The Simple Life

The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the practices of Israel. Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor. His heart was courageous in the ways of the Lord. And furthermore, he took the high places and the Asherim out of Judah. 2 Chronicles 17:3-6 (ESV)   We are told, very simply, why God blessed Jehoshaphat. It was because he walked with God, did not seek Baals, obeyed God, and avoided the practices of the Godless. Therefore, God established the kingdom in his hand.   We all have personal responsibility. God is consistent in His response to us. Those who look for Him will find Him. Those who obey Him will lead successful lives. Those who shun Godless ways will not be inflicted by the same troubles with which the Godless ar...

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars." Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time. 2 Chronicles 16:9-10 (ESV)   Hate for the messenger never really changes the message. There is probably a grain of truth in most things people say, and the wise one takes time to evaluate that grain.   Anyone who calls me a sinner is a sinner as well. Anyone who accuses me of lying has, most likely, lied themselves. Anyone who tells me I am greedy probably has been greedy themselves.   We can focus on the imperfections of the messenger, or we could focus on the message. We would be wise to be more responsive to the truth and less bothered by the messenger. https://www.podbean.com/rela...

The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.” 2 Chronicles 15:1-4 (ESV)   No matter how far you have run in the wrong direction, you must turn around before heading in the right direction. Step one is always the same for everyone. Those who have forsaken God immersed themselves in listening to the Godless and have no real church community to be a part of have no hope and no one to lead them to the only One who can give hope.   Things can change. Turn around. Take a step. It is far better than continuing to create hopeless distances. https://www.podbean...

Abijah and his people struck them with great force, so there fell slain of Israel 500,000 chosen men. Thus the men of Israel were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord, the God of their fathers. 2 Chronicles  13:17-18  (ESV)   They did not prevail because they were strong, intelligent, or wise. They prevailed because they relied on the Lord. In our first-world culture, we so often rely on anything but God, and if we have to pray about it, we hit rock bottom. Praying becomes something we do when in a crisis, when hope is gone, or when we have exhausted our alternatives.   The victor will always be the one who relies on God. The eventual losers rely on strategy, strength, plans, and skill. This is not a condemnation of planning, strategy, strength, plans, and skill, but a warning to those who trust these things given to us to show the world who God is. Those who trust the flesh must realize that it depends on circumstance...

Abijah went out to battle, having an army of valiant men of war, 400,000 chosen men. And Jeroboam drew up his line of battle against him with 800,000 chosen mighty warriors. Then Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim that is in the hill country of Ephraim and said, "Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel! Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his Lord, and certain worthless scoundrels gathered about him and defied Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and irresolute and could not withstand them. 2 Chronicles 13:3-7 (ESV)   Worthless scoundrels? Did the Bible call someone a worthless scoundrel? Some took advantage of the situation of a young man who could not defend the truth, and thereby were called worthless scoundrels. It probably could have been translated as "empty family me...

So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the King's house. He took away everything. He also took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made, and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the King's house. And as often as the King went into the house of the Lord, the guard came and carried them and brought them back to the guardroom. And when he humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, conditions were good in Judah. 2 Chronicles 12:9-12 (ESV)   True humility is the fruit of knowing and loving God. The proud are proud because they do not know God, for knowing Him is what humbles us. Humbling ourselves always brings good results. God gives grace, help, guidance, and more to the humble. Whatever gets us there is a good thing.   https://ww...

Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are they not written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place. 2 Chronicles 9:29-31 (ESV)   The living need to keep in mind that the living ends. Everything ends regardless of who you are or how much "privilege" you have enjoyed. This life ends; you stand before the One who loves and created you and wait with Him to resolve all the issues of this broken world. Or, you face Him as judge, and live in eternity having regrets for eclipsing Him out of your life.   Funerals for the wealthy of this world may be grand; kind words may freely flow, but, in reality, the end will be the same for those who died with nothing. All will stand...

“Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on his throne as King for the Lord your God! Because your God loved Israel and would establish them forever, he has made you King over them, that you may execute justice and righteousness." Then she gave the King 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices, and precious stones. There were no spices such as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. 2 Chronicles 9:8-9 (ESV)   When the Queen of Sheba saw Solomon and what God had done, she exclaimed the goodness of God. It seemed like a genuine bursting forth of praise to God.   Giving gifts is a natural expression of joy—giving gifts to God, to God's people, to those in need, and so on. Those who truly see God are generous in their praise of God.   The ultimate challenge in life is to live in a way that when others see me, they see God, and if they think of me, they think of me as His servant.   https://www.podbean.com/relate365 ...

"But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.” 2 Chronicles  7:19-20  (ESV)   God's blessing is contingent on my obedience. To ignore God and then expect Him to bless, intervene, heal, or even hear my voice when I cry out is absurd. God is one whose mercy is unfathomable, and His grace available to all, yet His justice demands actions on our part to obtain His mercy and enjoy His grace.   Those who find fault with God never find fault in themselves, and, therefore, are never positioned to enjoy God. Those who are His children and try to manipulate Him will be disappointed and frustrated.   God's will will be accomplished with or without us. If we obey, we will be a part...

