2 Chronicles 36

I probably should have titled this blog God reasons with us (or at least He tries to). That was the story with this last chapter of 2 Chronicles. We finally got to the end of the history of Israelite kings, and it reminded me of a tailspin... right down into Babylonian captivity.

Tucked in there, however, were these verses: "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." (vs 15-16)

God did everything He could until there was no remedy for the problem. And why was there no remedy? Because God reasons with us. That’s how He deals with us—through a relationship. He doesn’t force us to do things. He appeals to our reason and intelligence.

And I think it’s also interesting to note here that the "wrath of the Lord" is linked with the fact that there was no remedy. What does God do when we can’t be persuaded to come over to His way of thinking? What does He do when He cannot reason with us any longer? He gives up. That is His wrath. It’s not some angry, vengeful show of force. It’s giving up.

That’s precisely how Paul describes it in Romans, chapter 1: "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened . . . Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised." (vs 18-21, 24-25)

Paul goes on to say two more times that God "gave up" those who were hellbent on leaving Him. This is the definition of God’s wrath. And it’s what God does when there is no remedy for us any longer, because the only way He chooses to appeal to us is through our reason. He won’t force us. He won’t coerce us. He won’t enslave us. We are free to agree with His reasoning... and we are free to disagree.

When we are on the wrong track, God sends words to us through His various messengers again and again, because He has pity on us. Are you willing to "come and reason" with Him today?