2 Chronicles 28-36, 1 Thessalonians 1-5, 2 Thessalonians 1-3, and Ezra 1-6

I’m assuming you’ve already noticed this, but- did you know we are going into week 30 of a 52 week study? That means we are MORE than halfway through! I feel like I’m learning so much and connecting so many dots; I really hope you are too! So although I’m in no real hurry, I feel like we’re really accomplishing something by being more than halfway through with a pretty lofty goal of reading the Bible, cover to cover.

At the very beginning of this passage- let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the prisoners from Judah, captured by Israel- first of all this is literally like being attacked by your cousin, right? But then imagine being taken prisoner- I’m thinking it would be terrifying, you’re probably cold, and maybe hungry. Maybe you’re wounded from the fight, worried about your family and fellow soldiers- lots of emotions would have to going through your brain. But then- all of a sudden, the detainers just change their minds- not only let you go but feed and cloth you, taking you safely back home- how confusing would that be?! So to me I’m thinking “wow, well that’s clearly a Go-God moment; they have to repent, right?!” Oh but not Ahaz - he doubles down and starts worshipping the other gods 🤦‍♀️ Smart, real smart.

I love how 2 Chronicles ends- I mean not the whole part about Israel and Judah being defeated and taken into exile because they didn’t follow God but the way it’s worded- “The land enjoyed its sabbath rest” What an awesome way of saying that, right?! These people have been going back and forth for ??? years- there is very little time of peace, they apparently never learn their lesson, I mean- we’ve read some real dark and bloody stuff in these past few chapters- lots of killing, lots of conquering, repenting, repeating. Does God finally just throw in the towel and say forget it?! How many of us have had hard weeks? We’ve touched on this a few times but bare with me- your computer crashes, your big presentation is corrupt, the boss is being difficult, something doesn’t go as planned, your kid refuses to sleep or eat or potty in the toilet- you’re exhausted, mentally and physically. You just want to throw in the towel- but do you? Or do you step back, take a break, and try again next week? “Take a sabbath rest” if you will- then we’ll try again, because somethings are just too important to just throw up your hands and actually give up. And we are so lucky and so blessed- because God sees us as “that important”. We are too important to throw in the towel; God loves us so much that He’s willing to continue offering us grace and mercy just so we can have a relationship with Him, our Heavenly Father.

What takeaways did you have here? Maybe you found something in the later portion of this passage- the letter to the Thessalonians or the back-and-forth of rebuilding the temple in Ezra??