Pride

In 2 Chronicles 26 Uzziah became the King of Judah.  As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.  I already talked about that a few posts back with one of the other Kings.  This seems to be a recurring theme in the Bible--well for that matter today.  In 2 Chronicles 26:18 there is a "BUT."  That is a but with one T, not two.  Uzziah followed God but then it says when he became powerful he got pride and that led to his downfall.

I would love to tell you how I don't have a prideful bone in my body but I'd be lying.  Pride was the downfall of Lucifer.  I wish I had the magic formula to keep pride out of my life.  It is a double edge sword. When one trusts in God and God delivers, people still give you praise even if you try to defect it.  Then when people don't notice what you think you have done, human nature leads us, or at least me at times, to want people to notice.  In my previous blog, I was in the top read lists almost every day.  That led to the desire to find more material to stay on top.  I'd love to say there was no pride in that but I'm sure there was some.

I have not posted a link to this blog.  As far as I know, I'm the only one who sees this.  That is fine with me.  I'm only writing because I sensed God telling me to write every day.  My prayer is that even if God gives me a platform at some point in the future, I remember that every good thing comes from God and I had nothing to do with it.  I feel like I'm in a holding pattern.  I have been in a leadership position from 1993 until this year.  2018 has been a tough year.   We've never had as many medical bills as we did this past year.  I took a severe pay cut.  I started two colleges at the same time.  When I went through the Freedom Small Group last Spring, God exposed a lot of ugly things in my life.  I'm thankful for people who loved me enough to point out areas I needed to get corrected.  I'm at a peaceful place with my emotions.  But, I'm restless.  I guess times like this humble us to where God wants us to be.

But not wholeheartedly

I was reading from 2 Chronicles 25 about the life of Amaziah.  So many times the Bible talked about how Kings followed God or they did evil.  Amaziah’s story is tragic to me.  It says in 2 Chronicles 25:2 that “he did right in the eyes of the Lord.”  That would be great except what followed the comma.  Then it said, “but not wholeheartedly.”  To me those are powerful 3 words.  It is one thing to follow Jesus, but you can’t really follow someone partially.  What about someone who is married, but not wholeheartedly?  What about someone who does a good job at work, but not wholeheartedly?

Amaziah’s reign started off well, but in the end he let pride and arrogance get the best of him.  Doing the right things may look good on the outside, but what about what is in our hearts?  Jesus dealt with some of the most religious and self-righteous people in his day.  The Pharisees sure knew the Scriptures and they knew how to look good.  They followed the rules.  But most were in it to do “right in the eyes of the Lord.”  Their hearts weren’t in what they were doing.  In Matthew 19 a man came up to Jesus and asked what did he need to do to get eternal life.  Jesus told him to keep the commandments.  The man said he had done all of that. However, Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions and give to the poor and then follow Jesus.  Matthew 19:22 says “the young man went away said because he had great wealth.”  He did right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.

I got to thinking about my own life.  Do I just follow the rules and check off my Christian boxes just so I can say I do right in the eyes of the Lord?  Or do I truly follow God wholeheartedly?  My prayer for 2019 is that I not only serve God, but I serve Him with all my heart.

As long as....

I loved Sweet Comfort Band as I was growing up.  They were a Contemporary Christian Band during the 70's and early 80's.  They had a song called "You Led Me To Believe."  The song is about a person who led the author of the song to Christ.  But at some point the person who left their faith.  The author of the song said that even though their friend fell away they were keeping the faith that they led them to.  I guess the song hits home because I've had a lot of friends who have turned their back on their calling and their relationship with God.

I was reading in 2 Chronicles 24 this morning and was struck by how Joash, the King of Judah followed God as long as Jehoiada, the priest was alive.  Jehoiada lived a life for God.  During his reign as priest the temple was repaired and the people worshiped God.  But as soon as Jehoiada died, Joash abandon everything he learned.  Eventually, he died a very painful death in his own bed.

When I was in seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, they told me at orientation that there were over 10,000 graduates of Southwestern seminary living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that we're not serving on a church staff or and a para-church organization.  Now I have no idea the circumstances behind all of those 10,000 people.  However, people go to seminary and Bible school to be a vocational minister or at least bi-vocational.  I was very fortunate to grow up in a family that is still serving God today. But I can't rest on somebody else's faith. My faith must be my own.

