June 30
DebDay 108: Us Included
Even to the very end, God's OT people didn't want to be God's people. Their sovereignty as a nation was coming to a screeching halt in their generation; with brutal finality.
2 Chronicles 36 tells the reader why it had come to this.
"The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place."
For generations, even centuries, God had sent His word to them. And He had sent it persistently. He kept trying and trying. Why was God so nice?
When the Bible says God is "long suffering," it means God is so patient with sinful, rebellious people, wishing that "none would perish," that He would willingly 'suffer' in His waiting. He is compassionate, because He loves us, even when mankind doesn't want to reciprocate.
In 2 Chronicles 36, God had waited it out. Then the waiting game abruptly ended.
The people of God continuing to live in the land God had given them was now coming to a swift end. Into exile they would go. In a certain sense, it was "You want a divorce, then a divorce you will get."
The very next verse tells us why.
"But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy."
Even when their city was surrounded by their enemies, even as everyone was starving within the city, they continued to mock God by mocking His prophets. Until there was nothing left. Until they were led off in chains to a foreign country.
While this is a commentary on those days, it's also a commentary on most of history in the Old Testament. Is it a commentary on the present day?
It does make me wonder.
Even in the Church, how can we be guilty of mocking God?
Do we make assumptions of God, while placing no expectations on ourselves?
Do we want God to be constantly and compassionately available to us, while we're often too busy, too distracted to want to hear what He has to say?
Has a deep commitment to a local church become a historical artifact, something to do unless something more fun comes along?
Do we, even as church people, expect to simply go on our merry way, doing whatever we choose to prioritize, all the while expecting God to bless us and make us happy?
Do you ever wonder what Almighty God is thinking when He looks down upon American church people, us included?
-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church | Juneau
