Read | 2 Chronicles 14:1–7
Abijah rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David. His son Asa became king in his place. During his reign the land experienced peace for ten years.
Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the LORD his God. He removed the pagan altars and the high places. He shattered their sacred pillars and chopped down their Asherah poles. He told the people of Judah to seek the LORD God of their ancestors and to carry out the instruction and the commands. He also removed the high places and the shrines from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom experienced peace under him.
Because the land experienced peace, Asa built fortified cities in Judah. No one made war with him in those days because the LORD gave him rest. So he said to the people of Judah, “Let’s build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, with doors and bars. The land is still ours because we sought the LORD our God. We sought him and he gave us rest on every side.” So they built and succeeded.
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Focus
Read and reflect on the poem by Wendell Berry written out below. What feels undeniably edenic about Wendell Berry’s description of the peaceful forest?
What longings for peace do you have for your life? Let those longings guide you in your time of prayer.
Pray
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
- The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry
Going Deeper
If you are also following the BibleProject’s One Story That Leads to Jesus reading plan, complete today’s reading.