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Oct 16, 2023 06:00am

The Bible Recap: Days 211-217

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(The following are reflections from the writer’s personal journey through The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble – a Bible reading plan to read the Bible chronologically in one year. To learn more about The Bible Recap, visit thebiblerecap.com. Find more posts from this series at lifeword.org/thebiblerecap.)

Day 211: Read Isaiah Chapters 54-58

My Takeaways:

When I read our reading this morning, one word came to mind: beautiful.

These chapters are about the beautiful love of God. They are so full of forgiveness, compassion, and hope. Truly, some of my favorite verses are in these readings!

So, I wrote this for my God Shot:

We have a God.

We have a God who takes us back when we have deserted Him with our wrong thoughts and choices. He takes us back with abundant compassion.

We have a God whose love won’t be removed from us! Though the mountains move and the hills shake, His love will stand firm. And, He promises a peace that will not end.

We have a God who promises whoever attacks us will fall.

We have a God who says no weapon formed against us will succeed!

We have a God who beckons us to come to His water, drink, and live.

We have a God who invites us to turn away from our sin and return to Him so that He may have compassion on us, for He will freely forgive.

We have a God who calls us to trust Him! His thoughts are not our thoughts—the way He thinks is different!

We have a God whose Word is powerful—it will not return void! His Word will make things happen! His Word will succeed in what He sends them to do!

We have a God whose very nature He created—the mountains, the hills, the trees—will worship Him!

We have a God who calls us to preserve justice and do what is right, for when we do, we will experience His blessing.

We have a God who shows us how to get healed: by serving others. For when we do, our light will shine like the light of dawn and our wounds will heal. Our God will walk before us and His glory will protect us from behind.

We have a God who answers us when we call out to Him, saying: “Here I am.”

We have a God who promises He will lead us and satisfy our needs in dry lands. He will give us strength and health, like a well-watered garden whose water never goes dry.

Oh friends, we have a beautiful God, don’t we?

Day 212: Read Isaiah Chapters 59-63

My Takeaways:

Here’s my God Shot for this reading!

Sin separates us from a Holy God.

It keeps our roads crooked, giving us no peace as we walk them. We live in the night.

And yet, God sent a light (Jesus!), sent to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and freedom to the prisoners. This light calls out of darkness and into the light by living righteously. For when we do, we will shine like a bright light, and the Lord will give us a new name.

And after we experience the Lord’s faithful love and compassion, may we proclaim it and all that He has done for us!

Day 213: Read Isaiah Chapters 64-66

My Takeaways:

I wrote a short prayer for us based upon this last reading from Isaiah!

Lord,

When we have rebelled against you, our sin like filth garments, help us to turn to you with repentant hearts. Cleanse us from our impurity, Lord. Mold us to follow you. You are the potter, and we are the clay.

Shape our hearts to seek you and to obey you. And when we mess up, give us a heart that is quick to confess and get right with you.

Heaven is your throne and earth is your footstool, Lord! Nothing is too hard for you! Help us to experience your light in such a way, we live out our love for you and shine that love to all around us so that when it’s time to go home and experience peace like a river and a new earth, we take as many people with us. May we proclaim your goodness so much so, it makes an eternal difference.

Help us not just walk in your light, but to live in it, Lord.

Day 214: Read 2 Kings Chapters 20-21

My Takeaways:

We revisit Hezekiah’s story and Tara-Leigh gives us a fresh perspective on prayer and God’s yeses. I don’t know about you, but her God Shot was my favorite part.

Prayer isn’t a means to get something from God, but to get God. And, don’t you find that many of your prayers are for us to avoid pain and trauma? Yet, that is when we draw close to God! Here’s the cunning, sly tactic of Satan—instead of throwing lots of pain your way, he will abundance your way. Just like Hezekiah, abundance can draw our hearts away from God. If life is good, we are less likely to need God. It’s dangerous to our spiritual hearts.

Think about it…when are you closest to God: when times are tough or times are good?

Pain draws us closer to Him, and prayer keeps us connected to Him. James 4:8 says when we draw close to God, He draws close to us. And it’s then He shines His light on sin in our lives and gives us that urge to repent and get clean with Him. His light purifies us! Drawing close to God is so good for us!

Oh friends, none of us wants hard roads to travel in life, I get it. But, it’s those hard roads that can mold a heart that God desires—a heart after Him. And it’s those hard roads our kids will see and experience and may this send them to the mercy seat of God, as well, as they grow.

What if hard roads are God’s blessing instead?

Day 215: Read 2 Chronicles Chapters 32-33

My Takeaways:

Friends, I loved today’s reading! It gave us so much more insight than our reading in 2 Kings did!

The power of God was on display in both men’s lives!

Hezekiah led his nation in a spiritual revival worshipping Yahweh, and when their faith was tested with outside invasion, they looked to God as their protector, not their fortifications or weapons.

Hezekiah and Isaiah cried out to God and God slayed 185,000 valiant warriors! Assyria withdrew in shame and their boastful leader who insulted God, Sennacherib, was murdered by his kids while he was worshipping his gods. It’s not good to disrespect God nor His people.

Sadly, God’s blessing planted seeds of pride in Hezekiah’s heart:

“He was exalted in the eyes of all the nations after that.”

Hezekiah got sick—a sickness that would lead to his demise, yet God intervened again to save him! And again, God’s blessing watered those seeds of pride.

