TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Jehoram is announced as king of Judah in our scripture passage for today. He was an evil king and even adopted some of the idolatrous practices of the northern kingdom of Israel. The Bible does not report anything good that he did. But, the Bible provides an interesting and important detail in it’s description of the reign of Jehoram, a mention that God did not allow the destruction of Judah “for the sake of his servant, David.” Years earlier, King David was a man after the Lord’s own heart. He loved and served the God of Israel and even when he sinned, he repented and confessed. God made a covenant with David that even the sins of the people and later kings could not break. This provides a foreshadowing of our relationship with the Lord today. We have sinned and deserve to be brought down. Yet God, for the sake of His son Jesus, protects us. So, remember as you read today that we do not survive based upon our own goodness and wisdom. We are sinners and only through the merits of Christ are we saved.
(2 Kings 8:16-19) 16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat began his reign as king of Judah. 17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. 18 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. 19 Nevertheless, for the sake of his servant David, the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah. He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.
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