That Time Solomon’s Temple Was Looted and Boarded Up. 2 Chronicles 29:15-16.

My Uncle Bob’s farm had the most perfect house set on a hill. The house was always filled with happy voices and laughter and the smells of a wood fire in the fireplace and something delicious in the kitchen. The view from the front porch was the most peaceful thing I have ever seen.

But hidden in some trees down by the barn was an abandoned old house that my cousins and I would explore. The boards on the porch were loose; you just knew you were about to fall through. Inside the house there was junk everywhere: old torn childrens’ books, broken toys, trash, empty hangers, rusty odds and ends. The kitchen cabinets were empty. I remember a toilet with a dead rat in it—the biggest rat I’d ever seen. The roof was leaking, wallpaper peeling, mold creeping. Windows broken. Doors stood open. Vermin and varmints came and went: termites, roaches, rats, worse. The last time I saw that house it had sunk into its own collapse like a cardboard box in the rain. The forest was growing up through it, swallowing it.

King Ahaz may have been the worst of all the kings in Israel and Judah. Though many of the Hebrew kings tolerated or even encouraged idol worship, only King Ahaz looted Solomon’s temple, then closed and locked its doors.

“And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem” 2 Chronicles 28:24.

Throughout Ahaz’s 16-year reign the temple remained closed, and the temple courts became a junkyard.

Even a gold-plated temple will fall into disrepair when abandoned. But worse than that, imagine the spiritual life of Jerusalem! God had given his people the priesthood, the sacrifices, the law of Moses—everything they needed to worship him, but the idol-worshipping King Ahaz took it away. Then King Ahaz died and his son, Hezekiah became king in his place.

With a king as bad as Ahaz, it would seem that giving his son the crown would only perpetuate the problem. But in fact, Hezekiah was a good king, choosing to follow the examples of his grandfather and great-grandfather rather than his father.

King Hezekiah gathered the priests and the Levites and instructed them to clean and restore the temple and its courts.

“It is in mine heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us” 2 Chronicles 29:10.

The passage then names 14 men chosen to lead teams of men doing the cleaning. Somewhere between 50 and 150 men must have helped clean the temple and its courts.Yet, the job still took them more than two weeks.

“And they gathered their brethren and they sanctified themselves, and they came … to cleanse the house of the Lord. And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord” 2 Chronicles 29:15-16.

After sixteen days the Levites had cleansed and sanctified the temple and the temple courts. Soon Hezekiah rededicated the temple by sacrificing thousands of sheep and cattle, then he led the nation to celebrate Passover for the first time since the reign of King Solomon, some 200 years before, 2 Chronicles 30:26.

Hezekiah observed under his father’s leadership the crumbling state not only of the temple, but of the spiritual life of the nation, and he became a great reformer. In spite of the failures of the man who raised him, King Hezekiah brought repentance and revival to the nation and was one of the greatest kings in Judah’s history.

Dear God, may we rise above the limitations of our parents! Challenge us to do better and go further than our parents may have. Call us to a deeper relationship with you, to a deeper faith and a deeper devotion. Use us to bring hope, grace, and truth to those around us. May we abide in the vine and bear much fruit! John 15:5.

AΩ

Humiliation Stories. Isaiah 2:11-17.

The tales are legendary. Ford rejected the minivan, arrogantly believing Americans would buy what Ford told them to buy—more station wagons. Struggling Chrysler, led by former Ford executive Lee Iacocca, said yes to minivans and saved its business (sinking the station wagon forever). Hitler paid his architect, Albert Speer, to design a new Berlin—a capitol that was to last a thousand years, but the warmongering nation was destroyed before a single building was built. Shipbuilders designed the greatest ship ever made and claimed it was “unsinkable.” But the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage. Even Casey, the make-believe baseball player in the popular poem Casey at the Bat, goes from hero to zero when he arrogantly ignores two good pitches, then loses the game for his team when he swings at and misses the third.

Pride is a tricky thing. We need enough confidence to believe we can compete with others, yet not so much that we think we are better than others.

But what if you actually are better than others? The student who is the valedictorian does not simply think he is the best; he knows he has achieved better grades than everyone else. What should a valedictorian think? Or the football star or the musical prodigy? When we achieve a worthy goal, how are we to think of ourselves? What should a high achiever think?

Consider the advice of the Apostle Paul—a leader of the early church who was not only tough-as-nails, but possibly the most intelligent and well-educated of all Biblical writers. The prolific church planter wrote more books of the Bible than anyone else. Yet, this successful man of God repeatedly emphasized the importance of humility. This is how a high achiever should think:

“Let no one among you think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but think so as to have sound judgment” Romans 12:3.

Pride puts a target on your back: a target sighted-in by a sharpshooter no less talented than God himself.