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.” 2 Chronicles  7:13-16  (ESV)   Humble people pray and seek God and desire to turn from wickedness, not to look for loopholes. The humble have positioned themselves for God to work. The proud often use God, and the humble are awed by God. The proud seek man's approval, and the humble seek to be in God's presence and love to point to God.   The "formula" given here is not complicated to understand or impossible to achieve.   Troubled times will come and go, but we do not need to have troubled minds because we know the one who is greater than our sorrows lo...

As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever." 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 (ESV)   What a fantastic response to God's unmistakable presence and action. What is our typical response to God's evident presence and action? Is there anything that has caused us, literally or in our minds, to bow down, face the ground, and worship God?   If not, we have not been hanging out with the right crowd. In order to see God work, we need to be in a position that is conducive to Him working. Immersing ours...

"If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near, yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,' if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you.” 2 Chronicles 6:36-39 (ESV )   All have sinned, and all will sin. God's desire is reconciliation, not punishment. He has made provision for our sinfulness; we must be prepared to us...

"But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you….” 2 Chronicles  6:18-19  (ESV)   Those who know and love God act as if they know and love God; however, those who act as if they know and love God may just be performing an act. The fact that God would choose to dwell in the believer is incredible.   Those who are Christians today, who have placed their trust in Christ, are the very dwelling place of God on earth. We are the place God has chosen to dwell. We need to live our lives in accordance with this reality.   Christ got rather worked up in the New Testament when the temple was misused. His disciples remembered that the Scriptures told of the "zeal" for God's house consuming Him.   Today, in this New Te...

Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, and said, "O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart, who have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.'” 2 Chronicles  6:13-16  (ESV)   It is good for leaders to know God, humble themselves before God, and do it in pub...

Then the King turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. And he said, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying, 'Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel; but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.' Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to David my father, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.’” 2 Chronicles 6:3-8 (ESV)   Looking back through history, we often understand that there were times when we partially understood what was happening. God f...

…and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever," the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. 2 Chronicles  5:13-14  (ESV)   It was the duty of those who played the trumpet and sang to make themselves heard. They were to present the music in a captivating and compelling way. When the people who served in the house of the Lord heard such things and saw God's presence, they were overwhelmed.   Those who truly see God are overwhelmed by Him. Those who experience His mercy and grace are overwhelmed by Him. Those who have seen God work through the years are overwhelmed by Him.   Overwhelmed is...

Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, and stored the silver, the gold, and all the vessels in the treasuries of the house of God. 2 Chronicles 5:1 (ESV)   It's easy to start something, but challenging to finish it. David wanted to build the temple, but was instructed by God to supply the material and let the next generation be the builders.   The passing on of the dream is not always an easy task. David was excited to see the temple built, but that did not ensure that Solomon would be excited. Yet he was.   The "adult" generation must consciously pass on unfinished work to the following generation. Their ideas and dreams should be big enough to encapsulate their own life, and impossibly sufficient to capture the imagination and dedication of the next generation.   Our lives should be about making others successful in this life, beyond our life, and for eternity...

"Now I have sent a skilled man, who has understanding, Huram-abi, the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He is trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your craftsmen, the craftsmen of my Lord, David your father. 2 Chronicles  2:13-14  (ESV )   God made us all different. He made us and will use us as we are if we allow Him to do so.   Miracles happen when the unincredible is in sync with the incredible--when the God of creation walks with the created. There are no superior gifts or talents; they are all superior as they are given to and reflect God.   Those who work in the field ensure those who work in the office are fed, and those who work in the office ensure the resources are available for those in the field to continue their work.   One person can ul...

The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods. But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him? So now send me a man skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue fabrics, trained also in engraving, to be with the skilled workers who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided. 2 Chronicles 2:5-7 (ESV)   "Solomon was born to do this work. There is no need for the rose to say, "Now I am going to be beautiful and fragrant." There is no need for the nightingale to say, "Now I have fully made up my mind to be musical and tuneful, and to fill the air with richest expressions and melody." The flower was born to bloom, and to throw all its fragrance away in generous donation; the nightingale was made in every bone and feather of it for the sacred sin...

God answered Solomon, "Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you King, wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like." So Solomon came from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem. And he reigned over Israel. 2 Chronicles  1:11-13  (ESV)   Wisdom asks for wisdom. Purpose trumps power. Those whose lives matter have plugged into the purposes of God for themselves and those they influence.   We live to lead, and we lead by example. Solomon understood where the real power was and desired to tap into it so that he had the chance to be a good leader.   Some things do not change...

In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, "Ask what I shall give you." And Solomon said to God, "You have shown great and steadfast love to David my father, and have made me King in his place. O Lord God, let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for you have made me King over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?" 2 Chronicles 1:7-10 (ESV)   If God were to ask me today, "Ask what I shall give you," I wonder what I would ask for. Since I am sure it will not happen, I could be very noble in my request, but what if it were to happen? What would I ask for?   I know wise people seek wisdom over wealth, position, or comfort, knowing those things are just lures, enticing and eventually entrapping us. Yet, I often forget they are lures, and wonder if they are the real deal.   What I would ask for wo...