February 7, 2010 (2 Chronicles 29-31, 2 Kings 18-19, Psalm 46, 48, 80, 135)

My reading today didn't quite stick with the plan. I was only supposed to read the first 8 verses of 2 Kings 18, but read the whole chapter. After that, I had to see how it ended, so jumped ahead to the day where I was supposed to read the rest of chapter 18 and chapter 19. Finally, a breather in the 'judgment' stuff! And why was that?

2 Kings 18: ⁵ Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was never another king like him in the land of Judah, either before or after his time. ⁶ He remained faithful to the Lord in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the Lord had given Moses. ⁷ So the Lord was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did.

Finally, a king that followed the Lord! And we see blessings instead of cursings! This next part I thought was really interesting. The King of Assyria came to King Hezekiah, basically telling him to watch out, because he was about to come against him and conquer him. Here are some of the Assyrian king's words:

^{2 Kings 18:19} “This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident? ²⁰ Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!

²² “But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?
²³ “I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them! ²⁴ With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers? ²⁵ What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the Lord’s direction? The Lord himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’”

²⁸ Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! ²⁹ This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you from my power. ³⁰ Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’

³¹ “Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well. ³² Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one—a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olive groves and honey. Choose life instead of death!

³³ “Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’ ³⁴ What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? ³⁵ What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?” Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria?

As I read this I thought, "What lies is the enemy telling me?" What lies am I believing, instead of trusting in God?

So when Hezekiah and all the people heard these words, here is what Hezekiah did:

¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: “O Lord, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶ Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.

¹⁷ “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. ¹⁸ And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. ¹⁹ Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”

So instead of believing the lies of his enemy, he brought them before God, and basically asked God, for His own sake and for the sake of His name, to save them. Faith. He believed God and trusted God. And how did God answer him?

³⁵ That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. ³⁶ Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.

³⁷ One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.

God fought for them. And He will fight for us when we put our faith and trust in Him.

February 6, 2010 (Isaiah 18-27)

Even though the following verses are talking about Egypt, I think we forget that everything is controlled by God. We are so used to believing the lie of "human wisdom" - that our weather is based upon El Nino patterns, the jet stream, etc., etc. And to some degree it is. God has created a world of laws and order, and some things are sure (gravity) and predictable (sunrise, sunset). But He is ultimately in control. He can make the sun stand still; He can make the rains stop; He can rain down fire and brimstone from heaven. All of human race is dependant upon Him, and Him alone, and yet most do not realize it, or recognize Him and give Him glory.

^{Isaiah 19:5} The waters of the Nile will fail to rise and flood the fields.
The riverbed will be parched and dry.
⁶ The canals of the Nile will dry up,
and the streams of Egypt will stink
with rotting reeds and rushes.
⁷ All the greenery along the riverbank
and all the crops along the river
will dry up and blow away.
⁸ The fishermen will lament for lack of work.
Those who cast hooks into the Nile will groan,
and those who use nets will lose heart.
⁹ There will be no flax for the harvesters,
no thread for the weavers.
¹⁰ They will be in despair,
and all the workers will be sick at heart.

But again, we see God's mercy:

²⁰ When the people cry to the Lord for help against those who oppress them, he will send them a savior who will rescue them. ²¹ The Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians. Yes, they will know the Lord and will give their sacrifices and offerings to him. They will make a vow to the Lord and will keep it. ²² The Lord will strike Egypt, and then he will bring healing. For the Egyptians will turn to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas and heal them.

More conviction today in the short verse below. How often am I guilty of this? All too often:

^{Isaiah 22:11}
But all your feverish plans are to no avail because you never ask God for help.

Maybe it's because I'm stuck in the 'judgment' books, but I have to think that the way the world is going, who's to say the following words are not for today?

^{Isaiah 22:12} At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
called you to weep and mourn.
He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins
and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.
¹³ But instead, you dance and play;
you slaughter cattle and kill sheep.
You feast on meat and drink wine.
You say, “Let’s feast and drink,
for tomorrow we die!”

^{Isaiah 23:8} Who has brought this disaster on Tyre, empire builder and chief trader of the world?
⁹ The L ord of Heaven’s Armies has done it to destroy your pride and show contempt for all human greatness.

^{Isaiah 24:4} The earth dries up, the crops wither, the skies refuse to rain. ⁵ The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted the instructions of God, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant. ⁶ Therefore, a curse consumes the earth and its people. They are left desolate, destroyed by fire. Few will be left alive. ⁷ All the joys of life will be gone.

