READING: 2 Chronicles 21:8-20, 2 Kings 8:23-29, 2 Chronicles 22:1-7, 2 Kings 9:1-10:17, 2 Chronicles 22:8-9, 2 Kings 10:18-31
Few people know that my first job was at a bar. My grandma and her husband owned a bar where my parents worked part-time, and I was the “stock boy” at quite a young age. I remember get my first salary (a couple dollars, as I recall) for my services. What I remember even more, though, are the drunken folks in the bar—often mean and disruptive. One particular man was especially that way, and I knew no one who liked him. In fact, when he died, I heard several people say something like, “The world is better without him.” I didn’t realize as a young kid then just how tragic those words were, but I do now.
I thought about those words today when I read the summary of King Jehoram’s life. He had forsaken the Lord, and no one honored him at his death. In fact, the text says, “He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings” (2 Chron 21:20). He died to no one’s regret. To have left only a negative mark on this world while hardly preparing well for the next is tragic indeed.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: What are your plans today to leave a good mark for God’s glory?
DAILY PRAYER: “Father, help me to live for You today so others recognize Your presence in me.”
TOMORROW’S READING: 2 Kings 11:1-3, 2 Chronicles 22:10-12, 2 Kings 11:4-12, 2 Chronicles 23:1-11, 2 Kings 11:13-16, 2 Chronicles 23:12-15, 2 Kings 11:17-21, 2 Chronicles 23:16-21, 2 Kings 12:1-16, 2 Chronicles 24:1-22, 2 Kings 10:32-36