Monthly Archives: July 2011

The requirement is clear.  Those who desire God must humble themselves.  The key verse in our FBC family reading plan this week is “because your heart was responsive and you HUMBLED yourself before God when you heard what He spoke. . .and because you HUMBLED yourself before Me and tore your robes and wept in [...]

As I write (Friday morning) the weather forecast is for rain!  It is a hopeful feeling.  Humans need hope.  It is oxygen of the soul.  In the face of a bleak prophesy re. his nation, young King Josiah still hoped.  He knew the mercy of God.  He knew that God had heard his cry for repentance.  So, [...]

Is personal peace enough?  Once a believer is saved and safe (and his family) is it permitted to relax and enjoy the ride?  I have been impressed this week with the heart of King Josiah. (Thanks for reading the Re verse passage in unity with the FBC family)  2 Chronicles tells of his concern for the nation [...]

(Sorry for the new word, but I think English can do better than heroine.  Sounds like a drug.)  Many, most? of the heros of the Christian faith are women.  It needs to be spoken given years of discrimination.  (We are still less than 100 years from women being able to vote in this nation! Other nations are [...]

“Tell the MAN who sent you to me”  (2 Chronicles 34)  The voice belongs to God.  The speaker is Huldah.  Normally she would have been very concerned to honor the King whose messengers have come to her for counsel.  Here, however, she refers to him by neither name nor title.  To God, Josiah is just [...]

Good morning!  Today is our second day reading 2 Chronicles 34.  Thank you for being a member of this great family.  Our focus is on Josiah who loved God as a young child (vs 1) and began to seek the Lord as a teenager (age 16, vs 3)  At age 26 (vs 8) he begins a repair project [...]

(Our reading this week is 2 Chronicles 34. Thanks for your dedication!) By the time Josiah became king of Judah the judgement of God was very near.  Jeremiah had prophesied it.  Nothing could save the nation  from destruction. (Jeremiah 15:1)  Much like we studied last week (Ahab story), God had “decreed destruction” against Jerusalem and would not change His [...]

I have enjoyed this week’s reading.  Is enjoy the right word?  Micaiah has become a new hero, an example of faithfulness to God in a hard situation.  “As unknown (to the world) and yet well known (to God). . .as sorrowful yet always rejoicing. . .as having nothing yet possessing all things” is the way [...]

Was the conflict between Ahab and Micaiah personal?  Ahab certainly thought so.  “I hate him, he does not prophesy good concerning me”, he said with a pout in 1 Kings 22:8.  It never occurs to him that there may be another explanation for Micaiah’s words than personal animosity.  Do we ever make the same mistake?  Do we ever allow [...]

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13)  Is this true?  Is it true the way it is often understood?  The 400 prophets (1 Kings 22) were making a modern mistake as they encouraged Ahab to go to war against Syria.   Like many in our day, they believed that “all things are possible [...]