Thurs.’s Devo - God’s Plan Always Succeeds

Read: 2 Chronicles 21:1-23:21; Romans 11:13-36; Psalm 22:1-18; Proverbs 20:7 Jehoshaphat died and Jehoram his son became the next king. He had six other sons but Jehoram was the oldest. Once he secured his kingdom, he killed all his six brothers. He married Athaliah who was one of Ahab’s daughters who was a Baal worshipper. She led him and all Judah to worship other gods. Because Jehoram abandoned Him, God led the Edomites in a revolt. They won their independence from Judah. Elijah sent Jehoram a letter rebuking him for his deeds and telling him the Lord was about to strike him, his people, his children, wives and all that was his with a heavy blow. He would suffer a severe intestinal disease which would end in a painful death. The Arabs attacked him and took all these things Elijah warned about away from him and only his youngest son was spared. His name was Ahaziah. He was the son of Athaliah. When he came to the throne, his mother, Athaliah encouraged him to worship Baal and follow after the sins of Israel. He joined King Joram of Israel in a war against King Hazael of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. Joram was wounded in the battle. When he returned to Jezreel to recover, King Ahaziah went to visit him. God appointed Jehu to bring down the dynasty of Ahab so he happened to meet a group of Ahaziah’s men going to Jezreel. He killed them all then found Ahaziah hiding in Samaria and killed him also. When Athaliah found out about this she began to destroy the rest of Judah’s royal family so she would reign. Her sister-in-law took Ahaziah’s infant son, Joash and hid him in the Temple. The priests raised him till he was seven. Then they formed a plan to crown him the king. Five army commanders went from town to town throughout Judah gaining support of the Levites for Joash. They all came to the Temple to execute the plan. They divided into three groups. One surrounded Joash, the other third stood at the gates and the last third went to the royal palace. They were to kill anyone who tried to enter the Temple. They brought Joash out and crowned him king and presented him with a copy of God’s laws. They anointed and proclaimed him king and everyone shouted, “Long live the king!” Athaliah heard the noise and saw the people running to the Temple so she went to see what was happening. When she saw Josah with the crown on his head and saw all the Levites with weapons standing around him, she shouted, “Treason!” The high priest, Jehoiada had her brought out of the Temple and killed. Jehoiada had the people enter into a covenant with the Lord to follow Him alone. They went over to the Temple of Baal and tore it down and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of his altars. The priests offered sacrifices to the Lord and worshipped him. They then led Joash to his palace where he became king. The people rejoiced that Athaliah was dead and the city was at peace. In Romans, Paul explains that the Jews rejected Jesus making them a wild branch on God’s tree. They were cut off and the Gentiles grafted on in their place but it doesn’t mean they can’t be grafted back on one day. Jew and Gentile were welcome to come to Jesus but as a whole the Israel nation rejected Jesus. Even so, there were many Jews who believed. Paul warned the Gentiles that if they didn’t stay true to the Lord, the same thing could happen to them. It all came back to believing in their hearts. The Gentiles were to so honor God and have a relationship with him in a way that the Jews would be jealous and want it too. A time will come when the Jewish nation will be grafted back on to their roots. Lord, thank you that you always have a plan. Thank you for the plan you have for our nation and thank you that we can see your plan emerging out of the dust.