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It appears that the Israeli kings never seem to learn from their predecessors that they needed to obey the Lord. Only Josiah had turned to the Lord, and obviously after him they returned to their evil ways again. Lord, help us as believers today to learn and follow what You desire for us, that we may not end up in captivity of our enemies. Amen

God's anger with king after king disobeying his commands brought on the the destruction of Jerusalem.

Zedekiah was the last king of Judah, the fall of Israel teaches us a valuable lesson of Faith. God is compassionate, gracious and slow to anger if we continue to sin there is consequences for sin. So when God judges he always offers a promise of Hope.

Seems like after defeat and more defeat they would have stopped and evulated their situation. Maybe if they had they would have realized the only thing that could possibly save them was to get into a right relationship with God. Melting the mess away and getting their hearts right with God. Today it's somewhat the same so many Christians take part in religious acts but are our hearts truly where they need to be before God.

The verse is another illustration of "you reap what you sow" and "The people is only as strong as their leader". When you make decisions that are contrary to God and His word then you reap destruction. God commanded the people to follow his statutes, they did not do this so they were judged. This is also a strong message to people that are in leadership positions (in any area for example home, work, or church). As a leader you are responsible to make sure that the people that follow you know the truth and have the tools they need to apply the truth in their daily lives. If you being the leader, lead the people in error to do any manner of evil, then you are solely held responsible for them. We are to be careful to choose to do right for ourselves and for the people that follow us.

It is quite obvious that it is not good to displease and reject the Lord's commands and fail to follow His ways. I personally fear for the North American continent, as we have dismissed God from our culture for the most part and sought after our own pleasures and things that will perish. I am following a business coach by the name of Dani Johnson who can be found on the web. Dani weaves the gospel into all of her training and has a passion for the Lord like I have seldom seen. Dani has a no excuses attitude and has been raised from a very abusive childhood and dysfunctional family, found the Lord in her early twenties and is now world renowned. After following her business trainings for about 3 months, I discovered she is also an ordained minister of the gospel. It shows me that regardless of our upbringing, it is our choice to do as most of the kings of Israel did, or, to follow the Lord as David and Josiah did. Help me Lord, to continue to chose Your way and stand firm in my faith, knowing that You are my only hope. Amen.