Today’s readings: 
Monday, May 20: 2 Chronicles 35-36

If you’ve been following along with me for a while, or wanted to page back to Day 107 when we started our reading through the story of Kings, I posted a check sheet for you to follow along and track whether or not the king did good or evil in the eyes of God. If you need to jog your memory check out:

https://firstlutherantiffin.com/2019/04/18/year-of-scripture-day-107/

And while you are traveling down memory lane, I wanted to share with you a great diagram that I recently found on Visualunit.me which charted the kings of Israel and Judah. Mark’s diagram is a great visual understanding of how good and bad the kings really were. Check it out:

Now one thing you need to remember when comparing this chart to our recent reading through Chronicles, is that many of the kings according to Chronicles are given a bit better representation than presented Kings. Take Manasseh for example in yesterday’s blog. History always has a way of making the story a bit better than it actually may have been, so Chronicles tells the brighter side of things. In the end, the story turns out the same. both Israel and Judah end up exiled for their wicked ways.

As we turn the page to read Ezra and Nehemiah, we are going to see how the story comes to an end. There is still hope for the Israelites! If there is anything we should know, is that there is always hope with God!

Peace,
Pastor Bailey

Our next readings: 
Tuesday, May 21: Ezra 1-3
Wednesday, May 22: Ezra 8-10
Thursday, May 23: Nehemiah 1-3

Side note: I’m getting ready for some travel, and I’ve decided that it’s okay to not take work with me. Once we get through Ezra, I’ll probably “blog-off” for a few weeks so I can enjoy some time with family and serve with our youth on their mission trip. I know I’ll keep reading. Hope you will too. And maybe, I’ll just surprise you with a few posts along the way. Be sure to stay tuned . . .
PB