{"id":4670,"date":"2019-08-29T20:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T03:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=4670"},"modified":"2019-08-25T22:23:47","modified_gmt":"2019-08-26T05:23:47","slug":"2chronicles_12_1-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2chronicles_12_1-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay Desperate and Hungry for God"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Chronicles 12:1-16\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Chronicles 12:1-16.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

\u00a02 Chronicles 12:1-4 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the\u00a0LORD.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Because they had been unfaithful to the\u00a0LORD, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites that came with him from Egypt,
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0\u00a0As soon as things got comfortable for Rehoboam, that\u2019s when Rehoboam\u2019s focus shifts away from the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0Like a gazelle sitting comfortably by a brook only to be attacked by a lion, distracted and comfortable Rehoboam, along with all of Judah, falls prey to an attack by Shishak king of Egypt along with Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Shishak captures the very cities whose defenses Rehoboam had built up years before.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When you reach a season when things are a bit more comfortable, be careful not to let yourself slip into apathy, laziness or pride.\u00a0\u00a0Keep placing your hope not in your circumstances but in the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0Stay hungry for Him, stay desperate for Him.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0As Paul says in\u00a01 Corinthians\u00a010:12, \u201cSo, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!\u201d<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 12:5-8 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.'”
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The\u00a0LORD\u00a0is just.”
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the\u00a0LORD\u00a0saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 5-8:\u00a0\u00a0God speaks to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah through the prophet Shemaiah, telling Rehoboam that the reason why these attacks came were because they had abandoned the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0In response, Rehoboam and the leaders of his people humble themselves and surrender to God.\u00a0\u00a0God is moved by their humble response and decides to save Rehoboam and his people from destruction, although still disciplining them by making them subject to Shishak. As verse 12 will later say, \u201cBecause Rehoboam humbled himself, the\u00a0LORD’s anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.\u201d<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When things don\u2019t go your way, don\u2019t blame God. Instead have a humble attitude toward Him, toward His Word, and toward the lessons God wants to teach you through the situation.\u00a0\u00a0God watches to see how we will respond to Him: with humility or with pride.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 12:9-12 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Whenever the king went to the\u00a0LORD’s temple, the guards went with him, bearing the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the\u00a0LORD’s anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 9-12:\u00a0\u00a0Having lost the original gold shields that once protected him and his army, Rehoboam makes bronze replacement shields and makes sure that guards are always carrying those shields whenever Rehoboam goes to the temple to worship the Lord.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from\u00a0this?<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Guard your time with God.\u00a0\u00a0Guard your time in church.\u00a0\u00a0And guard the condition of your heart.<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Part of humbling yourself before God is recognizing that you need to\u00a0carefully guard what God has given to you against the enemy\u2019s attacks.<\/strong>\u00a0That\u2019s why Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 to \u201ctake up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.\u201d<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 12:13-16 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0King Rehoboam established himself firmly in Jerusalem and continued as king. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the\u00a0LORD.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As for the events of Rehoboam’s reign, from beginning to end, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer that deal with genealogies? There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 13-16:\u00a0\u00a0Why is Rehoboam generally known as a weak king, despite some good things he did?\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s because Rehoboam\u2019s trust in God was inconsistent.\u00a0\u00a0When things were comfortable, Rehoboam turned away from God.\u00a0\u00a0Only when Rehoboam felt he was in trouble would he turn to God.\u00a0\u00a0What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0If you want to avoid a reputation like Rehoboam\u2019s,\u00a0remind yourself every day that you are desperate for God, even when things are relatively comfortable and easy.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t be a chameleon and let your outside circumstances dictate whether you will be hot for God or not.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Remember that apart from God we can do nothing (John 15:5).\u00a0\u00a0So treat every day as a day to call on His name, no matter what your outside circumstances look like.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, whether the circumstances around me are comfortable or challenging, may I always remember that I am constantly in need of You, and that apart You I can do nothing.\u00a0\u00a0May my hope always be in You and not in my circumstances.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Chronicles 12:1-16.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

\u00a02 Chronicles 12:1-4 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the\u00a0LORD.\u00a0
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Because they had been unfaithful to the\u00a0LORD, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam.\u00a0
\n3\u00a0\u00a0With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites that came with him from Egypt,\u00a0
\n4\u00a0\u00a0he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0\u00a0As soon as things got comfortable for Rehoboam, that\u2019s when Rehoboam\u2019s focus shifts away from the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0Like a gazelle sitting comfortably by a brook only to be attacked by a lion, distracted and comfortable Rehoboam, along with all of Judah, falls prey to an attack by Shishak king of Egypt along with Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Shishak captures the very cities whose defenses Rehoboam had built up years before.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4670"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4673,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4670\/revisions\/4673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}