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 2 Chronicles 34: 8 – 13

See here in today’s reading:

• The necessity for repair (8, 11): The Temple had been allowed to fall into ruin (allowed to fall to pieces. The Message.) Remember, that as a Christian, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Don’t be negligent in your self-care. A spiritual life that is not maintained will eventually show signs of neglect. Internal walls in your soul can crumble and you end up a ruin.
• Giving to the work (9): God’s work in this world requires the generosity of God’s people. I believe that ‘God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.’ Whenever a significant work of God is taking place it will show itself on the financial graphs and charts and statements. Of course it will be manifest in other ways. But when the giving is good it almost invariably points to a significant work of grace in the hearts of believers.
• Paying the workers (10): The labourer is always ‘worthy of his hire.’ In certain circumstances he/she may choose to forgo that right, but as a general rule, those on the building site should receive a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.
• Paying for the materials (11): In the growth of a work of God, attention to administrative details is important. This may seem somewhat mundane, but there are all sorts of practical things that must be attended to if the work is to progress.
• Working faithfully (12a): The temple would not have been repaired without the spiritual vision, insight and leadership that came from Josiah.  That was crucial. He was a real reformer. Nor would the temple have been restored without the generous giving of the people, who ‘dug deep’ to make it happen. But it wouldn’t have occurred either without willing workers who rolled up their sleeves and got on with what was necessary. Every pastor is thankful for ‘faithful’ workers. They may not have a high profile. They may not necessarily have charismatic personalities. But day after day, whatever the weather, they turn up on the ‘site’ with their ‘tools’ and they make their unique contribution to the project.
• Supervising skilfully (12b, 13): Thankfully, the Levites didn’t take the attitude, ‘We’re in the worship band. We’re the rock stars around here. We only want to play our guitars and sing, so don’t bother us with anything else!’ Instead, they were prepared to multi-task. Sometimes an area of service opens up, and you walk towards it because you see there is a ‘gap’ and you are prepared to help. There was a need for godly, visionary leadership; there was a need for cash; there was a need for reliable workers and appropriate materials. But there was also a need for management. The Levites ‘project managed’ the job. The Levites –they were all skilled musicians – were in charge of the common laborers and supervised the workers as they went from job to job. The Levites also served as accountants, managers, and security guards. The Message. There comes a time when a need presents itself and you just have to step up to the mark. In this way; with such a spirit, things get done.

Prayer: Lord, show me my place on the building site, and help me to fill it, with excellence.

2 Chronicles 34:1-7

I recently talked with my Sunday School class about Josiah. He was the same age as some of them when he became king (1). There are lots of things we could say in qualifying that, but, again, we should not miss the point that God calls and uses children. Especially in revivals/outpourings of the Spirit, the young have regularly been blessed and used by God.

It is significant to note which father he followed (2). Thankfully it wasn’t Amon! When we are told that he walked in the ways of his father David… we know that we can expect great things from this young man. He did not turn aside to the right or to the left. (He kept straight on the path blazed by his ancestor David, not one step to the left or right. The Message.)It is wonderful to see a steadfast spirit in a young person, and then years later to find it is still there in the fully formed adult. Just a word of warning: when you do what is right in the eyes of the LORD it is not always perceived as right in the eyes of men. There can be a clash.

When he had been king for eight years – he was still only a teenager – he began to seek the God of David his ancestor. The Message. How that should encourage those of us who work with teenagers. He must have been 16 years old, and he got really fired up. I know how my own heart burned at that age. At 16 I preached my first sermon, and sensed God’s call to ministry upon my life.

Seeking God is not just about your prayer life. That’s a big and important part of it. But when you seek God, your whole life is involved. Your morals and values are in the mix. To seek God is to pursue holiness. Josiah went after it with all his heart and soul. It wasn’t just a personal thing, but a national crusade (3b-7). May God give us more political leaders of the calibre of Josiah. He wanted to see his nation spiritually and morally renewed, and he put himself on the line to see it happen. He scrubbed the place clean, Judah and Jerusalem, clean inside and out. The clean-up campaign ranged outward to the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and the surrounding neighbourhoods – as far north as Naphtali. Throughout Israel he demolished the altars and Asherah groves, pulverized the god and goddess figures, chopped up the neighbourhood shrines into firewood. With Israel once more intact, he returned to Jerusalem. The Message. He did a thorough job of sorting things out. For Josiah, seeking God was a serious business, as it should be for us all. Truly seeking God will mean that you get a sight of things that are wrong, and you will determine to set them right in His strength.

