Gleanings for November 9

CONDITION FOR GOD’S PROTECTION

 

              2 Chronicles 15 Selected verses:  “The Lord is with you while you are with Him.  If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you”

             “But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!”

              “Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul...And they rejoiced and sought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.”

            You are encouraged to read the entire 15th Chapter of 2nd Chronicles.  (You will be blessed as you do this.)  Asa was King of Israel and the people had forgotten the laws of God, or they made a choice to not obey them..  The method God used for discipline in the lives of people in the Old Testament was different than it is now; the Savior, who had been promised, had not yet come.

             The truth for today is this: God “WILL NOT forsake” us as the verse from Chronicles says.  Look at what The Amplified Bible, Hebrews 13:5b tells us:  

             “I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support.  I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake you.  Assuredly not!”

             Having noted that truth, we can receive teaching from the scripture we began this lesson with.  A cross reference for those verses is:  James 4: 8 - 10, says:  “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

            “Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.  Lament and mourn and weep! 

            “Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  HUMBLE yourselves in the sight of the Lord and HE WILL LIFT YOU UP.”

             Though we can be assured:  God will NEVER leave us, we must also know that He is grieved when we continue going our “own way”. You might ask, “WHY?”  The main reason is because we hurt ourselves when we continue to ignore laws that are there to PROTECT us.

             In reality, we cannot break the laws of God---we break ourselves upon them.  We know that if someone would jump from a 50 story window, the law of gravity will take affect.  We don’t break the law of gravity---it breaks us.  I trust the message coming through.  When we break God’s moral law it is death to us, not death to the law we have disobeyed.

             A footnote in my Bible says:  “True faith is humble.  And humility is the opposite of the proud selfishness and self-centered ambition that characterizes this present evil age.  Self-centeredness is the essence of worldliness.  Therefore, to be a self-centered person is to be at enmity with God. 

            The Bible calls for believers to humble themselves. “Submit yourself to God.  Renounce the Devil and reject all his suggestions.” 

That is advice which will help us to know—

 

THE JOY OF THE LORD WHICH IS OUR STRENGTH!!!