The Battle isn't mine

I think if I was truthful I would have to admit that I like to be in control.  I'm a pretty capable person and can do a lot of things at once.  I think because I was given a lot of common sense and gifting I've done way too much on my own. That's not something good for a follower of Christ. Today I was reading in second Chronicles 20.  A prophet told Jehoshaphat a battle wasn't his but God's.  Jehoshaphat went out and set the example by praising God and worshiping Him.  In vs 22 it says as they began to sing in praise the Lord that ambushes.  I love how our pastor says when you're going through a difficult situation, praise your way out of it.  I love how it says as they began to praise the Lord that He set the ambushes. 

How often do I try to take control of my own situation? The battle isn't mine in the first place.  It's so hard to give up control but that is what God wants from me. About a month ago, I got a key stuck in the ignition of my car and couldn't get it out. I was about to watch the SEC championship football game but knew that I had to get the key out. So I called my mechanic and he was there and said come on.  I can't say I do this all the time, but I guess out of desperation I just put on worship music as I drove to my mechanic.  I didn't listen to the game on the radio. I worshiped the whole way there. I was expecting the worst. When I arrived, my mechanic was able to get the key out within one minute. Not only that but he didn't charge me anything.  Now I'm not trying to say that this was anything like the battle that Jehoshaphat was encountering.  But getting angry and worrying does no good. I just need to work my way out of my funk and remember that the battle is it mine, it is God's.

Cried out and the Lord helped

In 2 Chronicles 18 there are two contrasting personalities.  Ahab was the King of Israel and Jehoshaphat was the King of Judah.  Jehoshaphat sought God for the most part.  Probably the worst thing he did was marry off his daughter to the son of Ahab only to have an ally.  Ahab wanted Jehoshaphat to go to battle with & him Jehoshaphat agreed.  However, Jehoshaphat wanted to seek God first. He asked if there were any prophets in Israel?  Ahab said only Micaiah but he only said bad things about him.  Ahab brought all of his yes-men and they told him what he wanted to hear. When Micaiah came the other yes-men wanted him to agree with what they said.  But Michiah said he would only say what God told him to say. When Micaiah only told bad prophecies about Ahab, Ahab told Jehoshaphat I told you so.  Ahab had Michiah put in jail and said when I come back I will deal with him.  Micaiah said if you return back then I did not speak the words of God.  Ahab disguised himself as one of the regular soldiers while Jehoshaphat dressed as a King.  Ahab was killed.  Jehoshaphat cried out to God and the Lord helped him.

There is so much but I think I can learn from this passage. Number one I don't mean yes-men in my life. I need people that will tell me the truth. I may not always like the truth what is the Bible says the truth will set you free.  I think that it is a problem in our world today is that we only want to hear what we want to hear. The second thing that stood out to me that stood out to me is how Jehoshaphat did his best to seek God in everything.  When Ahab asked Jehoshaphat to go into battle Jehoshaphat said let us seek God first. The last thing I noticed was how Jehoshaphat cried out to God for help and didn't try to do things on his own. 

How often do I try to do things on my own only to have it fall apart in front of me? This past week I really attempted to ask God what to do and everything.  I've been trying to ask which direction to go on the road, what time to leave, what to read, what to listen to, what to watch, etc. I wonder if I truly seek God in everything and cry out to him how much different my life would be? It sure can't be any worse. That is not to say my life is bad. What I mean is I've tried to live my life my own way and I'm always crying out to God for help. I want to follow him first and see if I can avoid many stupid mistakes.

Seek God & Find Him

In 2 Chronicles 15, King Asa was told by Azariah that if they sought God, He was with him. The passage said Asa to have sought the Lord and he was found by him and the people.  So many times people say they can't find God or He never speaks to them.  Yet, He has spoken in His word.  I think that if we truly want to seek God we have to spend time studying His word.  However, God has spoken to me quite a few times over the last two years.  I haven't heard an audible voice, but God told me in a quiet whisper to go here or do this.   God isn't Waldo trying to hide from us.  He is right there, we just have to make the move to seek him.  I love what 2 Chronicles 15:17b says about Asa, "Asa's heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life." (NIV) My prayer is that can be said of me.

Humility

It is always interesting to me to see how some leaders think they need to lord themselves over those they are leading.  But there is something about a humble person that attracts others and endears them to other people.  God loves humble people.  Jesus was humble and we celebrated his birth today.  He came not a conquering King but as a lowly child.  That is the ultimate humility.  Many times when I read the Bible, I see how God forgives and even changes his plans of punishment based on how people respond to him.  This morning as I read in 2 Chronicles 12, God turned his anger from Rehoboam because he humbled himself.  Earlier in the chapter, God decided not to destroy Jerusalem after the leaders humbled themselves.  I think what I take from this is that God wants me to be a humble servant, not a powerful jerky leader.