Because of Hezekiah’s victory, people brought him lots of gifts, and he acquired much wealth and resources in his reign. In fact, the reading says, “Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did.” When you succeed in all that you do, you can easily forget the One who helps you succeed in all that you do. This, friends, is why it’s a good thing we have weaknesses…they keep us reliant upon God.

And when other leaders came to see Hezekiah and his wealth, God left him to test him and see how he would respond to them. And what did He find?

Pride.

Hezekiah showed it all off. That would lead to the downfall of his people in the future, for it would be those nations that would attack them.

Oh friends, Hezekiah began faithful and ended prideful.

And now we have his son, who seems to be a direct opposite of Hezekiah:

He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
He rebuilt the high places his dad tore down.
He built altars in God’s temple.
He sacrificed his sons in the fire.
He practiced witchcraft.
He consulted mediums.
He did worse evil than the nations the Lord destroyed before the Israelites—WOWZA!

And yet, when God allowed Manasseh to be captive with hooks (yikes!), Manasseh doesn’t turn to his other gods, he turns to THE GOD, Yahweh for help.

And here is what I absolutely love about God: God met him there and rescued him.

Did Manasseh deserve the worst type of death possible because of his evil deeds? Yes.

Does God give him what he deserves? No.

He brings Manasseh back to Jerusalem, and this is where we see that Manasseh’s prayers showed true repentance: he returned changed. He took down the places of idol worship. He rebuilt the altar of the Lord. He offered fellowship and thanksgiving sacrifices. He commanded his people to worship God.

You guys! This is the changing power of God! While one man started his reign off strong and godly, he ended divided and proud. While his son started his reign of evil, he ended humble and repentant.

The way God can work in surrendered hearts blows me away! With Hezekiah’s surrendered heart, he led his nation in a spiritual revival! With Manasseh’s surrendered heart, he led a faithless nation back to Him.

Just imagine: What can He do with our surrendered hearts?

Day 216: Read Nahum Chapters 1-3

My Takeaways:

“Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!”

This was the message a wayward prophet, Jonah, delivered to Nineveh. It was short, yet it was powerful. And it produced repentance like none other. The entire city—120,000–repented and turned to God (even the king!).

And God, compassionate, merciful, and long-suffering, forgave them.

A hundred years later, they are back in the same position…except when Nahum warns them, there’s no repentance. And judgment is coming.

It’s easy to look at them and think, “Well, you had it coming! You’ve been warned! You didn’t listen to God. Y’all deserve it!”

And yet.

How many times have we been convicted to the point we repent, turning to God for help with our sin, only to turn back to it ever so slightly each day? How many times have we recognized what we are doing is either flat-out wrong or just not right…and still continue to move in that direction?

It’s me. I have been there many a time. And, I can still land there each day.

Maybe it’s not being entirely honest with my husband about how much I spent. Maybe it’s the juicy tea spilled at lunch. Maybe it’s the silent rebellion when my boss tells me to do something.

Oh friends, I know enough to know even though it’s not an obvious sin, like murder, it’s still not right…and I can go on with life unrepentant on those little sneaky areas of sin.

It’s easy to look at Nineveh as pagans who deserve God’s wrath, but have you ever thought about God’s people, who know Him the most, and still don’t repent?

Either way, unrepentance has consequences. Sooner or later, like a loving parent, God punishes sin and consequences must come. He is merciful yet just. He is long-suffering but swift in his judgment. And our sin can great a barrier between us our God. A changed heart is always God’s desire.

The Ninevites forgot about God’s wrath and fell into old habits over time. We can too. Sometimes, it takes a wake-up call to revive our hearts into action, true action: repentance.

To turn away from what grieves our God and turn to turn Him, experiencing His forgiveness, restoration, and help. To turn to Him for help and strength so that we can overcome that sin that keeps tripping is up.

We are all held accountable—as Christians, we don’t get a pass! But as Christians, we have hope that sin is not the end of our story—redemption is. May we be people who heed God’s warnings and turn away from that which holds us back from our compassionate God.

Day 217: Read 2 Kings Chapters 22-23 & 2 Chronicles Chapters 34-35

My Takeaways:

Our last godly king, Josiah, was today and boy, oh boy, did he clean house!

He was already cleaning up Judah when God’s Word was found in the temple. Upon hearing God’s Words, it produced such a conviction in his heart, everything changed! He read God’s Word to his people and made a covenant to God that they will follow Him, heart, soul, mind, and strength….and Josiah got serious about eradicating idols from the land!

He got the Passover started again and followed it to a “T”!! Second Chronicles 35, “No Passover had been observed like it in Israel since the days of Samuel.” Wowza!

And then, our nemesis, Pride, makes his appearance again. He just won’t ever go away. Josiah gets involved in a fight he had no business getting involved in and his pride led to his death. I hate that! He had done so much good in his kingship and it ended badly.

It’s so interesting that God can speak to pagans to accomplish His will. Neco was carrying out God’s orders to attack the Babylonians and told Josiah this. Like Tara-Leigh said, “We can’t dismiss something as a lie just because we don’t like the person who said it.” We must use discernment to help us. And reading God’s Word is the best way to help us discern!

My God Shot was a verse that I remembered from Isaiah 55:11:

“So My Word which goes from My mouth will not return to Me empty. It will do what I want it to do, and will carry out My plan well.”

When God’s Word was not only found but read, things happened in Judah, and a kingdom turned back to God! If God’s Word can speak the world into creation, it can evoke a spiritual revival! And that is what we saw in Josiah’s time.

And if it can do those things, imagine what it can do when we speak it and pray it in faith!