Sat.’s Devo - What Will They Say of You?

Read: 2 Chronicles 24:1-25:28; Romans 12:1-21; Psalm 22:19-31; Proverbs 20:8-10
Of Joash it was written that he followed the Lord as long as Jehoiada, the priest lived. He repaired and restored the temple and sacrifices were made daily as long as Jehoiada lived. Jehoiada had raised Joash safely, in secret while Athalia reigned. Joash was alive because of Jehoiada and his wife. Once Jehoiada died, the temple of the Lord was abandoned and the people of Judah worshiped Ashram poles and idols. They refused to hear the words of the prophets God sent them so God forsook them because they had forsaken him. God sent Jehoiada’s son, Zechariah to tell them this and the king had him stoned. Everything went downhill for Judah after that. They lost a crucial battle against a few Armenians in which Joash was wounded. His own men murdered him in his bed for the death of Zechariah.
His son, Amaziah became king. Of him it was written that he did what was right in God’s eyes, but not wholeheartedly. He had his officials killed that had murdered his father. Then he went to battle against the men of Edom. He hired a hundred thousand men from Israel until a prophet came to him and said that if he took the Israelites to war they would not win. He dismissed them to go home but they were so offended they looted their way back home. When the king asked God about the 100 talents of gold he had spent to hire them, God said, “The Lord can give you much more than that.”
I know that I blogged about this last year but it has followed me through the year. When we make a mistake and God shows us his plan, the money we spent foolishly will be given back to us if we repent and do what God is telling us to do.
Amaziah did one fatal thing… he brought back the gods of the Edomites and started worshipping them. God sent him a prophet to ask him why he would worship a god who was not able to protect its people and forsake the one who had given him victory. Amaziah refused to hear this prophet so God stirred his heart to fight against Israel so he would lose. He did and he lost. The king of Israel came in and took down the wall, stole the treasuries in the temple along with the ark of the covenant. I believe this is the last time the ark is seen.
It is easy to see a snapshot of these people’s lives and see where they went wrong and what they needed to do but our lives are in slow motion and it is usually a slow fade away from God and into sin.
That is why Paul urged his followers to present their bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God. This is true worship. He tells them to look at what they are doing and be humble. Our love to God and to others must be sincere or we will find ourselves in deception. We must not be proud or revengeful. We are to love, feed and take care of our enemy.
I wonder what would be said of us if it had to be reduced to one line. Of Ginny, it is written that she … It is something to ponder. I want it said of me that I followed the Lord wholeheartedly all my life and pleased the Lord in everything I was meant to do.
Lord, help us to be quick to repent and open to love.