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I’m Listening, January 18, 2021

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

In case you haven’t noticed, church attendance in the United States has been on the decline for the last several years. Now we can blame the coronavirus pandemic and our inability to gather without risk of spreading the disease. Still, that excuse doesn’t explain the decades before the pandemic when attendance continued to fall. For a few short weeks at the beginning of the pandemic, online church service attendance actually grew to levels above physical attendance in some denominations. That didn’t last as we got used to the pandemic and decided the church wouldn’t help us end it.

We could blame our enlightenment on the low attendance, I suppose. Except, I’m not sure how enlightened we are when I listen to the news. I find us filled with as much hate and prejudice and bigotry as ever, maybe even at higher levels when you read letters from any other period in our history. One would assume enlightenment would end that kind of thinking, but it has only grown in the last couple of decades. Our democracy may not last the way it is progressing. Our greatest problem? We left no room for God.

We leave lots of room for political correctness. We make sure we stay on the right side of an argument. We work hard to use the right words, so no one accuses us of being racist, the latest and most heinous crime in the country. We step gingerly around pronouns to avoid damaging the psyche of anyone in the LGBTQQIP2SAA community. That’s the latest acronym for the all-inclusive community of the various self-identified gender-specific groups, including more than fifteen different parties. But we still throw away our youngest and oldest in our society through our policies. We live in trying times.

I’ve discovered, though, that correctness does not equal right. If you read the last verses of the book of Judges, you’ll find the Israelites individually thought they acted correctly, but they did not act rightly. It says, “everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” They thought themselves enlightened. They thought they could succeed by their rules instead of God’s. Today, we would say their motto was, “If it feels good, do it.” In that book, we find the same things in our society; abuse of power, abuse of the poor and helpless, and disregard for those in need. Their self-admired wisdom fell far short, though, and they paid the price for their disobedience.

For periods of time, God allowed outside nations to invade the land and wreak havoc on the Israelites. After they acknowledged their sin and would cry out for mercy, he would come to their aid, raise up a judge or warrior-leader, and rescue them from their enemies. But after repeating their cycle of apostasy and repentance through several iterations, we come to the end of the book of Judges when the author remarks everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Even the priests failed to follow the laws God set for the nation. Eli, the high priest, let his sons take advantage of the people, taking whatever they wanted for themselves instead of the portion of sacrifices set aside for them.

We find out how bad the situation had become spiritually with God’s selection of the last judge and first prophet, Samuel, in the book by his name.

Samuel served the Lord by helping Eli the priest, who was by that time almost blind. In those days, the Lord hardly ever spoke directly to people, and he did not appear to them in dreams very often. But one night, Eli was asleep in his room,and Samuel was sleeping on a mat near the sacred chest in the Lord’s house. They had not been asleep very longwhen the Lord called out Samuel’s name.

“Here I am!” Samuel answered. Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. What do you want?”

“I didn’t call you,” Eli answered. “Go back to bed.”

Samuel went back.

Again the Lord called out Samuel’s name. Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am,” he said. “What do you want?”

Eli told him, “Son, I didn’t call you. Go back to sleep.”

The Lord had not spoken to Samuel before, and Samuel did not recognize the voice. When the Lord called out his name for the third time, Samuel went to Eli again and said, “Here I am. What do you want?”

Eli finally realized that it was the Lord who was speaking to Samuel.So he said, “Go back and lie down! If someone speaks to you again, answer, ‘I’m listening, Lord. What do you want me to do?’”

Once again Samuel went back and lay down.

The Lord then stood beside Samuel and called out as he had done before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

“I’m listening,” Samuel answered. “What do you want me to do?” (1 Samuel 3:1-10 CEV)

Did you notice? In those days, the Lord hardly ever spoke directly to people, and he did not appear to them in dreams very often. He spoke directly to Adam and Eve. God spoke directly to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He spoke directly to many of the judges he called to lead the people against their enemies. He often appeared in dreams to the patriarchs and sometimes to their enemies to warn them against harming God’s people. But when Samuel went to the tabernacle under the tutelage of Eli, God stopped talking to people. I sometimes wonder if it was because they stopped listening and just did what they wanted anyway.