Prayer: Lord we bring to you our leaders. We thank you for them, and we ask that their priority will be to please you and not the popular vote. Give us men and women with moral backbone to lead our nation in ways that are right and just. Give them wisdom, courage and strength for the onerous tasks they face day after day.

 2 Chronicles 33: 21 – 25

It was a shame Amon was so like his father (21, 22). It is often alarming, or at least sobering, to see our own reflection in our own children. We look into their faces and see ourselves staring back. Children tend to become what their parents are and do, more than what they say. So we dads and mums have to consider what we are modelling. I remember spending a week-end with some friends in Derbyshire. I was the visiting preacher at their fellowship. At the time, they had a little boy who was scarcely more than a toddler. On Sunday, the little chap had to carry his own case to the service, because he wanted to be like his daddy, who always carried his Bible and papers in an attaché case. Now that is innocuous and cute, but it left a powerful impression on me that little eyes are on us and they are copiers. Amon ‘photocopied’ his dad’s earlier conduct.

It was a shame that Amon was so unlike his father (23). As we have seen, Manasseh had a remarkable conversion, or turning back to God. His life could be divided into two chapters: ‘before’ and ‘after’. In chapter 2 he was a totally different man, marching ‘to the beat of a different drummer.’ But it was like only chapter 1 registered with Amon; or that he put down the book before the start of chapter 2. Whatever, it was the first chapter that guided his own behaviour, to the detriment of his nation, and leading to his own eventual downfall. …he never did repent to GOD as Manasseh repented. He just kept at it, going from one thing to another. The Message.

Amon came to a sticky end. The nation was not a happy place under his leadership. It was full of intrigue; plots and counter-plots. When the ungodly are in power the people suffer one way or another.

So Amon died, as all rulers do. But one good thing to come out of his death was the accession of young Josiah to the throne. We will see why in the coming days.

Prayer: Lord, let the lesson stick with me that as I reap I will sow.

 Proverbs 21:11-16

(11; see 19:25) There is educational value in observing the correct administration of punishment. One benefit of a good justice system in any nation is that it can warn people off crime when they get to see the consequences. Wise people don’t necessarily need such shock tactics to awaken them to reality. They learn by listening. The Message. They take on board the teaching they receive.

(12) Although, in the short term, the wicked often seem to get away with their evil deeds, they won’t forever. The truth is that wickedness leads to ruin. God knows where wicked people live and sooner or later He will be popping round for a visit! Count on God’s righteous government of the universe, even if, for a time, injustice appears to prevail. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the ‘half time score’ will be the same at ‘full time’.

(13) There is a lot of teaching in the Bible on the subject of God’s care for the poor. His people are expected to look after them too. If you stop your ears to the cries of the poor, your cries will go unheard, unanswered. The Message. If we hold on to any sin it will block up the prayer pipe. Negligence in this area will be damaging to our prayers. If we show no mercy, we will receive no mercy (Matt.5:7;6:14-15). Again, we reap what we sow. How we treat others tends to rebound.

(14) In this proverb, the word gift is equivalent to a bribe. It is important to understand that THIS is simply asserting the way things are in the world. It is not saying it is right, but we know it happens. In fact, such conduct is rife. More generally we can see how a gift can open someone’s heart and draw people closer together.

(15) It seems to me that the theme here is similar to (11). It is certainly related to it. Good people celebrate when justice triumphs, but for the workers of evil it’s a bad day. The Message.

(16) People can lose their way in life, with tragic consequences. Whoever wanders off the straight and narrow ends up in a congregation of ghosts. The Message.  Our understanding, as believers, is rooted in the truth of God’s Word. We stray from this path to our peril. (See also Prov. 5:3; 7:24-27; Matt. 7:13, 14).

