Day 131: 2 Chronicles 34, 35 and 36

Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people . . . I have heard you, declares the Lord (2 Chronicles 34:27).

[Josiah] did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left (NIV 1984, 34:2). The parallel account in 2 Kings says this about Josiah: Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did – with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength (2 Kings 23:25).

Josiah became king at age 8, and began to search out the things of God when he was 16. At age 20 he purged from Judah every vile and offensive thing. When he was 26, he started the work of repairing the temple, which led to the discovery of the Book of the Law.

Josiah was not some cavalier young man following his basest instincts until suddenly being confronted with the Word of God. He had already been pursuing God for sixteen years. When God revealed his plan to punish Judah, how easy would it have been for Josiah to throw a tantrum? Don’t you see everything I’ve done for you? But he didn’t. He submitted to the words of God and found favor in God’s eyes.

Reminds me of Job: The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised (Job 1:21). Oh for grace to trust God like that.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

What does God’s sovereignty mean to you? How do you respond to bad news? What can you do about that?

Day 130: 2 Chronicles 31, 32 and 33

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him (2 Chronicles 32:7).

Here again the Chonicler regales us with the story of Judah’s deliverance from Assyria’s King Sennacherib. Sennacherib had already destroyed Samaria and exiled the people of the Northern Kingdom to the far reaches of the Assyrian Empire. Now its sights were set on Jerusalem.

Rather than focus on Judah’s deliverance as we did on Day 109, let’s focus on Judah’s preparation for war. Hezekiah did everything he could militarily and strategically to prepare for the coming assault. He repaired the weaker sections of the city wall, built another wall around the first, built towers, engineered new weapons and trained his fighting men, promoting those deserving to officer status. He blocked off the water outside the walls while ensuring a steady flow of fresh water inside the city. After strengthening his position, listen to his speech to a nervous city.

Hezekiah did not say, Be strong and courageous because we’ve done everything we can; we have impenetrable walls, we have new weapons, we have plenty of water. No, he said, Be strong and courageous because God is on our side.

This is a good lesson for us. We are responsible to prepare for the future, but it is in God we must put our trust.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Ask God how you need to prepare for your future this week.

Day 129: 2 Chronicles 28, 29 and 30

May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone who sets their heart on seeking God – the Lord, the God of their ancestors – even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary (2 Chronicles 30:18,19).

Because of King Ahaz’s disobedience, Judah was defeated by both Aram and Israel. Then Ahaz started worshiping the gods of Damascus, thinking he had been defeated because Aram’s gods were more powerful than the God of Judah. Even when he paid the king of Assyria to help him, the Assyrians just took his treasures and added their abuse to that of his enemies. The prophet Isaiah chastized Ahaz for his lack of faith, but to no avail.

When he died Ahaz was not buried in the tomb of the kings.

But when his son Hezekiah took the throne, things were different. He walked in the ways of King David and got rid of idol worship in Judah. Under Hezekiah’s leadership, Judah became strong and regained a place of honor among the nations.

The nation of Judah had not celebrated Passover in many years, but Hezekiah decided to change all that. However, some of the people were not ritually clean, and therefore technically should have been barred from participating in the celebration. Hezekiah called out to the Lord and asked him to make an exception, and God who cares more about hearts than about rules accepted everyone into the feast.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Take inventory of how God has displayed his grace to you this week. How can you say “thank you”?

Day 128: 2 Chronicles 25, 26 and 27

Jotham grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the Lord his God (2 Chronicles 27:6).

Uzziah (Jotham’s father) was a great king of Judah, but let his pride get the better of him. He took it upon himself to enter the temple’s Holy Place and burn incense, a privilege reserved for the priests alone. When Azariah the high priest confronted him, Uzziah erupted with rage directed toward the priest and immediately leprosy break out on the king’s forehead. Because of this single act of disobedience, and the leprosy it spawned, he was forced to spend the rest of his life reigning from seclusion.

During this time, his son Jotham was his co-regent – they shared the throne, ruling together. That’s why it is sometimes difficult to pinpoint a date in ancient times. Events were dated according to how many years the reigning king had been on the throne (i.e., Hosheah . . . succeeded [Pekah] as king in the twentieth year of Jotham – 2 Kings 15:30). This seems straightforward until we consider that sometimes a son’s reign would overlap with his father’s. One source might date the son’s reign from the first year of co-regency, while another might begin with the year after his father’s death.