I think God has that problem with us sometimes. We let the noise of the world drown out his voice. We let all our electronics, social media, news, entertainment, jobs, business drown out his voice. As Elijah discovered, his voice won’t be heard in the whirlwind or the earthquake but the whisper of a gentle breeze. You must listen carefully to hear him. We get addicted to the things around us other than God instead of filling our hearts and minds with him, then wonder why we don’t hear from him.

God still speaks, though. His word is alive and active and sharper than a two-edged sword, Paul tells us. We must get away from the noise to let it speak to us. God’s spirit, active in his word, will prick our conscience and let us know what he wants us to do, how we need to transform our lives and our thinking to become more like him to prepare for citizenship in his kingdom. We can hear him in the words of Christian friends and mentors, carried by the winds of the spirit, guiding us into the right path instead of the politically correct path. Will they be the same? Sometimes, but not always. We can be sure the path will always be one of love. Remember the two great commandments, love God, and love others. All the rest hang on these two.

To hear God, take Eli’s advice to Samuel. Expect God to speak. When Eli realized the Lord called in the middle of the night, he gave Samuel instruction. Listen to everything he tells you. Listening means more than acknowledging soundwaves vibrate your eardrums and your brain registers the pattern as words and sentences. Listening means letting those words and sentences sink into your brain with meaning and purpose. It means understanding the task directed by those words. Listen to God.

Finally, Eli told Samuel to respond, “What do you want me to do?” James says we must be doers of the word and not only hearers of the word. To hear and know what God wants of me and then not to do it means rebellion against him, disobedience, and sin.

We need more like Samuel today. Those who will expect God to speak, listen intently to his voice through the avenues his spirit uses to proclaim his words to us and then execute his commands. The world will do everything it can to drown his words in the political correctness that smothers truth and righteousness, but God’s word remains in the end. He created this place, and he will judge it in the future. If he will act as our judge, doesn’t it make sense to listen to him instead of his adversary? It’s time we stand boldly proclaiming God’s rightness in a world gone wrong.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Pray for Wisdom, July 27, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

As many of you who have listened to my podcasts for a while know, I often use a scripture from the lectionary for the focus of my thoughts. I’m amazed how often the scriptures seem to point to the very things I need to hear. And as I hear from others of you, it seems the scripture often relates to something going on in your life at the time as well. It is uncanny the way God works, but he is God after all.

Well, this week’s Old Testament focus was no different. It comes to us from 1 Kings 3 as Solomon takes the throne succeeding his father David. You’ll remember David became the model against whom every other king was measured. He wasn’t perfect by any means. We know about his adultery, his attempts to hide it, and ultimately his plot to murder his mistress’ husband to cover his sin. David’s life wasn’t one spent in dark, hooded robes mumbling prayers in the sanctuary. He was king. A battle-hardened warrior. He expanded Israel’s territory and rooted out it’s enemies from its cities. But God called David a man after his own heart.

Now Solomon has gained the crown. God comes to him and we pick up the story from there as Eugene Peterson describes it in The Message:

^4-5The king went to Gibeon, the most prestigious of the local shrines, to worship. He sacrificed a thousand Whole-Burnt-Offerings on that altar. That night, there in Gibeon, God appeared to Solomon in a dream: God said, “What can I give you? Ask.”

⁶Solomon said, “You were extravagantly generous in love with David my father, and he lived faithfully in your presence, his relationships were just and his heart right. And you have persisted in this great and generous love by giving him—and this very day!—a son to sit on his throne.

^7-8“And now here I am: God, my God, you have made me, your servant, ruler of the kingdom in place of David my father. I’m too young for this, a mere child! I don’t know the ropes, hardly know the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of this job. And here I am, set down in the middle of the people you’ve chosen, a great people—far too many to ever count.

