DAY 212    Read Zephaniah; 2 Kings 23:21-25; 2 Chronicles 35:1-19.

Today's reading:  Zephaniah was probably a contemporary of Habakkuk, and possibly of Joel, in the early part of King Josiah's reign.  He calls for genuine repentance.

Memory gem:  "Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger"  (Zephaniah 2:3).

Thought for today:
Many things are given to us for a limited time only.  Through the prophets, the Lord pleaded with the backslidden kingdom of Judah to return to Him.  God's desire was that His name should be exalted among the heathen of the land and that this should be accomplished through the witness of His people.

The call to repentance is still being given, but time is short.  Down through the ages God's prophetic timetable has marked the mileposts of human history.  We have but a limited time.  How are you spending this borrowed time--this extra God-given time?  Have you set your house in order?

In one of his great sermons, Dr. Macartney told of an old Saxon king who set out with his army to put down a rebellion in a distant province of his kingdom.  When the army of the rebels had been defeated and the insurrection quelled, the king placed a candle in the archway of the castle that served as his headquarters.  Then, lighting the candle, he sent his herald to announce to those who had been in rebellion that all who would surrender and take the oath of allegiance while the candle still burned, would be saved.  The king offered his clemency and mercy, but the offer was limited to the life of the candle.

We are living on candle time, so to speak.  While the candle still burns, let us accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour.  Let us be ready for His coming.

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Difficult or obscure words:
Zephaniah 1:4.  "Chemarims"--idolatrous priests.
Zephaniah 2:3.  "It may be"--an expression of hope that pleads for the promised protection.

DAY 211    Read Joel; 2 Kings 23:1-20; 2 Chronicles 34:29-33.

Today's reading:  The zeal of King Josiah's reformation resulted in the destruction of outward evidences of idolatry even beyond the borders of Judah.  Joel prophesied at this time.

Memory gem:  "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live"  (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Thought for today:
King Josiah had strong faith in the Word of God; and he realized that because of the idolatry and apostasy and sin of the people, they were now open to all the judgments of God pronounced in this Book.  All this came upon him with overwhelming force, for he was a good man--an earnest and devout man.  So immediately he sent a delegation to the prophetess who was in Jerusalem, to inquire of the Lord.

As a result of the king's leadership and his earnestness after having heard the message of the Book of God which had been lost in the house of God and was now found, a great revival broke out in the land.  King Josiah followed the instruction of the prophetess Huldah, and every word that she sent to the king was later exactly fulfilled.

Should we find this lost Book and read it as did those men of old, it might change our lives as it did theirs.  If we would read God's Word, we would find that we needed to change our lives. Like King Josiah, we need to humble ourselves and weep before the Lord and seek His pardon.  You see, the king made a thorough work of repentance and reformation, and God accepted his efforts; and all the people made a solemn covenant to keep the commandments of God.  Really, friends, isn't this our need today?

NOTE:  Joel gives no clue to the time of his message.  We believe that it came during the early part of King Josiah's reign.

DAY 210    Read Jeremiah 14 through 16.

Today's reading:  Although good King Josiah made heroic efforts to root out idolatry, he could not change people's hearts.  The Lord still sent His pleading call to repentance through Jeremiah.

Memory gem:  "Thy words were found and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart"  (Jeremiah 15:16).

Thought for today:
A young lady was taking a special course in a university and was having a terrible time.  One book in particular was especially boring.

After a while this young woman met a young man on the university campus.  Somehow he was very attractive, and he felt drawn to her too.  It was not long before they were keeping company.  He happened to be one of the young teachers there.

One day, after they had been going together for several months, she happened to tell him that she was having a difficult time with her English course and particularly with that book.  She said, "That is the driest thing I have ever tried to read.  I just can't get interested in it.  The print is too fine, the subject is so dull--and the strange thing is," she continued, "the author's name is the same as yours."

"Oh," he replied, "there is nothing strange about it; you see, I wrote the book."

And then she didn't say anything more--in fact, there was nothing more to say.

