Time with Abba, Singing Praising 親親爸父，唱詩歌頌 : OT DAY 390 - The Tragedy of Having No King (Please click here for English podcast)

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Silence

1. Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

2. Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1. Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2. Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3. Open your heart to praise the Lord

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.

Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Psalm 138 :8

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html)

1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

“Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2. Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (Judges 19:1-31)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges 19&version=ESV

In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine fromBethlehem in Judah. 2 And his concubine was unfaithful to him, and she went away from him to her father's house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there some four months. 3 Then her husband arose and went after her, to speak kindly to her and bring her back. He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys. And she brought him into her father's house. And when the girl's father saw him, he came with joy to meet him. 4 And his father-in-law, the girl's father, made him stay, and he remained with him three days. So they ate and drank and spent the night there. 5 And on the fourth day they arose early in the morning, and he prepared to go, but the girl's father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and after that you may go.” 6 So the two of them sat and ate and drank together. And the girl's father said to the man, “Be pleased to spend the night, andlet your heart be merry.” 7 And when the man rose up to go, his father-in-law pressed him, till he spent the night there again. 8 And on the fifth day he arose early in the morning to depart. And the girl's father said, “Strengthen your heart and wait until the day declines.” So they ate, both of them. 9 And when the man and his concubine and his servant rose up to depart, his father-in-law, the girl's father, said to him, “Behold, now the day has waned toward evening. Please, spend the night. Behold, the day draws to its close. Lodge here and let your heart be merry, and tomorrow you shall arise early in the morning for your journey, and go home.”

10 But the man would not spend the night. He rose up and departed and arrived oppositeJebus (that is, Jerusalem). He had with him a couple of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with him. 11 When they were near Jebus, the day was nearly over, and the servant said to his master, “Come now, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.” 12 And his master said to him, “We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners, who do not belong to the people of Israel, but we will pass on to Gibeah.”13 And he said to his young man, “Come and let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or at Ramah.” 14 So they passed on and went their way. And the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, 15 and they turned aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gibeah. And he went in and sat down in the open square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night.

16 And behold, an old man was coming from his work in the field at evening. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was sojourning in Gibeah. The men of the place were Benjaminites. 17 And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city. And the old man said, “Where are you going? And where do you come from?”18 And he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am goingto the house of the Lord, but no one has taken me into his house. 19 We have straw and feed for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me and your female servant and the young man with your servants. There is no lack of anything.” 20 And the old man said, “Peace be to you; I will care for all your wants. Only, do not spend the night in the square.” 21 So he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys feed. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank.

22 As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows,surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.” 23 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing.24 Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now.Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man do not do this outrageous thing.” 25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. 26 And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was, until it was light.

27 And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up, let us be going.” But there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey, and the man rose up and went away to his home. 29 And when he entered his house, he took a knife, and taking hold of his concubine he divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. 30 And all who saw it said, “Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak.”

Judges 19:1-30

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

My Listening

I can't choose any section to read but have to read the whole chapter. Perhaps this is the most horrible chapter in the Bible! How can this kind of tragedy happened? How can there be ISIS, terrorists nowadays? How could there be all kinds of tyrants the past thousands of years?

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us:

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :

Why do we need to know the truth about the Levite's nameless wife? Some of the reasons are practical. The story begins with that mantra "There was no king in Israel." The mantra implies that it was the case in Israel that having some governmental authority did lessen the prevalence of the social and moral chaos the story describes. There would be at least two ways in which this was so. One is that the kings had responsibility for knowing the Torah and for seeing that the people knew it. The Old Testament portrays them sending teaching teams around the country to see that people know the Torah. Their other responsibility is to take action to see that the vulnerable are protected, the weak are supported, the afflicted are delivered from their oppressors, and the oppressors themselves are put down (see Psalm 72). It is a magnificent vision of government as having as its primary responsibilities be teaching and protecting.

John Goldingay. Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.154.

Here in this chapter we see all kinds of immoral and sexual sins, from unfaithfulness, adultery, men having sex with men, raping to killing and then the chopping into twelve pieces of the Levite's concubine. Horrible!

If there is a Godly king, how could that happen?

If and only if we have Jesus as King, we would be under the teaching and protecting wings of the King and His servants.

You need to follow Jesus as your King!

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to be willing to follow you as our King and also to follow those you appointed so that we can be under your teaching and protection. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect on these questions:
1. Do you understand now about the problem when there is no king?

2. Are you willing to follow Jesus as your King? What does it mean when you say you are willing to follow Jesus as your King? How willing you are to follow His appointed leader or leaders?

3. What have you got from Jesus today?

Today's Time with Abba daily reading:

Psalm 134:1-3

Daniel 9:1-11:1

1 John 2:18- 3:6

Proverbs 28:27-28

Photos of my copying the Bible yesterday using Time with Abba passages