August 19 – 2 Kings 24-25 & 2 Chronicles 36

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from 2 Kings 24-25 & 2 Chronicles 36. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

Could you imagine being in a city when it came under siege? Could you imagine the famine and the sickness that would break out? Could you imagine having children not knowing the future of their safety and if they would have any quality of life? Could you imagine what the scenes would be like when the enemy finally came through those walls and began invading your home? These final days of Jerusalem were probably filled with every horrible thought that entered your mind plus many more.

It is all the result of God’s decision to no longer offer forgiveness to His chosen people. God chose not to forgive. Read these words again … “Surly 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, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive.” (2 Kings 24:3-4 NLT). Those final words hit me hard today… the Lord was not willing to forgive. All the horrible images that filled your mind when Babylon came in and conquered was because God’s mercy and grace were not being poured out like they had been so many times before.

Passages and stories like today make me even more grateful for the cross and what it represents. Jesus died on that cross. God determined through Jesus that once and for all He was going to provide the ultimate forgiveness for our sins. No longer does God have to determine if He is going to forgive another time … He has done it, Jesus is our mediator! For that we can rejoice!!!

July 13 – 2 Chronicles 27 & Isaiah 9-12

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from 2 Chronicles 27 & Isaiah 9-12. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

Hope. Do you live your life understanding you have hope? Do you feel like you have hope? Do you pursue your dreams, ambitions, desires knowing hope for you has been taken care of. Today’s reading is full of hope.

In chapter nine of Isaiah the added title (If your Bible has section titles this has often been added by the publishers and translators of your particular translation) tells about the hope of the Messiah. This chapter tells about one who will come from Galilee, the region north of Judah which is in the land of the nation of Israel, to reign forever on David’s throne. That idea of reigning forever on David’s throne signifies that this will be a different kind of kingdom than what Israel and Judah had ever experienced. We know the fulfillment of this prophecy to be the virgin birth of Jesus, born in Bethlehem but raised in Nazareth of Galilee.

The reading is also full of glimmers of hope for Israel and Judah. Destruction and exile has been hinted at over and over throughout the prophetical books. The end of the kingdom as they know it is going to be over. But God doesn’t leave them without hope. Throughout it he reminds them that they will return to their homeland. One day they will find a faithful remnant back in Jerusalem.

One of the strongest messages of the Bible is hope. If you belong to Jesus, if you call him Lord and Savior, then you have hope. You have hope in eternal life with Jesus in heaven. That is the greatest hope ever. 

July 8 – 2 Kings 15 & 2 Chronicles 26

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from 2 Kings 15 & 2 Chronicles 26. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

 

Photo Credit: Microsoft Office Clip Art

Chains are designed to be hard to break, depending on its design and how much weight you put on it. When you have a project in need of a chain you go to the hardware store and purchase the chain designed for your use and weight you need to put on it. Today in our reading we see a chain of kings in the northern kingdom of Israel who did not follow God. A chain of destruction had been created and it was very hard to break.

Look at your family chain. Maybe you come from a family where following God has not been part of it. Maybe you are the first in your family in generations to really live a life with a relationship with Jesus. Maybe you have stepped up and out and are working to break that chain. At times though you have noticed it is hard when you have family outings, or get togethers, or celebrations or simply conversations where they are trying to pull you back into the chain. Be the broken link in the chain and continue to lean on God and pull your strength from him. Maybe with your leaning on God you will establish a new chain for your family and the generations to come.

Maybe the chain for you is a family heritage that serves God. What a wonderful heritage for you? Work hard in your family to continue that chain and its strength as you pass on faith to the next generation. Do not be like the kings of Judah who seesawed in faith up and down with each new king who sat on the throne. Learn what it will take to raise kids who are devoted followers of Jesus.

June 21 – 2 Chronicles 10-12

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from ; 2 Chronicles 10-12. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

In our reading today we watched the division of the two kingdoms. Rehoboam would not listen to the council of his older advisors and angered the northern tribes into separation. They placed Jeroboam on the throne as their king. Jeroboam in a move to ensure complete separation from the southern kingdom erected golden calves, one at Bethel and the other at Dan. His purpose was to keep the Israelites from returning to Jerusalem to worship God. He feared that if they did, they might turn back to Judah, and begin to follow Rehoboam as their king.

What I wander is why did Jeroboam not learn from history? It may have been one thing to erect an entirely new temple, even modeled after the one in Jerusalem. It may have been one thing to keep the temple free of graven images, and simply make it a place to come and worship. Now God may have entirely rejected that and looked upon that decision as sinful. But it would have been far better than his choice. Did he not remember the reaction of Moses when seeing Aaron’s Golden calf? Did he not remember the course of action and how that angered God? Moses had to beg God not to destroy the people! So why didn’t he learn from the generations before?

It would be wise for us as Christians to learn from the mistakes of those who have come before us. Whether it was the justification many used to allow and support slavery in our country. The thought of it continuing today should sicken us. Whether it is division of churches over color of skin: we should work hard to learn from that and incorporate all people into our churches. We could even look back at the Catholic Church in the middle ages in Europe and see the sins of the Crusades and be careful to never repeat something similar. Learning from the sins of the people before is not what Jeroboam did, but it is certainly what we should do.

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