⁹“Here’s what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?”

^10-14God, the Master, was delighted with Solomon’s response. And God said to him, “Because you have asked for this and haven’t grasped after a long life, or riches, or the doom of your enemies, but you have asked for the ability to lead and govern well, I’ll give you what you’ve asked for—I’m giving you a wise and mature heart. There’s never been one like you before; and there’ll be no one after. As a bonus, I’m giving you both the wealth and glory you didn’t ask for—there’s not a king anywhere who will come up to your mark. And if you stay on course, keeping your eye on the life-map and the God-signs as your father David did, I’ll also give you a long life.” (1 Kings 3:4-14 TM)

What maturity Solomon showed as he expressed his wish. Give me wisdom to judge these people. Help me to know the difference between good and evil. If you want me to lead, then give me a listening heart.

Don’t you wish more of our leaders would pray for a listening heart to know the difference between good and evil? It seems we live in a time more like the beginning of the book of Judges when everyone did what was right in their own eyes. This “cancel culture” that sprang up from somewhere that decided if I don’t like what you say or what you do, you become invisible. We make you disappear from the world. What you stand for doesn’t count. What you believe doesn’t matter. You are hereby cancelled.

How does that fit into what God wants for us? Do we think we can add him to part of the “cancel culture?” I know there are those trying – pulling down statues of Jesus, desecrating churches, synagogues, temples, and other houses of worship. We see an “I believe in me” culture rising. But God cannot be cancelled. Nations tried before to their destruction. We can try to rewrite the past. We can try to remake a belief system. We can declare we will rise on our own strength. Many tried. Many failed.

A relatively small group decided they want a different government here. I’ve heard too many times, “We’ll burn it down if we don’t get what we want.” How does that help anyone? If everything has been burnt to down, who will rebuild? Who will expend the energy to watch it come tumbling down again? Who wants to risk the threat of careless vandals destroying a life’s work again? And who will have the funds to do so? When the government changes, so does the money. The meaningless coins and paper that we pass to one another in exchange for something. We think money has value, but it doesn’t.

If you think money has value, ask the Argentinians who went through month after month of triple digit inflation when prices became so high the last three zeros on every price tag were removed. But salaries didn’t change. Income didn’t rise with the same inflation. Ask the Venezuelans who experienced triple digit inflation not so long ago. Money didn’t mean anything anymore. Did the government help? No. Did the change in leadership make things better? No.

It seems to me we have an awful lot of people trying to get into this country for it to be such a terrible place to live, work, and raise a family. I see millions trying to come in every year, but I don’t see millions trying to leave to go to some other country. Why is that? Maybe it’s because in the past we thought about more than ourselves. Maybe in the past our elected officials remembered their office wasn’t about making money or becoming popular or even getting reelected. Their office was to pray Solomon’s prayer and ask for discernment so they might have a listening heart.

As I watch most votes in the House and Senate, it seems no one has a listening heart anymore. Most votes split across party lines. Why? Because no one listens. Is every Democrat good? No. Is every Republican bad? No. We will find good and evil among every party, every race, every economic stratum. We will find racism in the same places. No section is exempt. I will say, or write, or do something that I’m sure someone will think is racist. So will you. Why? Because we are. We think in the culture in which we live and work and play. And whenever we come in contact with another culture, it doesn’t matter what color their skin or what language they speak, we will do something someone in that culture could take as offensive.

But when do we act like Solomon and stop and listen with a discerning heart? When do ask the question, “What do I have to think about the person I know to believe he or she said or did whatever it was to intentionally hurt me?”

When we ask that question before we blurt out a response, most of the time, we know the answer will be they didn’t intend harm. I took something wrong. I didn’t understand. There is miscommunication between us. How can we learn from each other so we can avoid bitter feelings? Then talk to each other and listen to each other – but not on Facebook. Pick up the phone. Go to lunch. Really communicate. Don’t scream that you know what the other person thinks. You don’t.

