Times of Transition, Day 45 Exile. Read 2 Kings chapter 25. As we conclude this study through the transition Israel experienced, as recorded in the books of Kings, we see the final leadership changes before complete and total captivity. Babylon has completely decimated the Judean army and the city. He is taking prisoners and relocating people. What people he does leave there in the land are the very poorest and least desirable people. Definitely not what anyone would have considered the best. Going through transition may seem really dark and difficult at times. In fact, often the transitions that we go through are not of our choosing and are not…

Times of Transition, Day 44 According to the Lord’s command. Read 2 Kings chapter 24. As we come to the end of the country of Judah, we see God doing exactly what he said he was going to do. There are consequences to sin. Those can be delayed at times and those can even be forgiven at times. But in this case, God understood that the people had been so evil for so long, and so unrepentant, that he promised judgment at the right time. God allowed that judgment to come in the form of the country of Babylon. They came in and destroyed Jerusalem, took its leadership captive and…

Times of Transition, Day 43 Cleaning house. Read 2 Kings 23. After Josiah humbled himself before the Lord as we saw in the chapter yesterday, this chapter he got busy. There was a lot of clean up that needed to happen. So many sins had been committed by the people od Judah, and Josiah knew that he had to completely remove the opportunity to sin. The quickest way to minimize sin is to remove the opportunities for temptation. So, Josiah set about doing that. He went through everything in the temple. Everything through Jerusalem. Everything through all the surrounding towns and cities. He methodically eliminated everything that was not designed…

Times of Transition, Day 42 Repentance. Read 2 Kings chapter 22. King Josiah was very young when he became king. He was not like his father as he actually believed in and followed God. He began a restoration project to the Temple, and as a result, they uncovered the book of the law. Many people believe this was the book of Deuteronomy. When this book was read to him, he immediately understood just how great the sin of the people of Judah had been and just how angry God was with the people. He immediately repented. He immediately humbled himself before the Lord. He knew that even as King, he…

Times of Transition, Day 41 The standard. Read 2 Kings chapter 21. The situation for Israel has gone from bad to worse. After King Hezekiah died, his son became one of the most evil Kings that Judah ever experienced. God continues to explain that he is going to judge them based on their sin. He further explains that it’s not just the King that has turned away, but it is all of the people of Judah as well. God explains that he is going to hold them to a standard that was so low because it was the standard for the other evil Kings that were overthrown by the Lord.…

Times of Transition, Day 40 All about me. Read 2 Kings chapter 20. Hezekiah was at the end of his life and he thought he was going to die. God extended his life, but Hezekiah made a mistake after that. As a result, God shared with him that the future would hold captivity and destruction for the people of Judah. What was Hezekiah’s response? He was just happy it wasn’t going to happen in his lifetime. He was much less concerned about what would happen in the lives of those who were left after him. When we think about all that God is doing in our lives, are we focused…

Times of Transition, Day 39 Response. Read 2 Kings chapter 19. Twice in this chapter, Hezekiah receives a word from the enemy king. Twice in this chapter the first thing he does is go directly to the Lord and lay it before God. We receive notice of lots of different things all day long. Do we take it directly to the Lord? Hezekiah didn’t try to figure out a response. In fact, he had no idea how to respond. Instead he took everything to the Lord and asked for God’s response. We have to be able to trust God and recognize that he has our best interest in mind. He…

Times of Transition, Day 38 Purpose. Read 2 Kings chapter 18. This chapter begins with a fascinating story of King Hezekiah and his encounter with the Assyrians. But before those details start, we read about how King Hezekiah essentially cleaned house through the country of Judah. I found this verse really interesting because what was a memorial to an amazing act of God actually had been turned into an idol. The story of the bronze snake that Moses created is a reminder of how God delivered the people. They had been disobedient and God allowed judgment in the form of deadly snakes. When they repented to God, he saved them.…

Times of Transition, Day 37 “They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.” Read 2 Kings chapter 17. The fall of Israel. As we read this chapter we see the last remaining bit of the country of Israel before it was taken over by the Assyrians. Israel had not had a single king who had followed the Lord. They had persisted in following all of the practices of the evil, idolatrous people of the land. They trusted in their idols to save them and that trust was misplaced. This statement really sums up exactly what happened, “They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.” We will become what we follow.…

Times of Transition, Day 36 Another new king, another way to do things. Read 2 Kings. Judah had a new king and unlike the previous king, the new king did not obey God. As a result, we see transition happening again. Now, instead of worship happening to the one true God in the temple that he had built, we see worship to many gods happening pretty much anywhere and everywhere throughout the land. There was no regard for anything being holy and no regard for God being truly over everything else. When we make everything in our lives of equal importance, then nothing is truly important. Everything becomes commonplace. We…