Sunday, September 13, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 2 Kings 23-25, 1 Chronicles 1-2
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 106
Devotional Thought
What do you do with a book that ends in ruin? Today’s reading carries us through the last chapters of 2 Kings, and the story does not end the way we would write it. Josiah, the best king Judah had seen in generations, tears down the high places, burns the bones of idolatrous priests, and restores the Passover. And still the LORD does not turn from His fierce anger, because Manasseh’s sins had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood (2 Kings 23:26; 24:4). Within a few short years, Nebuchadnezzar carries the people into Babylon, the temple is burned, and Zedekiah’s sons are slain before his eyes. Then the chronicler begins again with Adam, Seth, and a long river of names — as if to say, God’s story did not end at the exile. He was already building the line of return.
Psalm 106 sings the same story from the inside. It is a psalm of thanksgiving that refuses to lie. The singers praise God’s mercy, then confess with startling honesty: “We have sinned with our fathers.” They remember Egypt, the Red Sea, the manna, the calf at Horeb, the rebellion at Kadesh. They remember that God “gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul” (v. 15). That phrase ought to stop us in September, when the year’s work is in full swing and our wants are many. How often has God granted us exactly what we demanded, and we found it hollow?
Yet the psalm’s deepest note is not judgment but covenant mercy. “Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake” (v. 8). When they made a calf, Moses stood in the breach (v. 23) — and a greater Mediator now stands in the breach for us. The exile did not cancel God’s promises; it purified them. The genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1-2 are not filler. They are a ledger of grace, tracing the seed through Adam, Noah, Abraham, Judah, and David, down to the generation that would come home and, in the fullness of time, to the Christ.
So on this Lord’s Day, read the ruin and do not despair. Confess the family sins honestly, as the psalmist does, and then give thanks, for “his mercy endureth for ever.” The God who kept His word through Babylon keeps His word through your own seasons of loss.
Reflection
- Psalm 106:15 says God gave Israel their request but sent leanness into their soul. Where in your life have you received what you demanded from God and discovered it could not satisfy you?
- The exiles were carried away, yet God preserved a remnant and a genealogy that led to Christ. What “exile” in your life right now might God be using to purify rather than to punish?
Prayer
O Lord, we praise You, for You are good and Your mercy endures forever. We confess that we have sinned with our fathers, forgetting Your wonders and murmuring in our tents. When we have demanded our own way and found leanness in our souls, forgive us and satisfy us with Yourself. Remember us with the favor You bear Your people; visit us with Your salvation. Thank You that You saved us for Your name’s sake, and that Jesus Christ stands in the breach on our behalf. Keep us faithful through every exile, until we rejoice with Your inheritance. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 106:1 — “Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”