2 Chronicles 24: A Mirror, Not a Curse

📖 NKJV “Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper?”

📖 NLT “Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands and keep yourselves from prospering?”

📖 EASY “You have not obeyed the Lord’s commands. You will not have success…”

📖 AMP “Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord and do not prosper?”

📖 CSB “Why are you transgressing the Lord’s commands so that you do not prosper?”

2 Chronicles 24:20b

Im recognizing how far my understanding of the Word and God's character has come. Previously, I would’ve read it and thought, “Okay, this man is bringing down a curse upon these people. Why would anyone want to follow the Lord?"

That is not what is happening here and the translation of, "you cannot prosper or keep yourselves

from prospering are spot on. It's not this prophet or the Lord bringing down curses. It's natural consequences of their choices he is warning them about. Let's say it again, He’s not bringing down a curse — he’s simply telling them the truth about the consequences of their choices. It’s not that the Lord doesn’t care about them. In fact, He keeps trying to rescue them from themselves over and over again.

Zechariah was was not throwing shade — he was just speaking truth. People don’t always like truth when it challenges their comfort. His heart was for their protection, not their punishment.

As a parent, I get that. We don’t make rules because we’re mean. We make rules to keep our kids safe. We don’t yell at them for running into the street because we want control — we do it because we know what’s waiting if they don’t look both ways. The Lord operates In the same way.

His goal is to keep us from danger, harm, and heartbreak? When I start to see God through that lens — the lens of a loving Father who warns because He cares — I understand His heart so differently. As I celebrate how far I've come my prayer is to see Him more and more through that lens. 💛