One of Those Days

Read 2 Chronicles 36:2-23

17. The Lord brought the king of Babylon against them. The Babylonians killed Judah’s young men, even chasing after them into the Temple. They had no pity on the people, killing both young men and young women, the old and the infirm. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar.
18. The king took home to Babylon all the articles, large and small, used in the Temple of God, and the treasures from both the Lord’s Temple and from the palace of the king and his officials.
19. Then his army burned the Temple of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, burned all the palaces, and completely destroyed everything of value.
20. The few who survived were taken as exiles to Babylon, and they became servants to the king and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 2 Chronicles 36:17-20

The people of Judah have “one of those days” when they are taken captive to Babylon. But don’t feel sorry for them—God has warned his people for years that there would be consequences for their stubborn disobedience. Now they’ve used up their supply of warnings, and the consequences are at hand. This is a sad story, but its lesson is helpful for us.

Also in this passage, you should be able to find lessons on God keeping his promises and God’s people making big mistakes.

The book of 2 Chronicles focuses on the rise and fall of the worship of God as symbolized by the Jerusalem Temple. David planned the Temple (1 Chronicles 22:5), Solomon built it (2 Chronicles 2:1), and King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it (36:19).

The kings were gone, the Temple lay in ruins, and many of the people had been taken to Babylon as captives. The nation had been stripped to its very foundation. Fortunately, there still existed a greater foundation—God himself. Forty-eight years after the Temple’s destruction, the year after Cyrus conquered Babylon, he announced his plans to rebuild God’s Temple (36:22-23). The situation seemed hopeless, at first, but God was there, working out his plan for his people all along.

At times our lives can seem devastated, conquered, and empty. After difficult defeats and struggles, every support can seem to have been stripped away. That’s when we should remember that God is still with us and that he is working out his perfect plan for us.

When tough times come, when you have “one of those days,” don’t despair and give up. Instead, use those difficulties to push you closer to your loving heavenly Father. Trust in God and his promises to get you through the day, and remember that the bad times will one day pass.