{"id":4904,"date":"2019-09-10T20:00:29","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T03:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=4904"},"modified":"2019-09-10T21:59:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-11T04:59:13","slug":"2chronicles_21_1-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2chronicles_21_1-20\/","title":{"rendered":"God Is Faithful Even When You Are Faithless"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Chronicles 21:1-20\u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Chronicles 21:1-20.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 21:1-3 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jehoram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and articles of value, as well as fortified cities in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Jehoram because he was his firstborn son.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-3:\u00a0\u00a0Jehoshaphat had seven sons and loved them all.\u00a0\u00a0His love is shown by the names Jehoshaphat gave his sons: Jehoram means \u201cRaised by God\u201d; Azariah means \u201cGod has helped\u201d; Jehiel means \u201cGod will live\u201d; Zechariah means \u201cGod has remembered\u201d; Azariahu similarly means \u201cGod has helped\u201d; Michael means \u201cWho is like God?\u201d and Shepatiah means \u201cGod is the judge\u201d (v1-2).\u00a0\u00a0Jehoshaphat also showed his love for all his sons by giving them gifts of silver, gold and other precious possessions, as well as putting them in charge of cities (v3).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0Love is shown through generosity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>As a mentor of mine likes to say,\u00a0you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Similarly, God showed His love for you when He gave us His only Son Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0In so doing, He gave us the only name that could save us, brought us into His family, and put cities under us to manage.\u00a0\u00a0God showed you His love by giving you His best.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 21:4-6 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father’s kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the princes of Israel.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the\u00a0LORD.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 4-6:\u00a0\u00a0When Jehoram, Jehoshaphat\u2019s firstborn, takes over his father\u2019s throne, he sees his six brothers as a threat.\u00a0\u00a0So he has all of them killed.\u00a0How could the son of one of the godliest kings in Judah\u2019s history do such a thing?\u00a0\u00a0A big reason was the relationship choices Jehoram made.\u00a0\u00a0Jehoram married a daughter of Ahab, possibly the wickedest king in Israel\u2019s history, and began walking in Ahab\u2019s treacherous, murdering, idol-worshiping ways, doing evil in God\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0No matter how good a family, environment or background you come from, no human being will affect the direction your life takes more than the person you decide to marry.\u00a0\u00a0So be wise in your choice of a life partner.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Choose someone who genuinely loves, trusts and follows the Lord.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 21:7 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Nevertheless, because of the covenant the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had made with David, the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was not willing to destroy the house of David. He had promised to maintain a lamp for him and his descendants forever.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verse 7:\u00a0\u00a0Even when King Jehoram completely abandoned the Lord, God remained true to His promise to keep a lamp burning for David\u2019s family.\u00a0\u00a0A great theme throughout the Bible is:\u00a0God remains faithful even when we are faithless\u00a0<\/strong>(2 Timothy\u00a02:13).<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0God remains true to His promises even when we bail on our commitments.\u00a0\u00a0God remains good even when we act wickedly.\u00a0\u00a0The Bible is not a book about how good we are, but about how amazing God is.<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles\u00a021:20\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 8-20:\u00a0\u00a0After completely abandoning the Lord, King Jehoram experiences numerous problems, many of which were predicted by Elijah the prophet (v12-15): internally Jehoram\u2019s kingdom faces rebellions from the people of Edom and Libnah (v8-10); externally Jehoram\u2019s kingdom is attacked by Philistines and Arabs (v16-17); as a result of these attacks Jehoram loses most of his family (v14, 17); and Jehoram himself suffers a painful disease that would end up killing him (v15, 18-19).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from all this?\u00a0\u00a0The rebellions, outside attacks and sickness Jehoram experienced reflect the internal turmoil that Jehoram went through after abandoning the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0Truly,\u00a0there is no peace for those who abandon the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0But when we turn to the Lord and cry out to Him, that\u2019s when we give His peace a chance to come.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Unfortunately, despite all his problems, there is no evidence that Jehoram turned to the Lord or cried out to Him for help.\u00a0\u00a0May we not make the same mistake.\u00a0\u00a0Whenever you\u2019re lacking peace, don\u2019t run from God; run to Him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that You remain faithful even when I am faithless.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that You remain true to Your promises even when I fail at mine.\u00a0Whenever I lack peace or wisdom, thank You that I can run to You and find all the peace and wisdom I need.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Chronicles 21:1-20.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 21:1-3 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Then Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And Jehoram his son succeeded him as king.\u00a0
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Jehoram’s brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, were Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.\u00a0
\n3\u00a0\u00a0Their father had given them many gifts of silver and gold and articles of value, as well as fortified cities in Judah, but he had given the kingdom to Jehoram because he was his firstborn son.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-3:\u00a0\u00a0Jehoshaphat had seven sons and loved them all.\u00a0\u00a0His love is shown by the names Jehoshaphat gave his sons: Jehoram means \u201cRaised by God\u201d; Azariah means \u201cGod has helped\u201d; Jehiel means \u201cGod will live\u201d; Zechariah means \u201cGod has remembered\u201d; Azariahu similarly means \u201cGod has helped\u201d; Michael means \u201cWho is like God?\u201d and Shepatiah means \u201cGod is the judge\u201d (v1-2).\u00a0\u00a0Jehoshaphat also showed his love for all his sons by giving them gifts of silver, gold and other precious possessions, as well as putting them in charge of cities (v3).\u00a0<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0Love is shown through generosity.\u00a0\u00a0As a mentor of mine likes to say,\u00a0you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.\u00a0\u00a0Similarly, God showed His love for you when He gave us His only Son Jesus.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4904","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\/4904","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=4904"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4907,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4904\/revisions\/4907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}