Song of Redemption (Chronicles of the Kings #2)

by Lynn Austin

"It's too easy to believe in our own importance when we're surrounded by our own creations all day."

His reign prospered, not only because he dreamed big

dreams, like you-but because he loved God. With God you can do anything-anything at all."

Uzziah took the credit for himself instead of giving ...

"You pray. And you allow the Lord to be your strength. Remember-the Lord doesn't give you strength, Hezekiah. He is your strength."

We cannot confuse religious idealism with political reality." "You're wrong." Micah's voice was quiet but firm. "There's no difference between the two.

there's no difference between our religion and our politics. They're one and the same."

Yahweh dwells amid married couples."

If you share a love for each other and for God, His presence will dwell in your midst."

"'he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law ... it is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he ...

"'You forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found ... you are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance."'

"'Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyfiil songs...."'

"'The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."'

I'm going to reawaken in my people a knowledge of our history-and of our God."

"In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains," he shouted. "It will be raised above the hills, and all peoples will stream to it. Many nations will say, `Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God ofJacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.'

"My soul finds rest in God alone," the Levites had sung. "He is my fortress, I will never be shaken."

Unless you make up your mind to trust Him, you'll never know that Yahweh is faithful."

That promise is for everyone who believes in Him and trusts Him in faith."

the reality of the presence of God"

Yahweh never promised that your life would be without problems. But meditate on what He has promised. Let it be your strength. God will never leave you or forsake you. He

commands you not to be afraid, so to be fearful is to doubt God. And that is a sin."

It's never a mistake to ...

Yahweh is the God of miracles!

The engineer's integrity and

compassion sprang from a source that Hezekiah had never known-the loving discipline of a godly father.

You saved Jerusha for a reason, Lord. May she find that reason and be a living testimony to your goodness and grace"

"When you go to u'ar against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you."

For the first time, Hezekiah saw God's laws not as negative commands but as His loving provision for His people.

"Sometimes I wonder about God. I wonder if He truly delights in all our religious forms and rituals or if they are barriers that keep us at arm's length from Him. I wonder if He wouldn't rather have our simple love, like a father with his children, instead of as a king and his subjects.

In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly.

"'I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble."'

So if there is an order and a purpose in all that He has made, then surely we can trust Him to order our lives, too-without needing to know why."

carefully disguising his bitterness and unbelief behind a mask of religious ritual.

Worship of Yahweh without heartfelt commitment only leads to empty ritual. The Lord says, `These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men."'

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall soar on wings like eagles. They shall run, and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint."

the Lord Almighty will come down to do battle.... Like birds hovering overhead, the Lord Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will "pass over" it and will rescue it....

But when we only believe in things we can see with our eyes and touch with our hands, it is idolatry. Faith in ...

He had taken God off His rightful throne and replaced Him with the works of his own hands, making his own decisions, choosing his own paths.

"Praise the Lord, 0 my soul. All my inmost being, praise his holy name."'

Yahweh reigned-majestic, awesome, wor...

"Praise the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all his benefits-who forgives all your sins . . . and rede...

"'The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.... he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities."'

"'For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."'

But had he ever come with his heart surrendere...

"`As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. . . . From everlasting to everla...

"`Praise the Lord, you his angels.... Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts.... Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, 0 my soul."'

Why should we make rational decisions if life is chaotic and irrational, if there's no order to the universe?"

How can the arm of man possibly succeed if God himself fails us?"

"But ... if there is a God who keeps the heavens and the earth in order and lovingly rules over all His creation, if He truly has intervened in our nation's past to deliver us from slavery and place us in this land, then how can we do anything but trust and serve Him? How can we ever presume to know more than God knows? All ...

In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever. "Hear 0 Israel, Yahweh is our God. Yahweh alone."