Our reading challenge for the day is 2 Kings 11-15. I’ll hit a few highlights. You make comments too and fill in the gaps. What strikes you as specially significant?
2 Kings 11 - See how religious and political conflicts are intertwined. We can’t truly separate the religious and the political spheres. There is one God over all. Yet the different spheres have different emphases and priorities. This whole “two kingdoms” theology is a difficult one, but one worth careful exploration.
2 Kings 12 - As corruption remains in the priesthood and in the royal line of David the country of Judah continues to decline. At times there are bright spots, but none are lasting.
2 Kings 13 - The kings continue in their spiral. Elisha calls the king of Israel to give a sign that he will trample down the Syrians, but the king is not adequately forceful. Our Lord works sometimes in ways that we don’t understand. May we be faithful to his calling whether we fully understand or not.
2 Kings 14 - We continue to see strife, both between Israel and Judah and within the kingdoms as it becomes more dangerous to serve as king. When people rule according to their selfishness we can expect trouble.
2 Kings 15 - The power shifts become frequent with king after king who is disappointing. Notice how the author tends to be quite brief about these disappointing kings.
Will someone want to spend some time telling our life stories? Or will we be passed over very briefly. May we work diligently to show love and care for our neighbors, encouraging them, adding flavor to their lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment