2 chronicles 15

God is very good.
i needed a reminder.
i needed to taste and see and know.

once again, i'm making the attempt to start my day off with God. i'm really not a morning person. i slept pretty late yesterday night. but then i woke up early, on a saturday morning, because i couldn't go back to sleep. i felt really hungry...had that feeling in the pit of my stomach. so i had to get up. but then i had remembered one thing i had written down in my action plan yesterday when we had our spiritual check-up at salt. i wanted to start my day off with God. at the end of the day, before bed, just isn't going to cut it. i've been going through some struggles lately. one day i just fell apart. not so much because of the situations, but because God wasn't there. i was too busy being distracted by other things. so this morning i actually spent time with God. before doing anything else. i actually did it.

for the last while i have been going through 2 chronicles. i've been trying to get through it for a while now. it's just one of those books i've never really read. they say it's a difficult book to read, especially during devotions. it's really just history. good kings, bad kings, battles, temple talk...and it's repetitive. so for a while it was really hard to be consistent. so i prayed before i read, and was just like...ok, y'kno God, this book is tough. it's kinda boring. but when it comes down to it, they're still your words. and from what i know, "the word of God is living and active". please let me see how it can be living and active in my life today.

so i read.

the chapter starts with the prophet azariah giving a prophecy to king asa. he says:

"Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." (vs 2-7)

if you seek, you will find.
and really, i had not been seeking.
want God to be with you? then be with him.
wasn't really doing that either.

but no matter how long israel was without God, they just had to seek after God, and he was found. sometimes, it's really hard to see God in certain circumstances. you can say all the christian cliche things to yourself and to others, but it's not really taken to heart. it's not living and active. but really look hard. really seek. be strong and don't give up. he will be found.

the passage continues to say how asa "took courage" (v8) and got rid of all the false idols from his land and the ones he captured. people from other tribes came and settled where he was "when they saw that the Lord his God was with him" (v9). as the king, he gathered all the people and they all "entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul...All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side." (v12, 15)

rest. how beautiful is that? our God is a God of peace. of rest. seek after him, and he'll give you rest. physically, emotionally, mentally. he'll give you peace. peace about yesterday, today, and tomorrow. just seek. you'll find.

it concludes saying that "Asa's heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life" (v17).

seek, find, and rest.
God is very good indeed.



"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the attitudes of the heart." -Heb 4:12