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived knew he needed a listening heart to discern the good from the bad. How much more do we need to pray for such a thing in this day? How much different would the streets of our city be tomorrow if all of us sincerely asked for a discerning, listening heart, then sat down with those not like us and heard their story. Maybe we would learn something. Maybe we would care. Maybe we would find some directions to take that would ease the growing tension in a country where millions come to find freedom from oppressive governments.

Is our nation perfect? Not by any means. Is it terrible? Talk to those who escape from those nations led by dictators and politburos. Can we make improvements? Not until we stop and listen to each other and decide we want to do what is right, not what is politically advantageous. As we begin to approach elections in the fall, I encourage you to get information about the candidates. Don’t listen to the news or social media or the campaign adds. Find out about their character. How did they vote on critical issues and why? What do they say they believe and do their actions support it?

Scriptures marked TM are taken from the THE MESSAGE: THE BIBLE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH (TM): Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE: THE BIBLE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH, copyright©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group

Weeds and Seeds, July 20, 2020

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2020-07-23-devotional-Weeds and Seeds

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

The headlines haven’t changed. Two things dominate our attention; the coronavirus, and the riots. Both tragic events consume us with the number of deaths created in their wake. The pandemic, we can do little about in the short term. It will ravage the world until we either build enough herd immunity from victims or a vaccine. The early rhetoric that a few weeks and it would be over have been proven false, and we seem to be in this pandemic for the long haul. Many predict at least two years, and some say five or more.

The second event does not have to continue, though. We can do something about it if we want. The problem is that, for the most part, I don’t think we do. In this country, the divide grows more extensive, and we refuse to enter into reasonable debate with each other. We no longer know how to listen to each other. We yell our position in each other’s faces and refuse to stop to understand the other side of an issue.

What’s happening in the protests when no opportunity presents itself for a reasoned dialogue appears on our screens and in the newspapers daily. Screaming at each other. Vandalism. Burning. Riots. Violence. Innocents dying. And what is all of that accomplishing? A deeper divide between the factions. No good will come out of the continued violence happening across the nation.

I expect the majority of us agreed with the brutality involved with the arrest and death of George Floyd. How many innocent people died since then? How many more must die before we stop? In some of our major cities, the cry to defund and dismantle the police, those called to protect the citizenry, found traction. The results in each of those places where city councils chose to reduce budgets stagger us. Crime increased in staggering amounts, double and triple the number of violent crimes from just a year ago, or even just before the pandemic began.

We can blame whatever we want, but I think the real answer is found in a parable Jesus gave found in Matthew 13. His disciples asked him to explain it after he was alone with them. Here is what he said:

³⁶Then Jesus left the crowds and went into the house. His disciples came and joined him.

‘Explain to us,’ they said, ‘the parable of the weeds in the field.’

³⁷‘The one who sows the good seed,’ said Jesus, ‘is the son of man. ³⁸The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one; ³⁹the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels.

⁴⁰‘So: when the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, that’s what it will be like at the close of the age. ⁴¹The son of man will send out his angels, and they will collect together out of his kingdom everything that causes offense, and everyone who acts wickedly. ⁴²They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. If you have ears, then hear!’ (Matthew 13:36-43 NTE)

Somewhere along the way, intermingled among us came those ready to fight at the slightest criticism or perceived wrong. Our “it’s all about me” culture assumes everything said or written or created aims specifically at me. And I can interpret those words or artistry any way I choose because the world is all about me.

The world is not about any of us. God created it. It is his. He chose to create human beings with a mission in mind. From the first, he commanded us to take care of his creation. He created us to live in relationship with him and each other. (We don’t do any of those things very well.) He came to live among us and show us how to do it. We hung him on a cross rather than accept what he said. Why he still loves humanity and wants to have a relationship with us, I don’t understand, but he does.

