Month: July 2021

239. Found and Rested

2 Chronicles 15:15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.

There is a promise for all the land of Judah that if they meet the condition of swearing an oath with all their heart and seeking the Lord with all their desire, then the Lord will find them and give them rest. This is what Asa led the people to do after He heard the word of the Lord through the prophet Oded. Finding and rest comes from the Lord to those who swear an oath and keep it.

Of course, it must be remembered that Israel did not always keep their vows, just like we don’t always keep our promises, vows, oaths, resolutions, confirmations, or good intentions. But the Lord Jesus Christ does for us what we don’t, and He has provided a way for us to return and repent, believe and promise again. Thank God for forgiveness and fresh starts. He also promises to finish what He started in us, recognizing that we cannot and will not.

Nevertheless, there is a direct correlation between seeking God with our whole desire and being found and given rest. The conditional promise is guaranteed if the condition is met, and thankfully Jesus did that for us and the Holy Spirit grants us faith to believe it. We may confidently sing and shout: “I am found, and I am at rest in my soul. Thank you, Lord. It is well with my soul.”

238. Lord will be Found

2 Chronicles 15:2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you, but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

Azariah was a prophet who confronted King Asa after battle with a word from the Lord. He gave Asa three conditional prophecies: If you will be with the Lord, the Lord will be with you; if you seek the Lord, He will be found; and conversely, if you forsake the Lord, He will forsake you. The promise that the Lord will be with you is a common and familiar promise. The warning that the Lord will forsake you if you forsake Him is also a common prophetic word. The other conditional promise is not as common and a little unusual: it is more than “seek and you will find,” but it is “seek the Lord and you will find the Lord.” In truth, we don’t “find” the Lord; He finds us, but if we don’t seek, we won’t know when we are found. The condition says to look for something specific. In this case, it is the Lord Himself, which is a little different than seeking specific answers to prayer. God wants a relationship with us, even intimacy. 

“Seek” means more than “look for.” It means believing God. It is to fear, love and trust in God above all things. We believe that God is good, that He has my desires and interests in His mind, that He wants His will to be done in my life for my good, and that He is powerful enough to get His will done and do the good. The focus is on developing a loving relationship with a loving God, giving and getting what each wants. And what does God want? He wants you, all of your devotion and attention, indeed, every waking moment. This is seeking the Lord.

Take this promise to heart: He will be found by you. Believe that seeking the Lord will be rewarded. Seeking the Lord implies getting to know Him, His thoughts and His ways (although His thoughts are not our thoughts). Knowing Him is loving Him, for we find in Him only love and grace, goodness and kindness. Loving Him is talking with Him and desiring His happiness. We are happy when He is happy with us. The search is worthwhile: you will find Him. Of course, you won’t find Him is you are looking for a false god, a Santa Claus god, or a god to fit your own lust and greed. One often finds what he is looking for. The world has plenty of these gods to offer. But we seek the Lord, and we will find Him.

237. Lord Gives Rest

2 Chronicles 14:6, 7 And he built fenced cities in Judah for the land had rest, and he had not war in those years, because the Lord had given him rest…Because we have sought the Lord our God, we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered.

Asa was a good and faithful king of Judah. There was peace and rest in his day, so he had time and resources to build defenses. He tore down the “high places,” (places for worship of false gods and demons), set an example of faithfulness to Yahweh, and restored the worship of the Lord God alone in the land. The consequence of getting the people to seek the Lord and keep the Law was peace and rest.

The story exemplifies the spiritual principle embedded in the universe: Meet the condition of faithfulness to the Lord and Law-keeping and God will give rest and peace. The promise is for us also in our daily lives. Be faithful and keep the commandments and God will give rest to your soul and peace in your heart. Peace and rest is such a valuable commodity one would think that we would do anything to attain such a way of living. But we don’t. We keep on sinning. For this reason we repent and turn to the Gospel again and again. Coming to Jesus is the way to peace and rest. And we never cease needing Jesus. Jesus says, “Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…. You will find rest for your souls.”