Prayer: Pray today for those known to you who have got off the ‘beaten track’ in their spiritual lives, and ask for God’s mercy; for their protection and safe return

 Proverbs 21: 5 – 10

Someone said, ‘It took me many years to become an overnight success!’

(5) ‘The only place where success comes before work is in the Dictionary.’ Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind. Work hard at thinking through where you are going; what you are going to do. Don’t rush at things in an ill-considered manner. I remember a popular fun song from my childhood days: ‘’ ‘Right,’ said Fred.’’ In it there was this comment: ‘The problem with Fred is he’s too hasty, and you don’t get nowhere if you’re too hasty.’

(6; see Prov. 10:2; 19:1) Ill-gotten gains will not last. Make it to the top by lying and cheating; get paid with smoke and a promotion – to death! The Message.

(7) This proverb makes a similar point to the preceding one: crime doesn’t pay. The violent are dragged off violently; they reap what they sow. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword. The wicked get buried alive by their loot because they refuse to use it to help others. The Message.

(8) There have been leaders in the church (no doubt there still are) who have stooped to devious, manipulative ways to push through their own agenda. The devious path is not the godly route.  The Lord’s people are to be upright in all their ways. This means being straightforward and having no guile (John 1:47) Mixed motives twist life into tangles; pure motives take you straight down the road. The Message.

(9) Better to live alone in a tumbledown shack than share a mansion with a nagging spouse. The Message. There is something beautiful about marital harmony. Conversely, as someone once observed in my hearing, ‘It must be hell to be married to the wrong person.’ That might be overstated, but not much. It is an unhappy situation to live in a war zone; to be continually at loggerheads with your life’s partner. It would be better to stay single than marry the wrong man or woman.

(10) Wicked souls love to make trouble; they feel nothing for friends and neighbours. I heard a great message given by Doctor Henry Cloud. It was entitled, ‘Wise people, foolish people and wicked people.’ Doctor Cloud pointed out that ‘Proverbs’ introduces us to all three. There are ‘wicked’ people in this world who care about no-one but themselves. You can love them, pray for them and endeavour to share the gospel message with them. But it’s best to put plenty of distance between you and them for the most part. You don’t want to spend over much time with them, normally speaking. They are toxic; a danger to your soul.

Prayer: Lord, help me to love all people, but choose friends and companions wisely. May I not become rotten because of who I am in close contact with in life’s ‘fruit bowl.’

 2 Corinthians 2:5-11

Because we are the body of Christ, and joined to one another, what one does, he/she does to all (5). It’s good to remember this. We implicate others in our conduct, whether that is positive or negative. Whatever we do to one of the least of Christ’s brothers we do to Him.

Paul’s letter (rather than the initially planned visit) had produced a good result. Church discipline had taken place (6). Paul saw that it was sufficient. He didn’t want appropriate chastisement to slip over into unduly harsh treatment. We can so easily go ‘over the top.’ Paul saw that ‘enough is enough’ and after the ‘smack’ it is important to follow up with a ‘hug’ and a ‘cuddle’. So I don’t want you to come down too hard. What the majority of you agreed to as punishment is punishment enough. Now is the time to forgive this man and help him back on his feet. If all you do is pour on the guilt, you could very well drown him in it. My counsel now is to pour on the love (6-8) The Message.               

Verse 9 reads like this in The Message: The focus of my letter wasn’t on punishing the offender but on getting you to take responsibility for the health of the church.

It can be hard to forgive certain things. It doesn’t come cheap to reach out a hand of friendship to one who has hurt you. But when we realise that we live in the sight of Christ (10) we recognise the obligation on us to forgive. He has cancelled such an enormous debt in my case. How can I fail to cancel your much smaller debt?

So if you forgive him, I forgive him. Don’t think I’m carrying around a list of personal grudges. The fact is that I’m joining in with your forgiveness, as Christ is with us, guiding us. After all, we don’t want to unwittingly give Satan an opening for yet more mischief we’re not oblivious to his sly ways! (10, 11).The Message

Unforgiveness, bitterness and the like are major weapons the devil will use to bring us down and damage the church, if we let him. He will turn these armaments on us given half the chance (11). But we have God – given insight into his schemes and ‘forewarned is forearmed.’