But for those who will heed the punishment, and turn to God, we again see His grace:

^{Isaiah 25:1} O Lord, I will honor and praise your name,
for you are my God.
You do such wonderful things!
You planned them long ago,
and now you have accomplished them.

³ Therefore, strong nations will declare your glory;
ruthless nations will fear you.

⁴ But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O Lord,
a tower of refuge to the needy in distress.
You are a refuge from the storm
and a shelter from the heat.

⁸ He will swallow up death forever!
The Sovereign L ord will wipe away all tears.
He will remove forever all insults and mockery
against his land and people.
The Lord has spoken!

⁹ In that day the people will proclaim,
“This is our God!
We trusted in him, and he saved us!
This is the Lord, in whom we trusted.
Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!”

^{Isaiah 26:3} You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
⁴ Trust in the L ord always,
for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
⁵ He humbles the proud
and brings down the arrogant city.
He brings it down to the dust.

⁷ But for those who are righteous,
the way is not steep and rough.
You are a God who does what is right,
and you smooth out the path ahead of them.
⁸ L ord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws;
our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.
⁹ All night long I search for you;
in the morning I earnestly seek for God.
For only when you come to judge the earth
will people learn what is right.
¹⁰ Your kindness to the wicked
does not make them do good.
Although others do right, the wicked keep doing wrong
and take no notice of the L ord’s majesty.
¹¹ O L ord, they pay no attention to your upraised fist.
Show them your eagerness to defend your people.
Then they will be ashamed.
Let your fire consume your enemies.

¹² Lord, you will grant us peace;
all we have accomplished is really from you.
¹³ O L ord our God, others have ruled us,
but you alone are the one we worship.

¹⁵ O L ord, you have made our nation great;
yes, you have made us great.
You have extended our borders,
and we give you the glory!

¹⁶ Lord, in distress we searched for you.
We prayed beneath the burden of your discipline.

¹⁹ But those who die in the L ord will live;
their bodies will rise again!
Those who sleep in the earth
will rise up and sing for joy!
For your life-giving light will fall like dew
on your people in the place of the dead!

February 5, 2010 (2 Kings 16-17, 2 Chronicles 28, Isaiah 13-17)

More and more judgment. I'll be glad to get out of these chapters and get in to some of the more encouraging readings. But even in the midst of all this are snippets of God's grace.


^{2 Kings 17:7} This disaster came upon the people of Israel because they worshiped other gods. They sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them safely out of Egypt and had rescued them from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. ⁸ They had followed the practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of them, as well as the practices the kings of Israel had introduced. ⁹ The people of Israel had also secretly done many things that were not pleasing to the Lord their God. They built pagan shrines for themselves in all their towns, from the smallest outpost to the largest walled city. ¹⁰ They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles at the top of every hill and under every green tree. ¹¹ They offered sacrifices on all the hilltops, just like the nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of them. So the people of Israel had done many evil things, arousing the Lord’s anger. ¹² Yes, they worshiped idols, despite the Lord’s specific and repeated warnings.

¹³ Again and again the Lord had sent his prophets and seers to warn both Israel and Judah: “Turn from all your evil ways. Obey my commands and decrees—the entire law that I commanded your ancestors to obey, and that I gave you through my servants the prophets.”

¹⁴ But the Israelites would not listen. They were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they despised all his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols, so they became worthless themselves. They followed the example of the nations around them, disobeying the Lord’s command not to imitate them.

I am convicted as I read and think about these things. What have we been duped into imitating? What does God require of us? We are to be "in" the world, but not "of" the world. What does that mean? Does that mean no TV, no movies - only Bible reading and church? I don't think so, but I also think we are far more 'worldly' than God really wants us to be.

³⁵ For the Lord had made a covenant with the descendants of Jacob and commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow before them or serve them or offer sacrifices to them. ³⁶ But worship only the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt with great strength and a powerful arm. Bow down to him alone, and offer sacrifices only to him. ³⁷ Be careful at all times to obey the decrees, regulations, instructions, and commands that he wrote for you. You must not worship other gods. ³⁸ Do not forget the covenant I made with you, and do not worship other gods. ³⁹ You must worship only the Lord your God. He is the one who will rescue you from all your enemies.”

⁴⁰ But the people would not listen and continued to follow their former practices. ⁴¹ So while these new residents worshiped the Lord, they also worshiped their idols. And to this day their descendants do the same.