The world around us, the sinful flesh in us, and Satan always lurking near us reminds us there is no rest for the weary, except in Jesus, who gives the soul its needed rest. There is a condition: seek the Lord; when we are “cumbered with a load of care” we come to the Lord in repentance and faith in the Gospel, and enter into rest, the kind of rest that God gives to the soul, which is wracked with mind, will, and emotions that are twisted and muddled causing a heavy burden. God will give rest.

236. Prevail

2 Chronicles 13:18 Thus the children of Israel were brought under at tat time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers.

King Abijah of the Southern Kingdom of Judah defeated King Jeroboam and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. God delivered them into Abijah’s hand; there was a great slaughter and many fell slain. This was “civil war” between two parts of a formerly united kingdom. Israel is depicted as apostate while Judah is often more faithful to the Lord. The writer of Chronicles, inspired by the Spirit, gives the reason why Judah prevailed: “they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers.” This was a common theme through the history of Israel in the OT. Serve the Lord only and you will prevail against your enemies; turn to other gods and mix your religion and your enemies will defeat you.

This is not a direct promise for us in this context, but it is a conditional promise in the Scriptures. Rely on the Lord and you will prevail. Meet the condition of faithfulness to the Lord Jesus alone and you will prevail. This Biblical principle holds a promise for us in our spiritual battles against our spiritual enemies as well. When we are faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God we will prevail over our spiritual enemies. When we trust “other gods” we will not prevail. The Christian who “fears, loves, and trusts in God above all things” will prevail in his spiritual battles.

Of course, when an earthly army comes against us to kill and destroy it is easy to recognize the Enemy and turn to the Lord. One problem we have is that we don’t often recognize the struggles and troubles we deal with as spiritual enemies, and so we rely on other things besides God. If we see we are in some kind of trouble or dis-ease it may be a spiritual attack that needs a spiritual solution. Since we don’t always see it that way, the simple rule is to simply rely on the Lord for everything. “Seek first the kingdom.” “Him only shall you serve.” “Live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” By the help of the Spirit in us we may always keep the Lord in the forefront of our minds, and call on Him in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks. Jesus prevailed. He gives you His victory. You will prevail.

235. It goes well when Humble

2 Chronicles 12:12 And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, that he would not destroy him altogether: and also in Judah things went well.

This is not a direct promise for us, but it is an example of the Scriptural conditional promises regarding humbling and exalting. “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.” We take this principle as a conditional promise: if you humble yourself, then you will be exalted. Remember the NT verse regarding the OT stories: “These things were written for our learning.” We learn from this story that humbling works out for good. Humble self and God exalts; exalt self and God humbles. The promise will conditionally come true.

King Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, had the kingdom of Israel torn from him, and he ruled just the Southern Kingdom, the kingdom of Judah. He was not a good king since he did not follow the ways of his father, David. However, in this event Rehoboam did humble himself, and the wrath of God that was against him was turned away so that He did not destroy him altogether. The result of the king’s humbling was that things in Judah went well.

Things will go well in our lives when we humble ourselves, and when we allow the Lord to humble us. There is a promise: God will lift you up. Things will go well. Living a life of humility is not easy for prideful humans like us. We crave and desire credit, honor, glory, recognition, promotion and exaltation, so the temptation is to claim it for ourselves by thinking and acting as if we were good people who deserve such recognition. Humble people know the truth: I am not a good person who deserves anything but wrath and bad things. Humble people are reminded of their sins and repent daily. Humble people have people and events come into their lives to point out their sins and shortcomings, causing them to turn to God. Humble people know that if it were not for the grace of God they would be most evil and utterly self-centered. Humble people recognize that they are nothing and Jesus is everything. Humble people know from the Word of God who they really are, and turn quickly to God for help and forgiveness. These are the people after God’s own heart, the people that He exalts in due time.

When things go well, give God the glory and credit. When things are not going well, accept the blame and turn to God in repentance and faith.