Prayer: Lord, enable me not to allow any root of bitterness to grow up in me. Help me to practice the grace of total forgiveness.

 2 Corinthians 1:23 – 2:4

Leaders can be criticised for many things. Sometimes the flak that comes their way is deserved. A lot of the time it is unjust. (I saw a cartoon some while back. It depicted a pastor’s grave, and on the headstone the epitaph read: ‘I told you the job description was impossible!!’) But whether they deserve the finger wagging in their direction or not, here is one thing that is true of genuine Christian leaders: they love their people far more than those ‘sheep’ ever realise. Paul had been the recipient of much criticism from the Corinthians. They were egged-on by self-appointed ‘super apostles’, who had a vested interest in bad-mouthing Paul, and some in the church at Corinth hurled mud in his direction. A portion of it inevitably sticks. Whether it has a right to or not, it does leave traces. They were saying that Paul was fickle. ‘He makes plans lightly, and then just breaks them. He lets you down. He’s not reliable.’ Paul admitted that he had intended to pay them a visit, but the reason he delayed was because he knew that if he came to them at that time he would only cause them pain. He would have to come wielding a big stick, such was the terrible situation in the church. He wanted to spare them that (23) because he loved them so much. He really did not deserve all the muck winging its way towards him. He decided to try to deal with the thorny issue in a letter and so thus clear the way for a happier visit later

Now, are you ready for the real reason I didn’t visit you in Corinth? As God is my witness, the only reason I didn’t come was to spare you pain. I was being considerate of you, not indifferent, not manipulative…That’s why I decided not to make another visit that could only be painful to both of us. If by merely showing up I would put you in an embarrassingly painful position, how then would you be free to cheer and refresh me? That was my reason for writing a letter instead of coming – So I wouldn’t have to spend a miserable time disappointing the very friends I had looked forward to cheering me up. I was convinced at the time I wrote it that what was best for me was also best for you. As it turned out, there was pain enough in just writing that letter, more tears than ink on the parchment. But I didn’t write it to cause pain; I wrote it so you would know how much I care – oh, more than care – love you! The Message.

The banks of his heart were bursting and overflowing with love for them. Paul was so intent on setting the record straight that he actually called God as his witness (1:23). Although he was in the ‘dock’ and stood accused, he knew that God who knows all things would speak for him and back him up.

Think twice, even three times, before you criticise a church leader. No, it is not that he or she is immune from criticism. They are not perfect and will inevitably get some things wrong; perhaps even badly wrong at times. But when we judge others we do so imperfectly. We don’t know the whole story. We probably don’t even know close to half. So we should be very careful about too freely donating our opinions. That ‘shepherd’ you feel jaundiced towards almost certainly loves you far more than you think.

Pray for those who lead you and encourage them. Certainly you should tell them when they are wrong, but do so lovingly, letting them know how much you care for them. Be very careful about judging the motives that you do not have eyes to see.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for giving us shepherds to lead us. Help us to be quick to believe the best about them, and always hold them in our hearts and prayers.

2 Chronicles 33:14-20

‘Things can change.’ People can change. Let us say it again: God answers prayer (18, 19). Be encouraged.

You know those ‘before and after’ pictures? Like, ‘This is me before the diet, and this is me afterwards!!’ When someone turns to God (or comes back to God) there is always an Afterwards… (14). He or she will look different. They will act differently. There will be impressive change. People may be invited to tell their story, but the transformed life itself will tell the most eloquent story. Afterwards…

• There will be a rebuilding of broken down things and a guarding of the life against enemy attack (14). You will be aware of vulnerabilities and weaknesses and you will seek to strengthen those areas because you will not want to fail your Lord. Manasseh did not rebuild the entire wall, only a section of it that was threatened. The ‘new’ person will want to don the whole armour of God (Eph.6:10-20) and be able to stand and withstand. (He tightened up the defense system by posting army captains in all the fortress cities of Judah. The Message.)
• There will be a ‘getting rid’ of things that do not belong in the ‘temple precincts’ of your life. (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). You will have an instinctive sense of what is foreign; an ‘illegal immigrant’, spiritually speaking. He also did a good spring cleaning on the Temple, carting out the pagan idols and the goddess statue. The Message.
• As well as a throwing out of rubbish (a removal of all that ought not to be there) there will be a restoring of what should be there (16). He put the altar of GOD back in working order and restored worship… The Message.