“God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” James 4:6.

Don’t be proud. You do not want God opposed to you.

God humbles people: “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down” Isaiah 2:11.

As if to make the point even more clear, God humbles the earth itself!

The Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty … and he shall be brought low.

And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, and upon all the oaks of Bashan.

And upon all the high mountains and upon all the hills that are lifted up.

And upon every high tower and every fenced wall.

And upon the ships of Tarshish.

And upon all pleasant pictures [great works of art] Isaiah 2:12-16.

Imagine that. God humbles arrogant people. He humbles impressive cedars and oaks. He humbles the Rocky Mountains, the Himalayas, and the Alps. He humbles the hills in the Texas Hill country. He humbles towers, skyscrapers, tall bridges, and monuments. He humbles every impressive building and edifice. He humbles ships, yachts, trains. He humbles museums, palaces, and all the greatest art collections.

“And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down” Isaiah 2:17.

Dear God, make us humble. Give us wisdom. Show us how to “think so as to have sound judgment.” Remind us to be grateful, to remember the question “what do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7) and that “every good and perfect gift comes from above” (James 1:17). Make us grateful. We know everything we have—every gift, talent, and achievement—comes from you. We humble ourselves before you.

AΩ

Is it Better to Arrest a Villain or Gun Him Down? Isaiah 28:21.

I once polled my friends on Facebook about their favorite films that end with the death of the villain. There were so many good answers: The wicked witch falls off a cliff in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Emperor Palpatine falls to his death in Return of the Jedi. While fighting Frodo for the ring, Smeagol falls into lava in Return of the King. The Joker falls from a gargoyle in Batman. Air Force One ends with the president throwing the bad guy out of an airplane. Die Hard ends with Hans Gruber falling from Nakatomi Tower. Beauty and the Beast ends with Gaston falling from the roof of the castle. The Lion King ends with Scar falling from Pride Rock and being attacked by hyenas. Even Les Miserables includes Javert’s satisfying leap from the bridge[1].

We love to see the bad guy get it in the end, don’t we? We want him to suffer enough that the punishment fits the crime.

Do we want our villains to be arrested and put on trial? No! Audiences want heroes to take the law into their own hands—and putting a fictional villain in handcuffs is almost never an option, not even for fictional police officers. Most writers of police dramas are experts at creating situations in which the hero neatly kills off the villain in a gun battle rather than arresting him and leaving the plot to creep along on the slow wheels of justice.

The courtroom may be the bedrock on which civilization is built, but no one finds the process entirely satisfying, not even King Solomon, Ecclesiastes 8:11.

Thus, we root for heroes who take the law into their own hands. We want vengeance. We want blood. We want the villain to die a horrible death, preferably one in which he sees the end coming and discovers too late that it is all his fault.

God sees things differently. People love to talk about the wrath of God, as though it were his defining characteristic. It is not. God defines himself when he says “God is love” 1 John 4:8. Does God understand anger? Yes. Does God feel anger? Yes. But God does not root for anger.

Some writers speak of God’s wrath as having two parts: God’s Passive Wrath and God’s Active Wrath. God’s passive wrath is built into our world. Yes, you reap what you sow. Your sin leads to its own natural consequences, like a poisonous weed in the middle of a nutritious farm:

“Judgment springeth up like a hemlock in the furrows” Hosea 10:4.

But when it comes to his active wrath, God does not indulge his wrath lightly. Though humans love to see the bad guy suffer, God is different. He restrains himself. Why? First, because he is not one of us, a mere man. Second, because he is holy.

“I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee” Hosea 11:9.

I imagine myself asking God about this: I whine, “Why don’t you smite that bad guy?”

And God looks down his nose at me, his face a mixture of pity and scorn, like a slightly irritated older brother. “What? You think I am like YOU? I am most certainly NOT like you. I am not a man! Ha. I am holy. I control my anger.”

Those who read the Old Testament (or a few parts of it, let’s be honest) and describe the so-called “Old Testament God” as vengeful, understand neither the Old Testament nor God. God describes himself as merciful and “his lovingkindness is everlasting” Psalm 136.

More importantly, God describes his wrath as unusual, even strange:

“For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act” Isaiah 28:21.

God will execute wrath. But God considers wrath to be a strange work, an unusual thing. Wrath is not the norm for God. What is the norm? Love, mercy, and lovingkindness. Just look at the cross.

What does God do for villains and sinners? He dies on the cross to make atonement for their sins.

Something tells me God might respond differently to the endings of our favorite movies. Even knowing most of them are fictional tales about characters that do not exist and have no soul, I’m not sure God’s first response would be to root for the death of the villain. After all, he is God and not a man, the Holy One in the midst of thee.

