Mike Courts purchased two books and sent them to me, The Book That Made Your World and This Book Changed Everything, both by Vishal Mangalwadi.  I’m more than half-way through the first book and am thrilled by the research, clear logic and superb writing by Vishal in establishing how the Bible created the soul of western civilization.   It is a potent testimony to why it is critical that we accurately understand history.  Furthermore, it gives a warning shout to what is happening today by liberals and radicals engaged in a concerted effort to revise and rewrite history to their own liking and agenda so as to undermine our nation’s constitution and way of governance founded on Biblical principles.   ​

Meditation
Ezra 4:19,20--I issued an order and a search was made, and it was found that this city has a long history of revolt against kings and has been a place of rebellion and sedition.  Jerusalem has had powerful kings ruling over the whole of Trans-Euphrates, and taxes, tribute and duty were paid to them. (NIV)
 
The word history, used in both Ezra 4:15 and 4:19, is translated by the combination of three Hebrew words, yôm, min, and ālam which when combined mean long history. The people who inhabited Israel during Judah’s time of exile, were not happy with the resettling of Jews and their rebuilding Jerusalem.  Therefore they sent a letter to King Artaxerxes from the “region west of the Euphrates River” (4:11), warning him of Jerusalem’s history of sedition hoping that he would issue a cease and desist order.  The king decreed that a search be conducted and, after hearing the city’s history, ordered that the rebuilding should stop until he issued a further decree.  It was a discouraging blow to the Jews that fortunately was overturned later by King Darius (6:8-12).

I cite this passage to show that even those who resist God understand the value of understanding history and to their credit at least were honest in applying it.  If we don’t know our true past or the role of the Bible in shaping who we are today and teach it to our children, we are doomed to fall to the ideology of those who reshape education and define values.  It would seem that very few people invest the time to truly research and understand history as Mr. Mangalwadi does.  Ironically, his book is dedicated to the “Honourable Arun Shourie, member of Parliament and Former Minister to the Government of India for his criticisms of the Bible which prompted Mangalwadi’s search for truth and the writing of his book.  

If history matters, clearly understanding history really matters!  Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of his day for not knowing and for not correctly understanding Scripture (Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:24) as it related historically to Him and to God’s plan.  Our challenge is to know God’s Word and to understand it’s power yesterday and relevance today.  If we fail in this we lose the ability to shape tomorrow.  May we say with the Psalmist, “I consider days of old, years long past” (Psalm 77:5).  The Apostle Paul advised, “For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures” (Romans 15:4).
 
Inspiration
The people are the ultimate guardians of their own liberty. History, by apprising them of the past, will enable them to judge of the future. It will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men.—Thomas Jefferson
 
©2020 Daniel York ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)

Meditation
Daniel 1:17—God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom.  Daniel also understood visions and dreams of every kind.
 
Daniel, probably in part because of my given name, has always been my hero.  In studying his Old Testament prophetic book that contains his story, there are at least five superb applications that ought to inspire us to be like him.

A close friend of mine, Sam Titus, sent me a book to read.  It was entitled Insightand it was written by Dr. Tasha Eurich.  Tasha did a wonderful job exploring the topic of self-awareness and illustrating why it is so important.  Tasha defines self-awareness as “the ability to see ourselves clearly—to understand who we are, how others see us, and how we fit into the world around us.”  I was pleased to see that she recognized in her research with people that “humility is a key ingredient of self-awareness.” She also noted as an organizational psychologist that self-aware people enjoy more successful careers and better lives because they have developed “an intuitive understanding of what matters to them, what they want to accomplish, how they behave, and how others see them.”[1]
 

The dictionary uses the following definition for the word discretion—“1. the power or right to decide or act according to one's own judgment; freedom of judgment or choice . . . 2. The quality of being discreet, especially with reference to one's own actions or speech; prudence or decorum.”[1]  Discretion seems to be an increasingly neglected concept in our society.  More and more people freely express their opinion or take action either with little prior thought to the consequences or with the deliberate decision to cause harm.  For example, on Columbus Day, a national holiday, police in New York City have to protect statutes erected for Christopher Columbus for fear that people will vandalize or destroy them. Instead of taking into account the pride that Italian Americans have in a famous explorer, protestors feel justified in defacing or tearing down his monuments because of the perceived harm he caused to native Americans.  

