Year 6, Day 334: 2 Chronicles 36

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

The Chronicler gives us a mixed bag of news today.  When we read the chapter from the start, it reads like a horrible chapter.  King after king does evil in the sight of the Lord.  They reign a short time.  The king of Babylon comes and puts them in their place and a new vassal is put into a leadership position.  The people are falling apart. The nation is falling apart.  God is allowing the nation to fall into the judgment it deserves because they pursued the desires of their own hearts.

While this is a hard way to open the chapter, it is a righteous chapter.  What would God be if He did not give us the freedom to pursue our hearts?  What value would our love truly have if we did not have the option of rejecting Him?  How can we ever truly show God’s love if we don’t even have the ability to show to each other the evil that lies within?  No, we sin.  We must have the freedom to choose sin so that when we choose to imitate God’s love instead it actually has meaning.

That’s really where the forgiveness comes into play.  God knows the rebellion that is within us.  He will let us choose rebellion so strongly that we will then suffer consequences for our choices.  But that doesn’t mean that He abandons us.  He is always there to help us pick up the pieces.  No matter how grave the consequences of our actions, He is always there to help us repent and offer us an eternity of peace with Him.

We see that as the passage comes to an end. The Babylonian exile doesn’t last forever.  Seventy years pass by and the Persians come onto the scene.  They release the Hebrew people to go back to their homeland.  God gives them another chance to be loyal and faithful.  That’s what forgiveness is all about.  Forgiveness says that with God, so long as there is breath in our lungs there is always time for repentance and a change in our heart.

It’s hard to believe that today marks the end of my sixth year of this blog.  It’s time to start up another three-year cycle.  I’m not sure what the next cycle will bring – or even the format that I’ll be writing under.  But I am going to continue reading and blogging.  It is good for me to be in the Word daily, and blogging helps makes sure that I am in the Word daily and that I am processing what God’s Word has to say to me.  Please feel welcome to continue to continue to read along!

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Year 6, Day 333: 2 Chronicles 35

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

What a great chapter through which we can look at the faithful followers of God through the lens of obedience.  What I love about this chapter is that it is incredibly real.  It shows us a spiritual and political leader much in the same light as we saw back with David.

For example, look at the first two-thirds of this chapter.  Time and time again we hear that Josiah was obedient to the Law as it was written by Moses.  Josiah knew what to do, how to do it, and even when to do it!  He followed the written word quite literally to the letter!  He was an incredibly obedient leader in the things that were written and clearly dictated by God’s Word.  This is how it should be!

On the other hand, look at the last third of this chapter.  In these verses we hear about Josiah’s stubbornness.  He goes out against Necho, Pharaoh of Egypt.  Necho even gives him a reason to turn around.  Do you hear his reason?  He is doing the will of God, and doing it in a hurry!  Yet, Josiah continues to oppose him.  Josiah clearly makes the wrong choice in a moment of disobedience.  Unfortunately for Josiah, this moment of disobedience also costs him his life.

What can we learn from this chapter about obedience?  We can learn that we should be able to get the things right that are specified in God’s Word.  There isn’t any excuse for getting those things wrong.  But when it comes to the gray areas in life where we are making decisions based on what we think is correct as we apply God’s Word to our life, the reality is that we are going to make mistakes.  We are going to make the incorrect choice and that choice will lead to disobedience.  All of the good leaders did it; we will do it to.  The trick is to live humbly and repent when we find ourselves walking in disobedience.

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Year 6, Day 332: 2 Chronicles 34

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

The end of 2 Chronicles is a bit of a yoyo effect.  Hezekiah leads us to reform.  Manasseh rebels, but then repents.  Amon rebels and doesn’t repent.  Josiah comes on the scene and leads the people back into reform.  The heart of the people and the heart of the leaders are not consistent.  They are changing and shifting.

To Josiah’s credit, he does lead the people in reform.  He does have the character within himself to tear down the false idols.  He does have the character within to even burn the false priests upon their own altars!  He does have the character to humble himself before the Word of God and respond obediently.

However, do you hear the words of the Lord as He speaks through the priestess Hilkiah?  Hilkiah has a peasant message for Josiah and the people of his generation. They will die in peace.  The Assyrians and the Babylonians won’t come upon them.  But that won’t be true in general.  The people are rebellious at heart.  God knows the Hebrew people, and all of humanity at that.  This current generation might be repentant, but the people are not repentant in general.

