Sorry for such a long break. Very hectic time for me lately.

Lysias, a relative of the king and defender of the country, does not like that they lost to the Jews. He gathers an army to take over the country and the temple and to put the priesthood up for sale. As he aproaches the fortified city of Beth-zur, Maccabees and his followers hear of it and beg God for help. Maccabees is the first to get ready for battle. As they are leaving, a white figure on a horse with gold weapons appears before them. They thank God for his help and go and defeat Lysias, who flees.

God will help us in all of our battles if we take the time to ask Him first. We need to place our trust in God and not ourselves or our things.

One of the generals that Maccabeus had just recently defeated gathers a new army to attack. When Maccabeus and his men hear of this they pray before the altar that God be with them in this battle and be an enemy to their enemies. Maccabeus and his troops go out to meet the army and force them back into a tower. They lay seige to the tower for four days, the whole time their enemies are blaspheming God. On the fifth day, twenty men take the wall so that others may enter. They destroy the tower, burning the blasphemers alive in it and kill the general and his brother.

It is always best to pray that God is on your side in what ever you do, even if it is just going to the grocery store. On the other end, it is never best to call God out and attack him, even if it is just to blame him for your football team losing.

The Jews are under attack and pursecution again. Maccabeus prays publicly and goes to war again they destroy those who are opposing them. Some of their enemies hide in towers, so Maccabeus leaves some men in the charge of two of his brothers to attack them while he goes on to other places. A few of the men take bribes to let some escape. Maccabeus hears of this and has them publicly accused and executed for treason and quickly takes the towers.

We should never put money before the welfare of our family. We do this in many different ways today. People work so much that their family never sees them. It is one thing to work to pay the bills, but if we are working to afford expensive extras and we do not have time for our families because of this, our families would be better off having us than the expensive toys.

Ptolemy takes the lead in treating the Jews fairly. Unfortunately, he was not respected by anyone because he did not support Cyrus (who Antiochus overthrough) and kills himself.

We can not let what others think of us control what we think of ourselves. It generally does not end will. The most important thing you can no about yourself is that you are a child of the God most high and that He loves you so much that He died so that you might live. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a very worth while person to me. God bless you all.

The temple is restored with a new alter and fresh fire. The people celebrate the feast of booths, remebering how the last year they were huddling in caves. They ask God's forgiveness and that if they sin again that he deal with them moderately and not hand them over to Gentiles again.

It is funny how much perspective can change things. Many times we feel obligated to do things and take them for granted. If our right to do these things was taking away from us for a little while, we would be greatful to have the ability to do them. We should always have that attitude of greatfulness about the things that God allows us to do.