[Originally posted in a WhatsApp group (BRW) as a daily reading update (reflection) from each chapter of the Bible]
𝟚 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝟙𝟛:𝟙𝟜
"When
Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of
Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, ‘My father, my father, the
chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’"
Elisha
died of sickness. Yet his dead bone 'resurrected' another dead guy (v21).
Jesus
saved others but couldn't save Himself according to the words of the chief
priests.
𝟚 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝟙𝟜:𝟙𝟘
"You
have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has become proud. Enjoy your glory
and stay at home; for why should you provoke trouble so that you, even you,
would fall, and Judah with you?"
Pride
goes before destruction. Moreover, perhaps, he was disappointed with the king
of Israel for refusing a marriage proposal. Maybe a duel to settle a marriage
like in a movie!
𝟚 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝟙𝟝:𝟝
"The
LORD struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death. And he
lived in a separate house, while Jotham the king's son was over the household,
judging the people of the land."
Uzziah,
a great king, was condemned by the priests and the Lord for thinking highly of
himself!
𝟚 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝟙𝟞:𝟛
"But
he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through
the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven
out from before the sons of Israel."
Sacrificing
children to get what they want from the ungodly source.
Abortion
is a child sacrifice to get what they want—maybe an independent life.
Hmmm,
even abandoning kids at home and going to workplace for earning more money
could be related to this.
Even
putting kids in a hostel or boarding school to abdicate parenting could be
related to it.
Children
are God's gifts. Parents are responsible to bring them up in the Lord!
𝟚 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝟙𝟟:𝟛𝟛
"They
feared the LORD and served their own gods according to the custom of the
nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile."
This
is always the problem. People respect God, love God, fear God, and worship God,
but not that different from others.
God
demands not only to fear Him, not even to fear Him the most. He demands to fear
only Him!
You
may go to church, read your Bible, pray regularly, and help others, live a
moral life, and still be denied entry to the kingdom of God, hearing, "I
never knew you."
𝟚 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝟙𝟠:𝟛𝟝
"Who
among all the gods of the lands have delivered their land from my hand, that
the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?"
True,
the Assyrians were the world power and God had chosen them to punish the
nation, Israel. But they weren't chosen to punish the nation, Judah. The
Assyrians were proud, presumptuous, and a time to pull them down was near.
Power
tends to corrupt. Leader tends to be abusive. May God help His Chosen people!
𝟚 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝟙𝟡:𝟛-𝟜
"They
said to him, ‘Thus says Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and
rejection; for children have come to birth and there is no strength to deliver.
Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master
the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the
words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the
remnant that is left.'’"
There
was a man leaders can go to in a troubled time. In my experience in Delhi, only
UPSC guys ask for prayers.
𝟚 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝟚𝟘:𝟙𝟡
"Then
Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ‘The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good.
For he thought, ‘Is it not so, if there will be peace and truth in my
days?’"
Hmmm!
Hezekiah reacted surprisingly. Why did it seem good to hear a prophecy of
captivity after his death? I don't know. But this story is recorded as a
precedent. Let's remember this next time!
𝟚 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝟚𝟙:𝟚𝟚
"He
did evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done."
The
books of Kings remind us that every life lived is before the presence of God,
and He shall judge everyone according to our deeds, especially on the last day!
𝟚 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝟚𝟚:𝟙𝟡
"’because
your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard
what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should
become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before
Me, I truly have heard you,’ declares the LORD."
Humbling
before God. That matters most in day-to-day life.
𝟚 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝟚𝟛:𝟚𝟞
"However,
the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His
anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh
had provoked Him."
In
this fallen world, no matter how righteous one might be we will still live by
the consequences of others.
𝟚 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝟚𝟜:𝟙𝟜
"Then
he led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty
men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None
remained except the poorest people of the land."
No
one likes the poor.
[11:47
am, 21/05/2022] S.R: 𝟚 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝟚𝟝:𝟙𝟚
"But
the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be
vinedressers and plowmen."
Only
the poorest were left behind. Was that good? They weren't killed, weren't taken
to captivity. But nobody likes or respects or admires the poor. People often
mistreated them. Perhaps, many were killed and mistreated. And the remaining
who were alive were to be workers of the lands for themselves or to pay taxes
or for their own survival.
Poverty
is not a virtue.