God, make us more like you. Help us understand a bit more about your holiness, your mercy, and your lovingkindness that is everlasting. May we root for truth and justice, but may we root for the gospel even more. Remind us to pray for our enemies, Matthew 5:44. Remind us to pray for their salvation.

AΩ

[1] While making this list, I was surprised by this common trope: so many falls! Apparently, as much as we enjoy the supposed “justice” of a dead villain, we don’t like our hero to get his hands dirty. Oh, we like it sometimes—for especially sinister villains in darker situations. But for family films like Beauty and the Beast, we may cheer while the Beast fights Gaston, but we don’t want the Beast to hurl the man off the roof. Instead, we want Gaston to slip in the rain so our hero has no blood on his hands. Contrast this kinder, gentler sensibility with the blood sports so common in the gladiatorial contests of ancient Rome. You know what I think? I think Christianity has taught our civilization mercy. Countless people with no interest in the faith have nevertheless adopted the compassion it teaches. Men are not the brute beasts we once were.

Men Prefer Justice, But God Prefers Mercy Because He is God and Not a Man. Hosea 11:9.

Pictured: “The Death of Socrates,” by Jacques-Louis David, 1787. Socrates was convicted of “corrupting the youth of Athens” because he asked hard questions about the Greek gods they all served. In the painting, Socrates, who is still teaching, bravely faces his sentence of death by hemlock tea, while his admirers and students look on in despair. Old Plato, seated at the end of the bed, can’t watch.

Human stories elevate men of power and violence, from Homer’s nearly 3,000-year-old epic the Odyssey to TV’s Breaking Bad and everything in between. But God, who is infinitely ‘bigger, faster, and stronger,’ is unimpressed by the destructive anger of a man, considering it a distinctly human reaction, James 1:20. God restrains his wrath. Why?

“Because I am God and not man” Hosea 11:9.

God taught his people about himself using the STREET THEATER performed through the lives of his prophets—and no prophet was called to anything more challenging than Hosea. I believe God chose Hosea for this task because he was a man of mercy and not wrath.

“Go. Take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms. For the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord” Hosea 1:2.

By choosing a prophet with an adulterous wife, God was accusing the Hebrew people of being adulterous, and warning them about the coming judgment.

God will judge. But God will also show mercy. Perhaps that is a unique aspect of Hosea’s message: a groom demands a bride be faithful and true–executing justice. But because Hosea loves his wife, as God loves his people, Hosea will forgive her unfaithfulness–executing mercy.

Jesus loves his bride the church the same way: he demands faithfulness and will judge our sins (while we are on earth), but he is deeply compassionate too, forgiving us over and over.

Hosea’s Messages of Judgment:

“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind” Hosea 8:7. This is one of the most famous lines in the book of Hosea.

“For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away. I will take away and none shall rescue him” Hosea 5:14.

God continues the lion/wild animal metaphor: “I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her cubs, and will tear her heart out. I will devour them like a lion” Hosea 13:8.

“Woe unto them! For they have fled from me. Destruction unto them! Because they have transgressed against me though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me” Hosea 7:13.

“The days of recompense have come … they have deeply corrupted themselves” Hosea 9:7,9.

“They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant, thus judgment springeth up like a hemlock in the furrows of the field” Hosea 10:4 (Hemlock is a poisonous plant that will kill nearly any mammal that ingests it.) Notice how God describes justice–it is like a dangerous weed that simply pops up in the middle of a field of edible crops. Is that not exactly the way God’s passive judgment works? We sin and then we reap what we sow. Bad consequences “springeth up like a hemlock in the furrows of the field.”

Hosea’s Messages of Mercy:

As noted above, God warns and warns of coming judgment. But God is a God of mercy and great compassion. His adulterous bride angers him, but he will never stop loving her.

“Break up the fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord” Hosea 10:12.

God reminds people that Jacob wrestled with the angel, that he actively sought God’s blessing—and he received it: “By his strength he had power with God. Yea, he had power over the angel and prevailed. He wept and made supplication” Hosea 12:3-4.

“For I desire mercy and not sacrifice” Hosea 6:6.

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt, have I called my son” Hosea 11:1. (This reference to the nation of Israel is also a Messianic prophecy, which will be fulfilled when Mary and Joseph and young Jesus return from years living in Egypt.)

“Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? Who is prudent, and he shall know them? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them, but the transgressors shall fall therein” Hosea 14:9.

Finally, God explains why he is more merciful than we are, that he is more forgiving, more compassionate, and more loving.

Human nature elevates the angry, powerful, and violent. But God does not operate that way. Indeed, God declares that he is merciful because he is NOT a man.

“I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man. The Holy One in the midst of thee” Hosea 11:9.

