Again and Again

2 Chronicles 36:15

The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place.

‘You said that already mom!’ That’s my 6 year old son’s reply to my nth repetition of 'Pick up your toys, Rilian!'. On happy days, I’d tickle him for trying his wits on me. But on busy days, which is like everyday, we end up with more lectures and both annoyed. It’s really frustrating. Admittedly though, if I take our case before a court and be asked who started it all, I couldn’t blame the mess on the floor. Someone did flare up first. And considering our age difference and the-who’s more responsible-angle, I’d sure lose any claim.  But would any kid win a plea if his parent sits as judge? Probably never.

If we’ll read God’s message to His people through the prophet Jeremiah, we may have the impression that it was in the tone of much anger. Considering that all of Judah - from king to priests to families - were unfaithful and unrepentant, it is no wonder that they were warned of exile as punishment. The verse above says the messengers were sent ‘again and again’, or in another translation ‘rising up early and sending’. That sounds like being nagged at the start of the day! But unlike earthly parents, that cannot be said of God. On the contrary, He had pity on his people and on Jerusalem. His reiterations may be irritating to the rebellious, but never because He is in any way annoying. In fact, He even went to the extent of cleaning our mess if only we repent and return to Him. The Cross is proof to that. But to them with hard hearts, there can be no remedy but God’s wrath.

Divine providence saw to it that the same message was preached yesterday at church. To me, that’s God’s faithfulness meeting me again and again. I nodded in praise, and relief!, for God’s unchanging nature in stably responding to my deeds and misdeeds. It’s unimaginable that He will scold me harder today because He caught a bad mood or suddenly felt shuffling some house rules. What is more, the love element leaves me speechless. I do love my kids. But I’m sure they can’t trace any of it while I’m angry. In God’s just court, I am guilty. But there’s another seat, the mercy seat, and there I am forgiven. Not just again and again, but once and for all.  Thank You Lord!

Seek or Sink

2 Chronicles 34:3

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images.

One of life’s humor is the marriage of structure and spontaneity. That's from an OC mom who puts everything in order (and labeled!), while her three fun-loving people equate fun with messing around. It’s a daily riot here.  Nagging starts when they come to me for missing items. They knew they'll have to bear with my ‘I-told-you-so’ while we're retracing their steps. But my hope is for my kids to just see the value of neatness, even safekeeping. But so far, it’s not sinking in.     

On his eighth year as king, Josiah saw the need to seek answers for the sinking state of Judah. Many believed it was from the royal annals that he found his key. With reference to his walking as David did, the latter probably was the teenage king’s favorite hero. And because David sought God, Josiah did as well. Amazing how, despite that the Scripture was still missing at this time, reform was able to take place. Most likely, God preserved remnants to help him retrace their steps and see idolatry as the root of it all.  Here, it is no humor to mix order and messing around. And so he cleansed Judah of all hand-made idols, and later, he called them in for true worship.

‘You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart’ was God’s word through the prophet Jeremiah, Josiah’s contemporary. Quite a thought on who’s really lost and who’s found here. For at those times when we loosen our grip on God, we become lost ourselves. And when we finally see Him at the end of our search, then we are found.  Truth is, even our purest desire to seek Him is from God. Apart from His grace to call us, we will never hear. There is no way for Josiah, with Ammon as father and Manasseh as grandfather, to be inclined to righteousness. But the good Shepherd called him valuable, went after him, and brought him home.  To me, this sank in.