Back to Jotham. What lessons about obedience did Jotham learn at his father’s side? Did he learn from his father’s words or from the consequences his father suffered? One way or the other Jotham apparently learned the lesson that he must follow God wholeheartedly.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

How is God teaching you to obey? Would you prefer the easy way or the hard way?

Day 127: 2 Chronicles 22, 23 and 24

The Levites are to station themselves around the king, each man with his weapons in his hand (NIV 1984, 2 Chronicles 23:7).

This story would make a great action adventure film. First Jehu, in a religious coup, cleans house in Israel, which also leads to the death of Judah’s evil king Ahaziah. When Athaliah – the queen mother – learns of her son’s death, she sets out with a vengeance to exterminate the entire royal family, take the throne and install herself as queen of Judah. Her killing spree rids the kingdom of nearly every possible contender for the throne, and for six years she wields a tyrant’s fist over Jerusalem.

But Athaliah does not know about the pact entered into by the Levitical priests loyal to God and to David’s family. One child has survived Athaliah’s murderous rampage, and the priests have covenanted together to protect him with their lives, giving him time to grow up so he can claim his rightful throne.

I don’t know what inspired Jehoiada the High Priest to know that the time was right, but when the boy turned seven years old, Jehoiada revealed the boy’s presence and proclaimed him as king. When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king, she . . . tore her robes and shouted, “Treason! Treason!” (vv. 12,13).

Show me a strong leader, and I’ll show you strong followers committed to his/her success.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Ask God for the courage to protect the leaders in your life, be they employer, parent, pastor or project manager. Consider all the ways that can come back to benefit you in the future.

Day 126: 2 Chronicles 19, 20 and 21

[Jehoram] passed away, to no one’s regret (2 Chronicles 21:20).

Jehoram was not like his father. Jehoshaphat was a good king who loved God and loved his people. In an effort to build an alliance with the northern kingdom Israel, well-meaning Jehoshaphat had naïvely arranged a marriage for his son with Athaliah daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. A deal with the devil.

Never get into a card game with a shark. The deck is always stacked against us and any attempt to outsmart him will end in crushing defeat. Though there were no hostilities between Judah and Israel for those years when they were connected by family ties, there was a disintegration of Judah’s moral and ethical foundation.

Even Elijah, prophet to Israel, sent Jehoram a letter accusing him of cold blooded murder, and prostituting his people to foreign gods. The letter included a chilling prophecy that made Asa’s aching feet sound like a walk in the park… without the achy feet.

Walking hand in hand with the enemy sounds like a good way of keeping him where we can see him, but it always has a way of coming back to hurt us. Hence the Apostle Paul’s admonishment: Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14).

Our focus verse reveals how much Jehoram was missed after he was gone.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Ever make a deal with the devil? How’d that work out for you? What did you learn?

Day 125: 2 Chronicles 16, 17 and 18

For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Remember the account from yesterday? Judah was being attacked by the bigger and tougher army from Israel. Abijah, Judah’s godly king, stood up against Israel because he knew he was in the right and that God was on his side. To make a long story short, common sense said Israel was a sure thing, but in the end Judah sent Israel packing.

Fast forward 35 years to the reign of Abijah’s son Asa. Asa is usually remembered as a good king... at least as far as his early years go. In fact, Judah experienced a significant revival during that time which biblical scholars have come to call Asa’s reform. Then Israel once again oppressed Judah, and Asa buckled. One would have thought that Asa might have learned something from his father. But instead of manning up and trusting God for victory, Asa put his trust in the king of Aram. In return for a large bribe, Ben-hadad came to the rescue, earning Asa a lifetime asterisk on his baseball card. By the way, Asa’s error meant Judah was now one of Ben-hadad’s vassal kingdoms.

The prophet Hanani got right in Asa’s face and told him he was wrong. How did Asa respond? He pouted. For five years he pouted, his feet hurt, and then he died.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Are you considering whether to “man up” or take the easy way out? The next time you’re faced with the choice of trusting God or selling out, consider Asa’s aching feet.

Day 124: 2 Chronicles 13, 14 and 15

Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest (2 Chronicles 13:9).

I love David and Goliath stories where right living results in confidence in a fight. Remember David’s words on the day he fought the giant? First to the Israelites: Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? (1 Samuel 17:26). Then to the big palooka across the battlefield: This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals (17:46).

And here many years later, David’s great-grandson is faced with another kind of Goliath – a vast army superior in numbers, training and weaponry. It’s brother against brother, or more correctly cousin against cousin, as ten tribes of Israel come against two tribes of Judah. Abijah speaks out: Your golden calves are no match for the God of the universe. And by the way, didn’t you drive out all the priests of Yahweh? How are your replacement priests working out for you? You know, the ones who got ordained on the Internet?