God, may we walk in holiness. Fill us with integrity and obedience. And make us compassionate and forgiving as you are. Fill us with mercy and love for people—mercy and love rooted in God our strength. May we be strong in you—strong enough to forgive and show mercy to those who need it.

AΩ
* Note the apt language of Hosea 10:4: “They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant, thus judgment springeth up like a hemlock in the furrows of the field” Hosea 10:4. What an excellent description of God’s Passive Judgment–the way consequences seem to grow out of our actions, like a poisonous weed popping up in the middle of a beautiful crop. I realize I wrote most of this above, but I like this so much, I wanted to note it again. Guess I’ll have to memorize it!

PS. The poisonous Hemlock plant, a shrub, is not to be confused with the unrelated “Hemlock Tree,” a non-poisonous pine that became known as Hemlock because it gives off a similar odor.

“My People Are Destroyed for Lack of Knowledge” Hosea 4:6.

On the day you were born, our society began pushing knowledge and education on you:

Knowledge is Power.

Readers are Leaders.

Teach a Man to Fish …

But to whom does that apply? Does everyone need education? Yes. Everyone needs an education appropriate to the culture in which they will live. A Tibetan proverb says, “A child without an education is like a bird without wings.” That is at least as true in our nation as in Tibet. Similarly, Mortimer Adler said, “The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue living.”

John Dewey said it more succinctly: “Education is life.”

My own educational years were fraught with difficulty. I was always in trouble at school—and then suddenly I would produce some great project that shocked everyone. The entire odyssey was a rollercoaster of highs and lows that defined my life until I finished law school. Add to that a year of substitute teaching, seven years teaching high school (before law school), ten years (and counting) teaching college, and I can’t help but have passionate opinions about education. I even wrote a book about it.[1]  It is no surprise that I am drawn to this verse from Hosea:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee” Hosea 4:6.

This is one of those general statements that can be used to promote almost anything. You might use it as a proof text to encourage readers to go to college, or read more books, or read the daily paper, or read more about taking vaccines, or not taking vaccines, or taking classes online, or reading outside your own echo chamber (that is, read the work of those with whom you disagree).

But this passage refers to a specific kind of education. God says his people are ruined because the priests are not teaching them how to follow God’s law. They are like Christians who do not know how to walk with God.

It is possible to give all the years of your life to Christ, but neglect to give him all of the days.

You may surrender your heart for eternity. But have you surrendered all your choices for today?

I know you want to go to heaven when you die. But do you want to obey the Lord during the next hour?

What if he asks you to read the Bible for a few minutes? Or to pray? To spend time with him? Do you know how to do that, or are you “destroyed for lack of knowledge”?

There are skills to spending time with God. They are not difficult, but they do require a bit of education.

Read the Bible. Read the easiest parts first.* Skip anything you find painfully dull or confusing. Just skip it! You can always read it later.

Use a devotional book to help you see how the scripture applies to your life today.

When you find short passages that are life-changing, write them down so you can memorize the verses, and begin to PRAY God’s word.

Learn to use his words in your prayers.

When you talk to God, consider five keys to prayer: 1) Confess sins, 2) Praise God—tell him about his attributes (and it’s okay to incorporate music into your praise and worship!), 3) Thank him for all that he has done, 4) Intercede for the needs of others, and 5) Petition God for things that you want and need. (Write down these five steps and begin to keep a written prayer list so you can experience the joy of seeing your prayers answered.)

Finally, learn how to SHARE the word of God with others. There are specific tools that can be a tremendous help when people cross your path. Educate yourself about how to share your faith, and the many tools that can make it so much easier.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” Hosea 4:6.

God, teach us. Educate us so that we can be effective disciples of Christ. Fill us with a love for your word. May we come to it with excitement, looking forward to the adventure and excited about what we will learn. Teach us to be your disciples, to Read the word, Apply the word, Memorize the word, Pray the word, and Share the word with others.

AΩ

[1] https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-As-Journey-Professor/dp/B0CFZC2KJ9?ref_=ast_author_dp

*For many people, reading the easiest parts first might look something like this: Genesis, Exodus, the four gospels, Acts, Proverbs, then the epistles (letters) of the New Testament.

Big Erik Won’t Be on Top Forever. Isaiah 10:15.

When I was in junior high my friend Chris got jumped by a kid named Mike at the 7-11. The two were in the grass outside the store fighting when Big Erik, a much larger, much older boy came along and attacked Mike. Fortunately for Chris, he happened to be losing that particular fight. Big Erik said as much: “Lucky for you, you were on the bottom. ‘Cause I always take the side of whoever’s losing.”

Once Big Erik intervened, the fight was over and Mike went home. I know the situation: Mike was bullying Chris. What I don’t know, but can assume, is that Mike had also been bullied. He probably had an older brother or cousin or maybe a grown man, a stepfather perhaps, who bullied him. It is not unusual.