234. Jesus Never Fails

2 Chronicles 7:18 Then will I establish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel.

The man is also God. That God-man will not fail. That man is king forever. Israel is the People of God. They also are forever in the Kingdom under Jesus’ faithful, good, wise, and beneficent rule. Forever. All other kingdoms, thrones, empires, powers and authorities will fail and come to an end. The words and promises of God never end. God’s kingly rule is world without end. The earthly, political kingdom of Israel came to an end, and a man on the throne to be ruler in Israel did fail, although sons were born to the successive kings of Israel even during the Exile and beyond until the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.

The throne of the kingdom is established forever, and a man will not fail to be ruler of the eternal, spiritual kingdom of God, after Jesus was born, lived, died, rose again, and ascended to the throne of God. This ruler, and His kingdom, will never fail or come to an end. He will not be dethroned. The kingdom will not be overthrown. The Enemy will never cease attempting to do so until he is thrown into the lake of fire. However, Satan will relentlessly continue to try  to take down the throne and the kingdom that is in each individual believer’s heart.

Jesus is on the throne of my heart, ruling His kingdom from there. We have the promise that the attempts of the Enemy to dislodge the King of the heart and destroy the kingdom within will fail. Our King Jesus will hold on to the throne of our lives, keep the kingdom in us, never give up, and never fail. We are in safe and secure hands. We do not let fears, worries, and negative emotions disrupt or disturb the kingdom reign of God in our hearts and lives. We live forever with Jesus.

233. The Name will be there

2 Chronicles 7:15, 16 Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

The Lord says to Solomon again that His eyes will be open and His ears attentive to the prayers made in this place. For us, “this place” is the presence of God on the earth, which in the hearts of believers. The body is a temple and the Lord hears the prayers that come from this place. We do not actually pray to the “ceiling” or to the “sky,” although God is there, too. We pray to the God within, and He sees and hears.

The Lord God has chosen and sanctified this house. The Body of Christ and the body of the Christian is “this house,” for that is the place that holds the living God on the earth. He is so close to us, as close as the lips and the hearts that confess and believe. Our human bodies and souls have been chosen and sanctified. We have been set apart as holy unto the Lord so that He has a spiritually clean and holy place to reside in and rule from.

God promises that His Name will be there forever. We pray, “Hallowed be Thy name.” The name is the presence of God, who has sanctified a holy place to dwell. The Holy Spirit made a place there through the Gospel. Jesus is our sanctification. We are made holy. Of course, it is still true that sin remains and we still live in “this body of death.” Two beings are at work in us: flesh and spirit, old man and new man, sinner and saint. We see the one, but we believe the other. Believe the promise: God sanctified a house in our bodies for Himself, and that place is forever.

The eyes and the heart of God will be there perpetually. Take that promise to the bank, and take it to the grave. “Perpetually” does not only mean all the time, but it also means every place. No time or place, no situation or circumstance, is away from the Lord. His eyes and His heart are as close to us as our own eyes and heart. Confess and believe Jesus is Lord. He is present to hear your prayers, whether prayed out loud, sung, whispered, or even just thought about. The promise is sure; the promise is close.

232. Hear, Forgive, Heal

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, the seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

This is a fairly famous verse, usually used in conjunction with encouraging prayer for our nation. It is used on the National Day of Prayer and other patriotic holidays like the Fourth of July. The direct context, of course, is not the United States. In context the Lord is answering Solomon’s Temple Dedication Prayer. The “my people which are called by my name” is the nation of Israel under Solomon, and then in time God’s people becomes all the people who believe in the Messiah, Jesus. Thus the promise applies to the invisible Church, the Body of Christ. If this verse is applied to our Country it would be directed to the Christians living in the nation.

