Tues.’s Devo - The Consequences of Sin

Read:2 Chronicles 24:1-25:28; Romans 12:1-21; Psalm 22:19-31; Proverbs 20:8-10 Joash reigned for forty years and as long as the priest, Jehoiada was alive, he followed the Lord. He repaired and restored the Temple of the Lord and burnt offerings were made continually. *** When Jehoiada died the leaders of Judah persuaded Joash to abandon the Lord and worship Asherah. Jehoiada’s son, Zechariah came and asked him why he chose to disobey the Lord which would keep him from prospering. Because he had done this, God had abandoned him. Joash had Zechariah stoned to death in the courtyard of the Temple. *** That spring the Arameans invaded Judah and killed all their leaders. They sent much plunder back to their king in Damascus. They wounded Joash and his own officials finished him off as he lay in the bed. *** Joash’s son Amaziah became king. Amaziah had his father’s assassins killed. Amaziah assessed the strength of his army to attack the Edomites. He hired 100,000 warriors from Israel to fight for him, paying them a total of 7,500 pounds of silver. A prophet came to him to warn him not to take the Israelites with him to war or God would fight against them. When he asked about the silver he had paid them, God’s response was that he could give them so much more. *** I often think about this when I have made a decision with finances and wonder if it was the right one. I hear him saying, ‘Do the right thing; am I not able to give you so much more.’ *** Amaziah let the Israelite troops go back home. They were not happy and looted and killed people in the towns of Judah. Amaziah took his army and defeated the Edomites but brought their idols back home with them and began to worship them. God sent a prophet to him to ask him why he would choose to worship gods who couldn’t even defend their own people. Amaziah threatened to kill the prophet but he told Amaziah that God had determined to destroy him. *** Amaziah was feeling powerful after defeating the Edomites and he foolishly challenged Israel to a battle. Judah was defeated and Amaziah was captured. They brought him to Jerusalem where they looted the Temple and carried off the Ark of the covenant. They also looted the palace and took hostages to Samaria. *** Amaziah’s own people assassinated him in Lachish and buried him in the City of David. *** In Romans, Paul tells us to give our bodies to God as a sacrifice to the Lord. At the end he tells us how to do that: we conquer evil by doing good. We can do this when we let God transform the way we think. We all have gifts that we do well and we are to share them with others. We do this because of God’s love in us. Love is in us because of Christ, but we have to let it out and act on it. The more we exercise love, the easier it is to overlook wrongs and forgive. Love is like a muscle we exercise. The more we use it, the stronger it becomes. *** Lord, may we exercise our gift of love today and use our gifts to bring honor and glory to your name.