Human beings can be counted on to follow our sinful hearts.  We want to obey the passions within us.  We want to pursue the dreams in our minds and the lusts in our heart.  Some find the ability within to temper these passions and be able to do what is right.  But it cannot be counted on for long.  Throughout all of history we can see that righteousness may reign for a generation or two, but the general course of human history is that the pursuit of sins in the form of appetite, ambition, or approval will show itself before too long.  The character of humanity is that sin is within us, ready to tempt us and take advantage of us whenever opportunity should rear its head.

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Year 6, Day 331: 2 Chronicles 33

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Ambition, Appetite, Approval

• Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive.  When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus.  But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.
• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.
• Approval: We all need to feel as though we are accepted.  When we seek the approval of God, our Up is in the right place.  But when we seek the approval of other people besides God, we open the door to pursuing false gods and risk putting someone or something other than God in our Up position.

This section of the history of the kings is quick to sadden.  Hezekiah just brought about a great revival.  Many of the bad trends that had been occurring in Judah were fixed.  The places of false worship were torn down.  The false gods were removed.  The law was copied and spread throughout the land.  So many good reforms and revisions were done underneath Hezekiah.  The reason that this section of the kings account saddens me is because we truly see how quickly things change.

The next king to come to power is Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh.  Manasseh turns away from Hezekiah’s reform.  He puts things back the way that they were.  Soon the temple is scandalized again.  Soon the child sacrifices are being done again.  Soon the ways of God are abandoned.

I don’t know why Manasseh is so quick to change.  It could be that he was young before Hezekiah’s reform and therefore he learned to imitate the sinful Hezekiah and not the reformed one.  It could be that Manasseh was more interested in himself and his own desires than in following God’s ways.  It could be that he wasn’t a king who managed the people well and simply allowed them to do as they pleased while he did as he pleased.  We don’t know why the reversal came so quick.  We simply know that it did come very quickly.

We see here the compelling power of human sinfulness.  We all have an insatiable appetite for something.  We all will do things to seek the approval of others.  We all will follow our own ambition to get what we want.  As the Bible teaches, sin is always crouching at the door.  We, like the Hebrew nation, can slip from obedience to sinfulness in what seems like the blink of an eye.  Vigilance is necessary.  It is not a matter of if we will fall under temptation.  We will fall under temptation, the only question is when and how we will respond.

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Year 6, Day 330: 2 Chronicles 32

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

How do we know that God is king of the universe?  There Bible has many several examples.  We have the creation account.  We have the Exodus story.  We have the coming of Jesus.  We have His death and resurrection.  Those are all very important and impressive stories on the list of stories that demonstrate why god is king.  This chapter contains another great story to add to this list.

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, comes into the area to dominate the land and claim its wealth for his own.  Sennacherib conquers the northern kingdom easily and puts them into captivity.  He moves south on Judah and lays siege to Jerusalem.  He even sends bold envoys forth and denounces Hezekiah and Hezekiah’s God.  Sennacherib boldly proclaims that nobody can spare Jerusalem from his hand.

That’s where God steps in.  God hears the prayer of Hezekiah and Isaiah.  God hears the arrogance and pride of Sennacherib.  God takes matters into His own hands.  God stretches out His powerful hand and sends an angel of pestilence among the troops of Assyrian.  tens of thousands of troops die without explanation.

Sennacherib’s army is decimated.  He turns around and marches home.  When he gets there, the public shame of the inexplicable defeat causes Sennacherib’s own sons to rise up against him in order be done with him.  As it turns out, Sennacherib had it exactly wrong.  It was Sennacherib who could not escape from the hand of the almighty God.

That’s why God is King.  He created the universe; He can do whatever He pleases within it.  God is all-powerful, and none can stand in His path when He establishes His purpose.

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Year 6, Day 329: 2 Chronicles 31

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

Hezekiah’s reign, at least from the perspective of the Chronicler, is one of obedience. Hezekiah obeys after a horrible example set by his father.  The Levites and the priests obey when called upon by Hezekiah and pull down the places for false worship. The people obey when they see the example of the king and the priests before them and offer up sacrifices for the temple.  In a single generation, the people of Israel go from being a disobedient people caught up in the world of false gods to a nation getting back on the right track.