Nothing like a little good natured trash talk between opponents.

And then the battle is joined. The bookies had odds in favor of Israel, and yet Judah carried the day, leaving Israel to limp home, shell shocked from the beating they’d received.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Now, remind God who that enemy was that you were afraid was too tough for you and God to handle? Imagine what it would be like if God fought the battle for you.

Day 123: 2 Chronicles 10, 11 and 12

Do not go up to fight against your fellow Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing (2 Chronicles 11:4).

Ever notice how we consult God about some things, and about other things… not so much? Many times the best course of action seems like a no-brainer.

What about when David wanted to build a temple? Who better? No one with any hope of future job advancement would have said to him, “You’re not the guy.”

Or what about when Ahab asked Micaiah for a blessing about the coming rescue mission into Aram? Micaiah, how are things going to work out today?

Micaiah: Go get ‘em! God is on your side.

Ahab: No, really; tell me the truth.

Micaiah: You’re going to die.

Ahab was killed in battle, and Micaiah was imprisoned for telling the truth.

And God used the prophet Nathan to stop David from building the temple. He stopped David just as he was climbing into the royal pickup to head for Home Depot.

And God used the prophet Shemaiah to inform Rehoboam he was not supposed to fight that day – for God himself was behind Israel’s secession.

I don’t know if I would have wanted to be the prophet-in-residence at the palace. Seems like it could be a very rough end to a distinguished career.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

How do you handle it when God says, No? Do you shoot the messenger?

Day 122: 2 Chronicles 7, 8 and 9

My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy (2 Chronicles 8:11).

Even though Solomon had been warned not to intermarry with the nations, he amassed 700 wives and 300 concubines. When the reigning Egyptian Pharaoh offered his daughter in marriage to the King of Israel in order to solidify their uneasy alliance, Solomon brought his new wife to Jerusalem. Knowing her presence in David’s palace would be displeasing to God, he did not move her in there, but skated the issue by building her a brand new palace.

Solomon did what we often do; he compartmentalized his life: I’ll keep my Israeli wives here in this palace, and I’ll keep my foreign-born wives over here, and never the twain shall meet. God won’t even notice. God did notice, and Solomon’s dalliances hurt not only him, but the entire kingdom. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods (1 Kings 11:4).

Solomon thought he could handle it, but he was lying to himself. When we think, “This is my home life, this is my work life, and this is my spiritual life,” we’re lying to ourselves too. We may think we can get away with it, but eventually it catches up with us.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Are any parts of your life incongruent with the rest? Any little inconsistencies you hope God won’t notice? What are you going to do about that this week?

Day 121: 2 Chronicles 4, 5 and 6

Now arise, Lord God, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might (2 Chronicles 6:41).

Solomon’s final words of dedication over the new temple are borrowed from his father David. In a similar ceremony, forty years earlier, David and all Jerusalem with him brought up the Ark of the Covenant in a glorious procession to Zion, its new home. David wrote a song for the occasion which can be found in Psalm 132:8-10.

David proclaimed his faith that it was God’s presence which accounted for his success so far, and it would be God’s presence that would carry the young kingdom into the future.

By building the temple and employing David’s song for the celebration, Solomon affirms the continuity between father and son, between the God of David and the God of Solomon. God worked in the life and reign of David and God would work in the life and reign of Solomon.

Our spiritual lives are not lived in a vacuum. There is a connection between parent and child. Your parents had, for good or bad, an influence on your walk with God. Your kids are watching you. Not only is their picture of God defined by their relationship with you, but they also learn how to live in relationship with God from what they see in your walk.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

What did you learn about God from your parents? What are you teaching your kids? Ask God how you can be a positive example to your children (and anyone else who might be watching).

Day 120: 2 Chronicles 1, 2 and 3

[Solomon] adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of Parvaim (2 Chronicles 3:6).

We’ve already acknowledged the cheerful heart with which the people of Israel donated monies and materials toward the construction of the temple. They were a grateful people, who gave enthusiastically to make the construction of the temple a success.

Here we have another illustration of this building project’s importance. This was no 21^st century construction project where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidders. Without proper oversight that process can lead to inferior materials being substituted for those in the engineering specs. There was no cutting corners in building Solomon’s Temple. Only the best was good enough for God.

