“I used to rule the world; seas would rise when I gave the word. Now in the morning I sleep alone, sweep the streets I used to own.”
Viva la Vida by Coldplay
They thought the world was theirs. They struggled, rose, and reigned. They paved, proved, and played. Enjoyed the good old days. They were young and sure to have their way…
They fought and won, had a son, grew cold to pain; morals down the drain
Going after their own gain, peace, and prosperity at another’s disdain
Some did well, sent the evil to hell; brought back some sensibility
Lifted up those in captivity. Honored the One who had fidelity
Most pushed it too far and wept seeing the scar,
Of senseless devotion to wood, wind, and stone
Instead of the Maker who was God alone
The kings of Israel; each given a paragraph of what summed up their life and memory
Myriad years fly by in a reading and all we know of them is a summary,
That gives the gist of what their lives consist
Evil, good, pretty good, bad; some started right but finished wrong
Few started and finished well. Then they were gone
And the text moves on to the next who hopefully went back to the Source with remorse,
And then believed in Him who gave them the choice
A paragraph. Your life in a paragraph. Plopped on a page. That’s all they’ll know of your stage
Whose lead are you following? How clued-in are you to what time is swallowing?
What will your paragraph say?
“For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah…”
1 Kings 15:5 NIV
“In everything he followed the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them; he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD…”
1 Kings 22:43 NIV
“He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, because he followed the ways of his father and mother and of Jeroboam…”
1 Kings 22:52 NIV
“He followed the ways of the house of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the LORD…”
2 Kings 8:27 NIV
“He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done.”
2 Kings 15:34 NIV
Rev 14:13 “…their deeds follow them…”
“I beseech you, remember this, that life on earth is a bewilderment and an enigma for which there is no solution, a long piece of irony unless beyond the grave there lie fields for nobler work for which we are being trained here.”
MacLaren on Rev 7:9