Here’s the thing: you’re not going to stay on top forever. You may be the winner today, but you’ll be the loser tomorrow. Mike might have had the upper hand on Chris. But he couldn’t handle Big Erik.

You can’t win ‘em all, and you can’t stay on top forever.

God is interested in the nations. He chose Israel to be his “chosen race” or “chosen people.” But he used them to bear witness to other nations—sometimes from a place of strength, other times from a place of humility.

For centuries, Egypt was on top, wielding overwhelming power. But following the miracles, the plagues, and the exodus of this “nation” of slaves, the people of Egypt were so amazed, they showered the Jews with gifts and plunder.

Next the Philistines were on top. They were a constant thorn in Israel’s side. But God used Samson, David, and even the ark of the covenant to humble the Philistines.

Then God gave Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon power over the captive people. Babylon was on top. But God used miracles and prophets to humble Babylon.

Then Persia was on top. But the Persian king gave the Hebrews their freedom. (King Cyrus the Great of Persia was one who did not have to learn the hard way.)

Then Assyria was on top. While the kingdom was divided, God used Assyria to humble the northern kingdom (which called itself “Israel”). God called Assyria the “Rod of His Anger” because he used the cruelty of Assyria to humble Israel.

“O Assyria, the rod of mine anger, the staff in your hand is mine indignation. I will send [Assyria] against a hypocritical nation [Israel], and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets” Isaiah 10:5-6.

God will employ Assyria like a rod to discipline Israel—just as God previously used Egypt, Philistines, Babylon, Persia, and others. But then God will turn his attention to … Assyria.

“Wherefore, it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks” Isaiah 10:12.

Assyria became prideful. God never tolerates pride.

“Shall the ax boast against him that swings it? Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that uses it?” Isaiah 10:15.

What is an ax or a saw? A tool. Assyria is a tool in God’s hand. God loves Israel. But he uses Egypt, the Philistines, Babylon, Persia, Assyria, and others to humble his people. And then God sends others to humble the nations God had sent to humble Israel.

“He makes nations great and destroys them. He enlarges nations, then disperses them” Job 12:23.

Be humble. You may be on top today, but you can’t stay on top forever.

“God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble” James 4:6.

AΩ

The Fear of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 28:15.

Image: the famous “Earthrise” photo captured by the crew of Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve, 1968.

Part One: a Challenge to Put Some Effort into Your Bible Reading.

Most of us believe we ought to read the Bible. Many of us start. But finishing is a real challenge and a significant accomplishment.

The Good Book, is the book of books, the single most widely read book in history. When you read the Bible, you are reading words that people have been reading for thousands of years. Those Old Testament scriptures? Jesus read them too. So did Matthew and the Apostle Paul and John the Baptist and so many others. The New Testament? Who has not read it? Winston Churchill read it. George Washington read it. Abraham Lincoln read it. Everyone who ever attended an American or European school in the last 1500 years has read parts of the Old and New Testaments (though that is not as common today as it was in previous centuries).

Moving your eyes across the pages of the Bible is like walking the streets of Rome, London, or New York–the whole world has been there before you. Use your imagination. Think of all the greats from history: William Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, JFK, MLK, FDR, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Handel, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, General Lee and General Grant, Patton and MacArthur, and on and on and on. Some read the Bible over and over, like Isaac Newton (who was more interested in theology than science). On Christmas Eve, 1968, three astronauts, the first to orbit the moon, read the Bible’s creation account from Genesis 1:1-10 to a worldwide television audience of over one BILLION people. (They say one in four people on earth was listening to the reading.) The astronauts closed their moving reading this way:

“And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas–and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.”

When you read the Bible, your mind is following a train of thought–walking a mental path–that has been walked countless times by many of your heroes, whether artists, scientists, explorers, generals, brilliant thinkers, passionate musicians, kings, queens, and many of the greatest men and women of history. When you sit down to read the Bible, you join this “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) who read the Bible and whose lives were changed by it, before you were even born.

Get up in the morning, come to the Book of Books, and commune with the greatest minds in history! Join them. Think their thoughts. Open your mind to what God has to say.

But again, this is not light reading—and we are a people who read less and less with each passing year. Not because we cannot read, but because we are so easily distracted by lesser things.

Remember that the Bible is not an easy read. You will not read it at all—and you will not read it well—without some kind of plan.

One challenging part of the Bible story is the history of the kings of Judah and Israel. To understand this difficult period, you will need to pay close attention. Look at charts and timelines provided in study Bibles. Write notes. Read a chronological Bible to see which prophets lived alongside which kings. There are many tools available. Use some of them.