Worship - what does that word mean? I just looked it up - from the root: worth
What do I feel has worth?
This is something that I want to dialog with others about. I feel this verse is pertinent. I feel I do this. Although I worship the Lord, I also find worth in other things. And spend more time showing other things their worth, than I do showing the Lord His worth.

^{Isaiah 17:4} “In that day Israel’s glory will grow dim;
its robust body will waste away.
⁵ The whole land will look like a grainfield
after the harvesters have gathered the grain.
It will be desolate,
like the fields in the valley of Rephaim after the harvest.
⁶ Only a few of its people will be left,
like stray olives left on a tree after the harvest.
Only two or three remain in the highest branches,
four or five scattered here and there on the limbs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁷ Then at last the people will look to their Creator
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
⁸ They will no longer look to their idols for help
or worship what their own hands have made.
They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles
or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.
⁹ Their largest cities will be like a deserted forest,
like the land the Hivites and Amorites abandoned^o]">[o]
when the Israelites came here so long ago.
It will be utterly desolate.
¹⁰ Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you.
You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you.
So you may plant the finest grapevines
and import the most expensive seedlings.
¹¹ They may sprout on the day you set them out;
yes, they may blossom on the very morning you plant them,
but you will never pick any grapes from them.
Your only harvest will be a load of grief and unrelieved pain.

Verse 7 above tells us that it is only after God punishes us that we come to our senses. As that is true with God, it is also true with our children. If we didn't punish them to 'wake them up', they would continue on in their self-destructive ways. I guess a good prayer would be, "God, please do whatever you need to do to 'wake me up' - to get me on the right path."

February 4, 2010 (Isaiah 9-12, 2 Chronicles 27, Micah 1-7)

The readings today are varied. Here is the first verse that stuck out to me. We've seen the concept before, repeated over and over.

^{2 Chronicles 27:6} King Jotham became powerful because he was careful to live in obedience to the Lord his God.

And we've seen this concept over and over as well:

² Attention! Let all the people of the world listen!
Let the earth and everything in it hear.
The Sovereign Lord is making accusations against you;
the Lord speaks from his holy Temple.
³ Look! The Lord is coming!
He leaves his throne in heaven
and tramples the heights of the earth.
⁴ The mountains melt beneath his feet
and flow into the valleys
like wax in a fire,
like water pouring down a hill.
⁵ And why is this happening?
Because of the rebellion of Israel—
yes, the sins of the whole nation.

Chapter 6 is entitled 'God Pleads" in my Bible. Verse 8 tells us what God requires of us.

¹ Listen to what the Lord is saying:

“Stand up and state your case against me.
Let the mountains and hills be called to witness your complaints.
² And now, O mountains,
listen to the Lord’s complaint!
He has a case against his people.
He will bring charges against Israel.

³ “O my people, what have I done to you?
What have I done to make you tired of me?
Answer me!
⁴ For I brought you out of Egypt (your sinful state)
and redeemed you from slavery (eternal death).
I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to help you.
⁵ Don’t you remember, my people,
how King Balak of Moab tried to have you cursed
and how Balaam son of Beor blessed you instead?
And remember your journey from Acacia Grove to Gilgal,
when I, the Lord, did everything I could
to teach you about my faithfulness.”

⁶ What can we bring to the Lord?
What kind of offerings should we give him?
Should we bow before God
with offerings of yearling calves?
⁷ Should we offer him thousands of rams
and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
to pay for our sins?

⁸ No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.

⁹ Fear the Lord if you are wise!
His voice calls to everyone in Jerusalem:
“The armies of destruction are coming;
the Lord is sending them.

¹³ “Therefore, I will wound you!
I will bring you to ruin for all your sins.
¹⁴ You will eat but never have enough.
Your hunger pangs and emptiness will remain.
And though you try to save your money,
it will come to nothing in the end.
You will save a little,
but I will give it to those who conquer you.
¹⁵ You will plant crops
but not harvest them.
You will press your olives
but not get enough oil to anoint yourselves.
You will trample the grapes
but get no juice to make your wine.

And again, we continue to see the love and faithfulness of God. This is how He wants to respond to us. This is how He wants to treat us. But because of our treatment of Him, our turning to our own ways instead of Him, He cannot.