Jesus told us his kingdom is near. He ushered into this world with his death and resurrection. He sent his spirit to live in us. Where he is, his kingdom reigns. So, here we are as his followers, good seed among weeds. What are we to do? What can we make of the mess going on around us?

First, recognize God still sits on his throne. Nothing happening now, in the past, or in the future surprises him. He doesn’t need to confer with anyone to determine how to handle the problems. He is in control. We may not see it. We may not understand. But we can be assured God is still God and loves his children.

Second, remember Paul’s words from Romans 8:

¹⁸This is how I work it out. The sufferings we go through in the present time are not worth putting in the scale alongside the glory that is going to be unveiled for us. ¹⁹Yes: creation itself is on tiptoe with expectation, eagerly awaiting the moment when God’s children will be revealed. ²⁰Creation, you see, was subjected to pointless futility, not of its own volition, but because of the one who placed it in this subjection, in the hope ²¹that creation itself would be freed from its slavery to decay, to enjoy the freedom that comes when God’s children are glorified.

²²Let me explain. We know that the entire creation is groaning together, and going through labor pains together, up until the present time. ²³Not only so: we too, we who have the first fruits of the spirit’s life within us, are groaning within ourselves, as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our body. ²⁴We were saved, you see, in hope. But hope isn’t hope if you can see it! Who hopes for what they can see? ²⁵But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it eagerly – but also patiently. (Romans 8:18-25 NTE)

The world is groaning under the problems we see today. Creation waits to be freed from the decay that began with that first act of disobedience. It is on tiptoe with expectation waiting for the harvest when the weeds will be cast away, and the wheat will be gathered. And we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our body. We were saved in the hope of the resurrection. All this will come to an end one day. And Paul says, “The sufferings we go through in the present are not worth putting in the scale alongside the glory that is going to be unveiled for us.

I don’t know how that looks. I don’t know what awaits us. I don’t know what he has in store for us. But until then, we have a mission to share the good news with as many as we can. To do that, though, we must stop and listen to the story of those around us. They won’t listen to our story if we are not willing to listen to theirs. But when we do, we will hear how God can work in their lives and give them the peace and joy only he can bring to them. The legacy of peace Jesus promised.

What happens next with the two major events in our headlines? I don’t know. I hope God sees fit to slow the first about which we can do little. I hope we, who call ourselves followers of Christ, will listen to the stories of those not like us, and from there, share the good news that can heal our land and bring peace to our world.

Do you know your nautical terms? (John 21:5-6), May 1, 2017

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
If you’re going to be around sailing men, you need to know a few nautical terms like bow and stern, port and starboard, and a few others just to get around. One today struck me for the first time in some of Jesus’ final words to His disciples.
Scripture
1. John 21:5-6
2. Jesus: My sons, you haven’t caught any fish, have you?

Disciples: No.

Jesus: Throw your net on the starboard side of the boat, and your net will find the fish.

Devotional
1. I’m not much of a naval guy. But having been on a few ships during my some of deployments,
  1. Meetings on a the USNS Comfort and Mercy
  2. Meetings on Flagships
  3. I needed to know a few nautical terms so as not to embarrass myself in front of my Navy brothers and sisters.
  4. Needed to know the difference between port and starboard, bow and stern. Important terms like galley, mess, and head.
2. Both brothers served in the Navy
  1. Also wanted to be able to converse with them
  2. One a submariner for twenty years
  3. One an engineer for six years
  4. All our languages are a little difference, but many commonalities
3. Never thought about what Jesus said until I read it again in The Voice
  1. “Throw your net on the starboard side of the boat…”
  2. The right side of the boat
  3. Not the wrong side
  4. How many times do we beat our heads against the wall because we are hard at work doing the wrong thing?
4. I’ve been guilty of working hard on the wrong thing
  1. Sometimes physical labor
    1. Digging the wrong hole in the ground
    2. Cutting the wrong board
    3. Building the wrong wall
    4. Tearing down the wrong structure
  2. Sometimes mental
    1. Taking the wrong classes
    2. Reading the wrong books
    3. Watching the wrong programs
    4. Listening to the wrong teachers
  3. Sometimes spiritual
    1. Following the wrong guide
    2. Listening to the wrong voice
5. How do we know what the right is?
  1. Get into God’s word
  2. Listen for His voice
  3. Know His voice better than any other
  4. Do what He says when He says it
  5. Do the right thing!
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Sometimes you just need to stop and listen (Luke 10:41-42) October 30, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – James 4-5

