The ruins aren't the End

We made it to the end of Chronicles.

    Now who's ready for the big test?

Thirty days of reading the same lessons over and over, and we've been calling them our study notes for the test. So of course, here in the final chapters, God brings us right back to the word He's repeated through this entire book..... Seek.

   Josiah was sixteen when he started seeking God, and that seeking changed what he did. He started tearing down what didn't belong, cleaning things out, repairing what had been neglected, and restoring worship.

At this point I'm thinking, Okay God, we hear You. You've repeated it enough that I know it's important. Seek You. Stay humble. Listen. Clean it out. Repair it. Restore it.

     Then, while they're repairing the temple, they find the Book of the Law. They found God's Word inside God's house. They had lost it 

  Do you know that You can be in God's house and still lose sight of His Word. You can get so busy doing church, building ministry, serving people, teaching, leading, creating, fixing, and doing all the things that the most important thing gets buried underneath all of it.

        I don't know about you but I don't want that to happen. Especially after this weekend. I came home changed from being in God's presence. I worshipped Sunday like I haven't worshipped in a long time, and then Monday came and I had to walk right back into regular life and live what happened in His presence.

And now God brings us right back here reminding us to Stay in his Word. Stay close to him.

     We can't chase one experience after another or get so busy doing things for God that we forget to sit with Him. And I definitely don't want to write a devotion every morning about what God is saying and miss what He's actually saying to me.

   When Josiah hears the Word, he realizes they haven't been living it. So he changes. And That's what I want. God, if Your Word shows me something that needs to change, change me. Then Josiah's story gives us one more lesson I know we need. He steps into a battle that wasn't his. And if you've followed me through Chronicles, you already know where this is going....

    We see something broken and want to fix it. We see something that needs building and we want to build it. We see somebody struggling and want to help. My brain immediately starts figuring out what needs to happen next. But God has been teaching us through these books that not every battle is ours and not everything is ours to build.

   Then we get to chapter 36, and everything we've spent this whole book watching people build seems to fall apart. Jerusalem falls, the walls come down, the temple burns to the ground and The people are taken away. And after watching David prepare for that temple, Solomon build it, God's presence fill it, generations worship there, other generations neglect it, and still others repair it over and over again, it's gone.

      It's heartbreaking but Buildings change, Ministries change, Plans change and Seasons end. Things we've poured our hearts into don't always look the way we thought they would.

        But God is still God.

And that is why I love the way Chronicles ends.

After the destruction and the exile, God moves on the heart of Cyrus. It's time to go back and It's time to build again.

   Of course Chronicles ends with building is extra important to me. My word this year has been Build, and God took me through an entire book showing me what that actually means.

Building isn't always starting something new.

Building can look like preparing for someone coming behind you. It can look like opening doors somebody else closed, repairing walls that were broken, restoring worship that was neglected, tearing down what never belonged there, letting go of something whose season has ended, or standing in the ruins and trusting God enough to pick up the tools again.

      That's what Chronicles has taught me.

God is always looking farther down the road than I am. David prepared for something Solomon would build. One generation neglected what another had to restore. Some tore things down and others rebuilt them. And even when Jerusalem was destroyed and it looked like the story was over, God was already preparing another generation to go back and build.

                   The ruins weren't the end.

They were another part of the story.

    And after thirty days, my study notes have gotten pretty simple... Seek Him. Stay in His Word. Stay teachable. Know my assignment. Remember where my strength comes from. Guard what He restores. Pass down what matters. And when He says build....Build.

Thirty days of study notes.

Now it's time to live them.

    And after everything God has shown us through Chronicles, I hope we're not ending this study asking what I should build next. But asking God, what are WE building next?

    I don't want to build something just because I see a need or know I can do it.

I want to build what He's building.

Love Pastor Mandy 

MandiesDandies / Ark of Hope 

Daily reading 2 Chronicles 34-36