2KINGS 1:
Yesterday we heard stories which show that King Ahab indeed “sold himself to evil,” including the story of Naboth's vineyard. And also we heard of Ahab's friendship with King Jehoshaphat of Judah. Finally, we heard how the prophecies against Ahab were fulfilled.

PSALM 123:
This psalm has an important similarity with Ps. 121 which said,

Ps. 121:1 NLT I look up to the mountains—
does my help come from there?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth!

Today’s psalm tells us how to ‘look’.

JOHN 10b:
In John 9, with the formerly blind man standing there, Jesus said,

9:39 NLT “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?”
41 “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.

I think the formerly blind man would have been greatly comforted to find out that the Son of Man was now his shepherd and the gate for the sheep. John 10:10 is a frequently memorized verse because of Jesus’ promise: Life in all its fullness.

GNT Translation note:

John 10:38 Again there was a division among the people because of these words. We know that what the scripture says is true forever; and God called those people gods, the people to whom his message was given. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, you should at least believe my deeds, in order that you may know once and for all that the Father is [united with//in] me and that I am [united with//in] the Father.”

1KINGS 21-22:
What a cruel surprise it must have been for Elijah to bring about such an irrefutable display of God's power before the people, but then to have to flee for his life because of Queen Jezebel! Note that God deigned to speak twice to King Ahab. And the reason was: God wanted it known to Ahab and to us that He is not a territorial God. God also gave amazing, symbolic revelations of Himself in the story of His appearing to Elijah at Mount Sinai. Finally, in yesterday’s reading, Elijah's successor, Elisha, was introduced.

PSALM 122:
Consider how exciting it would have been to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. And let’s all keep ‘marching to Zion’.

JOHN 10a:
This is a place where our chapter divisions in our Bibles probably do not serve us well. In the original manuscript by John, there would not be any separation between what Jesus said to the Pharisees to answer their question about spiritual blindness, and this chapter. In fact, in John’s day they didn’t even have spaces between words. So in all likelihood, there was not even a new line to start this teaching. So let’s envision Jesus giving this teaching while the previously blind man and the Pharisees were listening.

1KINGS 19-20:
The story we read yesterday in this book is one of the most dramatic in all of Scripture: The time the prophet Elijah confronted King Ahab. Remember that in the New Testament James used this story to encourage us that we are no different than Elijah and that we should pray fervently like him.

PSALM 121:
This is another psalm that is frequently sung, even today. Often this whole psalm is set to music. As Olsen says, this psalm lifts the fog from our eyes.

Re-reading JOHN 9:
Remember that in John 8 there was a tense standoff between Jesus and the religious leaders. The people took up stones to kill Jesus. John places this story here to illustrate again the opposition to Jesus.

One of the hardest verses to translate is the very last one in this chapter. That is Jesus’ answer when the Pharisees give this incredulous or rebuking response, “Surely you don't mean that we are blind, too?” The Greek can be translated as in literal versions, “If you were blind, you would have no [sin//guilt]...” To say someone has no sin, in English, would mean that they are totally sinless, and that is NOT what Jesus was meaning.

GNT/NLT translation note:

John 9:41 NLT Jesus replied, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty [of still sinning], but you remain guilty because you claim you can see.//GNT Jesus answered, “If you were blind, then you would not [be sinning now//be guilty]; but since you claim that you can see, this means that you are [still guilty of sinning//still guilty].”]

GNT Translation notes:
John 9:7 and told him, “Go and wash your face in the Pool of Siloam.” ([The name of the pool//This name] means “Sent.”) So the man went, washed his face, and came back seeing.
22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, who had already agreed that anyone who said he believed that Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue[s].
33 Unless this man came from God, he would not be able to do [such] a thing.”
34 They answered, “You were born and brought up in sin—and you are trying to teach us?” And they expelled him from the synagogue[s].
41 [based on NLT: Jesus replied, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty [of still sinning], but you remain guilty because you claim you can see.//GNT Jesus answered, “If you were blind, then you would not [be sinning now//be guilty]; but since you claim that you can see, this means that you are [still guilty of sinning//still guilty].”]