But when she went home that night, she got that book out, and her mother couldn't get her to bed.  "You know, Mother," she said, "it is all in me.  I just didn't see through this book before.  Why, it's a wonderful book!  Somehow I see the whole thing now.  This really is the book, Mother."  And she just stopped everything else and read and devoured and digested that book.

Friends, if you find the Bible dry and difficult, get acquainted with the Author, and you will see His loving face shining out from Genesis to Revelation.  From the first verse of the first book to the last verse of the last book, you will find that wonderful One, our Lord Jesus Christ.

DAY 209    Read Jeremiah 4 through 6.

Today's reading:  The prophet boldly proclaims the Lord's warnings to a people who refuse to listen; he pleads in vain for repentance, but no one heeds.

Memory gem:  "Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls"  (Jeremiah 6:16).

Thought for today:
God's Word is a fire which makes sinners uncomfortable, but warms the heart of the believer.  Notice the statement in Jeremiah 5:14: "Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them."

A true minister of God feels this fire in his heart--this "woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel"  (1 Corinthians 9:16).  As Jeremiah said: "His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay"  (Jeremiah 20:9).

Oh, that words of burning truth might be proclaimed from every pulpit and in the life of every Christian!  What a cleansing it would work in the church, and what a mighty testimony it would be to the world!

For hard hearts God's Word is also a hammer.  We read in Jeremiah 23:29:  "Is not my word like a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in places?"

No heart is too hard for the hammer and the fire--it will either break in conviction and sorrow for the wrong deeds of life and seek God's mercy in Christ, or it will break at last.

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Difficult or obscure words:
Jeremiah 4:30.  "Rentest thy face"--literally, enlargest thine eyes.  Ancient Oriental women used a glittering black mineral power on the edges of their eyelids to make their eyes appear larger and more brilliant.

Jeremiah 5:6.  "Of the evenings"--better: of the deserts.

NOTE:  Jeremiah's ministry covered more than forty years--from the "thirteenth year" of Josiah (about 626 B.C.) to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah (586 B.C.) plus an indefinite period beyond that date (see chapter 44:1).

DAY 208    Read Jeremiah 1 through 3.

Today's reading introduces us to Jeremiah, the Lord's prophet before the Babylonian captivity, one of the spiritual giants of Scripture.  Notice his reluctance to accept God's call.

Memory gem:  "Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord"  (Jeremiah 1:8).

Thought for today:
The testimony of millions of people today is that faith in God has been a blessing, and only a blessing to them.  This being so, it seems strange that so many people live in a constant state of worry, fear, and uneasiness, when they might be living a wonderful life, having faith in God and believing that He is in charge of His universe.  If more people today would just let God be God, let Him run the world, His place, we would have a lot more happy people on earth.

One reason why so many people today are worried and full of fear is that they are not willing to put their affairs in God's hands and let Him guide their lives.

There was that young man Jeremiah, evidently quite young when his first vision came to him.  I like to read about him whenever things are difficult, when problems are trying situations arise.  To anyone who gets to the place where he feels he may not be needed, may not be appreciated, has the least doubt about God's plan for him, read the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah.

When the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah--the very first time, as far as the record goes--he was told that God's plan for him was made before he was born.

Then Jeremiah said, "I am nothing but a child, nothing but a baby; I can't speak; I cannot be a prophet.  "But the Lord said to him, "Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.  Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord"  (Jeremiah 1:7, 8).

When this young man finally believed that God had a plan for him and that God had put His words in his mouth, he went forward in life and actually shook the nations.  He had lots of trouble, lots of conflict, many battles to win.  But he always had God's promise to be with him to deliver him.

DAY 207    Read Habakkuk.

Today's reading:  Habakkuk's short prophecy is undated, but evidence indicates that it belongs roughly to about the time of Amon's wicked reign or early in the reign of Josiah before the finding of the law.

Memory gem:  "The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him"  (Habakkuk 2:20).