This is the simple power of obedience.  One obedient act leads to another.  Several obedient acts lead to a pattern of life.  Several patterns of life lead to a life that is generally devoted to the pursuit of God and His ways.

One obedient man inspires obedience in the lives of those near him.  That obedient group inspires obedience in a larger group.  Soon the whole nation is responding to the obedience set forth by a single man.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not trying to paint an over-glorious portrait here.  I’m sure that there were dissidents.  We know that it won’t take long after Hezekiah is no longer king before the nation falls.  If you read the account of Hezekiah in Kings, you get a glimpse of some of the mistakes that Hezekiah made.  I’m not saying that Hezekiah was perfect and that the nation was perfect in any way.  But what I am saying is that a few obedient acts can have an impact that we cannot foresee.

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Year 6, Day 328: 2 Chronicles 30

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

Yesterday we saw Hezekiah rise up and embrace his spiritual father in a spiritual calling.  That truly brought about a spiritual identity.  In today’s chapter, we see that identity continue.  Hezekiah calls for the celebration of the Passover.

However, let’s look at his identity very closely.  Do you hear what the Bible stresses again and again?  There is a humbleness about Hezekiah that is truly respectable.

First of all, look at when they hold the Passover.  The hold it in the second month, not the first month.  They do this because they are humbling themselves to the Law of the Lord.  The Law said that a person who was not ritually impure in the first month could celebrate the Passover in the second month.  Hezekiah knows the status of the land when he takes over as king.  It needed to be purified.  Rather than force the Passover when he could have done it to maintain appearances, Hezekiah humbles himself and the nation and does it right.  He allows the purification to happen so that the Passover would be done right.

Second, do you see whom Hezekiah invites?  He invites all the Hebrew people.  He doesn’t just invite the people of Judah.  He invites the people of Israel and Judah.  It takes humbleness to invite a nation that broke away from you and turned away from the Lord.  It takes a leader who is more focused on the spiritual reality than they are focused on a worldly reality.

This gives us a great glimpse into the spiritual identity of Hezekiah.  Not only is he willing to break tradition from his earthly father’s example, but he is willing to do it right.  He does it in humbleness.  He does it in a way that God’s character is seen and the spotlight shines upon God instead of him.

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Year 6, Day 327: 2 Chronicles 29

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Father

• Father: This is the pinnacle of the Covenant Triangle.  God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.  We get our identity through Him.  When the Father is in our life, obedience becomes clear.

I am always amused by the fact that Hezekiah comes from Ahaz.  Ahaz burned some of his children in child sacrifice.  Ahaz turned the nation from the Lord.  Ahaz invited the Assyrians to turn their eye upon the region. Ahaz was an evil king in many ways.  Yet Ahaz’s son was Hezekiah.

Hezekiah reopens the temple.  Hezekiah re-consecrates the priests and the altar areas.  Hezekiah draws the people back to the Lord.

You see, it doesn’t matter that Hezekiah is Ahaz’s son.  What matters is the Hezekiah’s father is God.  His biological father may have been Ahaz, but his spiritual father is God.  Hezekiah’s character comes from his spiritual father.  Hezekiah’s passion comes from his spiritual father.  Hezekiah’s ambition comes from his spiritual father.  Biology doesn’t matter in God’s eyes.  Spiritual family is what matters.

Come to think about it, that’s a pretty big foreshadowing of the message of the New Testament.

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Year 6, Day 326: 2 Chronicles 27-28

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

Today we move quickly through Jotham, a righteous king who did most of the things right, and straight into Ahaz.  Ahaz is noted for being a despicable king.  What is it that Ahaz does that is so despicable?  The list is reasonably long.

Ahaz does the unthinkable and offers up child sacrifices to foreign gods.  It’s bad enough to worship other gods.  It’s preposterous to think about killing children in an attempt to please divine beings.  But Ahaz is offering up his own children!  Here is a man who desires to slaughter his own children in an attempt to please divine beings who are illegitimate in the first place.

