Came to the end of 2Chronicles this morning. What a roller coaster ride it has been hanging out with these kings of Judah . . . mostly steep drops . . . a few gut-turning curves thrown in . . . very few climbs . . . and, as I think about it, no progress made . . . kind of like an endless 360 loop . . . where you eventually run out of momentum and finally fall to the ground . . . and crash and burn. The ingredients for success ending in abject failure. God’s chosen people . . . the forever promised royal line of David . . . and now, the city in ruins . . . the house of the Lord smoldering . . . dead bodies everywhere . . . and, of the rest, many of them taken captive by the Chaldeans . . . relocated to Babylon. And God says, “Time out!”

And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.   (2Chronicles 36:19-21 ESV)

The land needed rest. For over 400 years it had been the stage for the “let us have a king to reign over us like the nations around us” experiment. Saul, David, Solomon, . . . then the split . . . the 10 northern kingdoms immediately create a “new way” and, for all intents and purpose, they abandon seeking God . . . and the southern kingdom, Judah, while still home to the house of the LORD were determined to dabble in the “God plus” program . . . God plus idols . . . God plus pagan practices . . . God plus whatever seemed right in the eyes of the kings. Sure, there were a few who “did what was right in the sight of the LORD” . . . but for the most part their reforms were external only . . . and, I don’t think, ever lasted more than one reign. And so, after some 400 years, God says, “Time out. I’m suspending this program until the land has enjoyed its Sabbaths . . . 70 years of Sabbaths. The land needs a rest . . . and my people need some think time.”

Kind of sad really . . . but in another way, kind of encouraging. It doesn’t say that God was done with the program . . . that He was finished with His people . . . that He was “out a here!” The LORD doesn’t forsake His people. But instead, our God of redemption . . . our God of restoration . . . takes extreme action that He might bring about extreme results. It was to be ONLY 70 years of Sabbaths . . . it was ONLY until the kingdom of Persia was established as the reigning world power . . . and you just know Whose hand is continuing to work behind the scenes . . .

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the LORD his God be with him. Let him go up.'”   (2Chronicles 36:22-23 ESV)

And I’m reminded that my God is a faithful God . . . never leaving or forsaking those whom He has called to be His own. I’m reminded that my God is a loving God, and that “the Lord disciplines the one He loves” that it might yield “the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:7-11). I’m reminded, as well, that my God is a determined God . . . determined to complete the work He has begun . . . bringing to be the plans He has made . . . creating and re-creating that which He has set apart for His glory. That’s my God!

Maybe part of why this “time out” resonates so deeply is the degree to which I identify with the roller-coaster ride. And while, by God’s grace, I haven’t known the drastic discipline needed for the children of Israel, I have known those times where God seems to be saying . . .Take a rest . . . Get your feet back under you . . . Time for some re-orientation.

God disciplines those He loves . . . those He owns as His children. And after the time out, His people are never the same . . .

. . . for their benefit . . . for their blessing . . . and for His glory.