I've been reading through Second Chronicles this month and was struck by the banality of evil in the face of the righteousness of the few. Listed are the so many evil kings who forsook the Lord, but they are spoken of and forgotten, the writer focusing instead on the deeds of those who sought the Lord. And amongst the many names and years, the drudgery and repeatedness of our lives, comes the constant nature of our Lord.

Recently I came across a found poem that used lines extracted from a Focus on the Family movie review. I thought it would be an interesting challenge to create a found poem using only phrases found in 2 Chronicles. I hope it captures a bit of what I described above.

And he did evil and abandoned the law of the Lord,
Crushed
Burned
Detestable whoredom
Complete destruction
He made them an object of horror
For a long time.
He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

He reigned for three years in Jerusalem.
The Lord struck him down
So he died and they buried him.
He reigned and they buried him.
The Lord stuck him down and he died.

He did what was good and right in the Lord
The spirit of God came upon him.
And they set their hearts to seek the Lord
That the Lord had chosen.

The noise of the people praising the king, for they listened to the word of the Lord.
He sought the Lord
They humbled themselves
The word of the Lord came.

The word of the Lord came.
The word of the Lord came.
The Lord is righteous
The Lord had chosen
And the land had rest for ten years.

For the Lord.