Precious stones were used where the substitution of cubic zirconium would never have been detected. Tyre’s best cedar was harvested and delivered to the worksite. More cedar, along with juniper and algum wood, was brought in from Lebanon. Expert weavers and embroiderers produced elegant tapestries and curtains. 80,000 stonecutters used incredible precision to prepare limestone blocks in the quarry so that no tool noises would be heard in Jerusalem. And when it came to the overlays, no one was tempted to skimp with 10-carat gold. Solomon would accept only the gold of Parvaim, the finest gold money could buy.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

When you leave your gift at the altar (be it money, time or talent), can you walk away satisfied you’ve given your very best? What would it look like to “leave it all on the field”?

Day 131: 2 Chronicles 34, 35 and 36

Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people . . . I have heard you, declares the Lord. (2 Chronicles 34:27)

[Josiah] did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left (34:2). The parallel account in 2 Kings says this about Josiah: Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did – with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength (2 Kings 23:25).

Josiah became king at age 8, and began to search out the things of God when he was 16. At age 20 he purged from Judah every vile and offensive thing. When he was 26, he started the work of repairing the temple, which led to the discovery of the Book of the Law.

Josiah was not some cavalier young man following his basest instincts until suddenly being confronted with the word of God. He had already been pursuing God for sixteen years. When God revealed his plan to punish Judah, how easy would it have been for Josiah to throw a tantrum? Don’t you know everything I’ve done for you? But he didn’t. He submitted to the words of God and found favor in God’s eyes.

How do you respond when you get bad news?

Day 130: 2 Chronicles 31, 32 and 33

Be strong and courageous . . . for there is a greater power with us than with him. (2 Chronicles 32:7)

Here again the Chonicler regales us with the story of Judah’s deliverance from Assyria’s King Sennacherib. Sennacherib had already destroyed Samaria and exiled the people of the Northern Kingdom to the far reaches of the Assyrian Empire. Now its sights were set on Jerusalem.

Rather than focus on Judah’s deliverance as we did on Day 109, let’s focus on Judah’s preparation for war. Hezekiah did everything he could militarily and strategically to prepare for the coming assault. He repaired the weaker sections of the city wall, built another wall around the first, built towers, engineered new weapons and trained his fighting men, promoting those deserving to officer status. He blocked off the water outside the walls while ensuring a steady flow of fresh water inside the city. After strengthening his position, listen to his speech to a nervous city.

He didn’t say, Be strong and courageous because we’ve done everything we can; we have impenetrable walls, we have new weapons, we have plenty of water. No, he said, Be strong and courageous because God is on our side.

This is a good lesson for us. We are responsible to prepare for the future, but it is in God we put our trust.

What can you do this week to prepare for your future?

Day 129: 2 Chronicles 28, 29 and 30

May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God—the Lord, the God of his fathers—even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary. (2 Chronicles 30:18,19)

Because of King Ahaz's disobedience Judah was defeated by both Aram and Israel. Then Ahaz started worshiping the gods of Damascus, thinking he had been defeated because Aram's gods were more powerful than the God of Judah. Even when he paid the king of Assyria to help him, the Assyrians just took his treasures and added their abuse to that of his enemies. The prophet Isaiah chastized Ahaz for his lack of faith, but to no avail.

When he died Ahaz was not buried in the tomb of the kings.

But when his son Hezekiah took the throne, things were different. He walked in the ways of King David and got rid of idol worship in Judah. Under Hezekiah's leadership, Judah became strong and regained a place of honor among the nations.

The nation of Judah had not celebrated Passover in many years, but Hezekiah decided to change all that. However, some of the people were not ritually clean, and therefore technically should have been barred from participating in the celebration. Hezekiah called out to the Lord and asked him to make an exception, and God who cares more about hearts than about rules accepted everyone into the feast.

How have you experienced God’s grace this week?

Day 128: 2 Chronicles 25, 26 and 27

Jotham grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the Lord his God. (2 Chronicles 27:6)

Uzziah (Jotham's father) was a great king of Judah, but because of an act of disobedience he was afflicted with leprosy and ruled from seclusion. During this time, his son Jotham was his co-regent - they shared the throne, reigning together. That's why it is sometimes difficult to pinpoint a date in ancient times. Events were dated according to how many years the reigning king had been on the throne (i.e., Hosheah . . . succeeded [Pekah] as king in the twentieth year of Jotham - 2 Kings 15:30). This seems straightforward until we consider that sometimes a son's reign would overlap with his father's. One source might consider the son's first year the first year of co-regency, while another might consider the son's first year the year after his father's death.

Back to Jotham. What lessons about obedience did Jotham learn at his father's side? Did he learn from his father's words or from the consequences his father suffered? One way or the other Jotham apparently learned the lesson that he must follow God wholeheartedly.