But this is not all that Ahaz does.  Ahaz turns to the king of Assyria to help him against his squabbles with nearby kings.  However, Ahaz bites off more than he can chew.  In inviting Assyria into the region, Ahaz has drawn their attention.  He doesn’t know it at the time, but Ahaz’s appetite is what actually brings Assyria’s eye and invites them not for allegiance but for domination.  Ahaz’s appetite for success actually leads to the doom of the northern kingdom and a great diminishment of the southern kingdom.

This isn’t even the worst of it.  When Ahaz turns to the Assyrians, he is ultimately turning his back upon the Lord.  Ahaz demonstrates that he does not believe that God can protect his people. Ahaz would rather trust in the protection of other human beings than rest in the protection of God.  As I pointed out above, Ahaz is clearly misguided and the Hebrew people will pay for this error in judgment.

Ahaz’s appetite gets him in trouble.  Ahaz’s appetite causes him to make very poor decisions.  Ahaz’s appetite actually invites danger into his life and the life of the people that he is supposed to be leading and protecting!

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Year 6, Day 325: 2 Chronicles 26

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Calling

• Calling asks whether or not God has called the person to the particular work at this point in their life.

Uzziah is another great leader of the Hebrew people to study.  He is a king ho gets most of his life.  He follows God, for the most part.  But in a way, that’s what makes him a good study.  Who among us can’t say that we occasionally don’t get something wrong?

If we look at Uzziah, we can see that he is faithful.  He listens to God and God’s prophets.  He gives God praise and glory.  He clearly cares about the worship of God and the things that are happening at the temple.

The problem with Uzziah isn’t that suffers from a lack of focus like his father before him.  Uzziah’s problem is that he may just care too much.  Uzziah goes forth into the temple and wants to offer up a sacrifice.  He wants to partake in the worship of God.  But it isn’t for him to do.  He is warned that what he wants to do is reserved for the Levites and priests.  Uzziah doesn’t listen.  He cares too much to listen and submit to God’s ways.

Uzziah goes forward and does what is not his to do.  Uzziah takes something that is pleasing to God but does it in a way that is not pleasing to God.  Uzziah has to live with the consequences for the rest of his life.

But the neat thing is that even in the consequences, he is still remembered as faithful.  Uzziah’s few points of failure don’t taint his overall heart.  He is a good king, generally leading the people in the way they should go.

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Year 6, Day 324: 2 Chronicles 25

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

Amaziah is remembered as being a decent king, but he certainly had his flaws.  I think Amaziah’s main problem was that he was confused as to who or what was truly the focus of his worship.  Amaziah does acknowledge God’s sovereignty, but it isn’t a consistent pattern in his life.

First, let’s look at a place where Amaziah gets it right.  Amaziah buys some mercenaries to go out into battle.  He receives word via one of God’s messengers that God is not with these mercenaries and if Amaziah goes forth into battle with them that he will surely lose and not have God’s benefit.  Amaziah finds out that God promises more in spoils of war that Amaziah paid for the mercenaries, so Amaziah sends the mercenaries away.  He goes forth, trusting God, and wins the battle.  He is victories because he is willing to listen to God.

However, after Amaziah returns home he sets up the foreign gods and begins to worship them.  I’ve always wondered about this.  What would you worship the gods of a nation you conquered, especially if you went to war with the support of your own God?  Isn’t being victorious proof of God’s power?  Amaziah begins to worship those other gods and he loses God’s favor in doing so.  His Up is often in flux.

Amaziah gets some things right.  He does listen, at least when it is to his advantage.  But he doesn’t always listen.  Amaziah has a fair-weather faith.  When it benefits him, Amaziah is faithful and obedient.  But when it doesn’t suit him, Amaziah will chase what he thinks is the best for him.

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Year 6, Day 323: 2 Chronicles 24

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.

The idea behind imitation is really discipleship.  The imitation step is all about finding people in your life who are applying God’s truth and learning to imitate their efforts.  Imitation isn’t about making carbon-copies, however.  Imitation is not about duplication.  It is about mentoring and developing good habits that bring us closer to the Lord.

This is what we see in the beginning of Joash’s life.  The young king is under the tutelage of Jehoiada.  Jehoiada brings him up in the ways of the Lord.  Jehoida helps protect him from the world while he is developing.  Jehoiada helps give guidance to the young king.  Joash learns to imitate.

