Well, I finished 2 Chronicles this morning. Pretty glad, but as I've said in previous posts, I got more out of it than I would've thought. This morning was really no exception.

After reading all about how good King Josiah was (chs. 34 - 35) and how he truly sought the Lord, once again we move on to the kings that forget all that their predecessor had worked for. So, Josiah's sons become kings that once again set up pagan worship, followed "detestable practices", and "defiled the temple of the Lord".

Now, this is where I got interested this morning. Ch. 36, vs. 15-16, say that "The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through His messengers again and again, because He had pity on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked God's messengers, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against His people and there was no remedy." So, it ends up that God brings up against them the king of the Babylonians who killed a bunch of them and the rest were delivered into the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar.

So, I started thinking.....what about now? In the present time? Do you think God is getting fed up with us? It says that He tried again and again and that He had pity on His people, but to no avail. If God was sick of them, I can't imagine how He must feel about our world now. With unspeakable crimes, terrible greed, perversity like never before, and just a general not caring about God's Word in our society, what must He be thinking?

However, I will say this. Back in ch. 36, vs. 11 - 14, it talks about a bad king named Zedekiah. It says that he "became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the Lord.." Due to his actions, "all the leaders of the priest and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord..." So, if one person can have such an effect on all of those people (even though his was for the bad), it shows us that we, as individuals, can have an effect on lots of people, too. So, it is up to us to spread God's Word, teach others about Christ, and, in general, "let our let shine before others that they may see our good deeds and glorify our God in heaven." We can make a difference if we just show others Christ's love.