Reading about some of these wars and alliances reminds me of studying multi-party litigation in law school. We were encouraged to draw pictures in order to keep track of all the claims and counterclaims. The war between Israel and Judah in 734 B.C. is similarly complicated. I had to make a diagram to figure it out…

Part Two: a Story About the Fear of the Lord.

The story begins with an evil king. King Ahaz of Judah was the grandson of the good king Uzziah (2 Kings 15:3) and the son of the good king Jotham (2 Chronicles 27:2). But King Ahaz was not good at all, even sacrificing his child to a pagan god.

“Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, … and he did not that which was good in the sight of the Lord his God, like David, his father. But … made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen” 2 Kings 16:2-3.

King Pekah of Israel made an alliance with King Rezin of Syria, and those two nations laid siege against King Ahaz of Judah (a siege is like the Alamo–your walled city is surrounded and its supply lines are cutoff).

While under siege, King Ahaz managed to send a plea for help—along with all his silver and gold—to Tiglath-Peleser, King of Assyria, and Assyria agreed to come to the aid of King Ahaz, 2 Kings 16:9.

The result was a fairly simple, four-nation war: Israel and Syria versus Judah and Assyria.

Assyria made one quick move: while Israel and Syria were busy with their siege outside Jerusalem, Assyria attacked Syria at home (Damascus), killed King Rezin of Syria, and took the people of the city captive (2 Kings 16:9).

However, in spite of massive casualties suffered by Syria back home in Damascus, Syria nevertheless won the war in Jerusalem:

“Wherefore the Lord his God delivered [Ahaz] into the hand of the king of Syria … and he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. For Pekah [king of Israel] slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day” 2 Chronicles 28:5-6.

Remember Jacob, father of Joseph and his eleven brothers? Jacob whom God renamed Israel? Generations later, Jacob’s children are now killing each other in all-out war.

It gets worse. After killing 120,000, the army of Israel captured 200,000 of their cousins, the citizens of Judah, in order to force them into slavery.

“And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria [the capitol city of Israel]” 2 Chronicles 28:8.

But this is the moment in which cooler heads prevailed. The prophet Oded spoke up, rebuking those who returned from war with the captive Israelites. Then four leaders of the tribe of Ephraim spoke up, demanding the captives be released.

“So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation. And the men … rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren. Then they returned to Samaria” 2 Chronicles 28:14-15.

What do you think of when you hear the phrase,

“the Fear of the Lord”?

We often think of fear, of course, of being somehow scared of God, or of God’s wrath. But think instead of mercy. Think of compassion.

When we possess the fear the Lord, we exercise mercy and compassion.

It is the fear of God that caused these Israelites to let go of their anger and rivalry against Judah.

It is the fear of God that motivated them to release 200,000 captives.

The fear of God caused them to find clothes for their enemies—who were also their cousins.

The fear of God caused them to find shoes for them and to feed them and give them something to drink.

Because they feared God, they anointed the captured (treating them with the hospitality due to guests), dressing their wounds and providing for any who were injured.

The fear of God caused them to provide donkeys so the weak or elderly or injured would not have to walk back to their homes in Judah.

The men of Israel were ready to destroy their brothers, the people of Judah—and in doing so, to bring great wrath on themselves. But the words of the prophet Oded caused them to snap out of it. Because they feared God, they released their anger and showed compassion to their enemies. This is the fear of the Lord in action.

Do you fear the Lord enough to forgive your enemies? Do you fear the Lord enough to show them compassion?

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” Matthew 5:44.

Dear God, teach us to study your word with EFFORT, to bring our best to the Bible: attention, effort, and eagerness. Fill us with a healthy fear of the Lord. May we show compassion to people–not only friends and family, but anyone you bring across our path.

AΩ

*Some say the “Earthrise” picture is the most important photograph ever taken.

HOPE REMAINS. Amos 9:13-15.

My elementary school selected well-behaved sixth graders to serve as “patrols.” Their main duty was to stand on the curbs and use flags to control traffic before and after school. But patrols also had hall monitoring duties for those who showed up early. Early arrivals were supposed to sit behind the line and behave calmly. It was a struggle. When you misbehaved, the patrols would report you. I remember watching this scenario, completely mystified. Even as a first grader, the impossibly tall sixth graders seemed too young for such heady responsibility. I listened to my peers to learn the ropes:

“Brian! I’m going to report you!”

“No, please! Give me a second chance.”

“I already gave you a second chance.”

“But can you just give me a third chance? Pleeeease?”

“Okay. But this is your last chance.”

“Okay! Right on!”

I was amazed. What was this ‘chance’ they spoke of? We never had ‘chances’ at home, or at church or at mother’s day out. The word ‘chance’ immediately became part of my vocabulary. Soon I was begging everyone for second chances, third chances, and more—patrols, teachers, my parents, everyone.

