June 27, Day 34

2 Chron 35- Ezra 10

Sometimes I get frustrated when what I want to do or the ideas I have are not embraced by others. Especially when I feel God has called me to something, I get especially frustrated and I start thinking, if only everyone else would think like me... then everything else would be better.

I suppose Ezra and the Jews coming out of exile felt a little like this. As they attempted to rebuild - physically rebuilding the temple and their city, but also spiritually rebuilding their culture, - there was more than just a little misunderstanding. There was severe opposition.

I gain great application from this today. Why should I expect God's work to go smoothly when the world is not following God? There will always be opposition to His will because he tells us, " In this world you will have trouble." Often my frustration is directed to my opponent's spiritual vantage point. "If they were only saved, they would be able to see it my way..." Yet, I cannot expect them to see it my way because they are not saved. Only by Grace have I been allowed to see with what I call "spiritual eyes" and understand and discern God's direction. It would almost be like trying to expect someone who doesn't speak my language to understand me when I speak to them. I must see them with my "spiritual eyes" as well. Not as an opponent but as someone who needs Jesus in their life.

As we attempt to rebuild the temple of the Spirit inside of us and our culture... won't you join me in seeing those around us less as an opponent and more as someone who needs Jesus?

June 26, Day 33

More than anything as I read today's reading I realized this book of the Bible very clearly links the our behaviors with God's favor. If you've listened at all to the tele-evangelists of our day, you hear a lot about being in "Gods favor." (Perhaps even spoken with a very charming but deceptive southern drawl.) And a lot of this "name it and claim it" religion is based around equating God's favor with material blessings. THIS IS NOT WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT TODAY. I'm talking about all of the blessings that come with being in God's favor... we see that today in the lives of the various kings...

For some of the kings there are only mere paragraphs describing their reign, no matter how long that reign was. Generally they start off with "he followed the ways of the kings of Israel" or "he did evil in the eyes of the Lord." How would you like this to be your legacy recorded for eternity. To continually have this tag line associated with your name, translated into nearly every language around the world, for everyone to read and learn from?

Yet there are other kings that require many paragraphs and even chapters to describe. And they tend to start with "he walked in the ways of the Lord." We see a couple of those kings who started off good but didn't finish the race. These are kings like Uzziah. He wanted to follow God, but something happened... His pride kicked in. Don't we all struggle with this. But to me the warning is that your ministry can and will be diminished if you forget who gave you this ministry in the first place. Then we see other kings like Hezekiah and Josiah who not only walked in the ways of the Lord but encouraged others to as well. Both of these kings have chapters written about them. And very clearly the author is linking God's favor to their devotion to following him and calling others to as well. We see some common themes from both of these kings. For one, they called the nation together to celebrate the feasts God had given them. They were called to remember the past and act in the present. Both kings have chapter dedicated to how they celebrated the passover.

Aren't you and I called to do the same? Aren't we called to remember the past and celebrate in the present? At our church we're invited to do the same each week during our communion service. How can you remember the sacrifice in the past made on your behalf and celebrate in the present today?

After a great description of how Hezekiah called people to repentance and offered purification sacrifices and celebrated the passover... we see a small but significant verse. 2 Chron 30:26 records, "There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem." Is this not describing the favor of the Lord? It doesn't say that God gave all the people of Judah new homes and made them happy! Yet it does say there was great joy in Jerusalem! GREAT JOY! Is there great joy abounding in our society today? Are people remembering the past and celebrating this in the present? As I look around I answer no to both of those questions. We are consumed with consuming and getting. When gas prices are rising we're fretting about how we're going to afford to pay our cable TV bill or how we're going to be able to get our nails manicured? But there is not GREAT JOY! Don't you see, great joy is a result of God's favor. It is not a result of getting more stuff. It is a condition of the heart in response to your obedience to God's laws.

In today's society we are not much different than the kings who get a few paragraphs of description. We are putting up our altars to worship the "Baal" of today. We are shopping, consuming, and hoarding all the while worshipping the god of materialism. Sure there are a few "kings" like Uzziah who in our own individual homes are trying to purify the place, but when pride gets in the way we're nearly indistinguishable from the pagan world around us.

A few other significant verses are recorded in relation to Hezekiah's receiving God's favor... 2 Chron 31:20-21 ends with "In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered." 2 Chron 32:30b ends with "He succeeded in everything he undertook." Wouldn't this be a great source of joy as well? To know that everything you undertake will result in success? King Uzziah tried in his own way to achieve success only to face downward spiral. The key to true success is what we learn from Hezekiah... seeking God and working wholeheartedly .

Won't you join me today in trying to recover "Great joy" in the land we live in by seeking Him and working wholeheartedly?