Are you existing in a personal exile that has enslaved you into a life of complete despair? The Israelites abided exile in Babylon where they remained helpless but the seed of hope remained as they awaited deliverance. Have the decisions you made throughout your life brought you to this moment of broken helplessness. What hope is there? The world is wicked and it may seem that chaos reigns supreme but there is hope. ”Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt. They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.” Isaiah 13:6-8 How is hope found in God’s coming destruction? Continue Reading…
Are you in Babylon awaiting deliverance: Isaiah 13 and 14
In the midst of persecution and trouble God is enough: Psalm 137
Complete devastation and captivity in Babylon laid heavy on the lives of the people of Israel. Gone were the days when vigor and vitality defined their spiritual life. The continual disobedience of Israel led to their captivity within Babylon and the razing of Jerusalem. The psalmist of Psalm 137 is in the midst of great pressure and persecution by captors filled with spite and pride. “For there our captors demanded of us sons, and out tormentors mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the ons of Zion.’” Psalms 137:3 What is to be done in the face of such oppression? What hope is there when we find ourselves surrounded by pressure and persecution through our actions or the actions of another? Continue Reading…
Out of brokenness rebuilding can begin: Nehemiah 1 and 2
What grieves your heart so much that you weep, fast and pray for God’s intercession? Zerubbabel and Ezra led the first two groups of exiles back to Jerusalem. Thirteen years after Ezra returned to Jerusalem, leading a remnant to offer sacrifices to God, Nehemiah, a cup bearer to king Artaxerxes of Persia, hears word from Jerusalem that grieves his heart. The news from Jerusalem that the walls and gates are in ruin after over ninety years of exiles having returned to Jerusalem breaks the heart of Nehemiah. Why is Nehemiah so concerned about the state of the walls of Jerusalem? He is living in comfort as the cupbearer of the king of Persia. Wouldn’t life be easier if he just pushed aside the feelings and remorse? Have you ever quenched the Holy Spirit’s prompting in your life because you were afraid to step out in faith? Continue Reading…
More than a homecoming to Jerusalem: Ezra 1 and 2
All you know is life in a foreign land and your homeland of Israel is only a memory. You were under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon and recently Persia gained control of you under King Cyrus. How would you view your future? Would you believe in hope? In the midst of these emotions God moved to prove His faithfulness in fulfillment of the words spoken by Jeremiah.
Can you imagine awaking to your daily routine to hear the king of Persia say, “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.” Ezra 1:2-4 Continue Reading…
Exile softens a hardened heart: 2 Chronicles 35 and 36
In 2 Chronicles 35 and 36 we reach the precipice leading to the fall and decline of Judah and its road to exile in Babylon. After the faithful stewardship and tenderhearted rule of Josiah over Judah the kings that rule Judah turn completely away from God. The wrath of God is falling on His chosen people as he promised to Josiah. How is the relationship between God and the sons of Israel to be viewed? How do we view our relationship with God today? God is a loving father that desires to see the best happen for His people through out all time.
God continually sought to bring the hearts of the people of Judah back to Him through His messengers and prophets. How does a persons heart become so hardened against God that they have no respect, thought, or desire for Him? “The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He has compasstion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy.” 2 Chronicles 36:15,16 Continue Reading…
After your death how will people remember you: 1 Chronicles 9 and 10
The detailed genealogies that are found in the first eight chapters of 1 Chronicles have come to completion and in 1 Chronicles 9 we are given a preview to the post exilic return of people of Israel from Babylon to Jerusalem. There are only scarce details given about the return from exile but the books of Ezra and Nehemiah will give greater details about the return to Jerusalem. Why are the names of the people who returned from exile given at this point in 1 Chronicles? Why are the names and lineage of the people returning from exile important?
In 1 Chronicles 10 the death of King Saul during the battle with the Philistines and the faithfulness of Jabesh-gilead is retold. What does it mean when the most noted detail of your life is your death and unfaithfulness to God? The reminder of Saul’s life and death makes me thankful for Jesus Christ’s death on the cross for me. Because of Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross I will not die for my transgressions. We are so easily drawn away from God and it will only be by His grace alone that we can live and have hope.
Exile from everything held dear: 2 Kings 25
In 2 Kings 25 the exile for the sons of Israel has come to fulfillment. For generations the people drifted away from worshiping God and the kingdom of Babylon comes to carry off the people of Judah into exile just as Isaiah told Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:17,18. The city of Jerusalem was rased and all the wealth of the city was carried off into Babylon. Will good come from the Israelites being taken away into exile in Babylon? Can you imagine being taken away from the comfortable life you have known to be placed in a foreign land? How would you view life if everything you knew and held dear were stripped away from you? How does the adversity that we endure change out lives? Continue Reading…
