Today's reading in the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is Isaiah 12, 17, 2 Chronicles 28:16-25, 2 Chronicles 29:1-2, 2 Kings 16:10-18, 2 Kings 18:1-8, 2 Kings 15:30-34, 2 Kings 17:1-4, Hosea 1-2:13
This passage covers a lot of ground that's for sure!
Isaiah 12 is a beautiful psalm and reminds us to praise God, to give thanks to Him, and to proclaim His name to the nations. Isaiah 17 on the other hand prophesies the destruction of Damascus and reminds us of the huge consequences of rejecting God.
Then it's back to King Ahaz for some more life lessons.
Consider 2 Chronicles 28:22-23 In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, "Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me." But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.
See how absolutely twisted our thinking can become when we turn away from God? King Ahaz was completely blind to the fact that it was his/his kingdom's disobedience that was the cause of their downfall, not the gods of Damascus!
We, too, are easily misled to believe partial truths and even outright lies when we turn away or even drift away from God. Consistently being in the Word is the only way to combat this slippery slope.
One thing that I've noticed about myself reading through the Bible this year is that I am reacting more emotionally to what I'm reading. Last year I would read about these ridiculous evil kings and just keep on going. But this time, some of the things I read just cause absolute revulsion to come over me as I read about how they desecrate God's temple and reject His holiness. My heart and soul aches as I read about King Ahaz callously destroying the temple and building his own altar - the extent of his evil idolatry makes me shudder. And for that I am thankful. We need to find evil repulsive, we need to desire holiness in ourselves and challenge it in those around us as well.
And then we finally come to King Hezekiah where a most remarkable thing is said about him....
Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And teh Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. 2 Kings 18:5-7a (emphasis mine)
Incredible!! There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah or Israel, either before him or after him. Wow! (Important note, this does not include David because this refers to the kings after the division of the kingdom - after Solomon). But still, incredible!! I'm looking forward to finally being able to read about some good stuff going down in the kingdom of Judah.
And then we end of with the first part of the book of Hosea and God's incredibly difficult command that he marry a woman who was going to be unfaithful to him. Talk about a command that you wouldn't want to obey! I cannot even begin to imagine how difficult it would've been for Hosea to marry Gomer knowing in advance that he would be betrayed by her in the most intimate way. And this wasn't because of any sin Hosea had committed, this wasn't to punish him. It was to be an object lesson for the people of Israel. The faithfulness of this man is absolutely astounding.
That's all I'll say about Hosea for today as we'll read more about him over the next 2 days.
Tomorrow's passage: Hosea 2:14-8:14
4 comments:
And for him to name his children what he did amazes me, too, especially the kid who got called "not loved"!!! Can you imagine?! I sometimes wish we knew a little more about some of these prophets ~ their history and lives after their prophesying days were over. Seriously, what was his family life like?! How do children growing up with those kinds of names interact with the father who named them?! I'm sure he will have eventually told them why they were named what they were, but they're still not great names!! Did they embrace their father's calling and surrender to being used by God to teach Israel or did they resent His presence in their lives? SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!
I noticed that statement about Hezekiah, too. Very powerful words, for sure!
I know, I so often wish we knew more than we're told! There will sure be a lot to learn when we get to heaven - so many questions!
I also took note of the statement about Hezekiah.
Every time I read the name Tiglath-Pileser I remember a story my parents tell us. I guess when they were considering baby names, my dad told my mom that if they had a boy he would name him Tiglath-Pileser. My mom told him in that case, she would keep having girls! Fortunately for my brother, my parents took pity on him and named him Timothy instead! :)
Haha, WHEW!
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