Running Back to God

Scripture Reading

2 Chronicles 36:15-16, 20-23 The Fall of Jerusalem

15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.

20 He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 21 The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.

22 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

23 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them.’”

Devotional

God can be a lot like an earthly Father. While we know he loves us unconditionally, he still needs to set us straight sometimes for our own good. In this passage we see that God has sent numerous prophets to his people to warn them about their ways and encourage them to repent. But they just ignored God’s messengers completely until finally they had run out of chances to repent and had to learn their lesson the hard way. If you’ve ever been around kids or if you’re a parent, you know that when a kid is not obeying important rules you may give them a couple warnings and let them know that if they don’t listen that they’re going to get in trouble. However, eventually the warnings grow tiring and it’s evident the kid is not going to listen until they’re disciplined. It’s not fun, but they need to understand that their actions have consequences and the rules are in place for their own good. That is exactly what God is doing here. In this case, God allows not only his people to be taken captive and enslaved, but he also allows his temple to be destroyed.

It’s not until 70 years later that God uses a Persian king, who is not a follower of God, to free his people and have his temple rebuilt. The number 70 is important here because it represents 10 years that God’s people did not follow the Sabbath year of rest. The Law said that every seventh year the land was not be farmed. So, it is fitting that while the land is recovering and being revitalized, the people of God are being made right for their return. Interestingly enough in the end, God chooses to use a pagan king to fulfill Jeremiah’s prophecy. It goes to show you that no matter if you’re for God or against him, he can still use you as a part of his plan and his plan will not fail. We saw this in Exodus with the Pharaoh in Egypt and now we see it with Cyrus, the Persian king.

So, how does this lesson relate to our life? There may be areas of your life that are in sin and need to be made right. Maybe you’re doing things you really know you shouldn’t be doing like indulging in gossip, mistreating your loved ones, maybe you’re creating bad habits that are evolving into addictions, or maybe your views are conforming more to the world than God. Whatever the case may be, all you need to do is acknowledge your sin and change your ways. If you need help, seek help, and also pray for God to direct your steps. God will be there every step of the way because he loves you. He doesn’t want to see you enslaved to sin, he wants to set your free. Psalm 107:13-16 says:

13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness, and broke away their chains. 15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, 16 for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.

God loves us so much that all we need to do is come to him with an earnest heart and repent for our sins to be set free. He always desires the best for us and will help us every step of the way as long as we let him. Let’s pray.

Prayer

Father God, thank you for being a God of many second chances, but also a God who loves us enough to set our paths straight. Today, I want to acknowledge that I have sin in my life that I’m both aware of and probably even sin that I’m not aware of. Lord, I want to be more like you and follow in your ways. I pray a special blessing over each area of my life that they may be transformed in accordance to your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen!