2 Chronicles 11:1-12:12 (Reheboam and Sishak)
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Chronicles+11%3A1-12%3A12&version=NIV
What stood out to me in this passage were the up and down episodes of Reheboam’s walk with God. As we focused on yesterday, his harshness led to a split in the kingdom. But when the country seemed on the brink of going to war, he listened to the Lord and accepted His Word. But later he departed from the Lord, resulting in the invasion by Sishak. But once again, when the Word of the Lord came through the prophet, Reheboam repented.
His walk with the Lord was certainly up and down, and had dramatic consequences. He had seen the loss of much of his kingdom, and then the loss of much of the kingdom’s wealth along with some of their sovereignty. But as the last verse points out, there was some “good” in Judah, for Reheboam humbled himself.
Two key points this led me to think about: First, I am not so terribly different from Reheboam. And isn’t’ that true for all of us? Faithfulness and then we slip. Following closely, and then we stumble.
And this leads to the importance of the second point: We are called to lives of repentance. The good in Judah is connected to the humility and repentance of its king. We are fallen people. We go from trusting in the Lord to trusting in ourselves. Sometimes, like Reheboam, we have to bear the heavy consequences. But the Lord is good and meets our repentance with his grace and mercy.
So my prayer today is one of repentance. I’m spending some time in self-examination about my own uneven walk with the Lord. I am trusting in His mercy, and that because of this, as there was for Judah, there is good in my life today.
What is the Word leading you to pray about today?
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