2 Chronicles 33, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: VENGEANCE IS GOD’S JOB

God occupies the only seat on the supreme court of heaven.  He wears the robe and refuses to share the gavel.  Paul wrote in Romans 12:19, “Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do.  ‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God.  ‘I’ll take care of it.’”  Vigilantes displace and replace God.  “I’m not sure you can handle this one, Lord.  You may punish too little or too slowly.  I’ll take this into my hands, thank you.”

Is this what you want to say?  Jesus didn’t.  No one had a clearer sense of right and wrong than the perfect Son of God.  In 1 Peter 2:23 we’re reminded that “when He suffered, He didn’t make threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly.”  Only God assesses accurate judgments.  Perfect justice.  Vengeance is His job.  Leave your enemies in God’s hands.

2 Chronicles 33

King Manasseh

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king. He ruled for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. In God’s opinion he was a bad king—an evil king. He reintroduced all the moral rot and spiritual corruption that had been scoured from the country when God dispossessed the pagan nations in favor of the children of Israel. He rebuilt the sex-and-religion shrines that his father Hezekiah had torn down, he built altars and phallic images for the sex god Baal and the sex goddess Asherah and worshiped the cosmic powers, taking orders from the constellations. He built shrines to the cosmic powers and placed them in both courtyards of The Temple of God, the very Jerusalem Temple dedicated exclusively by God’s decree to God’s Name (“in Jerusalem I place my Name”). He burned his own sons in a sacrificial rite in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He practiced witchcraft and fortunetelling. He held séances and consulted spirits from the underworld. Much evil—in God’s view a career in evil. And God was angry.

7-8 As a last straw he placed a carved image of the sex goddess Asherah that he had commissioned in The Temple of God, a flagrant and provocative violation of God’s well-known command to both David and Solomon, “In this Temple and in this city Jerusalem, my choice out of all the tribes of Israel, I place my Name—exclusively and forever.” He had promised, “Never again will I let my people Israel wander off from this land I’ve given to their ancestors. But on this condition, that they keep everything I’ve commanded in the instructions my servant Moses passed on to them.”

9-10 But Manasseh led Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem off the beaten path into practices of evil exceeding even the evil of the pagan nations that God had earlier destroyed. When God spoke to Manasseh and his people about this, they ignored him.

11-13 Then God directed the leaders of the troops of the king of Assyria to come after Manasseh. They put a hook in his nose, shackles on his feet, and took him off to Babylon. Now that he was in trouble, he went to his knees in prayer asking for help—total repentance before the God of his ancestors. As he prayed, God was touched; God listened and brought him back to Jerusalem as king. That convinced Manasseh that God was in control.

14-17 After that Manasseh rebuilt the outside defensive wall of the City of David to the west of the Gihon spring in the valley. It went from the Fish Gate and around the hill of Ophel. He also increased its height. He tightened up the defense system by posting army captains in all the fortress cities of Judah. He also did a good spring cleaning on The Temple, carting out the pagan idols and the goddess statue. He took all the altars he had set up on The Temple hill and throughout Jerusalem and dumped them outside the city. He put the Altar of God back in working order and restored worship, sacrificing Peace-Offerings and Thank-Offerings. He issued orders to the people: “You shall serve and worship God, the God of Israel.” But the people didn’t take him seriously—they used the name “God” but kept on going to the old pagan neighborhood shrines and doing the same old things.

18-19 The rest of the history of Manasseh—his prayer to his God, and the sermons the prophets personally delivered by authority of God, the God of Israel—this is all written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. His prayer and how God was touched by his prayer, a list of all his sins and the things he did wrong, the actual places where he built the pagan shrines, the installation of the sex-goddess Asherah sites, and the idolatrous images that he worshiped previous to his conversion—this is all described in the records of the prophets.

20 When Manasseh died, they buried him in the palace garden. His son Amon was the next king.

King Amon
21-23 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king. He was king for two years in Jerusalem. In God’s opinion he lived an evil life, just like his father Manasseh, but he never did repent to God as Manasseh repented. He just kept at it, going from one thing to another.

24-25 In the end Amon’s servants revolted and assassinated him—killed the king right in his own palace. The citizens in their turn then killed the king’s assassins. The citizens then crowned Josiah, Amon’s son, as king.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

John 20:24–29

Jesus Appears to Thomas

 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Read full chapter
Footnotes
John 20:24 Thomas (Aramaic) and Didymus (Greek) both mean twin.

Insight
We can learn much about the resurrection of Jesus by piecing together the gospel accounts of the event. Prior to Christ’s appearing to Thomas in John 20:24–29, He appeared to Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” (see Matthew 28:1), the two men on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–32), and all of the disciples except for Thomas (John 20:19–24). Luke reports Jesus saying, “Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (Luke 24:39). The disciples watched Him eat a piece of broiled fish. John 20:19 tells us “the doors [were] locked for fear of the Jewish leaders” and that “Jesus came and stood among them.” One week later, Thomas would see the physically resurrected Christ (vv. 26–27), resulting in Thomas’ convinced declaration of belief. Taken together, these passages show the human and divine nature of Jesus and affirm the fact of His bodily resurrection.

To learn more about the historical evidence for Jesus’ resurrection, visit christianuniversity.org/ca206.