However, Jehoiada eventually dies.  Joash loses his mentor.  Things start to go downhill quite quickly.  Before too long, even Jehoiada’s son is persecuted and killed.  When Joash loses his mentor, he falls away from God.

Now, I’m not blaming Joash’s fall on the lack of a mentor.  The idea of mentoring is that eventually the person being mentored becomes mature and capable of mentoring others while making mature decisions.  That being said, though, we should never lose sight of the power of having people in our lives that we can look up to and imitate.  We all have room to grow, always.

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Year 6, Day 322: 2 Chronicles 23

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

Human lust always amazes me.  When I use the word lust, there, I’m not talking about just in a sexuality sense.  Lust is an uncontrollable urge for anything about which we are passionate.  Usually we use it in terms of sexuality because that is one of our most uncontrollable urges.  But it can apply to anything, especially when we are focusing on human appetite.

As we read through this chapter, we hear about how Athaliah is deposed.  It’s a pretty good coup.  The priests respect the temple and its purity.  They people get behind the coup.  All in all, it’s really well done.

However, notice what the people do once the coup is over.  In fact, the Bible gives us the idea that this is done immediately after the coup is over.  They go to the temple of Ba’al and tear it down.  Oh yeah.  The temple of Ba’al was in Jerusalem - in God’s holy city!

Kudos to the people for tearing it down.  I can only imagine how offensive that must have been to God.  He hand-picked that city to be His domain on the earth.  Then someone, probably the leaders in the city, think it is a good idea to put up a false temple to an illegitimate god in God’s holy city.  Only human appetite – uncontrollable lust – could lead to a decision of that magnitude.

The problem is that this actually hits home quite well.  Am I not a priest in God’s kingdom under Christ?  Is not my body God’s temple?  How often do my sinful lusts, my sinful human passions and my sinful human appetite, corrupt God’s temple within me?

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Year 6, Day 321: 2 Chronicles 22

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Protection

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.

Ahaziah comes into power.  He rules for a single year.  You know a king just didn’t get along well with God when he only reigned for a single year.  Ahaziah goes out to meet the king of Israel.  God takes advantage of the opportunity.  As Jehu was sent out to deal with the house of Ahab, he takes care of Ahaziah, too.

What is really neat, though, is the story that follows.  We know that God promised to have a descendant of David upon the throne.  When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, sees that her son is dead, she sets out to kill the rest of the royal family.  She nearly succeeds, too.  A faithful servant of God, Athaliah’s own sister, finds her actions despicable and plans against it.  She takes Joash and hides him from Athaliah so that she can’t kill him.  She hides him in the temple.  God’s house literally protects Joash from Athaliah!

God’s protection is really amazing, and often unexpected.  Who would have thought to care about a small child?  Who would have thought to care about him for a number of years?  Who would have been devoted to hide him in the temple?  God’s faithful servants, people who care about God’s will being done, make sure that God is heard.  God’s protection starts with God and is planned by Him.  But we are the hands and feet of His plan of protection, reaching out into the world to help in unsuspecting ways.

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Year 6, Day 320: 2 Chronicles 21

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

Jehoram comes into power after Jehoshaphat dies.  As is the custom of the Chronicler, we are told about his reign upfront.  Jehoram was an evil man.  He was not obedient to God.  In fact, he was instead obedient to the was of the kings of Israel.

What is it that brings about this change from the perspective of Jehoram?  After all, Jehoshaphat was a pretty good guy, with only a few flaws for which he seemed genuinely repentant?  What does Jehoram in is his marriage to a foreign princess.  In fact, he marries into the house of the kings of Israel!  When he brings down a wife from Israel, he opens the door for taint to come into his life.  Clearly, this is disobedience in its best.

Furthermore, do you see how he tries to manipulate God’s hand?  Jehoram has all of his brothers killed.  Some might think this is shrewd.  After all, if God has promised that there will always be a descendant of David on the throne, what better way to ensure that your line stays strong than to kill all of the other eligible men!  However, what some may think of as shrewd I find despicable.  In this act we don’t see a humble trust in God.  We don’t see relationship with God.  What we see is a human being trying to manipulate the hand of God.  This is sinfulness at its worst.

