But when
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Now when they had passed through the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the
17 Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to word of God was preached by Paul at Berea,
Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of they came there also and stirred up the
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the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went crowds. Then immediately the brethren sent
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in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and
with them from the Scriptures, explaining and Timothy remained there. So those who con-
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demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and ducted Paul brought him to Athens; and re-
rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Je- ceiving a command for Silas and Timothy to
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sus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” And come to him with all speed, they departed.
some of them were persuaded; and a great mul-
titude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of
the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.
5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, be-
coming envious, took some of the evil men 17:15 Athens. The cultural center of Greece.
from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, At its zenith, Athens was home to the most
set all the city in an uproar and attacked the renowned philosophers in history, including
house of Jason, and sought to bring them out Socrates,Plato,and Aristotle,who was arguably
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to the people. But when they did not find the most influential philosopher of all. Two
them, they dragged Jason and some brethren other significant philosophers taught there:
to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These Epicurus, founder of Epicureanism, and Zeno,
who have turned the world upside down have founder of Stoicism—two of the dominant
come here too. Jason has harbored them, and philosophies in that day (v. 18).
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these are all acting contrary to the decrees of
DAY 12: How did Jehoshaphat express his faith in the face of adversity?
Second Chronicles 20:1–30 is one of the great stories of faith in the Old Testament.Attacked by
a great multitude from Moab and Ammon, Jehoshaphat made the appropriate spiritual response,
i.e., the king and the nation appealed to God in prayer and fasting.The fast was national, including
even the children (v.13).Jehoshaphat stood in the redecorated center court praying for the nation,
appealing to the promises, the glory, and the reputation of God which were at stake since He was
identified with Judah (vv. 5–12). In his prayer he acknowledged God’s sovereignty (v. 6), God’s
covenant (v. 7), God’s presence (vv. 8,9), God’s goodness (v. 10), God’s possession (v. 11), and their
utter dependence on Him (v. 12).

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