God Strengthens Those Who Seek Him
Devotional Contributor: Al Schierbaum
Scripture:
2 Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”
Observation:
God spoke this verse to King Asa of Judah in year thirty-six of his reign through the prophet Hanani. Asa was King of Judah for forty-one years. During much of Asa’s reign he trusted God and drew strong support from Him. In 2 Chronicles 14, when greatly outnumbered by the Ethiopians, Asa cried out to God for help and God showed up in a powerful way. In 2 Chronicles 15, when Asa wanted to bring godly reforms to Judah he drew strong support from God to lead those reforms. In Chapter 16, instead of turning to God for help when being confronted by King Baasha of Israel, Asa bribed King Ben-Hadad of Aram to turn against Baasha. Asa relied upon an unholy alliance with Aram rather than trusting God. The plan actually worked in the short term, but an alliance with Aram brought godless consequences for the future. In Chapter 16:9, God was reminding Asa that the strong support He has offered in the past is always available to anyone who will trust Him. Sadly, after years of success that was given to Asa by God, Asa began to think his success was his own doing. Asa started to rely upon his own skills and became full of himself.
Application:
Success can sometimes breed self dependence, it can deceive us into thinking that we have arrived. We need to guard our heart from pride that expresses itself in the manipulation of circumstances, cutting corners, hiding truth, or power grabs. Pride always seems to want fast results because they feel deserved. Pride never seems to wait around long enough for God to move, pride will jump in and take over the situation. That is where Asa had gotten to, a man who once had relied upon God jumped in and took over the situation.
God offers strong support to those who heart is blameless toward Him. A blameless heart is a heart that is at rest with God being enough. A blameless heart goes to God first, trusting Him with every challenge in life. A blameless heart stays on the look out for attitudes of self dependence and regularly humbles itself before the Lord. A blameless heart daily declares its’ need for God and lays all gifts and talents at His feet.
Request:
None of us are exempt from a prideful heart so be intentional about praying Psalm 139:23, 24: “Search me O God and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there by any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!” Amen!