Jump Start # 473 

2 Chronicles 36:18-19 “All the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the hose of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon. Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles.

  Here in the final paragraphs of 2 Chronicles we read of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Verses before tell of massive killings of young, old and sick. Many had been taken captive and led away into Babylon. People such as Daniel were taken away, given Babylonian names and taught the Babylonian ways.

  This destruction was not by surprise, at least from Heaven’s perspective. God had warned Judah over and over. Their devotion to idols and indifference to God and His word led to this. God had told His people how long this captivity would last—70 years. Many would die before they saw the return and restoration of life in Jerusalem.

  I don’t know if God sheds tears or not, but how broken hearted He must have felt to witness these events. That wonderful temple that Solomon had built, that housed the ark of the covenant and that the high priest could only enter once a year, was now desecrated and defiled by Babylonian soldiers. They ripped, tore, and burnt the temple. They carried away the gold items that were used to worship God. How God must have felt.

  There is another time in Bible history that would have brought even greater tears to God and that was when Jesus was crucified upon the cross. The death was violent, slow and painful. The sky grew dark, the earth shook and the Savior cried out, “Why hast Thou forsaken Me?” This too, was prophesied, planned and came together according to God’s design. The death of Jesus was no surprise to Heaven. Christ died for us.

  You and I have dark days as well. I’ve known families who huddled together in the street on a cold night as they witnessed their house and all the contents burn to the ground. Those are dark days. I’ve witnessed the final breath of several people, one being my mother. Tears stream down the cheeks, there is a feeling of loss and helplessness. You want something to be done, but nothing can.

  Those dark days are hard to get through. They seem to stay with you for a long time, some never get over them. I’ve found that life moves on. The sun comes up, the birds still sing, but things are not the same. Not on the outside and not on the inside. Maybe they are not supposed to be.

  God allowed His beloved city to be destroyed to teach His people a lesson. God allowed His Son to die so we could live. And through our dark days we can learn, connect and reach out to a God who has remained on the throne of Heaven. We like to avoid those dark days in our life. We live for the sunny days, but they don’t always appear. Sometimes it’s the dark days that do us the most good. They make us be serious and silent and solemn. We need that. We can get so busy with life that we fail to live and fail to live as God wants. Dark days reminds us that we are not in control and we do not have everything figured out. Dark days seem to pull us closer to God more than sunny days.

  Here in the mid-west, our falls and winters can be gloomy, rainy and dark. Often days will go by without any sunshine. It affects the moods of people. Gloomy days tend to make gloomy people. We understand and we deal with those things. It’s just the weather! But dark days on the inside are the result of events that are tragic, life stopping and make us take inventory of what’s important.

  The same God that saw His temple burn watches you. The temple was important, but it was a building, only a building. You are a soul, created by God and you have God’s thumb print on your heart. He doesn’t delight to see you suffer, struggle or go through hardships. He wants the best for you. He realizes sometimes those things are necessary. Sometimes they are the very things that will awaken us up to Him. Sometimes they are the best teachers in our life. He does not abandon you during those dark days. He’s there. He loves you as He always has. Sometimes it’s harder to see that but it’s true.

  God is good…He is good to you!

Roger