Ezekiel 2
At a time when God was “giving up” His people into captivity, He wasn’t actually “giving up” on them at all. That’s one of the things I’ve discovered on this trip through the Bible: at a time when Israel seemed to be at its lowest possible point, God was communicating with them more thaan ever. Far from abandoning them, He was pursuing them all the more.
Ezekiel 1
Sometimes you just have to stand in awe of God. We need look no further than this chapter to realize that God is pretty much indescribable. I mean, Ezekiel tried really hard, but didn’t you chuckle your way through most of this chapter? I tried to imagine four-faced, four-winged creatures who speed around on burning wheels of fire, but the images in my head were most ridiculous.
Jeremiah 39
So once again, we read about the fate that befell poor old Zedekiah. If only he had listened to God—perhaps he would have lived out the rest of his years with his sons in relative Babylonian comfort. Alas, the last thing he ever saw (before his eyes were gouged out) was his sons being killed by those Babylonians: “There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah. Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.” (vs 6-7)
Jeremiah 36
When I was an impressionable teenager in the mid-90s, Doritos developed an advertising campaign for their tortilla chips that I still remember to this day. Maybe you remember it, too. The catchy slogan was, “Crunch all you want, we’ll make more.” I thought about that ad campaign as I read today’s chapter from Jeremiah. I could just hear God saying, “Burn all you want, I’ll make more.”
Jeremiah 26
I found it interesting that this chapter chronicled three men who had, in effect, prophesied the same message in Israel: Jeremiah (vs 2-6), Micah (vs 18), and Uriah (vs 20). We know that Micah’s prophesy came long before Jeremiah’s, but we aren’t told whether Uriah was before or after Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 20
As we’ve seen from Scripture in the past, God is a fire. One thing is for sure: He is like a fire in some way other than we know fire. He came to Moses in the form of this fire as a burning (but non-burning) bush. His fire consumed Nadab and Abihu, yet their clothes were not even singed. So, however it is that God is fire, it must be somehow different than how we typically think of fire.
Jeremiah 4
In this chapter, God sends a clear invitation to Israel to repent from their idolatry and return to Him. He wants them to escape the impending invasion by the Babylonians, but it seems they want nothing to do with God and His plan to rescue them. At every turn, they continue to reject His protection.
2 Chronicles 34
Once again, a king in Judah (Josiah, this time) was trying to reform the spiritual state of the nation. After years of idol worship and evil-doing kings (with little respite in between), here was a king who was determined to seek God and do things His way. And in the process of restoring the temple, the chief priest found the Book of the Law. Apparently, it had been lost—either accidentally or intentionally. Either way, when Josiah heard what was in the Book of the Law, he was quite distraught. He tore his robes and wept.
2 Kings 8
Since I didn’t end up commenting on her in chapter 4, I’m glad the Shunammite woman is back again. You remember her: She was the gal who (along with her husband) built a room in their home for the prophet Elijah. And, in order to repay their kindness, Elijah told the childless couple that they would have a son. This obviously delighted the woman, but it was clear that she didn’t want to get her hopes up. What I really loved about her, though, was what she did when her son died of a head injury several years later. The woman went immediately to Elijah and said, "Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I tell you, 'Don’t raise my hopes?'" (2 Kings 4:28)
2 Kings 7
A few years ago, our water heater unexpectedly broke, and after some consultation with a plumber, we realized that we would not only have to get a new water heater, but a water softener as well. I just hate it when that happens! If you don’t have money in savings, unexpected expenses like that can really get you down.
2 Kings 6
During all the years of the American-led war on terror, there have often been debates about how best to bring change to the Middle East—particularly about how to change the hearts and minds of those who seem intent on destroying Western culture and peoples. Many think it is wrong for us to use military force to accomplish these goals, and they offer other solutions instead, ranging from outright ignoring the problem to pacifism or targeted kindness.
2 Kings 3
After the death of King Ahab, Mesha king of Moab decided to rebel against Israel. So Jehoram (the new king of Israel), Jehoshaphat (king of Judah), and the king of Edom set out to attack Moab and put down the rebellion. On the way to battle, they ran into quite a problem: "After a roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for themselves or for the animals with them." (vs 9)
2 Kings 1
After the showdown between God and Baal on the top of Mount Carmel, it’s hard to imagine how there could have been anybody left in Israel who still believed in false gods. However, truth is usually stranger than fiction! So, when Ahab’s son Ahaziah wanted to know if his health condition was going to get better, he sent a coalition to talk to Baal: "Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, 'Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.'" (vs 2)
1 Kings 22
This has to be another one of my all-time favorite chapters in the Bible. Who has ever heard of the prophet Micaiah? But why isn’t he upheld more often as an Old Testament Bible hero? Micaiah: the prophet with a hot mouth. I love him. And one of the things I love most about him is that he wasn’t just willing to go with the crowd. He was determined to do what he believed was right—even if it went against the grain.
1 Kings 18
At the risk of sounding like a bad flashback from the 80s or 90s, I couldn’t pass this up as the title of today’s blog. This has got to be one of my all-time favorite chapters in the Bible. It seems like I’ve been hearing this story ever since I was a little girl, and it never ceases to amaze me. So, this was a great excuse to sit back and just marvel at God.
1 Kings 14
This was one of those Bible stories that I hadn’t remembered reading before. King Jeroboam wanted to know what was going to happen to his son (who was ill). So, he immediately thought of Ahijah, the prophet who had prophesied that he would become king of Israel. (It’s interesting, isn’t it? After years of worshiping false gods, it’s pretty clear that Jeroboam still knew who to go to when he wanted some real answers.)