^{Micah 7:7} As for me, I look to the Lord for help.
I wait confidently for God to save me,
and my God will certainly hear me.
⁸ Do not gloat over me, my enemies!
For though I fall, I will rise again.
Though I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be my light.
⁹ I will be patient as the Lord punishes me,
for I have sinned against him.
But after that, he will take up my case
and give me justice for all I have suffered from my enemies.
The Lord will bring me into the light,
and I will see his righteousness.
¹⁰ Then my enemies will see that the Lord is on my side.
They will be ashamed that they taunted me, saying,
“So where is the Lord—
that God of yours?”
With my own eyes I will see their downfall;
they will be trampled like mud in the streets.

¹⁸ Where is another God like you,
who pardons the guilt of the remnant,
overlooking the sins of his special people?
You will not stay angry with your people forever,
because you delight in showing unfailing love.
¹⁹ Once again you will have compassion on us.
You will trample our sins under your feet
and throw them into the depths of the ocean!
²⁰ You will show us your faithfulness and unfailing love
as you promised to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob long ago.

February 3, 2010 (Amos 1-9)

I'm in the 'judgment' books, and it's not pretty. Here's how Amos starts:

³ This is what the Lord says: “The people of Damascus have sinned again and again,
and I will not let them go unpunished!

⁶ This is what the Lord says: “The people of Gaza have sinned again and again,
and I will not let them go unpunished!

⁹ This is what the Lord says: “The people of Tyre have sinned again and again,
and I will not let them go unpunished!

¹¹ This is what the Lord says: “The people of Edom have sinned again and again,
and I will not let them go unpunished!

¹³ This is what the Lord says: “The people of Ammon have sinned again and again,
and I will not let them go unpunished!

Amos 2

¹ This is what the Lord says: “The people of Moab have sinned again and again,
and I will not let them go unpunished!

⁴ This is what the Lord says:“The people of Judah have sinned again and again,
and I will not let them go unpunished!

They have rejected the instruction of the Lord,
refusing to obey his decrees.
They have been led astray by the same lies
that deceived their ancestors.
⁵ So I will send down fire on Judah,
and all the fortresses of Jerusalem will be destroyed.”

⁶ This is what the Lord says:“The people of Israel have sinned again and again,
and I will not let them go unpunished!

¹⁰ It was I who rescued you from Egypt
and led you through the desert for forty years,
so you could possess the land of the Amorites.
¹¹ I chose some of your sons to be prophets
and others to be Nazirites.
Can you deny this, my people of Israel?”
asks the Lord.

If you notice from above, God starts with all the 'enemies' of Israel. But He ends with Judah and Israel. Our "chosen ones" standing with Him does not excuse us of sin and its consequences.

Amos 3

¹ Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel and Judah—against the entire family I rescued from Egypt:

Let's personalize that verse:

Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, O Christians - against those I have rescued from the penalty of sin and death:

² “From among all the families on the earth,
I have been intimate with you alone.
That is why I must punish you
for all your sins.”

As I thought about the verse above, I thought of us who know God and have a relationship with Him. And I thought of the husband and wife relationship. When you are betrayed by a spouse, (or in the case of someone who has been intimate outside of marriage, by your partner), the pain and hurt are much deeper than you would experience if you were betrayed by a 'casual acquaintance'. There are consequences to our actions, and I think when we sin, it grieves God because of all He has done for us; because He has been intimate with us by removing the penalty of sin and bringing us into His family.

Let's put this into a modern day context. Let's think of John Edwards and his betrayal to his wife. Is she 'punishing' him for all his sins? I guess you could say that. She has broken off her relationship with him, and I would imagine he is paying a hefty financial price for his 'indiscretions'. If we could only see that our "adultery" with God causes the same pain to Him. How do we commit this adultery? By putting other things and pleasures before our relationship with Him. He desires intimacy. He has created us for intimacy. How do you accomplish intimacy? By sharing your heart. By valuing the relationship. By letting the person know they are number one in your life. By spending time with them. By sending little love notes. By doing something sacrificial for them. By showing love. By not expecting anything in return, except to be loved. And how do you know you are loved? By all the things expressed above. Why is it that we find it is easier to be intimate with a person than it is to be intimate with God? Because we can't see Him? Because we can't touch Him? That is why over and over the Bible says "the just shall live by faith". What is faith? Hebrews says "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see". Faith in our relationship with God is doing all the "intimate" things above with Him, by faith. Spending time in His word, not to "check off a box", but to know His heart. Speaking to Him throughout the day, even though you can't see Him, you know, by faith, He is there.