No matter how badly we fail, doesn’t everyone want another chance, a bit of hope? No matter how dark the tunnel, aren’t we motivated by that spot of light at the other end? Who can live without hope?

God is the ultimate expert on human nature, and he knows how desperately we need hope. How many times do God’s prophets pronounce judgment only to follow it up with the promise of restoration? God is so full of compassion, he almost always offers hope to those who will repent.

In the book of Amos, God pronounces chapter after chapter of judgment on the people of Judah and Israel.

“Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel” Amos 4:12.

“Let judgment run down like waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream” 5:24. (This line was quoted by Martin Luther King in his “I Have a Dream” speech.)

“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion” 6:1 (This is one of the most famous lines in the book of Amos.)

“Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel” 7:8.

God promises to send devastating judgments: plague, famine, poverty, and war (see Amos 4). But perhaps the worst judgment is silence:

“Behold, the days are coming, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it” Amos 8:11-12.

This prophecy would be fulfilled during the 400 years of silence before Gabriel announced the birth of Christ. Imagine four centuries without a word from God. Some of us become anxious if we can’t “feel God” for two or three days. Imagine ten generations of silence from heaven.

Yet, God promises hope. There is always hope—because God knows how badly we need it. “He knows our frame. He is mindful that we are but dust” Psalm 103:14.

Notice that Amos ends his book with words of great hope:

“Behold, the days are coming, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed, and the mountains shall drip sweet wine … And I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the … cities, and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof. They shall make gardens and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant [the people] in the land, and they shall no more be pulled up….” Amos 9:13-15.

There is always hope, 1 Corinthians 13:13.

God always offers hope.

“I don’t think people can live without hope. What oxygen is to the lungs, hope is to our survival in this world. And the Bible is filled with hope.” –Billy Graham.

God, thank you for hope! No matter how dark our days might be, there is always hope. Hope for healing and restoration. Hope on earth, and hope for a beautiful eternity in heaven. Make us prophets, evangelists, missionaries of HOPE in a world with so little. May our lives and our words bring hope to all who know us.

AΩ

God Bless Our Preachers and Teachers. Jonah 1 and 2.

A pastor’s life is not an easy one. Here’s a typical day for one pastor I know: up at 5 to spend time with the Lord, head to the gym at 6 where he spends 30 minutes swimming laps, then runs and lifts weights. He is in the office by 8 and has meetings all day. His daily planner—one dedicating an entire page to a single day—is completely full. Every hour has a meeting or telephone conference. His evenings and weekends are similarly structured. Frankly, I am not sure whether to admire him or pity him. But I do not question him: decades of experience have taught him the level of busy-ness necessary for his work. He is the administrative pastor of a very large church. He carries a great deal of responsibility. It is not an easy job.

And it’s not just the hours or the stress. I recently imagined myself in my pastor’s shoes, and I instantly knew that my life would not be my own. Neither my work life, nor my home life, nor my hobbies. What I mean is this:

If you are in the ministry, every other aspect of life must submit itself to that one highest calling.

What a minister does with his hobbies is between him and God–but he can’t just involve himself in anything that might cross his mind. There are limitations on ministers’ choices that do not burden laymen.

To illustrate my point, imagine a minister who decides to write crime dramas as a hobby. Will he write cuss words or will his cops and criminals never use bad language? It’s certainly possible to write novels without cuss words. But it is unusual in today’s market. If the books begin to sell, will the pastor-author use his real name or a pseudonym? If the publisher wants him to spend a month doing a coast-to-coast book tour, will the preacher drop his church responsibilities–not only sermons, but also weddings, funerals, hospital visits and more–to run around the nation promoting his “brand”? The point is, a pastor is a pastor 24-hours a day. He cannot take off his “pastor hat” to put on a “novelist hat.”

The preacher is a preacher full-time. His family, his hobbies, his evenings and weekends off, his vacations—everything in his life must submit to the pastoral calling. That is a remarkably selfless way to live.

Most of us do not appreciate how much freedom pastors surrender when they surrender to the ministry.

When God called Jonah to travel east to preach to the sprawling city of Jonah’s enemies, Ninevah, Jonah did not sit around passively ignoring God. Instead, he took action, immediately running to the ocean to secure passage on the first ship he could find that would take him west—as far from Ninevah as possible. Jonah probably hoped God would find someone else, Jonah’s fellow-prophet, Amos, perhaps.

Instead, God went after Jonah, sending a terrible storm to the Mediterranean Sea. Everyone on the ship was screaming, struggling, and praying. Everyone but Jonah, who was fast asleep in the bottom of the ship. The captain woke Jonah, “What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God!” Jonah 1:6.

The men cast lots to discover who was at fault. The lot fell to Jonah. They asked him who he was and what he did to bring this supernatural storm upon them.