Thought for today:
"Confident that...the purpose of God for His people would in some way be fulfilled, Habakkuk bowed in submission to the revealed will of Jehovah.  "Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One?" he exclaimed.  And then, his faith reaching out beyond the forbidding prospect of the immediate future, and laying fast hold on the precious promises that reveal God's love for His trusting children, the prophet added, 'We shall not die.'  Habakkuk 1:12.  With this declaration of faith, he rested his case, and that of every believing Israelite, in the hands of a compassionate God....

"The faith that strengthened Habakkuk and all the holy and the just in those days of deep trial, was the same faith that sustains God's people today.  In the darkest hours, under circumstances the most forbidding, the Christian believer may keep his soul stayed upon the source of all light and power.  Day by day, through faith in God, his hope and courage may be renewed.  'The just shall live by his faith.'  (Habakkuk 2:4).  In the service of God there need be no despondency, no wavering, no fear.  The Lord will more than fulfill the highest expectations of those who put their trust in Him.  He will give them the wisdom their varied necessities demand."--Prophets and Kings, pp. 386, 387.

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Difficult or obscure words:
Habakkuk 1:9.  "Sup up"--a Hebrew word occurring only here in the Scriptures.  Its meaning and therefore its translation are uncertain.

NOTE:  With the collapse of the northern kingdom only Judah remained a bastion of truth in a heathen world.  But even in this favored nation God's people could not shake off their fascination with the allurements of idolatry.

God did not give up trying to arouse His people to the consequences of their iniquities.  We will be reading messages of warning and calls to repentance from six prophets--two of them major.  Jeremiah and Ezekiel watched in dismay as the last five kings of Judah allowed the nation to disintegrate.  Jeremiah is known as the "weeping prophet" because of the pathos of his writings.

For some reason, the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel were not compiled in chronological order.  We will try to read the messages in connection with the historical events at the time of their writing.  This will involve considerable turning back and forth, but the prophecies take on new meaning as we fit them together in the correct sequence.

DAY 206    Read 2 Kings 22; 2 Chronicles 34: 1-28.

Today's reading:  The boy king Josiah came close to turning his nation back to God completely; one powerful factor in effecting the reformation was finding the book of the law.

Memory gem:  "Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord,...I have also heard thee, saith the Lord"  (2 Kings 22:19).

Thought for today:
Why was the king so deeply affected by the reading of this book that was found in the house of the Lord?  Evidently it was the first five books of Moses--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  Shaphan must have opened the book to the twenty-eight, twenty-ninth and thirtieth chapters of Deuteronomy, in which are recorded the renewal of God's national covenant with the people of Israel and a list of the terrible curses pronounced against all who violated the law, whether prince or people. We can see why the king was filled with grief and terror.

During the wicked reigns of Manasseh and Amon, the temple had been profaned and the ark had actually been removed from its proper place.  During these troublous times the book had somehow become lost.  Now, as the temple was repaired, it was found and delivered to the high priest.  He recognized it for what it was and drew the attention of Shaphan to it.

And notice, Shaphan read it.  That is what we all ought to do with the Word of God.  Many people honor the Bible as a sort of talisman or charm, but it is nothing of the kind.  It is the Word of God to the hearts of men, and it is to be read.  Everyone who does not read it suffers a terrible loss.

Friend, have you ever found the Book of God, and has the Book found you?  Those who take this Book of God to lands where it has never been known can testify to its power in finding men; and what testimonies these workers can bear!  It finds the human heart right where it is, and transforms it.

And this Book will do the same for you and for me, and for everyone who truly finds it.  It is a Book that has been lost many, many times and found many, many times; but it will never be destroyed.  Its work will go on until Jesus comes, for it is "the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever"  (1 Peter 1:23).

DAY 205    Read the book of Nahum.

Today's reading:  Although Nahum's prophecy was directed against Nineveh (Assyria) shortly before that nation's collapse, it has value as warnings against evildoers and assurances for the righteous.

Memory gem:  "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him"  (Nahum 1:7).

Thought for today:
"The rise and fall of the Assyrian Empire is rich in lessons for the nations of earth today....

