First I worked with a friend in need of some help with her business, then I was able to go see my twin granddaughters who were born 2 weeks ago. They are still in NICU but doing great. Then I brought home their big brother and sister for the evening and we came home to a primitive home - NO ELECTRICITY! We had cheese sandwiches and strawberries for supper. Power came back on about 8:15. Today is Sunday and I'm wondering what happened to my day! I went to church, then when I got home I edited pictures I have taken of the twins so I could send them to Walgreens to have them printed in an hour. I don't edit photos very often so it took me a long time to figure out the software to do what I want to do. Please pray for my daughter in law's grandmother who is in very poor health. She may not live to see the babies. One reason I wanted to get prints made. OK hope this wasn't too much "tmi" but this is where I am at.
Last but not least I am struggling with 2 Chronicles. This book of the bible is mostly history and I am not a lover of history. And it is painful because I am seeing king after king fail in their relationship walking with God. When God blesses he blesses greatly and it hurts me to see the nation of Israel walk away from their blessing. Fast forward to little old me. God has blessed me with much - am I throwing away my blessing or am I walking a walk that would be pleasing to God? Tough stuff! So this is my confession - I don't like plodding through history so I have put it on the back burner. BUT I need to carry on, follow through. So here we go! Pray for God's wisdom as I finish reading through 2 Chronicles.
Chapter 26 Verse 1-5 After Amaziah dies, his son Uzziah becomes the next king. Uzziah becomes king at the age of 16 and reigns for 52 years. Now usually it means when a King reigns a long time, God has blessed him with a long reign. Maybe we can see some good with this king. As when Amaziah did as a young king, Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.
Verses 6-15 This section details all that Uzziah accomplished. He won many battles and became well known for his strength all the way to Egypt. He built towers and fortified cities. He built wells in dessert areas. He also had a lot of livestock and he loved the soil so had much farmland.
Verse 16 Having all this success made Uzziah prideful. And this led to his downfall. He dishonors God by burning incense in the temple. God's law states that no king should be a priest. So he broke God's law by lighting incense in the temple - that is a job of the priest.
Verses 17-21 Azariah the priest, along with 80 other priests bravely go into the temple to tell King Uzziah that he cannot burn incense because that is breaking God's law. Only the descendants of Aaron the priest could be in this part of the temple. He has been unfaithful so he needs to leave. Uzziah becomes angry with the priests and God strikes him with leprosy. The chief priests sees this and quickly gets Uzziah out of the temple. Uzziah has leprosy until the day he dies. He lives in a seperate house and cannot go into the temple anymore. His son Jotham rules in his place.
Verses 22-23 Uzziah dies and is known for his leprosy. He may have done a lot of good while he was alive, but he is known for his leprosy. Lesson learned here- we need to consistantly obey and serve the Lord. We cannot just do as we please. How sad that this king is known for one foolish mistake and not for all the good he did. Sin just does not pay.
Chapter 27 is a short chapter. Just 7 verses long. Jotham became king at the age of 25 and reigned for 16 years. Jotham did what was right in the eyes of the Lord like his father, but did not enter into the temple, to avoid what happened to his father. Verse 3 the people continued their corrupt ways - so they may have acted this way while Uzziah was king. Jotham continues to restore buildings, wins battles and grows powerful as he walks with God. And he dies. Ahaz his son becomes king.
Chapter 28 Verses 1-4 Ahaz is 20 years old when he becomes king, and reigns for 16 years. Now Ahaz was a bad king, and he did not walk with the Lord as King David did. He worshiped idols and sacrificed his sons in fires. God finds these to be detestable. I cannot imagine why anyone would dream up killing their children as a sacrifice. How awful!
Verses 5-8 Because of Ahaz sinful behavior, God allowed the king of Aram defeat Judah, taking many of the people as prisoners. Israel also battled against Judah and inflicted many casualties. All that hard work of his father and grandfather gone because of his sinful nature. And the people were sinful too.
Verses 9-15 A prophet name Obed goes to the Israel leaders and says they have already offended God in the past, and now they bring in prisoners from Judah. The captives have already offended God so this is like adding insult to insult. So they clothed the prisoners and send them to the city of Jericho.
Verses 16-21 Meanwhile King Ahaz - his kingdom continues to decline because of his sinful nature.
Verses 22-27 King Ahaz continues to do evil, moving away from God until the end of his life. He worshiped other idols. He burned incense to other gods which angered God. He died a natural death but was not buried with the tomb with the other kings.
Father God, we see the legacy of three kings today. We see God blesses kings and their nations when they walk with God and we see your wrath when people choose not to follow you. I pray that we seek you and continue to walk in your ways. It is important to read about our heritage let us learn and grow from this. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
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