Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Provision
- Provision: God gives us what we truly need. God knows our needs better than we can know them. We learn to trust God to provide for us.
One of the
greatest challenges that I face as a human being is walking that lime between
following God and following my own desires.
Paul speaks it really well when he writes Romans. The good that I want to do I do not do; yet
the evil that I do not want to do it what I find myself doing. I genuinely believe that my heart is in the
right place. But my actions do not
always follow.
As we’ve
looked at the past few kings in 2 Chronicles, I think this is really the
underlying issue that we see. Asa and
Jehoshaphat are remembered as genuinely decent guys who tried to follow the
Lord. Yet in both cases we’ve seen them
make mistakes. Spend a little bit of
time analyzing those mistakes, however.
Their mistakes are flagrant rebellion against God. They are subtle encroachments of sin through well-intentioned
but ultimately self-centered decisions.
As a good
example, take a look at what we have in this chapter. Many nations come to war against
Jehoshaphat. The nation begins to panic
around him. However, he has the
foresight to gather the people and go before God. God answers him; He even takes care of the
battle so that the people of Judah don’t even have to lift a sword in their own
defense! How amazing is this story when
it comes to God’s provision! All
Jehoshaphat has to do is remember to take the counsel of the Lord before acting
and God does indeed prove that He can provide – and is willing, even more
importantly!
We turn to
the next story, however. In peacetime,
when things are easy, Jehoshaphat sees an opportunity to provide for
himself. He makes a trade agreement with
the nation of Israel. Initially, this
doesn’t sound like a bad thing. After
all, who can really get hurt by a few nations collaborating together to make
some money? However, Jehoshaphat has
made a fatal flaw. As he looks to
provide for himself and his country, he forgets to go to God. He forgets to take God’s counsel. In doing this, he shows the failing of his
own heart. Jehoshaphat starts to provide
for himself rather than consulting God for His provision.
I truly
think this is one of my biggest struggles.
I desire to rest in the hands of the Lord. I know that He can provide for me. I know that His ways are better than anything
I can do for myself. However, I often
forget to check with Him when I see an opportunity. I forget to pause and ask if something before
me is His provision or if it is myself trying to provide for my own needs.
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