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 10:41-42
Jesus: Oh Martha, Martha, you are so anxious and concerned about a million details, but really, only one thing matters. Mary has chosen that one thing, and I won’t take it away from her.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

It’s easy to get busy doing good things, isn’t it? I remember my days as Chief of Staff at the Army Medical Department Center and School at Fort Sam Houston. My calendar was crazy. It wa filled with meetings and appointments that were good. They were important. They needed to be conducted. But looking back, I’m not sure I really should have let my schedule get as crazy as I did.

I let other people handle my schedule and I ended up with back to back meetings every 30 minutes from 7 in the morning until 6 in the evening five days a week and most evenings and weekends were filled with Army, city, and church activities. I had no time left over in the schedule for three years for much of anything. I had to schedule time with Carole and my kids and there wasn’t near enough of it as I look back at those years.

It wasn’t that I was doing bad things, but it certainly wasn’t the best things. Oh, I had an important position and everyone at Fort Sam Houston knew who I was. I interacted with a lot of important people as I acted as advisor to the city council on matters pertaining to the installation at times, state and federal agencies operating in and around Fort Sam Houston, or interfaced with organizations like the Red Cross, Veterans’ Administration, several of the school districts, the medical community in San Antonio, the Chamber of Commerce, and a host of other agencies and activities. I did a lot of good things with all those appointments and meetings and conferences. As I look back at those things, I think I helped the installation, the school and the medical community progress in its care of both military personnel and the civilian community, particularly in the area of trauma support.

But was it the best use of those hours during those three years? Quite frankly, I don’t know. I was able to share my story a few times both with individuals and in public forums giving credit to God for the successes I enjoyed in my career, but I was called to preach in 1980 and I had very little time left in my calendar to preach or provide the blogs and podcasts I’m doing now, sharing God’s words consistently.

So was what I was doing what Martha doing? Going around attending to all the details at the expense of sitting at the feet of Jesus and soaking in the best He has for me? I admit, sometimes I think I was. I think I let my job and those responsibilities keep me from the call God placed on my life on that I promised to fulfill on that September evening in 1980. I still did things with my church. I still kept up my devotions. I still shared with some about the faith I felt and used to keep everything in perspective. But I let the details block out the goodness of just stopping sometimes and sitting at the feet of the Master.

I’m trying to do better. I’m trying to leave room in my calendar for God to work. I try to remember that everything is secondary to His schedule. Like the Good Samaritan that disrupted his plans and spent at least a day and a night tending to a stranger injured on the road, I want to be ready to give up my schedule to the best God has instead of the good I might have planned.

So what about you? Have you let your life get so cluttered with details that you don’t have time to let God intervene with His schedule? Have you planned every moment and hold on to those moments with such tenacity that God can’t get in no matter how hard He tries? That’s what Martha did and she was scolded when she tried to get Mary to stop listening to Jesus and help her with all those preparations.

Sometimes we just need to remember God cares more about our relationship with Him than He does the glitter and glamor and ritual and preparation we seem to do to get ready to meet Him. He just wants us to sit at His feet and listen. Don’t let all the other stuff become distractors from listening to His voice. Even when we do good things we can sacrifice the best if we’re not careful. So how do we know we are doing the best and not just the good?