​Meditation
Colossians 1:9,10—For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you.  We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.
 

​While attending a conference with senior military leaders we were informed that the likelihood of Congress failing to pass a continuing resolution was highly improbable.  Less than three days later the Senate and House failed to agree and we were surprised.  
​
Most of my organization’s employees sit at home unable to go to work and are unsure when they will be able to resume their jobs.  For one income folks and families on tight budgets, the forced layoff is angst-producing. One missed paycheck is fraught with second and third order effects. As frustration with our government continues to climb I am taken back to my teenage years living in a third world country ripe with corruption.  Increasingly it feels like we are becoming third world.  But I am not surprised.

​Grok is a little used verb that means: “to understand thoroughly and intuitively”; or “to communicate sympathetically.” The word was invented by  Robert A. Heinlein in the science-fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land written in 1961.[1]
​
The author of Psalm 91 groked God’s protective nature towards His children.  

​Have you ever wondered how astronauts fly up into space to rendezvous with a space station or other orbiting objects such as the Hubble space telescope?  It is an incredibly difficult task.  Let’s listen in to scientist Palmer Bailey as he articulates the challenge: 
"The basic problem is that both of the rendezvousing objects are in individual orbits around the Earth.  The shape and size of a spacecraft’s orbit is determined by its velocity.  Thus if you try to speed up to catch something travelling ahead of you in the same orbit, you change your orbit and then are no longer in the same orbit . . . Therefore, if you are in orbit behind your rendezvous target and try to speed up to catch it, what actually happens is that your increased speed is used up raising you into a higher and therefore slower orbit and you fall farther and farther behind.  You must slow down, thus dropping into a lower but quicker orbit until you are ahead of your target, then speed up at just the right rate to go into the higher slower orbit as the target craft catches up to you.  It’s pretty tricky to get that timing just right."

​He jumped in too early. A white policeman arrested a prominent black professor, and eager journalists needled President Obama to answer before he knew all the facts.  He misspoke.  Perhaps a lingering frustration gave birth to an unfortunate vetting.  That silence can be golden is an understatement for a man besieged by microphones.  Our society is sensitive to racial harmony—and should we be surprised, given that our melting pot is a degree away from a boiling kettle!  

Have you ever wondered much about your soul, what it is, it’s purpose, etc.?  
There are four common theories as to the soul’s origin.  They are:
1. Traducianism—our soul and body come from our parents (Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox Churches).
2.   Preexistence of all souls (Origen and Mormons) 
3.   Reincarnation (Hinduism)
4. Creationism—God creates a fresh soul for each body (Roman Catholics and most reformed theologians)  

​Charles and I were having a great discussion when I asked him what would happen if a truck came around the bend at a high speed and accidentally struck and killed him?  What would he say to God when the Lord asked him why He should let him into heaven?  Charles said, “Well the operative answer would be that I believe in Jesus Christ and am sorry for my sins.”  

​Meditation
Acts 2:12,13--They were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, “What could this be?” But some sneered and said, “They’re full of new wine!”
 

​A crumpled gray Saturn blocks the intersection while scores of drivers stuck by the accident sputter at the infuriating delay.  Firemen extract the old woman from her car smashed by a young man in a big hurry.  She saw a green light and preceded east on Canon Street.  He was headed south on Anarchic Avenue.  Irritated and in a hurry he ignored the red and sped through the intersection broad siding the hapless woman.  

Why is it that the one year you get a flu shot you get the flu? Why does your dog shake off muddy water next to you when you’ve just changed into good clothes?  Why does your husband get sick on the day you’re supposed to go on a family vacation?  Why is it that the day you’re ready to complete your project the power goes out? Why do microphones work fine in rehearsal but then screech during the play?  Why do people get mad at other drivers right after leaving church?  Why do camera batteries go dead just when your son takes his first steps?  Why does some stranger’s toddler pitch a fit at the climax of your daughter’s recital? 

​If someone were to ask you what the secret for living a fulfilled life is, what would you say?  There are probably a dozen great responses.  

Meditation
Genesis 11:1,4-9--At one time the whole earth had the same language and vocabulary . . . And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” Then the Lord came down to look over the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name is called Babylon, for there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
​

Meditation
1 Samuel 23:4--Once again, David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him: “Go at once to Keilah, for I will hand the Philistines over to you.” 
Psalm 37:23—The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives. (NLT)