The promise is obviously conditional: if you humble yourself, pray, seek the Lord, and repent of sin, then God will hear, forgive and heal. The promise can certainly be applied to America, at least the Christians in it; it can be applied to the Church, even an individual congregation; and it can also be applied to an individual believer, his life, his family, his church, or his country. The condition is common in Scripture: humble, pray, seek, and turn. In one word: Repent! 1) Humble yourselves, be willing to admit to being a shameful sinner, discover and root out pride in the heart, and do not think you don’t need help; 2) Pray the essence and meaning of the Lord’s Prayer for yourself, your family and your nation; 3) Seek the Lord and His Kingdom, be willing to lay everything else aside for the “one thing needful,” as such seeking simply means getting rid of the impediments (sins, pride, unbelief) in the way of seeing the Lord who is near; 4) Turn from your wicked ways means simply forsake besetting sins and stubborn false teachings, and such “turning” never ends because the deceitful heart keeps turning back, away from God’s presence.

Then the Lord will hear from the heaven in your spirit, He will forgive your sins, and He will heal the kingdom that rules in your soul. In the Kingdom, under God’s reign, all is peaceful and prosperous, all is well, and we are healed. We pray, “Thy kingdom come,” and we are made whole, again.

231. Rejoice in Goodness

2 Chronicles 6:41 Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness.

Solomon closes his dedicatory prayer at the new Temple in Jerusalem with these words. The Lord will arise and settle in His resting place over the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. The priests will be vested in holy attire bearing salvation for the people who come to worship the Lord. All the believers will rejoice in goodness.

God promises to be there in His “resting place.” We know where God is and we know how and where to find Him: we come to God through faith in Jesus Christ; we have access into this grace wherein we stand. The “resting place” of God Almighty, our Savior and Lord, is now in the hearts of believers who have heard the Gospel mixed with faith, which the Spirit has created in the heart. The Lord God is now in that resting place, hovering within our human spirit. 

God promises priests clothed with salvation. Now in the NT these are the priesthood of all believers who have received salvation and proclaim salvation to the world. We NT believers are at the same time temples and priests of God because of Christ who has opened our hearts to receive the presence of God. We are saved and we tell the world so through words and deeds.

God promises that all believers may rejoice in goodness. Now that God is in the human spirit, heaven is in the heart, and the Lord reigns in His Kingdom all is right with the world. Things go wrong, sin enters and corrupts our world, and bad things happen in our minds, emotions, and wills, but we may still rejoice in goodness. This is the miracle, the beauty, and the witness of the believing Christian. Because Jesus is always with us we can, we may, we should, and we do “rejoice in the Lord always.” We rejoice, according to the promise, because God is good, life is good, and the goodness of God in us overcomes all the bad stuff. “Rejoice!” Again, “Rejoice!”

230. Eyes Open, Ears Attentive

2 Chronicles 6:40 Now, my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.

The promise is that God sees and hears prayer. The eyes and ears of God, of course, are open and attentive everywhere, since God knows everything and sees everything everywhere in the universe. This is God’s omnipresence. But that is different than His special presence in a place or person or event when God is present to bless. God is especially present to see and hear spoken or whispered prayer, or even thoughts, made in faith in Jesus’ name.

God was present to bless “in this place.” That place is where the Lord said He would be located on earth and where He could be accessed, because He said so. Since Christ lived, died, rose and ascended the temple of the special presence of God is in the body of believers collectively and in the body of the individual believer. Inside each believer is “the place” where God’s eyes are open and His ears attentive. If God had a visible body we would see Him focusing His eyes and cocking His ears in the direction of our hearts to pay attention to our prayers. He may wait a long time for the expected prayer to come from our spirits, but He never gives up waiting. We need to have this sense, according to the promise, that the Lord is eagerly and expectantly waiting for us to pray. He longs to hear your voice and read your thoughts. He delights in you and wants to hear from you.

We can designate a “place of prayer” as a visual aid to lift up our faith. Jesus often went to a desolate place to pray and commune with the Father. However, true worshipers may pray in spirit and in truth any place at any time, for the presence of God always goes with us, and He is always in the “temple” waiting to hear from us. The promise is that the Lord, who hears prayer, is always available. When we don’t avail ourselves of that gift “what needless pain we bear.”