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Today is Monday May 31, 2010 and we are reading through the Bible in a year. Today's message comes from the reading of the Book of II Chronicles, chapters 34-36. If you would like to read the chapters along with us here online you can Click Here to read them or copy & paste this link onto your browser:

Title: Bible Study: Facing Challenges
As Christians we are going to face challenges testing our faith constantly, whether we face a trial or two from God, Satan, or from the world, how we handle these challenges determines our character and ability to win these challenges. As long as we have God on our side we can win any challenge, leave it up to our own thinking and reasoning and we are headed for defeat.

The nation of Israel was in utter chaos, most of the Jews were forced out of the country or under control of Assyria. Only Jerusalem and a few others were still free, but that was about to change, God was fed up with all the idol worshiping and wickedness that was going on right under Him, He was done with seeing His nation destroyed, but He knew that there were a few, a remnant of people standing by Him. After the mess that his father, Manasseh made, Josiah began to reign at the age of eight, and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord as David did. “Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.” - II Chronicles 34:1-6. At the age of sixteen this young man decided that he did not want to follow in the footsteps of his father and began seeking God, destroying all of the idols and groves throughout Judah that caused Israel to sin. Josiah's religious leadership ranked him with David, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah as an outstanding godly ruler, for he took a firm stand against idol worship and other evils that had saturated his kingdom. As Christians we must not let all the evils and corruptions of the world keep us from living a godly life. We can have a wonderful, prosperous life in the midst of all the chaos without compromising our beliefs or following along with them because we do not want to feel like an outcast. It is good to be an outcast.

Josiah was the last king to restore Temple worship to the One True God before the destruction of the southern kingdom and Jerusalem. Josiah's leadership abruptly ended when he attempted to stop Pharaoh Necho's plans to attack the Assyrians. “In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.” - II Chronicles 35:19-24. Josiah was fatally wounded at Megiddo, but he fulfilled the will of God who spared him from the tragedies that were to soon come upon Jerusalem and the Temple. The last four kings of Judah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, were all evil, and led the nation in a descending course to its disastrous end morally, politically, and spiritually. This is a foreshadowing of Christ's return. When He returns all the world will face destruction, but those who have accepted Jesus will be carried away and spared from the tragedy.

Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers eventually broke through the north wall and mercilessly butchered both young and old. This time there was no room for repentance, the Lord left the Israelites to their ruin, some escaped, but most were carried off as slaves to become exiles in a foreign land. “Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.” - II Chronicles 36:17-21. The Jews who were taken captive were once again in bondage to another country, for seventy years they were under control of the Babylonians. The Israelites may not have realized it at the time, but they were spared as well from seeing the tragic destruction of the place where God would call home. I am sure it grieved God to see His people suffering, but just like everything has a season, this too would come to pass and eventually the remnant would find peace and comfort.

As we face the many challenges of our lives, we can be sure of one thing, God will not allow Satan or the world to challenge us beyond what we can not handle or get out of. The Word of God provides guidance and encouragement so that we might find a way to beat all of the challenges in our lives. Of course we are going to lose some, but as long as we remain faithful to God we will come out even more stronger and able to win the biggest challenge yet to come. God is always with His people and always eager to hear them say, I tried to do it on my own and failed because of it, I am depending on You to help me win this challenge.

Enjoy the rest of your day/night and God bless the fallen soldiers who gave their lives for their country.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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