It's A Long Story

Read: 2 Chronicles 36:11-17

He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed. --- Proverbs 29:1

The Bible In One Year:
Job 14-16
Acts 9:22-43

In August 1989, a major fire broke out under an elevated section of New Jersey's Interstate 78. The intense heat buckled parts of the highway and forced the closing of the East Coast artery. The governor said it was the worst transportation crisis in years.

An investigation brought to light a lonstanding problem. It revealed that the fire broke out in a dump site in which construction debris had been collecting for many years. The owners of the site had been convicted of a multimillion dollar conspiracy to allow the illegal dumping of construction debris. But appeals in federal and state courts frustrated New Jersey's efforts to clean up the are. Not until the day after the fire did a state appeals court finally order the operator of the dump to stop accepting trash and begin clearing the site.

That fire tells a basic story of life. Most of our problems don't just happen. They are the result of a long series of bad decisions. Second Chronicles 36 illustrates this and reminds us that God will not allow His children to continue in sin. Even though He is longsuffering. His patience has a limit. If we don't correct the problem ourselves, we can be sure that He will discipline us.

Let's clean up the trash in our lives today. --- Mart De Haan

Lord, help me see my hidden sin,
Those secret wrongs that lurk within;
I would confess them all to Thee ---
Transparent I would always be. --- D. De Haan

THE MOST DEADLY SINS DO NOT LEAP UPON US, THEY CREEP UP ON US.