Tuesday, June 28, 2022

We Continue to Provoke the Lord (2 Chronicles 12)

2 Chronicles 12:1 Once Rehoboam had established himself as king and was firmly in charge, he abandoned the law of the LORD, and so did all Israel with him.

Once Rehoboam thought himself stable, he decided he no longer needed the Lord’s guidance. He stayed true to God’s word so long as he was rising to power for protection, then he thought himself bigger than the Lord. And so for Rehoboam’s treachery, God allowed Egypt to attack Jerusalem. 

We have so many examples of the wrath of God against the people who chose to ignore his commandments. He is a jealous God and doesn’t want to share our hearts with idols. Idols aren’t just man made things, but ideas and lifestyles as well. In Romans 1:18, Paul tells us that the wrath of God will be revealed against those who suppress the truth. Because of people turning from adoring God to fulfilling themselves with impure thoughts, they will be turned to these impure lusts, giving of their bodies to unnatural perversions. They will be filled with wickedness, lust, evil, greed and malice. They will be full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery and spite. 

In Jude 1, he reminds us that the Lord who “once saved a people from the land of Egypt later destroyed those who did not believe.” He continues with “ Likewise, Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding towns, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual promiscuity and practiced unnatural vice, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Similarly, these dreamers nevertheless also defile the flesh, scorn lordship, and revile glorious beings.

 Yes we have been saved through Jesus, but God may still come and destroy the land because of our continued treachery. Right now our country is struggling with so much sin, unnatural perversions, greed, and rivalry. Let us remember the ending of Jude’s word: 

In [the] last time there will be scoffers who will live according to their own godless desires.” These are the ones who cause divisions; they live on the natural plane, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. On those who waver, have mercy; save others by snatching them out of the fire; on others have mercy with fear, abhorring even the outer garment stained by the flesh.




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