Happy Saturday, friends!!! I’m in Starbucks(please don’t act surprised) and have been getting various online boring tasks(like paying bills) done over the last few hours. I’ve also been spending an alarming amount of time on iTunes trying to sort out this most troublesome playlist for my next mix CD. I now think I finally have the right songs and almost in the right order. Except I’m 17 minutes over. Which means I need to figure out either four long songs or five short songs to cut. Most aggravating. I’ve got to the point where I’ve spent too long on it though and it’s starting to annoy me and seeing as it’s almost 2PM here, I think it’s high time I made my way home to get other chores taken care of!

Hm, what else? Well, I still do want to write a proper entry about my Scotland adventure at some point, but truly – it’s one of those times I don’t feel as I can do it justice via the written word, hence I’ve still not even tried yet. Maybe tomorrow? Maybe. I have had such a nice morning so far…woke up not too early and went over to help Earnie move. A relatively painless process(aided by consumption of kolaches, coffee and doughnuts!) and now I’ve been sipping my iced coffee for a few hours(yes, it is somewhat less iced at the moment). This past week has been full of work and stress and sadness(see my previous entry for more on that, which I won’t dwell on further here). I did get a nice midweek early morning coffee chat with Julie(she had just gotten back from her Idaho vacation the night before and we somehow thought that a 5:45AM coffee meetup was a good idea? Well, it was well worth it despite my initial sleepiness!!) and Tuesday night was a most glorious community group time. It was one of those times where even though I had done some prep on my text(Ecclesiastes 3:1-15), I still wasn’t quite sure how the group discussion time was going to go. Well, it was beautiful and God-glorifying and I felt most blessed by the Spirit in my words and felt so encouraged afterwards!! I really hope some of the people that were there were as encouraged as I was by discussing the enlivening truths of God’s sovereignty and His love. So so precious when God fills your heart with understanding of such wonderful truths. Blessed be God, forever and ever, amen!

Also…thought I’d just discuss(briefly) some most glorious and most sobering words I’ve been reading these past couple days in 2 Chronicles. I always forget about these chapters for some reason, then when I discover them anew, I’m blown away. Anyway – 2 Chronicles chapters 20 and 21. 2 Chronicles 20 – a beautiful story of man’s trust in God and God’s ultimate salvation. So – Judah gets invaded by a ton of enemies(“a great multitude”) and it says “Jehoshaphat was afraid.” As we all are at times, true? And we don’t even have to contend with kingdom crushing invasions! Anyway, what does Jehoshaphat do? He doesn’t make an unholy alliance or trust in his armies or his riches or even his own intelligence. He “turned his attention to seek the LORD.” And that, my friends, is what our first instinct in sign of trouble and fear should be as well. And so he proclaimed a fast throughout the land and the people flocked to Jerusalem to seek help from the LORD. They came from all the cities(!! Imagine that today!) and Jehoshaphat led them in public prayer in the court of the temple and cried out to the Lord in prayer. I’m not going to detail the full prayer here(go read the chapter for yourself!), but it is magnificent. He acknowledges his own powerlessness and God’s great sovereignty and appeals to the covenant God had made with His people. And as he prays, it mentions that “All Judah was standing before the LORD, with their infants, their wives and their children.” No one was left out, not even the tiniest baby! The people understood the gravity of the situation and that they had no hope of salvation in themselves. And so they sought and cried out before God Most High. And God heard them. The Spirit of the Lord came down on one of the Levites and he proclaims to the assembly that they need not fear. He tells them that God will fight for them. The people need not even fight! They are told simply to go down to where the enemy will be and watch the “salvation of the LORD.” And the response of the people? They fall down. And worship God Most High. And so the next morning as they march out to the site of the “battle”, Jehoshaphat again encourages the people, telling them to put their trust in God – in that will they be established. And then as they proceed through the wilderness, how do they array their forces? They don’t put the soldiers or strongest men in the front. No, their trust is so great that they put the singers in front where they praise the name of God – “Give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” And it says that even while they were singing and praising, “The LORD set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mout Seir, who had come up against Judah; so they were routed.” The victory was the Lord’s. And the people praised His name. Such a glorious story and you should really read it for yourself…but I just am overwhelmed by the power and majesty of God. How should we respond to this? Well hopefully in whatever trouble we find ourselves, we remember that our God is sovereign and our God is faithful. And so should we cry out to Him, seek His face, trust in Him and rejoice in anticipation of seeing the works of the Lord in our lives. And He will work – of that let there be no doubt.

And I really almost want to end this entry here, but a quick few words on 2 Chronicles 21. One of the most sobering chapters in the Bible. Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, and a witness to the deeds of the Lord, succeeds his father as king. And is he a good king in the image of his father? Sadly and most tragically he is not. His first act as king is to murder all of his brothers and assorted others to consolidate his rule. And it is said, “he did evil in the sight of the LORD.” Oh horror. And yet! It is said God was not willing to destroy the house of David because of His covenant. What extraordinary grace. Yet Jehoram is not spared the consequence of his sins and bold-faced mockery of God Most High. It is said that Elijah the prophet sent him a letter(Elijah didn’t even do him the honor of speaking to him in person!) strongly condemning him for his sins(as the leader of his people, he had led them astray, and for that great crime he is judged) and detailing the consequences of his sins. He is told that “behold, the LORD is going to strike your people, your sons, your wives and all your possessions with a great calamity; and you will suffer severe sickness, a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the sickness, day by day.” Well then. Again. Horror. God does not suffer lightly those who set their faces against him in rebellion and disobedience. And so it all came to pass. And it is said, in some of the saddest words in Scripture…”…and he died in great pain….and he departed with no one’s regret.” So is the judgment of God. Read the chapter yourself to see in starkest detail the sins of Jehoram and the consequences he suffered and the disdain that was afforded him by his people because of his utter failure as king. So, consider Jehoram. Consider Jehoshaphat. Which should we be? One so self-righteous and confident in ourselves that we lay waste to all around us and live for our own pleasure and pride? Or one who unceasingly – day and night – cries out to the Lord and falls down before Him in prayer and worship? One who may be afraid and terrified of what surrounds us, yet we trust in God? May that be said of us, that we trust in God. And Him alone.

Now – that is far too many words and I should most likely edit it down a bit(or remove it entirely!!), but I’ll leave it for now. Read the chapters for yourselves, because the words of Scripture are far better than any of mine. And whatever you are going through in your own life right now, whatever trials and tribulations you’re suffering…fall on your face before God and cry out to Him and seek His face. Trust in God. And rejoice as you see the works of the Lord in your life!

Too many words. Far too many. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far? Peace and love. Always.