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| the Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
to the soul who seeks Him.
it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;
let him put his mouth in the dust-there may yet be hope;
let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.
for the Lord will not cast off forever,
but though He cause grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love;
for He does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men. | | Lamentations 3:25-33 (ESV) |
yeah..
sadness.. pain.. stuff like these should most certainly happen early..
if i were older, i probably couldn't stand it.
so, bring it..
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| | Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "o Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. if we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, o king. but, even if He does not, we want you to know, o king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the images of gold you have set up." | |
| Daniel 3:16-18 (NIV) |
they knew their answer well.
really well..
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| all of my life, You are still God.
i have a reason to sing.
i have a reason to worship. | | |
| over the past few months, i've been hopping churches..
..and before i go on further, i must say, there are some really great ministries out there.
funny thing i'v learned through this lil' adventure of mine is..
if you're ever in doubt of what God is trying to tell you, try church-hopping
all those days, months, years and decades that you've been wondering what God's been trying to tell you, He'll most likely make things very clear for you..
..and i'm sure that's slightly different for other people, but i think God has one general message for the modern crowd.. just one simple question:
what on earth are you doing?
all interpretations will be left for y'all to decide.
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| and she said to them, "thus says the Lord, the God of israel: ' tell the man who sent you to me, thus says the Lord, behold I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of judah has read. because they have forsaken Me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore My wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. but to the king of judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, thus says the Lord, the God of israel: regarding the words that you have heard, because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.'" and they brought back word to the king.
then the king sent, and all the elders of judah and jerusalem were gathered to him. and the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of judah and all the inhabitants of jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. and he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. and the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. and all the people joined in the covenant.
and the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for baal, for asherah, and for all the hosts of heaven. he burned them outside jerusalem in the fields of the kidron and carried their ashes to bethel. and he deposed the priests whom the kings of judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of judah and around jerusalem; those also who burned incense to baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the hosts of the heavens. and he brought out the asherah from the house of the Lord, outside jerusalem, to the brook kidron, and burned it at the brook kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. and he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the asherah. and he brought all the priests out of the cities of judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from geba to beersheba. and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of jusha the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the gate of the city. however, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. and he defiled topheth, which is in the valley of the son of hinnom, that no one might burn his son or daughter as an offering to molech. and he removed the horses that the kings of judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts. and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. and the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of ahaz, which the king of judah had made, and the altars that manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook kidron. and the king defiled the high places that were east of jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which solomon the king of israel had built for ashtoreth the abomination of the sidonians, and for chemosh the abomination of moab, and for milcom the abomination of the ammonites. and he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.
moreover, the altar at bethel, the high place erected by jeroboam the son of nebat, who made israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. he also burned the asherah. and as josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. and he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. then he said, "what is that monument that i see?" and the men of the city told him, "it is the tomb of the man of God who came from judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at bethel." and he said, "let him be; let no man move his bones." so they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of samaria. and joash removed all the shrines of samaria, which the kings of israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. he did to them according to all that he had done at bethel. and he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. then he returned to jerusalem.
and the king commanded all the people, "keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant." for no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged israel, or during all the days of the kings of israel or of the kings of judah. but in the eighteenth year of king jusiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in jerusalem.
moreover, josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of judah and in jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. before him, there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of moses, nor did any like him arise after him.
still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against judah, because of all the provocations with which manasseh had provoked Him. and the Lord said, "I will remove judah also out of My sight, as I have removed israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there." | | 2 Kings 22:15 - 23:27 (ESV) |
he knew that no matter what he did, his people and his nation were going to be destroyed.
there was nothing he could do to shift the coming wrath.
regardless, he made sure every little bit of the commandments were fulfilled.
i think that's 'righteousness.'
that is the sort of 'righteousness' (as blind as it seems) that God requires of all of us who deem ourselves 'Christ-followers.'
..to live in Him, with Him and through Him until (and beyond) death-do-us-part. | | |
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