Skip to main content

2 Chronicles 19:4-7 When God gives opportunity to repent Take it - Day 351

Good morning brothers and sisters,

We have an interesting study in how kings respond to correction.  I think we can all learn from them.

Blessings,

Jeff

Some kings go astray and then double down when their sins are unmasked.  But other kings are like Jehoshaphat. His cooperation with Ahab was almost fatal.  When he returns home, Jehu, the seer, confronts him.  In response, Jehoshaphat takes action to "bring the people back to the Lord".   He recognizes that his unfaithfulness has been a bad example to Judah.  He is responsible for the people being unfaithful. So he sends out judges throughout Judah to correct their behavior.

Of course the better course would have been not to get involved with Ahab.  But God is gracious and provides opportunity to repent.  Perhaps he learned from his father Asa who did not repent.  In both cases God graciously provided a messenger to challenge the king.  We should be thankful that God is not a "one strike and your out" God.  He is abundant in steadfast love and mercy.

The instruction to the judges is full of insight.  Reminds me of the story that a 100 year old German man is going to be tried on war crimes for his role in Nazi death camps.  There was a concern that "time is running out for justice to be done".  Al Mohler's comment was that this may be true of human justice, but not God's justice.  The instruction to these judges reminds them of their true accountability.  Their authority comes from God, not from the judicial system.  We often see the statues of Justice wearing a blindfold.  In reality, humans cannot judge perfectly because we are finite.  We should strive for a just system which can identify and fix improper convictions.  I guess the biggest surprise to me is that justice is what brings people back to the Lord.  Well at least according to this passage.  Being confident that the guilty are punished and the innocent are set free does make a society stable.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revelation 22:3-5 Final and eternal restoration - Day 365

Dear saints in the Lord, Congratulations!  You made it.  We have been through much turmoil in the last year ('20-'21).  But God is faithful to His promises.  I trust that you have been blessed in your reading and have drawn closer to God.   Since we didn't get the blog up and running at the beginning of the challenge, I am going to go back and post entries to cover that first month or so.   Blessings, Jeff Nothing accursed in the city of God, the new Jerusalem.  The presence of sin will be gone.  I am working on memorizing Westminster Shorter Catechism and currently on question 82.  Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God but does daily break them in thought, word and deed. I think our passage today points to the truth of this question.  Do you notice how this answer is not exactly the same as the question. "Any man" bec...
Post a Comment
Read more

Malachi 2:10-12 Here we go again!! Day 363

Good afternoon friends, As we draw to the end of the Old Testament, we see that Judah has rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but they are following in the footsteps of faithless fathers and not in the footsteps of Abraham and ultimately God.  The exile was a low point, but now a new low is about to happen.  The prophetic voice has once again become warning and not encouraging. Faithful reading and preaching of the word is all that keeps us from losing our way.  May we be faithful in our generation. Blessings, Jeff I am sure I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  The section summary, chapter and verse are not in the original language.  They are all rather modern inventions to help us.  For example, the section title here is "Judah profaned the Covenant".  That is OK as far as it goes, but which Covenant?  So let's take a look. Observations Starts with 3 questions but who is asking the questions and to whom are they addre...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 35:23-26 Lament for the last good king - Day 364

Good morning fellow exiles and pilgrims, One more day of devotions.  We are indeed exiles and pilgrims in this world as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  The 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks can serve as a reminder that this world is not our home. Blessings, Jeff The lamentations for Josiah written by Jeremiah.  However, the book of Lamentations does not include any reference to Josiah as they are focused on the fall of Jerusalem.  While these lost lamentations were "made the rule" there are only 4 more kings and none of them were good like Josiah and none died in Jerusalem.  The phrase "to this day" generally refers to the time of the author (post exile).  Taken together, it may be that these laments were for the last good king and during the exile the people were longing for the next good king. Zerubbabel in a way was the next good king as temple and Jerusalem were rebuilt. But Jesus truly was the next king and He...
Post a Comment
Read more