2 Chronicles 34:20-33
I’ll never forget that 4th of July celebration in Snellville. David and I were with our friends, Glenda and Wayne and we were sitting next to highway 78 in the middle of the green listening to a patriotic band. My daughter Allison and her little family were also there with friends but not sitting with us. The sun was just beginning to go down when Allison ran up to us, screaming “We are missing Knox!” At first, I thought that this was a joke. How could my 3-year-old grandson be missing? But I looked around and realized that he could be anywhere in this crowd. Glenda ran toward 78 and, like Allison, the rest of us went searching through the crowd. I have never been as scared and sick in my life. And I immediately went to the darkest spot in my soul when thinking about this situation. I could hear my daughter-in-law up on the stage where she had stopped the music to announce to everyone there that her son had wandered off. (He had been with Allison’s friend and wanted to go back to his mom. Knox then decided instead of going back to Mommy, he would take a walk. By the time the adults realized he was missing, it had been a few minutes. How can a little one move that fast?)
With those dark thoughts going through my head, I started praying to God. Please, please help me find my precious grandson. I started crying as I went toward some bouncy houses, just in case a 3-year-old could remember how to get back there. I knew he had played in them earlier. When I couldn’t find him there, I lost it. I pleaded with God. I promised anything, knowing in my heart that God would not ask a thing of me. If it had been Biblical times, I would have torn my clothes but all I could think of was showing God how far I would go. I decided that I would lie prone on the ground in humble recognition of His greatness and goodness. In my mind everyone around me would think I had lost control of my senses but God would know my intentions. As I was about to fall to the ground, a hand touched my shoulder and a young woman with a child on her hip asked, “Are you the one looking for the little boy?” “Yes” was all I could say. She looked at my distraught, tear-stained face and said, “Is it okay if I stay with you until we find him?” And for a few minutes, we looked together. All of a sudden, I heard someone yell that he had been found near the bouncy houses and he was with a policeman. I turned to thank the young woman but she was gone. Vanished in thin air. I never got to thank her.
Are there angels among us? I know so…
The lesson today:
Josiah was the king of Israel who destroyed the idolatry in Judah. The king commanded that Hilkiah (and others that the king had appointed) ask the Lord, concerning the Book of the Law of the Lord, what His wrath would be since the previous generation had not kept His word. Hilkiah and the others went to seek out Huldah, the prophetess, in Jerusalem. She told them to go back to the king and tell him that the Lord said that he will bring evil upon this place and the people. Because they had forsaken God and burned incense unto other gods, they had provoked Him to anger; therefore, his wrath shall be poured out upon this place and not quenched. But the King of Judah, because his heart was tender and did humble himself by tearing his clothes and weeping before God, he will be saved from seeing the evil God will bring upon this place. King Josiah sent for all the people, great and small, to come to him and he read all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord. Josiah then made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and soul and to perform the words of the covenant which were written in the book. And all the inhabitants of Jerusalem did accordingly. And Josiah and the children of Israel served the Lord their God and never departed from following the Lord, God of their fathers.
Today’s prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, You are the God of peace, hope and joy. You give us strength in times of stress. May we remind ourselves everyday to praise you for your comfort. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Written By: Wanda Mulkey