Stay in His word. Pray often. Listen for His spirit’s prompting and then obey that still small voice that speaks to you. Become sensitive to His voice and obey when you hear Him call. Don’t let anything become more important than His words in your ear. When you listen to Him and obey His call, you won’t be sorry. You’ll discover incredible truth and do incredible things in His name.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Listen and obey (2 Chronicles 17), June 17, 2015

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – 2 Chronicles 17
Set – 2 Chronicles 17; Colossians 3
Go! – 1 Kings 20-21; 2 Chronicles 17; Colossians 3

2 Chronicles 17
¹ Jehoshaphat, Asa’s son, became king and demonstrated his authority over the Southern Kingdom of Israel by strengthening Judah’s defenses. ² He stationed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah and built barracks throughout the territory of Judah and the cities of Ephraim, which his father Asa had conquered. ³ The Eternal was with Jehoshaphat because he ruled as David had throughout his reign and as his father Asa had at the beginning of his reign. Jehoshaphat did not seek the lords of foreign religions; ⁴ instead, he looked for the True God of his father as Azariah told Asa to do, followed His commands, and was faithful to God, unlike the Northern Kingdom of Israel. ⁵ Because of his virtues, the Eternal gave control of the kingdom to Jehoshaphat. The people living throughout Judah brought gifts to their new king, Jehoshaphat, and he had abundant riches and honor. ⁶ Jehoshaphat prided himself on supporting the ways of the Eternal by cleansing Judah of foreign cultic symbols: high places and Asherah figures.

^7-9 In his third year, Jehoshaphat sent his most worthy officials (Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah), some of the Levites (Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah), and some of the priests (Elishama and Jehoram) to all the people in Judah to teach them from the Eternal’s laws.

¹⁰ All the kingdoms and lands surrounding Judah feared the Eternal, so they would not attack Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ Some of the Philistines even brought gifts and silver as tribute to Jehoshaphat, and Arabians brought him flocks: 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats.

^12-13 Jehoshaphat grew stronger at home and abroad, he built fortresses and store cities with great supplies in Judah, and he stationed his heroic men in Jerusalem ¹⁴ according to their families: From Judah, the commanders of their divisions were Adnah, the commander of 300,000 heroic men; ¹⁵ then Johanan, the commander of 280,000; ¹⁶ then Amasiah (son of Zichri who volunteered to serve the Eternal), and with him 200,000 heroic men. ¹⁷ From Benjamin, Eliada, a valiant warrior, and with him 200,000 archers and those carrying shields; ¹⁸ then Jehozabad, and with him 180,000 equipped for war. ¹⁹ These men served the king in Jerusalem, and others served him in other fortified cities throughout Judah.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

No one in Jehoshaphat’s day dared attack Jerusalem. He put over a million soldiers in the city. That would put fear into any army poised against them in that day. But it wasn’t the size of Jehoshaphat’s army they feared. The nations around Judah had seen large armies before and knew they could take advantage of internal tribal discord and piecemeal any army over time.

The surrounding nations feared Me. They knew I was on Judah’s side. When Jehoshaphat began clearing away the high places and destroyed the Asherah poles around the country without adverse consequences, but prosperity and blessings instead, they knew I protected him. They understood the promises I made to Judah’s kings were true. They didn’t want to face Me on the battlefield.

Jehoshaphat served Me the way David served Me. He searched My word. He listened to and obeyed My laws. He did everything I asked My kings to do and I rewarded him for it. Consequently, his coffers grew, even the long lasting enemies of the land, the Philistines, brought rich gifts to Jehoshaphat to honor his reign and he immediately gave the credit to Me.

That’s what happens when you’re faithful to Me. I bless you. It may be the same way in which I blessed Jehoshaphat, with riches and power and fear from your enemies. It may come in the form of peace and happiness but without a lot of wealth and stuff to clutter your life. It may come with pain and suffering, but knowing My peace, hope, and love that sustains you in the worst times of life. You will succeed in My eyes… And that’s what’s important.

While Asa and Jehoshaphat followed Me, they knew My power and presence in their lives. I protected them and those they led. You can experience the same thing. Just listen to and obey my voice.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
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