For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
2 Thes. 2
The powers of evil and wickedness so often seem overwhelming. It is hard not to feel our helplessness against it. We know from God’s word that all that evil will culminate into one so powerful that, as Paul says, “He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped” (2 Thes. 2:4a). Yet we are not without hope, even against such a powerful force. Of this lawless one Paul also says, “…whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendor of His coming.” (2 Thes. 2:8b). Wow!! All that power and Jesus will obliterate it by merely showing up and breathing! If that is the best that evil can do, why, then, should we fear at all?
2 Kings 23-24
What positive steps did Josiah take to renew Judah and what did he eliminate? What does this suggest for your renewal? What were the external political circumstances and the spiritual conditions contributing to Judah’s decline and downfall? When God told Hezekiah that disaster would not come in his lifetime, I get the impression from Hezekiah’s response that he settled into complacency. Not so with Josiah. I don’t know what Josiah was like for the first 18 years of his reign, but he definitely had a turning point when he read the Book of the Covenant. And it wasn’t enough for him to simply turn his own heart back to God.
Even though Josiah knew that God had accepted his repentance so that disaster would not fall on him, still he threw himself with a fervor into seeking the repentance of the entire nation. He left no stone unturned in his effort to turn the people away from all their idols and back to the One True God. He didn’t do all of this to save himself. His life was already secured. Josiah had the kind of genuine desire for God that all believers should have. I don’t want to fall into complacency because I know I have a sure hope and a secure future. I want God’s fire to burn in me, as it did in Josiah, so that I serve God with a wholehearted passion and encourage others to do the same.