Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 19—Verse 30And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.Most people go through times in life when they feel like they have been uprooted and misplaced, and are unfruitful. This happens to us as individuals, as families, sometimes as whole organizations or even nations. But those times are usually temporary. God c...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 18--Verses 3-4And [Hezekiah] did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).Idolatry has no p...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 17--Verse 18None was left but the tribe of Judah only. In chapter 17, the nation of Israel came to a complete and total collapse. Nothing was left but the tribe of Judah only. And there will be a day when this world will look a lot like Israel. Completely devastated. God will have issued his warnings (as he did in verse 13), but sinful humanity is bent on its own way ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 16--Verse 7So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”This is a hard moment in Judah’s history. King Ahaz faced fear and pressure, and instead of trusting God, he looked for security in human ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 15--Verse 14Then Menahem the son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and he struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and put him to death and reigned in his place.Menahem, King of Israel for 10 years, was known only for his cruelty and idolatry. He is remembered for his violent actions and sacking cities. He paid the King of Assyria to let him rul...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 14--Verse 4But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.In our passage, we see kings who “did what was evil” and kings who “did what was right.” But those doing right always had one downfall—letting the worship of false gods continue. The kings could have torn down the high places of false worship, but they di...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 13–Verses 18-19And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And hesaid to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” Andhe struck three times and stopped. Then the man of Godwas angry with him and said, “You should have struck fiveor six times; then you would have struck down Syria untilyou had made an end of it, but now you will strike downSyria only thr...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 12--Verse 2And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him.As I was reading, this verse stood out to me. It could have just said that Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and left it at that, but instead it chose to tell us he was instructed by Jehoiada. This brought me to think how necessar...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 10--Verses 28-29 (CSB)Jehu eliminated Baal worship from Israel, but he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit—worshiping the gold calves that were in Bethel and Dan.Reading through 1 & 2 Kings is rough. The consistent downfall of each generation of kings is frustrating. We want to yell YOU HAVE THE LAW AND GOD ON YOUR SI...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 9–Verse 7And you shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord.Though this is a grisly chapter, it reminds us that God’s purposes move forward, even through unexpected people and dramatic moments. Jehu is anointed king in secret, showing that God oft...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 8--Verse 6And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now.”Bad things happen in life, but God is in the business of restoration. The Shunammite woman’s dead son was restored to life.  The woman’s land...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 7--Verse 3Why are we sitting here until we die?Sometimes in life, we have nothing to lose. It’s a risk to venture out—but it’s also a risk to stay put. The four lepers understood this. They were already in a bad place. Already dying. Their decision wasn’t heroic; it was just honest. Why sit here and do nothing? If we go forward, we may die. If we do nothing, we most c...  Read More