Tag: 2 Chronicles

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

The reality rather than the feeling of security

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A “through the bible” devotion from 2 Chronicles 32.

About once a week, someone knocks on my door encouraging me to install their security system in and around my house. Their spiel always includes the sobering report, “Many of your neighbors have had break-ins lately.” I used to be annoyed by them, but now I look forward to it. I want to answer the door barely restraining my Great Dane who can be insistent about getting to know our visitors. I’m pretty sure she just wants to make friends, but the salesperson doesn’t know that!

On a typical day, someone I know will say something about hand weapons. They will speak about a gun they’ve purchased or the price of ammo or a shooting in their neighborhood. It seems that I know very few people who aren’t carrying!

And how often do I pass through a metal detector? They’re built into just about every hospitals, stadium, theme park, and government office building, no to mention airports and cruise ports.

The business of home and self-protection is huge, and we’ve all bought into it.

Sennacherib and his Assyrian armies have invaded Judah, besieging the fortified cities. It looks like Jerusalem will be next.

Judah’s King Hezekiah stops up the springs the Assyrians could use for water, builds extra walls and amasses extra weapons and shields.

His pep talk to all his commanders went like this:

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles” (2 Chronicles 32:7-8)

Hezekiah doesn’t overlook the need to prepare for a siege, but that’s not the source of his security. He knows God’s people have an advantage. The bottom line: we’ve got God on our side.

I know it’s easy to forget that simple truth. The imposing threats around us block a distant God from view. In the same way, if we stay close him, danger shrinks to a manageable size. Scripture, worship, and prayer reinforce Hezekiah’s faithful statement, “With us is the Lord our God.”

A big dog might bring a feeling of security. But if I turn those letter around to “God,” that security becomes a reality.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

From hopeless to hopeful

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Brad Barmore on Unsplash

A “through the bible” devotion from 2 Chronicles 20.

King Jehoshaphat was in a tight spot. A huge army of Moabites and Ammonites are poised to attack Judah, and he feels helpless against this great hoard.

So he prays. He prays, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12).

It’s a great prayer. Simple, faithful, desperate, hopeful, and honest. No fancy words. From the heart.

Life is filled with “I don’t know what I’m going to do” moments. If we focus on the unexpected expense, the hurtful words we can’t take back, the doctor’s grim diagnosis, or the loss of a job, our mind takes us to hopeless places.

But if we simply remember to look to God, everything looks different. That simple shift of our eyes takes us to a hopeful place.

Peter took his eyes off Jesus and started to sink in the water. Bad move. But Jesus was there to save him.

Elisha’s servant could only see enemy armies. Until Elisha points out the armies of God surrounding their enemies.

The disciples’ hopes are dashed as they mourn Jesus’s death. But when they see the risen Lord, the future suddenly looks bright.

When you don’t know what to do, fix your eyes on him in prayer and in the scriptures.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

In search of a real prophet

Posted on by William Douthwaite

When Ahab, the king of Israel, asked Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, to team up and go to war, Jehoshaphat says, “Sure, but maybe we should ask God about this.” Sound advice.

Ahab has a team of four hundred prophets who all agree, “God will give you the victory!” At that point, I imagine Jehoshaphat rolls his eyes when he asks, “Don’t you have anyone else? Isn’t there another prophet of the Lord we can ask?” He’s either leary of four hundred voices that all have the exact same message, or he knows that Ahab had built shrines for Baal and “did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:33).

Ahab replies, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil” (2 Chronicles 18:7).

When Paul told Timothy, “The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions” (2 Timothy 4:3), he wasn’t telling him anything new. There is, as Solomon told us, nothing new under the sun.

Perhaps we all need to ask ourselves, “Am I listening to what I want to hear, or what I need to hear?” You and I hardly realize it, but social media algorithms make sure we see more digital content of what we like, desire, and approve of. In other words, the online world will always tell you want you want to hear.

Play with it sometime. Get on your preferred social media platform and search for a particular item. Sneakers. Labrador Retrievers. Wine. Before you know it, your feed will be filled with everyone with a cute Lab, wine subscriptions, and state-of-the-art athletic shoes.

Try this, too. Open up your bible. Give God a few minutes to speak to you. It might have nothing to do with what’s on your mind. It might not be what you want to hear at the moment. But it will always be what you need to hear. You might find encouragement, a warning, something shocking, or a promise to hang onto. You’ll hear something that generates questions, shocks you, or even makes you think, “I can’t believe God would say something like that!”

Writers join groups of writers who will honestly critique their work. We need people who will tell us where we need to improve and what we need to work on. Otherwise, with the encouragement of close friends, we never really hone our craft. (Come to think of it, I need to do this.)

Folks in leadership positions often want to have people around them who don’t always agree with them. People who challenge their assumptions. Advisors who make them second-think their decisions.

Couples discover early in their marriage that they are very different from their partner. Each has sought out someone different, someone who can complete what is missing in their lives. It’s not easy, but it is the way we grow and become the person we never could by ourselves.

Thank you, Lord, for those in our lives (pastors, spouses, children, parents) who tell us what we need to hear!

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Riddle me this

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Bianca Ackermann on Unsplash

A “through the bible” devotion from 2 Chronicles 9.

“Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with riddles” (2 Chronicles 9:1 NASB). Other translations (ESV, NIV) say, “hard questions.” For the moment, I like riddle.

A riddle is a question that seems to be silly but has an amusing answer.

  • What’s black and white and red (read) all over? A newspaper. (A macabre answer: A bloody zebra).
  • Say my name and I disappear. What am I? Silence.

Samson posed a riddle to entertain and take advantage of the Philistines. “Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.” Spoiler: it’s the lion he killed with his bare hands where bees made a hive filled with honey (Judges 14).

So if I had a chance to speak with Solomon, a king gifted with divine wisdom, I’m not sure I would come with riddles. Instead of trick questions, I would want to know about his father David. I’d have questions about the temple. And the amazing wealth he had. And all the foreign dignitaries he had come to visit him.

So many tell me the questions they will have for Jesus when they finally see him face-to-face. I just smile. I have a feeling that none of those questions will matter when you’re with Jesus.