Wednesday, July 20 - Kathryn

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is  2 Kings 24-25 - Acts 16:1-21
 

I shake my head in disgust at the 2 Kings passage for today.  It seems the Israelites are given a glimmer of hope, maybe 'getting it right' via Josiah's reign.  Yet, as we read at the end of chapter 23 the Lord will not relent.  And so we see that judgement poured out in chapters 24 and 25. 

God had been so patient, so careful to warn and so open to forgive, but the people didn't take it.  They continued to ignore God, ignore His gentle pleads to return.  I wonder if it's sort of like today.  People have been hearing that the end is near for so long that they ignore the warnings.  They begin to treat the warnings like a TV that's left on all the time.  It becomes background noise.  Unfortunately the warnings don't have the same weight they once had.  They are all too familiar and we have become comfortable in our sin.  We can hear foul language and see sinful behavior and it doesn't even make us flinch anymore.  Oh Father God forgive us! 

The people ignored God and so, in turn, He ignored them.  Vs. 3 of chapter 24 states that "Surely these things happened to Judah according to the LORD’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done"  In all the distruction that happened to Jerusalem and Judah and the Temple, the most horrific, the most devastating is the removal of the presence of God.  To be without God, is to be in Hell. 

I often wondered why God allowed a leader like Josiah to come and bring his people back right before the end.  And I wonder if it's so that the people would remember what it means to be a child of God.  I wonder if it's because they were so far gone they had no idea, so for the Lord to judge them, they would have no standard, no reference on which to base the 'why?'  So He brought them back, under the leadership of Josiah, He let them see how they were supposed to be living so that they would know what it's like to be in the presence of God and to be without it. 

I cannot ignore the harkening cry this passage is for our nation today.  And I fear that like the people of Judah we too are set in a path that we cannot get off of, a path to destruction.  Trust me, I'm not a gloom and doom prophet, but I see it time and again in other nations that when a people ignore the One True God for far too long, God passes judgement. 

But there is hope, there is always hope, scripture tells us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."  Oh this is my hearts desire, my deep prayer for our nation.  Nothing is too difficult for God, but it is the repentance of the people that will turn this nation around.

Pray with me that our nation may be bowing the knee in heart and mind to our Father God.  Pray for our leaders that they too would call Jesus Lord and serve Him in their offices.  Pray that our churches would be a place that The Truth is unashamedly proclaimed.  But mostly pray that it begins here, in me, in us.

Oh Father God, we bow before You, we are humbled before You.  We ask for Your forgiveness for our sins and the sins of this nation.  We turn, we repent and we ask for Your mercy, for Your grace.  You are God, You demand justice, we know that.  But Your son supplied that redemption and we claim that.  Stay Your hand, merciful Father, may we be at peace with You once again.  Please do not turn Your face from us.  Please do not take Your presence from us.  Please forgive us and heal our land.  Thank You.  Amen.    



Tomorrow's passage:   Psalm 1-2 - Psalm 10 - Acts 16:22-40