I went to BibleGateway and did a search on faith. I am more convinced than ever this is the key to the Christian life - from salvation (for you are saved by faith...not by works, lest any man should boast), to living the Christian life.

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm.

So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.

But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.

Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.

The book of Amos is filled with the proclamation of God's judgment on the people because they had turned from Him. But it ends with a promise of His restoration with the few that would repent. Instead of listing them all out, it all pales in comparison to the 'musings' about faith. I am going to go back and re-read that portion that talks about intimacy, and by faith, meet with my God.

February 2, 2010 (Isaiah 1-8)

Isaiah - here is what this book is all about, visions of what was to happen, but much pertains to us today.

¹ These are the visions that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. He saw these visions during the years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah.

It is pretty much a prediction of judgement against the people who had turned against following God.

This is what the Lord says:
“The children I raised and cared for
have rebelled against me.
⁴ Oh, what a sinful nation they are—
loaded down with a burden of guilt.
They are evil people,
corrupt children who have rejected the Lord.
They have despised the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.
⁵ Why do you continue to invite punishment?
Must you rebel forever?
Your head is injured,
and your heart is sick.

¹⁵ When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look.
Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen,
for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims.
¹⁶ Wash yourselves and be clean!
Get your sins out of my sight.
Give up your evil ways.
¹⁷ Learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Help the oppressed.
Defend the cause of orphans.
Fight for the rights of widows.

As I read that last verse I thought of Compassion International and their ongoing fight to help children. Whether they are orphaned or not, they are definitely oppressed. I'm grateful for their work, especially in Haiti, as I had no idea they had the presence there that they do. And all 74 of their full time staff came out of the earthquake alive. That is nothing other than the hand of God protecting them. Here is a brief article from the web...

Compassion International, the world's largest child development and sponsorship organization, received good news Monday that all of its Haitian staff members were alive and accounted for following last week's massive 7.0 earthquake that destroyed much of the nation's capital city of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas.

All 74 of Compassion's Haitian staff in the Port-au-Prince area have now had a chance to regroup outside their offices, making the office building's parking lot their interim meeting place while they wait to hear from Engineering Ministries International as to whether or not it is safe to go back inside. The staff briefly meets before going back out into the community assisting as many as 50 child development centers seriously impacted by the quake.

Compassion International is the world's largest Christian child development organization that permanently releases children from poverty. Founded in 1952, Compassion successfully tackles global poverty one child at a time, serving more than 1 million children in 26 of the world's poorest countries. Recognizing that poverty is more than a lack of money, Compassion works holistically through local churches to address the individual physical, economic, educational and spiritual needs of children, enabling them to thrive, not just survive. Charity Navigator, America's largest charity evaluator, has awarded Compassion its highest rating — four stars — for eight consecutive years.

These chapters are interspersed with some encouragement in the midst of the judgement. Again, a portrayal of the cleansing that can only come through Jesus.

¹⁸ “Come now, let’s settle this,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
I will make them as white as wool.
¹⁹ If you will only obey me,
you will have plenty to eat.
²⁰ But if you turn away and refuse to listen,
you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”

This snippet of encouragement caught my eye.

⁹
Unless your faith is firm,
I cannot make you stand firm.”

These chapters talk about the leaders and rulers depending on each others strengths instead of on God.

¹⁰ Later, the Lord sent this message to King Ahaz: ¹¹ “Ask the Lord your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead.”

¹² But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I will not test the Lord like that.”

But really, what had happened 'behind the scenes' was that Ahaz had already asked the King of Assyria to join forces with him. The footnote of my Bible says "He would trust his worst enemy before he would trust God." Obviously God knows what we try to hide from Him. Isaiah's response is also a prophecy of the birth of Christ.

¹³ Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? ¹⁴ All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). ¹⁵ By the time this child is old enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong, he will be eating yogurt and honey. ¹⁶ For before the child is that old, the lands of the two kings you fear so much will both be deserted.

¹⁷ “Then the Lord will bring things on you, your nation, and your family unlike anything since Israel broke away from Judah. He will bring the king of Assyria upon you!”

¹⁸ In that day the Lord will whistle for the army of southern Egypt and for the army of Assyria. They will swarm around you like flies and bees. ¹⁹ They will come in vast hordes and settle in the fertile areas and also in the desolate valleys, caves, and thorny places. ²⁰ In that day the Lord will hire a “razor” from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria—and use it to shave off everything: your land, your crops, and your people.

