It’s a will-worship morning (Colossians 2:23). I’ll take Psalm 123:1-2 for Temple service today.

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures and watched me ramble about here and there, in the Kings, in the Psalms, and finally in the Gospels.

Along the still waters, I reflected on what I read.

I read about two kings, one the father who did evil and the other, his son, who did good (1 Kings 15). The father who did evil followed his mother’s example and served idols and gave place to the sodomites. He died. His son, who did good, took away the sodomites out of the land and removed the idols, including the idol his grandmother made in a grove, and removed his grandmother from being queen (1 Kings 15:12-13). This king, whose heart God rated as “perfect with the LORD all his days” (1 Kings 15:14), hired the Syrian king, Benhadad, to join in league with him against Israel (1 Kings 15:18-19). The entire operation was successful—Baasha, king of Israel, retreated, and Asa removed the stronghold Baasha had built in Ramah against Jerusalem.

God sent Hanani the prophet to rebuke King Asa for seeking help from Syria, a heathen nation, instead of turning to God (2 Chronicles 16:7-9). The prophet reminded Asa that “the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). Asa qualified for Divine intervention (1 Kings 15:14), but he preferred to trust “an arm of flesh” rather than “the LORD our God” (2 Chronicles 32:7-8—in the days of King Hezekiah the Syrian king threatened Jerusalem; he called the Syrians an arm of flesh, and sought to His GOD.)

The King became bitter and, in a rage against the word of God spoken by the prophet, Asa imprisoned him (2 Chronicles 16:9-10). Toward the end of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet, and “he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians” (2 Chronicles 16:12). After suffering two years, he died in his stubbornness. Nevertheless, the people honored Asa with all the honors of a good king in his burial, and God did not record a recension of his earlier evaluation: “Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father” (1 Kings 15:11) and “Asa’s heart was perfect with the LORD all his days” (1 Kings 15:14). Asa did not turn to idols, nor did he in his anger restore the sodomites.

Although God honored Asa, Asa nonetheless dishonored God among the Gentiles. In this, he was not like David. We are made kings and priests unto God (Revelation 1:6). Selah!

In Psalm 117, the Spirit showed me that King David called upon all nations to praise the LORD (The גּוֹיִ֑ם — goyeem: all nations outside of Israel, a foreign people, the Gentiles, are called upon to signal, send a token of, present a communication indicating praise to Jehovah: אֶת־יְ֭הוָה  signal-Jehovah.) Imagine the Spirit through David calling on all Gentile nations to raise a signal of praise to the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Imagine us kings calling on all nations to signify their praise for the Most High God!

Finally, in the Gospel of Mark, in chapter 7, the Mind of the Spirit engaged the spirit of my mind in verses 27-29:

Mark 7:27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

Mark 7:28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.

Mark 7:29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.

She was a woman from Phoenicia in Syria! Her daughter was afflicted by a devil that possessed her (Mark 7:26). She did not seek to the idols of her people, or if she did, she discovered “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of mens hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not” (Psalm 115:4-5), for she came to Jesus seeking help for her daughter. He rebuffed her, saying, “Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet (fitting, appropriate) to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs” (Mark 7:27). She agreed! She would not take the bread from her child and give it to the dogs, at least not until her own had its fill. She understood she was a Syrian and an outsider, and willingly took her place under the table of the children, willing to be content with a crumb that might be dropped as the children fed (Mark 7:28).

Jesus was amazed at her faith. You don’t see this so clearly in Mark, but in Matthew’s account, Jesus says, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt,” and Mark gives us the rest of His response: “For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter” (Mark 7:29).

In the shadow of His Cross, as I knelt weeping, my spirit was broken, humbled that God extended His grace to the Gentiles, that He used us to serve His people, called us to praise Him, and extended to us the children’s crumbs. I told Him, I take my place before You. If under the table, so be it! Give me thy crumbs.

I asked, Why did you choose Israel? I said, It’s not that I mind or feel any resentment at all, just curious. He said, Did you notice in the first story that I extended favor to rebellious Maachah’s two sons because of their great-grandfather, David, and the promises I made to him? (1 Kings 15:4; see 2 Chronicles 21:7). I said, Yes, Lord. Remember also what I told Israel: “Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee” and for the promise I made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Deuteronomy 9:4-5). Then I remembered something, and I said, “I remember the day you showed me what was on your heart when You called Abraham: ‘In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed’” (Genesis 12:3).

Then He surprised me. He said, ‘Jerry, I have made you one of My children and called you to the table, and fed you with milk and meat!’ (1 Peter 2:2; Hebrews 5:12-14; sadly, some require 1 Corinthians 3:2).

Jesus is the Bread (John 6:41). Consider the power in the crumbs. They convert a “dog” into a “sheep,” a child of Satan into a child of GOD (John 1:11-13). Consider that we are given “the bread of life” (John 6:35). Consider that we have been called to the table, that His milk and meat are set before us.

All His disciples are called to humility before they enter into His service: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Wow!

At the table, He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. I took this yoke of the Cross that joined me to Him, and we walked into the harvest. I hardly felt the burden of it with Him by my side. Oh, and yes, goodness and mercy followed closely.

Praying for revival! 🙏

Going live asap:

https://rumble.com/v6yx2v0-shepherds-pasture.html

ERROR IN VIDEO: Because the mother of these kings is named Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom (1 Kings 15:1-2 and 8, 10), I assumed Abijam and Asa were brothers. It was a tired error, for verse 8 clearly states that Asa was the son of Abijam. Maachah was his grandmother.