“Take me up and cast me into the sea. For I know that for my sake, this tempest is upon you” Jonah 1:12.

The men were terrified. What if they threw Jonah overboard and only made this angry God angrier still? But Jonah insisted. So they tossed the stubborn prophet overboard, and the sea calmed instantly: “the sea ceased from her raging” Jonah 1:15.

I bet Jonah expected the next scene in this story to be his drowning. He was prepared to die—as long as he didn’t have to talk to those horrible Ninevites. But God had other plans.

“Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God” Jonah 1:17–2:1.

Wait. What? It took Jonah three days of sloshing around in the darkness of a whale’s belly before he was ready to pray? And this guy’s a prophet?

Once he began praying, Jonah humbled himself. “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple … But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay thee what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord” Jonah 2:7,9.

Have you ever disobeyed God? Probably. Did God send a whale after you? Probably not.

But God keeps his messengers on a short leash: I believe God expects a deeper level of commitment from the men and women he calls into full-time Christian service:

“Let not many among you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such, you shall incur a stricter judgment” James 3:1.

Pray for the ministers God has placed in your life. They face challenges you cannot imagine and will never experience. God calls many of them to walk difficult roads, through minefields of often unfair and undeserved criticism (not to mention the sometimes “deserved” criticism). People are extremely hard on ministers, and even more so in this age of entitlement. Pray for those who teach the word, “that God may open a door for the word, that they may proclaim the mystery of Christ” Colossians 4:3.

Dear God, fill us with gratitude for those who teach and preach the word to us. Bless our pastors and our churches. Fill them with grateful people who share love and encouragement with your men and women who work in full-time ministry. May we be a blessing to those in leadership.

AΩ

Victory is Not Without Risk. 2 Kings 15:5.

Painting: “King Uzziah Stricken With Leprosy,” by Rembrandt, 1635.

Uzziah was a farmer, war hero, inventor, and king. He lived a rich, successful, creative life. But his successes were not without risk. But what possible risk accompanies success?

Uzziah was crowned king at the tender age of 16, 2 Kings 15:2. The young man was obedient to God, as was his father:

“He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done” 2 Kings 15:3.

Result? King Uzziah “reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem” 2 Chronicles 26:3.

King Uzziah won a series of wars against the Philistines, knocking huge sections out of the walls of their cities, 2 Chronicles 26:6-7. In fact, so talented was he in battle that his fame spread as far as Egypt, 2 Chronicles 26:8. 

At home, Uzziah fortified towers in the wall of Jerusalem, dug numerous wells in the desert, and cultivated herds and flocks, farms and vineyards, “for he loved husbandry” (farming) 2 Chronicles 26:10.

Nevertheless, King Uzziah’s real genius appeared on the battlefield. He amassed large armies, then outfitted them with top gear:

“And Uzziah prepared for them shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons [suits of armor], and bows, and slings to cast stones. And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and on the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong” 2 Chronicles 26:14-15.

Notice just two of King Uzziah’s innovations: he gave his soldiers suits of armor to wear and he placed catapults on the walls of Jerusalem, an “engine” rarely seen at this time. No wonder he was a successful general and held the throne for over fifty years!

But then things went south. You can probably guess where King Uzziah went wrong: Pride.

King Uzziah forgot about Israel’s doctrine of the Separation of Church and State.

BOUNDARIES, you know? God separated the kings from the priests. No matter how successful and devout a king might be, he was not allowed to interfere with the duties of a priest. But some of the kings crossed the line. King Saul did it. King Uzziah did it.

“He transgressed against the Lord and went into the temple to burn incense upon the altar” 2 Chronicles 26:16. The priests followed the king in and rebuked him. How do prideful kings respond to rebuke? Angrily.

“Then Uzziah was wroth … and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord” 2 Chronicles 26:19.

The priests rushed the king out of the temple—and the king himself got the message. Suddenly he was terrified and humbled.

“He hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him. And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death and dwelt in a several house [separated from everyone else], being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord” 2 Chronicles 26:20-21.

You have heard it before:

“Pride goeth before destruction,” Proverbs 16:18.

King Uzziah let his pride convince him he could ignore the rules. And God punished him with a punishment that would never go away. Never again in his life would Uzziah be so prideful, so arrogant, so presumptuous in the presence of the Lord.

“And the Lord smote the king so that he was a leper unto the day of his death” 2 Kings 15:5.

God, make us humble. No matter what we achieve, keep us humble. Warn us! Protect us! Send someone to speak hard words to us! Never let us cross boundaries that you expect us to respect and honor. Make us your humble, grateful servants. Never let us forget that all our achievements come from you!

“What do you have that you did not receive?” 1 Corinthians 4:7.

AΩ