However, take a look at how God deals with Jehoram’s disobedience.  As Jehoram had all of his brothers killed, God killed all but one of his sons.  God brings up oppression because of his disobedience in the form of the Philistines.  They plunder the land.

I find it sad to see how the disobedience of one person can cause so much hardship in the lives of the people around him. Jehoram’s disobedience resulted in the death of nearly everyone that was meaningful to him.  It resulted in his people having to fend of rebellions and war.

Of course, I am not much different.  I may not have a nation underneath me, but that doesn’t mean that my places of sin and disobedience don’t mar the community around me.  It certainly does.

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Year 6, Day 319: 2 Chronicles 20

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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Year 6, Day 318: 2 Chronicles 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

Jehoshaphat returns from battle and he is greeting by a prophet.  The prophet tells him that he has done some things well, but he has also neglected some of his duties among the people.  In other words, the prophet is reminding that he is an example before the people.  People are going to look to him and imitate him because of the position he has in their life.  This is going to happen whether or not he wants them to.  This is going to happen whether he knows them or not.  In a sense, this is going to happen to him well beyond the scope of his control.

Jehoshaphat realizes this and once more heeds the words of the prophet.  He goes out and appoints leaders to help him manage the people.  This largely parallels what Moses did when Jethro, his father-in-law, came to him and spoke to him about managing the people.  Jehoshaphat appoint leaders who will be able to know the people and oversee them far more personally than he can.

However, in the midst of this process he receives another warning.  He is reminded that he has an incredible amount of authority upon him.  He isn’t just judging over people.  He is judge over God’s people and exercising God’s authority over them.  He needs to be exceedingly careful, because people will see his authority as an extension of God’s authority. 

That’s just how it is when we are in relationship with God.  When we are in relationship with Him, He desires us to go out into the world and spread not only His grace and love but also His wisdom, truth, and righteousness.  We are to be His representatives.  We do go out with His calling.  We go out with His approval.  But we also go with His authority.  That is an incredible blessing.  It is also an incredible burden to remember as we go forth to be His representative to the world.

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Year 6, Day 317: 2 Chronicles 18

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Prophet

• Prophet: A prophet is one of the fivefold ministry categories that is used throughout the Bible. The prophet is primarily concerned with whether or not the people are hearing the voice of God.  The prophet is also concerned about whether or not the people are responding to God’s voice.

This is a great chapter to look deeply at the life of the prophet and how they relate to the world.  It’s also a great chapter to have a challenging look at the Lord, too, if you are willing.  But each of these looks are not without their challenge.

What does it mean to be a true prophet?  Well, the true prophet is usually an unpopular sort.  Do you hear the king of Israel’s reaction to Micaiah?  The king doesn’t want to hear Micaiah.  Micaiah doesn’t tell him what he wants to hear!

This is such an incredibly honest perspective.  As a prophet, you can either give people what they want to hear or you can give them the truth.  If you give people what they want to hear, then you will have their favor.  However, it also means that you will have to lie, speak only shallow things, or avoid the truth.  If you decide to speak the truth, then you are going to have to accept that you will be telling people things they don’t want to hear.  The truth usually hurts.  When we look in the mirror honestly, we usually see the things we don’t enjoy seeing.  The king of Israel hates Micaiah because Micaiah forces him to see the things he doesn’t want to see.

Welcome to the life of the prophet.  It’s what prophets do.  They are usually wise because they care more about truth than making people happy.  They care more about obediently presenting the ways of God than having loads of friends and being all kinds of popular.

In a weird way, let’s look at the perspective of God that Micaiah gives, too.  Micaiah speaks about a vision he had of the Lord.  The Lord decides to entice the king.  Is the Lord being deceptive?  No.  The Lord isn’t actually deceiving the king.  The Lord knows that the king will not listen to truth.  Therefore, the Lord decides to encourage the king to go into a situation where he will be confronted with the truth since he will not listen to it.  The king decides to go up into battle in spite of Micaiah’s warning that he will die.  The king tries to out-think God and fails.  The king takes an arrow in a vulnerable spot and has to come face to face with truth.  Micaiah, and more importantly the Lord, was right.

