2 Kings 25 bible reading and devotionals.

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The Crown of Life · August 7
Revelation 2:10 says,  “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

Make sure the hull of your convictions can withstand the stress of collisions.  Builders of the Titanic should have been so wise.  The luxury liner sank because contractors settled for cheap rivets.

Rivets are the glue that hold the steel plates together.  Facing a shortage of quality bolts, the builders used substandard ones that popped their heads on impact with the iceberg.

How sturdy are the bolts of your belief?  Reinforce them with daily Bible readings, regular worship, and earnest communion with God.

All things, big and small, flow out of the purpose of God and serve His good will.  When the world appears out of control, it isn’t.

We can trust Him!

2 Kings 25

The Fall of Jerusalem

Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

25 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. 2 The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

3 By the ninth day of the fourth[b] month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. 4 Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians[c] were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,[d] 5 but the Babylonian[e] army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, 6 and he was captured.

He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him. 7 They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. 10 The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. 12 But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

13 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried the bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. 15 The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or silver.

16 The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, was more than could be weighed. 17 Each pillar was eighteen cubits[f] high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits[g] high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.

18 The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. 19 Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and five royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of the conscripts who were found in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.

So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.

22 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah. 23 When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men. 24 Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”

25 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. 26 At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians.

Jehoiachin Released

27 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. 28 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. 30 Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: 1 Kings 8:22-30

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication

22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven 23 and said:

“Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. 24 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.

25 “Now Lord, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me faithfully as you have done.’ 26 And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.

27 “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 28 Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. 29 May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 30 Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

Heavenly Exclamation!

August 7, 2012 — by Anne Cetas

The heavens declare the glory of God. —Psalm 19:1

In August 2011, NASA released a composite image from the Hubble telescope that left people smiling. The image is of two galaxies beginning to collide. The collision looks like a heavenly exclamation point (!). The latest statistic I’ve read says there are about 100 billion observable galaxies in the universe. Each galaxy has hundreds of billions of stars, and more galaxies are being discovered.

When I saw the exclamation-point image on CNN, I was reminded of our awesome Creator. The heavens exclaim His glory (Ps. 19:1), but He is even greater than the heavens He has made. After Solomon built a temple for the Lord’s presence to dwell in, he prayed: “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27). He knew that if the heavens couldn’t contain God’s presence, the temple he had made surely couldn’t contain Him.

The Lord is so much greater than our finite minds can grasp. Yet He has made it possible for us to know Him through His Son Jesus whom He sent to live on this earth, to die for us, and to be raised. When we believe in Him, our lives join the heavens in proclaiming His glory!

Sing praise to God who reigns above,
The God of all creation,
The God of power, the God of love,
The God of our salvation. —Schutz
In creation we see God’s hand, and in redemption we see His heart.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 7, 2012

Prayer in the Father’s House

. . . they found Him in the temple . . . . And He said to them, ’. . . Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?’ —Luke 2:46, 49

Our Lord’s childhood was not immaturity waiting to grow into manhood— His childhood is an eternal fact. Am I a holy, innocent child of God as a result of my identification with my Lord and Savior? Do I look at my life as being in my Father’s house? Is the Son of God living in His Father’s house within me?

The only abiding reality is God Himself, and His order comes to me moment by moment. Am I continually in touch with the reality of God, or do I pray only when things have gone wrong— when there is some disturbance in my life? I must learn to identify myself closely with my Lord in ways of holy fellowship and oneness that some of us have not yet even begun to learn. “. . . I must be about My Father’s business”— and I must learn to live every moment of my life in my Father’s house.

Think about your own circumstances. Are you so closely identified with the Lord’s life that you are simply a child of God, continually talking to Him and realizing that everything comes from His hands? Is the eternal Child in you living in His Father’s house? Is the grace of His ministering life being worked out through you in your home, your business, and in your circle of friends? Have you been wondering why you are going through certain circumstances? In fact, it is not that you have to go through them. It is because of your relationship with the Son of God who comes, through the providential will of His Father, into your life. You must allow Him to have His way with you, staying in perfect oneness with Him.

