2 Kings 16 - 2 Kings 25
There is so much in these books - so many lives in each chapter - that it's hard for me to absorb it and really pay attention. But I did get the sense of king after king who led the people farther away from God.
The stand-out story in today's reading is of King Josiah, starting in 2 Kings 22. He sends a secretary on an errand to the Temple, to take care of business. At the Temple, the High Priest reports to the secretary that he has just found a book: God's Revelation! This is so fascinating to me - and shows how far from God the priests and people had become - the book was "found" and everything in it seemed to be new to the readers. How could they have let such a precious, vital object become forgotten?
King Josiah took God's Revelation to heart - and made drastic changes even beyond his own kingdom, eliminating and pulverizing idols and other buildings and objects used to worship anyone but the God of Abraham. Josiah literally mourned the evil ways of his people and ancestors - he tore his clothes.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Day Twenty-Seven: My Cup Overflows
I apologize to my reader(s) (Hi Jodie!) for taking so much time off. I am letting stress and busy-ness confuse my priorities. But, I am back.
Today's reading: 2 Kings 5 - 2 Kings 15
The very first chapter has an account of Elisha providing food for a crowd during a famine. A man brought 20 loaves of bread and a few apples. Elisha told him to pass it to the people (100 men) to eat. As He did later in the stories of Jesus in the New Testament, God turned that small amount into enough for everyone to eat. But, it struck me this morning, that God, who knew exactly how many men there were, and how much each would consume, provided MORE THAN ENOUGH: there were leftovers! He also did this in the "loaves and fishes" stories in the New Testament (Matthew 14:13-21, Matthew 15:32-39).
Here's what jumps out at me from these passages:
1. God can make food out of nothing, but Elisha and Jesus started with the food that was brought (bread and apples; bread and fish); and
2. In all of these stories, God provided MORE than what was needed. This reminds me of the image of an overflowing cup in Psalm 23 .
Today's reading: 2 Kings 5 - 2 Kings 15
The very first chapter has an account of Elisha providing food for a crowd during a famine. A man brought 20 loaves of bread and a few apples. Elisha told him to pass it to the people (100 men) to eat. As He did later in the stories of Jesus in the New Testament, God turned that small amount into enough for everyone to eat. But, it struck me this morning, that God, who knew exactly how many men there were, and how much each would consume, provided MORE THAN ENOUGH: there were leftovers! He also did this in the "loaves and fishes" stories in the New Testament (Matthew 14:13-21, Matthew 15:32-39).
Here's what jumps out at me from these passages:
1. God can make food out of nothing, but Elisha and Jesus started with the food that was brought (bread and apples; bread and fish); and
2. In all of these stories, God provided MORE than what was needed. This reminds me of the image of an overflowing cup in Psalm 23 .
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