Prophets are about as popular as the truth.  Humanity likes to parade around that we are all about the truth.  We are about some truth.  We want scientific truth.  We want political truth.  But we don’t usually want personal truth.  We don’t want truth that pertains to us.  We don’t want the truth that challenges us to grow and change.  That’s what makes Micaiah unpopular in the worldly kingdom of Israel.

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Year 6, Day 316: 2 Chronicles 16-17

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

Today we read about the end of Asa’s reign and the beginning of Jehoshaphat’s reign.  Both kings have a good relationship with the Lord and walk in the Lord’s favor.  We saw yesterday how Asa walked.  We hear today that Jehoshaphat continued to walk in the style of relationship with God that reflects the humble repentance that David had.

However, we will notice that even the good kings struggled with obedience.  This is not really a surprise.  David was not perfect, yet he was called a man after God’s own heart.  It shouldn’t surprise us that we can see kings who are good at heart but who are not perfect.  In fact, these stories should inspire us and fill us with hope.

In the chapters for today, we hear about one of Asa’s stumbles.  He sees that the king of Israel has begun fortifying his position against Judah.  The king of Israel can do this because he has a treaty with Aram that allows him to focus on his other borders.  Asa sees this and becomes worried.  Asa goes to the king of Aram and invites him to break his treaty so that the king of Israel will have to divide his focus back onto all of his borders.  The tactic works.  The king of Israel backs off from fortifying his border with Israel.  Asa can then relax and fortify his own position.

All of this sounds very astute.  It feels like Asa was wise and shrewd in this passage.  However, he makes a subtle flaw.  In going to a foreign king, he shows us that he isn’t fully relying upon God.  He isn’t fully obedient.  He is putting his confidence in his ability to manipulate mankind rather than trusting in God’s ability to protect him.  Asa doesn’t consult with the prophets before making his decision.  Asa simply goes out and does what he believes is necessary.

Asa shows us that often the break in obedience comes not in our blatant disobedience but in our subtle forgetfulness.  Asa’s actions weren’t flagrantly against the ways of God.  Asa simply forgot to pause and ask God where God is leading him.  As a result, he shows that he is relying upon his own wisdom rather than instinctually coming before God.

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Year 6, Day 315: 2 Chronicles 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Bear Fruit

• Bear Fruit: We bear fruit after we grow.  Bearing fruit is ultimately the goal of abiding and the goal of being called into the Kingdom of God.  However, while bearing fruit is our calling, it is not the end.  We bear fruit so that we can then prune, abide, grow, and bear more fruit in another season.  Bearing fruit is not the end, but rather only a portion of the whole rhythm of life into which God has called us.

Asa is a great hidden gem in the Old Testament.  We don’t hear much about him.  Truth is, besides David and Solomon, we don’t hear much about most of the kings of Israel.  We may hear a bit about Hezekiah from time to time.  People who know what they are talking about will occasionally bring up Josiah and his reforms.  I believe that Asa is one of the best least-talked-about people in the Old Testament.

Look at what happens in this chapter.  A prophet comes to Asa and puts challenge in front of him.  He invites Asa to seek the Lord.  He challenges Asa to bear fruit after finding the Lord.  Asa hears.  He listens.  He absorbs the message that the Lord has for him.  Then he goes forth and acts!

It starts with Asa taking courage.  He goes out and removes the false places of worship.  He repairs the temple of the Lord.  He brings the people together and worships.  Life in the country changes as Asa rises to the challenge and bears fruit!  The fruit of Asa spreads throughout the people!

However, look closely at the scope of Asa’s fruit.  Asa deposes his own grandmother from power.  Imagine telling your grandmother that she is no longer capable of having a place of authority among the people!  Imagine the family pressure that Asa must have felt.  Yet Asa chose God’s ways over the family.  Asa bears true fruit, even if it meant bearing fruit that was difficult and unpopular.

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Year 6, Day 314: 2 Chronicles 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Protection

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.