The life of your Lord is to become your vital, simple life, and the way He worked and lived among people while here on earth must be the way He works and lives in you.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Feeling Down At the Top - #6672

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

I woke up my kids early that morning to get the view from the top of the mountain. We were vacationing in Maine, and I was told that Cadillac Mountain, which was not too far from there, was the place to go - to be able to see the sunrise as early as you can see it. So, I thought that it was a good thing for our family to do.

So about 3:00 a.m. in the middle of a campground, I woke up three kids who didn't want to be awake, and stuffed a donut in their mouth so they didn't wake up the whole campground. It's very important to have the donuts ready if you're going to wake them up in the middle of the night. And then I bundled them into the car and we headed up the mountain. They said, "Daddy, why are we doing this?" I said, "We're going to be the first ones to see the sunrise! You're going to love this!"

When we arrived at the top of the mountain we found a handful of other adventurers. So we got out, looked toward the place where the sun comes up, and waited. And waited. And waited. Did I mention we waited? The kids were turning increasingly hostile, and the sun never did come up that morning. Well, I mean, it did come up, but the clouds covered it the entire time. So, that was the day I lost a fair amount of credibility with my family; another one of Daddy's great adventures. We had made the effort to get to the top of the mountain, and then the view was a disappointment. It often is.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Feeling Down At the Top."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God is from Ecclesiastes 2 , where King Solomon, after having pursued every pleasure man could possibly afford (because he had all the money with which to do it), after achieving all the success, building all the monuments he ever wanted to build to himself, received all of the education you could have ever hope for, the wisest man in the world said this in his diary, "So I hated life because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless; a chasing after the wind." Wow!

He goes on in chapter 3, verse 11 to say, "God has set eternity in the hearts of men." Now, there are some modern Solomons. I'm thinking of a successful attorney I met not too long ago, respected in the community, owns everything he wants. He's planning a long trip right now with a private pilot and a small plane. And a relative of his said, "Aren't you concerned about the plane crashing?" He said, "Frankly, I don't know what the reason is for living."

Two days later I met a man who's made all the big deals he could make in his career; he has all the name and wealth he could want, and he's met the first problem he can't beat. He's bored with the conquests. Sounds like Alexander the Great, who at the age of 33 said, "I have no more worlds to conquer" and cried and wept over it just before his death.

See, you can climb to the top of the mountain, see the view, and it's a disappointment. Solomon knew why. It's because there's a hole in our heart that only someone eternal can fill. Maybe you're in one of two categories, either those who aren't at the top and they think that's why they have no peace, or those who are at the top and know that there's no peace there.

Jesus was 33 when He died, like Alexander the Great, but before His death, He talked peace, "Peace I leave with you;" He said, "My peace I give to you." You know, the Bible says, "You were created by Him and for Him" and until He's the center of your life, the view from the top will never give you peace, it will never give you fulfillment, it will never be everything you were looking for, because you were made for Jesus. You were made for Jesus. How long do you want to search? How many mountains to nowhere do you want to climb before you find the One you were made by and made for?

See, all you're looking for isn't over all those hills you've climbed, or some of the others you want to climb. But it is at the top of a hill; the hill where Jesus Christ died on a cross. Nailed to that cross; allowing that to happen so He could bear the punishment for what separates you from the God you were made for - your sin. And the day you open up your life to Jesus and say, "Jesus, you're what I've been looking for. I've looked all the wrong places, and at this cross, I bow before you and I give myself to the man who loved me enough to die for me." On that day, the hole in your heart is finally filled, your sins are forgiven, and you are guaranteed heaven.

Life is a series of disappointing views until we give our life to the One who alone can give it eternal meaning. Listen, if you want to begin your relationship with Him today, tell Him, "Jesus I'm Yours." Go to our website and check out what we've laid out there as a simple Bible path to get to know Him and have a relationship with Him. YoursForLife.net. Every other destination will disappoint you until you're home, and home is the waiting arms of Jesus Christ.