So the king that Ahaz had made an alliance with, would actually be the one to destroy him. I liked the visual impression I got when I read that God would 'whistle" for the other armies to destroy him. All nations do God's bidding, even though we usually don't see it that way. There needs to be a spiritual awakening in our country, or I'm afraid we are doomed for the same response.

And then, in chapter 8, finally some encouragement:

A Call to Trust the Lord

¹¹ The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does.
He said, “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
¹²and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.
¹³ Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you tremble.
¹⁴ He will keep you safe.

February 1, 2010 (Jonah, 2 Chronicles 26, 2 Kings 15)

Jonah - so much good stuff in the short, four chapter book. I'll try to hit the high points:

¹ The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: ² “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”

³ But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.

God told Jonah to give a message to the Ninevites, a message of judgement, giving them a chance to repent, but Jonah went the opposite direction - 'to get away from the Lord'. There is nowhere that we can go that will allow us to 'get away' from God. So he jumps on a ship heading the opposite direction and God causes a violent storm to overtake them. Long story short, they determine that it is Jonah that has 'angered the gods' and they confront him about it. Jonah knew that the storm was all his fault. He admitted as much and told them to throw him into the sea and the storm would stop. But they didn't want to do that to him. Here's the story:

¹³ Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it. ¹⁴ Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah’s God. “O Lord,” they pleaded, “don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.”

¹⁵ Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! ¹⁶ The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.

¹⁷ Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

So much good stuff in just those few short verses. God can use even our disobedience for His glory. The sailors were awestruck by the power of God and vowed to serve Him. And then we see that God had arranged for a great fish to be there at just the right time to swallow Jonah. Here's probably where some people think the Bible is just a bunch of 'fairy tales'. Do I understand how it could have happened, 'no'. Do I believe it happened, 'yes'.

So Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and nights. Plenty of time to think about his life and about how truly powerless he was. And finally, here is the last part of his 'musings':

⁷ As my life was slipping away,
I remembered the Lord.
And my earnest prayer went out to you
in your holy Temple.
⁸ Those who worship false gods
turn their backs on all God’s mercies.
⁹ But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise,
and I will fulfill all my vows.
For my salvation comes from the L ord alone.”

¹⁰ Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.

So God again tells him to go to Ninevah, and this time Jonah obeys. The Bible says the city was so large it took Jonah three days to see it all. So Jonah preaches a message of judgement and all the people took it to heart, from the king to the servants, and all of them fasted and tore their clothes to show repentance. And here was the King's response:

⁸ People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. ⁹ Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”

And here was God's response:

¹⁰ When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

Instead of paraphrasing, here is the final chapter:

Jonah 4

Jonah’s Anger at the Lord’s Mercy

¹ This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. ² So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. ³ Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.” (The wickedness of this city was well known. Jonah wanted them to die.)

⁴ The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”

⁵ Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. (Inwardly he was hoping that the city would be destroyed). ⁶ And the Lord God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant.

⁷ But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away. ⁸ And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!” he exclaimed.

⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”

“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”

¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. ¹¹ But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”

We see God's heart as compared to man's heart. God has a heart of compassion, love and mercy. I think the problem is that we don't see ourselves as God sees us. Jonah was probably comparing himself to the people of Ninevah and feeling rather 'righteous', instead of comparing himself against the holiness of God and seeing that he deserved the same punishment. So instead of being thankful for a merciful God that would spare not only the people of Ninevah but himself, he was a spoiled brat.

And now just a few things from 2 Chronicles 26:

⁵ Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. And as long as the king sought guidance from the Lord, God gave him success.

15b His fame spread far and wide, for the Lord gave him marvelous help, and he became very powerful.

¹⁶ But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against the Lord his God by entering the sanctuary of the Lord’s Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar. ¹⁷ Azariah the high priest went in after him with eighty other priests of the Lord, all brave men. ¹⁸ They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is the work of the priests alone, the descendants of Aaron who are set apart for this work. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have sinned. The Lord God will not honor you for this!” ¹⁹ Uzziah, who was holding an incense burner, became furious. But as he was standing there raging at the priests before the incense altar in the Lord’s Temple, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead. ²⁰ When Azariah the high priest and all the other priests saw the leprosy, they rushed him out. And the king himself was eager to get out because the Lord had struck him. ²¹ So King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in isolation in a separate house, for he was excluded from the Temple of the Lord.

We see God's judgement on Uzziah. I think it was because even when he was confronted with his sin, he did not repent.