His Scars
He was pierced for our transgressions, . . . and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

After my conversation with Grady, it occurred to me why his preferred greeting was a “fist bump” not a handshake. A handshake would’ve exposed the scars on his wrist—the result of his attempts to do himself harm. It’s not uncommon for us to hide our wounds—external or internal—caused by others or self-inflicted.

In the wake of my interaction with Grady, I thought about Jesus’ physical scars, the wounds caused by nails pounded into His hands and feet and a spear thrust into His side. Rather than hiding His scars, Christ called attention to them.

After Thomas initially doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead, He said to him, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” (John 20:27). When Thomas saw those scars for himself and heard Christ’s amazing words, he was convinced that it was Jesus. He exclaimed in belief, “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28). Jesus then pronounced a special blessing for those who haven’t seen Him or His physical wounds but still believe in Him: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (v. 29).

The best news ever is that His scars were for our sins—our sins against others or ourselves. The death of Jesus is for the forgiveness of the sins of all who believe in Him and confess with Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” By:  Arthur Jackson

Reflect & Pray
What circumstances led you to believe that Jesus' scars were for you? If you haven’t believed in Him for the forgiveness of your sins, what keeps you from trusting Him today?

Father, I believe that Christ’s scars were for my sin. I’m grateful!

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, July 23, 2020
His Nature and Our Motives

…unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 5:20

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in his motives, having been made good by the supernatural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to place within anyone who would let Him a new heredity that would have a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is saying, “If you are My disciple, you must be right not only in your actions, but also in your motives, your aspirations, and in the deep recesses of the thoughts of your mind.” Your motives must be so pure that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke. Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for Him to rebuke? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that through His redemption He can place within anyone His own nature and make that person as pure and as simple as a child. The purity that God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is exactly what Jesus has undertaken to do through His redemption.

No one can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations— He gives us His teachings which are truths that can only be interpreted by His nature which He places within us. The great wonder of Jesus Christ’s salvation is that He changes our heredity. He does not change human nature— He changes its source, and thereby its motives as well.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success. My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 35-36; Acts 25

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, July 23, 2020
When You're Tired of Love With Strings - #8750

Fashion models...they're considered the "beautiful people." Right? But all too often, they're also the unhappy people. That's what our friend Lindsey explained to us after she had left an enviable position as a model with one of the most prestigious agencies in the world. For example, Lindsey told about the eating disorders that plague young women for whom a small weight gain can actually cost them a well-paying job. Lindsey explained how she and others were carefully and critically weighed before every shoot. The gain of a pound or two meant they didn't qualify anymore. You paid a price to be admired.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You're Tired of Love With Strings."

The professional football players that I've known over the years would never be mistaken for a fashion model. But they know the feeling of being accepted and appreciated based on how well they perform. You're as good as your last game, man! A salesman's as good as this week's sales; a student is as good as their latest grades. For some, you'll be loved as long as you're loveable, or beautiful, or successful.

In many ways, we live in a world where we're loved on the basis of "I love you if..." Maybe you know the feeling of having to perform to feel loved or accepted. You have to meet the expectations; you have to do what they like. And maybe you know what it's like to be set aside, betrayed, discarded, and overlooked all because there were strings on their love.

Deep down in the human heart is this voice that says, "Is there anyone who will love me, no matter what?" Love with strings, love that's conditional, is love you can lose...because things change, and people change. You tired of performance love? Would you be ready for someone that will give you a love you will not lose? Boy, have I got a story for you! It's a story Jesus told about a young man who literally did everything that would break his father's heart; that would make most any man stop loving him. It's in Luke 15, where we find our word for today from the Word of God - the famous story of the Prodigal Son.

This young man asks his father for his share of the estate; he can't wait until his father's dead. He then "...set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. He spent everything." He ends up working on a pig farm, an unthinkably defiling job for a Jew. But when at the end of his rope, he returns to his father, having blown everything his father ever gave him. The Bible says, "His father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him."

According to the Bible, I am that prodigal son and so are you. We've taken the life and the gifts that our Heavenly Father has given us and we've used them for ourselves. We've ignored the purpose He created us for. The Bible calls it sin, with the middle letter saying it all - s-I-n!

There's no human reason that a totally holy God would want us in His family. But in spite of all we've done that has broken God's laws and God's heart, He loves us. He loves you. In God's own words, "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

We couldn't make it home to a sinless God with a lifetime of sin. The only way your sin and mine could be forgiven was for someone to pay the penalty for it, and someone did. God's Son did. Only He could. Picture in your mind that awful scene of Jesus on that cross, suspended by three nails, bleeding and dying in anguish. Then say these two words, "For me. He's dying there for every lie I've ever told, every hurt I've ever inflicted, every dirty or selfish thing I've ever done." That's love with no conditions and no strings. We gave Him every reason not to love us. But He's running your direction this very day. He's waiting to throw His arms around you and welcome you into His family.

But you've got to decide to come home to God through His Son. This could be your day to say, "Jesus, this is not my life anymore. I'm Yours." That's when you experience the love you'll never lose.

I'd love to help you do that. That's what our website is for. I'd ask you to go there as soon as you can today - ANewStory.com. Because I'll tell you this, arms wide open He's waiting for you right now.