Asa comes to reign in Judah.  The Bible is clear on two points.  First of all, Asa had peace in His reign.  Note, though, that Asa was not without conflict with the world.  Kings rose up against Asa, but because God was at peace with Asa they had His protection.  The peace that they endured was an internal peace between the nation and God.  Second, Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

What I really want to focus upon is why these two things occur.  Asa is able to have peace for the same reason that Asa is able to do what is right in the Lord’s eyes.  Asa himself gives us the reason why is 2 Chronicles 14:7.  These things can happen because they have sought out the Lord.  Because they have sought out the Lord, they have God’s protection.  They have peace with God.

Peace comes when we seek the Lord.

Just remember, though.  When we say that peace comes when we seek the Lord, that doesn’t necessarily mean peace with the world.  This chapter itself contains an example where Asa was not at peace with the world around him.  Many of God’s prophets were not at peace.  Jesus Himself was crucified by the world.  Jesus’ disciples were persecuted heavily.  Peace, an internal peace and a spiritual peace, comes when we seek the Lord.  But when we don’t have peace with the world, we know that we will have God’s eternal protection.

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Year 6, Day 313: 2 Chronicles 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

On the surface of this passage, Abijah comes off as a really spiritual leader.  He goes out to battle and reminds Jeroboam’s army that God is on their side.  He reminds them that they have the Levitical priests.  He reminds them that he is the leader in the line of David.  He reminds the people that they are the ones who rebelled against Rehoboam.  When you look at this, it’s easy to see Abijah in the right.

So, then, why does the account in 1 Kings 15 tell us that he was evil and walked evilly in the ways of his father Rehoboam?

When we look more deeply, we can get a glimpse of Abijah’s identity.  He seems like he gets the stories right, but he tells the story in a way that doesn’t tell the whole story.  Yes, the kingdom of Judah has the Levites.  But remember that the Chronicler told us a few chapters back that the Levites only remained faithful for about 3 years.  When it comes to the rebellion of Jeroboam, what Abijah fails to say is that the people came to serve Rehoboam and it was Rehoboam’s arrogant ambition that drove the people away into rebellion.  Don’t forget that Abijah is said to have a number of wives as his fathers did who came before him.

What we see in Abijah is an identity that is self-serving.  Abijah tells parts of the truth, but he creatively tells the truth to paint an image that serves him in its lack of honesty.  He uses God when the idea of God serves him and his agenda, but he doesn’t truly live up to God’s ways.  This identity is really what leads us to understand that Abijah is an evil king who walks in the evil ways of his father.

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Year 6, Day 312: 2 Chronicles 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Father, King

• Father: This is the pinnacle of the Covenant Triangle.  God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.  We get our identity through Him.  When the Father is in our life, obedience becomes clear.
• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

This is an incredibly interesting chapter in the Bible.  Let me summarize for a second.  Rehoboam uses the influx of Levitical priests to fortify his position and make all of the cities strong.  Once they are strong, Rehoboam begins to lean a little too much on his own might.  God brings Shishak out of Egypt to humble Rehoboam.  Rehoboam and the people see the error of their ways and repent.  God sends Shishak back home, having plundered the Hebrew people but not enslaved them.

Naturally, we can see the repentance cycle in this story.  Humanity gets the wrong perspective, gets itself into trouble, repents, and God gets them out of trouble.  It’s the story of humanity, right?

The story is far more deep than this, though.  Do you hear the signs that Rehoboam’s repentance may not have been all that sincere?  Look at his epithet.  The Bibe clearly says that he did evil in the sight of the Lord.  David, who did many things wrong but genuinely repented, is remembered well.  Rehoboam, who did things wrong and repented, is remembered as being evil.  We can only conclude that this repentance wasn’t really genuine.  Furthermore, do you notice what he does?  He doesn’t humbly accept the place that God has for him.  When the shields of Solomon get carted off, Rehoboam replaces them with bronze.  This is not a man interested in repentance and change!  This is a man interested in covering up the failings and faults and making the surface look like everything is okay.  This points us to why he is remembered as evil and his repentance isn’t genuine.

But, look at God’s reaction.  He forgives anyways.  He turns Shishak back home and sends him on his way.  He provides for His people.  He accepts their repentance, sincere or not.  This is a Father.  This is a King.  Parents and leaders know what it is like to have children or citizens underneath them who say what it takes to get them out of trouble only to go back to their own ways when trouble has passed.  Parents and leaders extend grace even when grace isn’t fully warranted.  That’s why God is truly Father and King.

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