Post by Woody Williams on Aug 14, 2007 8:28:16 GMT -5
Text for the Day -- II Chronicles 34:24-27, 31-33
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Thus says the LORD: I will indeed bring disaster upon this place and
upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book
that was read before the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken me
and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me
to anger with all the works of their hands, my wrath will be poured
out on this place and will not be quenched. But as to the king of
Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall you say to
him: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that
you have heard, because your heart was penitent and you humbled
yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and
its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me, and have
torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the
LORD. The king stood in his place and made a covenant before the
LORD, to follow the LORD, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and
his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the
words of the covenant that were written in this book. Then he made
all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin pledge themselves
to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem acted according to the
covenant of God, the God of their ancestors. Josiah took away all the
abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of
Israel, and made all who were in Israel worship the LORD their God.
All his days they did not turn away from following the LORD the God
of their ancestors.
Devotional
----------
God continually had to deal with kings and a people who failed to
remain committed to putting God at the center of their lives. They
often supplanted the kingdom of God with the kingdom of their own
desires and ambition. It never worked. It only brought God's judgment
upon them. God did not give up on them. God tirelessly worked toward
their renewal and reformation to keep them focused on God's kingly
reign. Do you find this to be true today?
Prayer
----------------
Renew my faith where it has grown to be only my faith and not the
faith given by your Holy Spirit, Lord. Amen
----------
Thus says the LORD: I will indeed bring disaster upon this place and
upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book
that was read before the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken me
and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me
to anger with all the works of their hands, my wrath will be poured
out on this place and will not be quenched. But as to the king of
Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall you say to
him: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that
you have heard, because your heart was penitent and you humbled
yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and
its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me, and have
torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the
LORD. The king stood in his place and made a covenant before the
LORD, to follow the LORD, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and
his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the
words of the covenant that were written in this book. Then he made
all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin pledge themselves
to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem acted according to the
covenant of God, the God of their ancestors. Josiah took away all the
abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of
Israel, and made all who were in Israel worship the LORD their God.
All his days they did not turn away from following the LORD the God
of their ancestors.
Devotional
----------
God continually had to deal with kings and a people who failed to
remain committed to putting God at the center of their lives. They
often supplanted the kingdom of God with the kingdom of their own
desires and ambition. It never worked. It only brought God's judgment
upon them. God did not give up on them. God tirelessly worked toward
their renewal and reformation to keep them focused on God's kingly
reign. Do you find this to be true today?
Prayer
----------------
Renew my faith where it has grown to be only my faith and not the
faith given by your Holy Spirit, Lord. Amen