But we also have to be realistic. Afterwards…you can’t expect everything in the garden to be rosy (17). Manasseh had led his people very far away from God (33:9). Although he had turned back to God, the people did not fully do away with everything they should have done. In verse 19b we see the terrible truth that what we have done we have done. It cannot be undone. Sins have consequences, and although they can be forgiven and removed, the consequences regularly stick around. So it is possible to know the peace of a clean conscience, and yet still rue the things you have done.

In my church at Wigan I had a good friend, and I often felt, when we went out onto the streets to share our faith, that he could relate better to many of the people we met. He’d done his fair share of the ‘pubbing and clubbing’ etc. He’d ‘been there, done that and got the tee shirt!’ He knew, like Ecclesiastes, the emptiness of such a life. I remember saying to him one day, ‘I wish I had a story like yours.’ ‘No you don’t Steve,’ he replied in a kind but firm way. ‘You don’t want a story like mine.’ His sins had gone, but the scars remained.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for the ‘afterwards’ experienced by everyone who is in Christ and who becomes a new creation.

 2 Chronicles 33:10-13

‘Things can change’ – and so can people!

When GOD spoke to Manasseh and his people about this, they ignored him (10) The Message. As I said previously, Manasseh put in the ear plugs (10). There are none as deaf as those who will not hear! Can you imagine a situation where the Queen speaks to you and you refuse to listen? It would be so rude. Someone infinitely greater in power and wealth wants our attention. Will we give it to Him? It should be a priority for believers to want to hear God.

How good of God it was to not give up on Manasseh (11). The Lord had been speaking severely to him to warn him and his people, but now His tone got even harder. This was a ‘severe mercy’, but it worked! God got his man. The ‘Hound of Heaven’, as Francis Thompson put it, pursued him and cornered him. This reminds me of C.S. Lewis saying that he became ‘the most reluctant convert in all England.’ Notice the So at the beginning of this verse. It brings to us once again the clear point that sin has definite consequences. It is a serious thing to resist God on any matter.

At our first church house party, Pastor Dave Green hammered home the message that ‘Things can change.’ I’ve never forgotten that line. Don’t give up on anyone, however low they have sunk; no matter how far out on the tide they may have drifted (12, 13). If Manasseh could be converted, anyone can be. The ‘Hound of Heaven’ can sniff out anyone, however thick the camouflage they’re hiding behind. Now that he was in trouble, he went on 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. The Message. So long as this story stands on the page of revelation, no sinners need despair of mercy. There was hardly a sin possible to man that Manasseh did not commit…And he made his people do worse than the heathen. Then came awful sorrow. Bound in fetters, exposed to consummate cruelty and disgrace, he was carried to Babylon, and thrust into the dungeons, where other captive princes were immured, with little chance of liberation or permission to revisit his native land. But there the Spirit of God did his work. He humbled himself greatly and prayed. What tears, and cries, and bursts of heart-broken penitence were his! How those walls were saturated with the breath of confession, and those stone floors indented by his kneeling at perpetual prayer! And God came near to his low dungeon, and graciously heard his supplication, and brought him back again. F.B. Meyer: Great verses through the Bible, p.162.

‘Things can change’. People can change. Don’t give up on anyone or anything. Manasseh had sinned greatly, but now he humbled himself greatly. He had grown up in a godly home and lived in the midst of a ‘revival’ you might say. Perhaps, in his distress all that good seed finally began to sprout in his heart. The prodigal came home. It wasn’t just his father he remembered, it seems, but his fathers (12). There were many other godly kings he knew about. When we pray for our loved ones we do not know what they might have to go through to come to Christ. It is not easy for us to face this, but God has tools in His toolbox that can do the job. Never doubt it. He can unlock any heart. He is the God of restoration, and be encouraged that He is still moved by entreaties. ‘Things can change’ – and so can people!

Prayer: Today Lord I pray for  ——- knowing that only you can change their heart. But I am convinced that you most certainly can.