{"id":5494,"date":"2019-10-01T20:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-10-02T03:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=5494"},"modified":"2019-10-01T21:17:11","modified_gmt":"2019-10-02T04:17:11","slug":"2chronicles_34_14-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2chronicles_34_14-33\/","title":{"rendered":"If You Want to Experience More of God, THIS Is Crucial"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Chronicles 34:14-33 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Chronicles 34:14-33.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 34:27 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the\u00a0LORD.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 14-33:\u00a0\u00a0While bringing out money that was stored in the temple, Hilkiah the priest finds and brings out the most precious treasure of all: God\u2019s Word as contained in the Book of the Law.\u00a0\u00a0He gives it to Shaphan the secretary who reads the Book of the Law in King Josiah\u2019s presence.\u00a0\u00a0In response to the reading of God\u2019s Word, Josiah weeps, tears his robes and orders Hilkiah the priest, Shaphan the secretary and other servants to inquire of God as what they should do, since they have not kept much of what was written in the Book.\u00a0\u00a0They in turn consult Huldah the prophetess who tells them that indeed disaster is awaiting the people of Judah for their failure to obey God\u2019s commands.\u00a0\u00a0However, because Josiah was humble and responsive to God\u2019s Word, that disaster would not take place during his lifetime (v28).<\/p>\n

Josiah responds again to God\u2019s Word, this time spoken through the prophet Huldah.\u00a0\u00a0He gathers all of Judah for an assembly where he reads God\u2019s Word to the people.\u00a0\u00a0Then he stands at the pillar in the temple where a king would usually stand when making an important proclamation and commits to personally obeying God\u2019s Word.\u00a0\u00a0Josiah then leads the people in pledging themselves to obey God\u2019s Word and removes all the idols from the land.\u00a0\u00a0As long as they lived under Josiah\u2019s watch, the people follow the Lord.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Notice that Josiah\u2019s heart was humble, soft and open to God.\u00a0\u00a0Whether it was hearing God\u2019s Word spoken through His written word or hearing God\u2019s Word as spoken through a prophet, Josiah responded to God\u2019s Word by humbling himself.\u00a0\u00a0As the prophetess Hulda says to Josiah in verse 27, \u201cBecause your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke\u2026and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n

Likewise,\u00a0if you want to experience God\u2019s power at work in your life, the condition of your heart is crucial.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0If your heart is prideful and closed, Jesus Christ himself could be preaching and you\u2019ll think to yourself, \u201c[YAWN!]\u00a0\u00a0What\u2019s this guy even talking about?\u00a0\u00a0What time\u2019s lunch?\u201d The greatest preaching and teaching, the best churches and Christian growth resources will all be wasted on you if you have a closed and prideful heart.\u00a0\u00a0But if your heart is soft and humble before God, you will respond, humble yourself, grow and experience God even when you listen to the most boring sermon.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s because how much you experience of God depends not on your intelligence or your experience, but on the condition of your heart.<\/p>\n

In addition, notice that Josiah didn\u2019t just tear his clothes and weep for a moment.\u00a0\u00a0Even more, Josiah took concrete actions in response to God\u2019s Word: he draws near to God more, he asks for insight from spiritual leaders, he commits himself to obeying God\u2019s Word, he leads those in his care to do the same, and he tears down idols in his land.\u00a0\u00a0What can we learn from this?\u00a0Responding to God\u2019s Word is not just about being touched or being emotional.\u00a0\u00a0Even more it\u2019s about taking action, taking practical steps to obey God\u2019s Word, resulting in a changed life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, may I always have a soft and humble heart toward Your Word.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You for showing us through Josiah\u2019s example that responding to Your Word is not just about weeping and being emotional, but taking action too.\u00a0\u00a0May You be pleased with the way I respond to Your Word.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Chronicles 34:14-33.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2 Chronicles 34:27 (NIV)\u00a0
\n27\u00a0\u00a0Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the\u00a0LORD.<\/p>\n

On verses 14-33:\u00a0\u00a0While bringing out money that was stored in the temple, Hilkiah the priest finds and brings out the most precious treasure of all: God\u2019s Word as contained in the Book of the Law.\u00a0\u00a0He gives it to Shaphan the secretary who reads the Book of the Law in King Josiah\u2019s presence.\u00a0\u00a0In response to the reading of God\u2019s Word, Josiah weeps, tears his robes and orders Hilkiah the priest, Shaphan the secretary and other servants to inquire of God as what they should do, since they have not kept much of what was written in the Book.\u00a0\u00a0They in turn consult Huldah the prophetess who tells them that indeed disaster is awaiting the people of Judah for their failure to obey God\u2019s commands.\u00a0\u00a0However, because Josiah was humble and responsive to God\u2019s Word, that disaster would not take place during his lifetime (v28).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Josiah responds again to God\u2019s Word, this time spoken through the prophet Huldah.\u00a0\u00a0He gathers all of Judah for an assembly where he reads God\u2019s Word to the people.\u00a0\u00a0Then he stands at the pillar in the temple where a king would usually stand when making an important proclamation and commits to personally obeying God\u2019s Word.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5494","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\/5494","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=5494"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5541,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5494\/revisions\/5541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}