"...The rulers of Assyria, instead of using their unusual blessings for the benefit of mankind, became the scourge of many lands.  Merciless, with no thought of God or their fellow men, they pursued the fixed policy of causing all nations to acknowledge the supremacy of the gods of Nineveh, whom they exalted above the Most High.  God had sent Jonah to them with a message of warning, and for a season they humbled themselves before the Lord of hosts, and sought forgiveness.  But soon they turned again to idol worship, and to the conquest of the world.

"The prophet Nahum, in his arraignment of the evildoers in Nineveh, exclaimed:

"Woe to the bloody city!  It is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not....Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts.'  Nahum 3:1-5.

"With unerring accuracy the Infinite One still keeps account with the nations.  While His mercy is tendered, with calls to repentance, this account remains open; but when...the account is closed, divine patience ceases.  Mercy no longer pleads in their behalf....

" 'The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust him.  But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end'  (Nahum 1:7, 8) of all who endeavor to exalt themselves above the Most High....

"...In the day of final awards, when the righteous Judge of all the earth shall 'sift the nations'  (Isaiah 30:28), and those that have kept the truth shall be permitted to enter the City of God, heaven's arches will ring with the triumphant songs of the redeemed."--Prophet and Kings, pp. 362-366.

DAY 204    Read Isaiah 66; 2 Kings 21; 2 Chronicles 33.

Today's reading:  We finish the book of Isiah and return to the sad history of Judah's decline.

Memory gem:  "If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land"  (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Thought for today:
Someone might say, "Pastor Richards, I have tried to overcome my evil habits and come back to the Lord, but I am just too great a sinner."

Do you recall the story of that young prince of Judah, Mannasseh?  He was only twelve years old when he became king upon the death of his father KIng Hezekiah, who had been a wonderful example to the nation and had brought in a number of outstanding reforms.

But things quickly changed after Hezekiah's death, and his son Manasseh became one of the most wicked kings that ever ruled.  He was a murderer, for he shed much innocent blood.  He resisted every attempt on the part of good men to halt the spread of evil.  He turned from the God of his fathers and went into idolatry and spirit worship.

Because of his evil life, he was captured by the king of Assyria and taken down to Babylon.  Confined in a dungeon, with his hands and feet in chains, he had time to think things over.  Finally he came to himself, as we read in 2 Chronicles 33:9-13.

Now, Manasseh had been a sinful man and certainly deserved death, but when he returned to the Lord in earnest, humble confession, the Lord heard him.  God was ready to receive him.

I know that sometimes it is difficult for us, as human beings, to realize that God is interested in us.  We have disappointed Him so often.  We have rejected His invitation to come to Him.  We have spurned His call.  but if God could forgive that penitent King Manasseh, He certainly will forgive and accept you.

NOTE:  Isaiah may have delivered the warning of 2 Kings 21:10-15, although no identification is possible.  According to tradition, Isaiah was among the first victims of Manasseh's cruel persecutions, being placed in a hollow log and sawn in two.  No other prophets are known for this period.

DAY 203    Read Isaiah 61 through 65.

Today's reading:  Jesus read the first verse of Isaiah 61 to announce His mission, thus approving the use of prophecy to prove His Messiahship.  Chapter 65 gives a heartening glimpse of life in the new earth.

Memory gem:  "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness"  (Isaiah 61:10).

Thought for today:
The prophet Isaiah proclaimed this wonderful promise for our planet and penned these beautiful words of God Himself:

"Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.  But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy"  (Isaiah 65:17, 18).

The evil of past days in this old earth will not oppress the mind or cause worry and sorrow to the inhabitants of that earth made new.  They will see all the events of this world as in the providence of God leading to the salvation of souls.  They will recognize God's hand in His providence as they cannot now see it.  They will rejoice in their salvation, and gladness will fill the world.

So we today ought to be happy and joyful when we think of the wonderful future of this planet.  And we ought to heed the command of the apostle found in 2 Peter 3:13, 14.

"Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless."

Friends, let us look for these things, and let us indeed be diligent that we may be found of Him in peace at His returning.  And let us be, by His redeeming grace, prepared for a home with the holy and the good of all ages and with our blessed Saviour, whom having not seen, we love.