How did you learn obedience? Or are you still learning?

Day 127: 2 Chronicles 22, 23 and 24

The Levites are to station themselves around the king, each man with his weapons in his hand. (2 Chronicles 23:7)

This story would make a great action adventure film. First Jehu, in a religious coup, cleans house in Israel, which also leads to the death of Judah’s evil king Ahaziah. When Athaliah – the queen mother – learns of her son’s death, she sets out with a vengeance to exterminate the entire royal family and seize the throne for herself. Her killing spree rids the kingdom of nearly every possible contender for the throne, and for six years she wields a tyrant’s fist over Jerusalem.

But Athaliah does not know about the pact entered into by the Levitical priests loyal to God and to David’s family. One child has survived Athaliah’s murderous rampage, and the priests have covenanted together to protect him with their lives, giving him time to grow up so he can claim his rightful throne.

I don’t know what inspired Jehoiada the High Priest to know that the time was right, but when the boy turned seven years old, Jehoiada revealed the boy’s presence and proclaimed him as king. When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and cheering the king, she . . . tore her robes and shouted, “Treason! Treason (vv. 12,13)!”

Show me a strong leader, and I’ll show you strong followers committed to his/her success.

Be it employer, parent, pastor or project manager, how can you protect your leader?

Day 126: 2 Chronicles 19, 20 and 21

[Jehoram] passed away, to no one’s regret. (2 Chronicles 21:20)

Jehoram was not like his father. Jehoshaphat was a good king who loved God and loved his people. In an effort to build an alliance with the northern kingdom Israel, Jehoshaphat had arranged a marriage for his son with Athaliah daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. A deal with the devil.

Never get into a card game with a shark. The deck is always stacked against us and any attempt to outsmart him will end in crushing defeat. Though there were no hostilities between Judah and Israel for those years when they were connected by family ties, there was a disintegration of Judah’s moral and ethical foundation.

Even Elijah, prophet to Israel, sent Jehoram a letter accusing him of cold blooded murder, and prostituting his people to foreign gods. The letter included a chilling prophecy that made Asa’s aching feet sound like a walk in the park… without the achy feet.

Walking hand in hand with the enemy sounds like a good way of keeping him where we can see him, but it always has a way of coming back to hurt us. Hence the Apostle Paul’s admonishment: Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14)?

Our focus verse reveals how much Jehoram was missed after he was gone.

Ever make a deal with the devil? How’d that work out for you?

Day 125: 2 Chronicles 16, 17 and 18

For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)

Remember the account from yesterday? Judah was being attacked by the bigger and tougher army from Israel. Abijah, Judah's godly king, stood up against Israel because he knew he was in the right and that God was on his side. To make a long story short, Judah sent Israel packing.

Fast forward 35 years to the reign of Abijah's son Asa. Asa is usually remembered as a good king... at least as far as his early years go. In fact, Judah experienced a significant revival during that time called Asa's reform. Then Israel once again oppressed Judah, and Asa buckled. Instead of manning up and trusting God for victory, Asa put his trust in the king of Aram. In return for a large bribe, Ben-hadad came to the rescue, earning Asa a lifetime asterisk on his baseball card. By the way, Asa’s error meant Judah was now one of Ben-hadad’s vassal kingdoms.

The prophet Hanani got right in Asa's face and told him he was wrong. How did Asa respond? He pouted. For five years he pouted, his feet hurt, and then he died.

The next time you're faced with the choice of trusting God or selling out, consider Asa's aching feet.

Day 124: 2 Chronicles 13, 14 and 15

Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest. (2 Chronicles 13:9)

I love David and Goliath stories where right living results in confidence in a fight. Remember David's words on the day he fought the giant? First to the Israelites: Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God (1 Samuel 17:26)? Then to the big palooka across the battlefield: Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth (17:46).

And here many years later, David's great-grandson is faced with another kind of Goliath - a vast army superior in numbers, training and weaponry. It's brother against brother, or more correctly cousin against cousin as ten tribes of Israel come against two tribes of Judah. Abijah speaks out: Your golden calves are no match for the God of the universe. And by the way, didn't you drive out all the priests of Yahweh? How are your replacement priests working out for you? You know, the ones who got ordained on the Internet?

Nothing like a little good natured trash talk between opponents.

And then the battle is joined. The bookies had odds in favor of Israel, and yet Judah carried the day, leaving Israel to limp home, shell shocked from the beating they'd received.

Now, who was that enemy you were afraid was too tough for you and God to handle?