2Kings 23-25<\/a><\/p>\nDaily Thought<\/b><\/p>\n
A siege is slow relentless death, and, in the original Hebrew, the fall of Jerusalem is told in one long methodical twelve-verse sentence, 2Kings 25:1-12. (The translation into English adds periods to ease the read.) \u201cThe ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month\u201d stretches \u201ctill the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fourth month\u201d and in eighteen months all is done. The wall is breached, the Chaldean army rushes in, and the last king of Judah is chased into the plains of Jericho, the same place where it all began when Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the people shouted and the trumpets blew and the walls came tumbling down (Joshua 6).<\/p>\n
There is no emotion in this account. God\u2019s prophet Jeremiah weeps over the fall of Jerusalem in his book of Lamentations, but here in 2Kings is the dispassionate voice of a court reporter recounting the execution of judgment. Judah had her good kings, but not enough, and the country is judged for the whole of her sins. Josiah\u2019s reign (2Kings 22-23) had been a brief righteous reprieve, but he was followed by Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin and Zedekiah and a nation cannot endure evil upon evil upon evil.\u00a0So Judah was taken into exile out of its land (2Kings 25:21). \u201cThe wages of sin is death\u201d (Romans 3:23) for nations, as well as for you and me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe story seems over, but this is only the end of a chapter, not the book. This is God\u2019s story, not ours, and a new King will come to Israel and the world, and time will change from B.C. to A.D. Death does not end the reign of this righteous Lord and Savior; rather, Jesus conquers death and rises in victory because, at last, the throne belongs to the eternal King of kings and Lord of lords. Fairy tales are not the only stories that end with \u201cand they lived happily ever after,\u201d because fairy tales are shadows of the real story, and this is the story of God\u2013\u201cFor God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life\u201d (John 3:16).<\/p>\n
Daily Prayer<\/b><\/p>\n
My God, You are righteous and good and holy and just. I am not. Created in Your image, I chose my own way rather than yours, and my sin led to judgment and that judgment is death. There was such hopelessness in life without You. Thank You for rescuing me, for delivering me from death, returning me to hope, and giving me a life that overflows with Your love.<\/p>\n
May my thankfulness be evident in a life changed by Your love. May I walk in Your truth, full of grace, sharing Your goodness by word and deed with all who cross my path. May I seek opportunities to share Your love in the same way You sought me. Thank You for so great a salvation, such a wonderful Savior.<\/p>\n
Amen<\/p>\n
Daily Question<\/b><\/p>\n
Where is God found in the story of your life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Daily Reading 2Kings 23-25 Daily Thought A siege is slow relentless death, and, in the original Hebrew, the fall of Jerusalem is told in one long methodical twelve-verse sentence, 2Kings 25:1-12. (The translation into English adds periods to ease the read.) \u201cThe ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “Happily Ever After”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[217,390],"class_list":["post-2336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-thought","tag-eternity","tag-king-of-kings"],"yoast_head":"\nHappily Ever After - In the beginning God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/davemprice.com\/?p=2336\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happily Ever After - In the beginning God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Daily Reading 2Kings 23-25 Daily Thought A siege is slow relentless death, and, in the original Hebrew, the fall of Jerusalem is told in one long methodical twelve-verse sentence, 2Kings 25:1-12. 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