My entry today is more of a reflection on my Bible reading lately. So please bear with me if they're not as organized as my previous entries :) But I still hope, you'll get something out of this one.
Lately, I've been reading through the Old Testament. I've gone through Kings and now I am about to finish Chronicles. Then I started to think, what's the point of reading through those four books anyway?!
Somehow, God reminded me of the following points:
1. Finishing Well is More Important than Starting Out Well
Kings and Chronicles are accounts of kings and how they lived their lives.
Scenario 1: Many of them actually started off well. They walked with God. They obeyed Him. But MANY of them also did not continue do so for the rest of their lives, most of them ended up not finishing well.
Scenario 2: I've also noticed though that there are kings who did not start out right with God. HOWEVER, at some point of their lives they repented and turned back to God. As a results, they finished well.
In the first scenario, though God's blessing was upon them during their period of obedience, when they turned their backs on God, God also turned His back on them. And so various disasters fell upon these kings and their kingdom during their reign until their last breath. Some also have gruesome and disgraceful deaths because of their disobedience.
In the second scenario, during their time of disobedience, God's wrath was upon them. HOWEVER, when they realized how wrong they were and they started to go back to God, God immediately heard them and forgave them. NOT ONLY THAT! God started to bless them, their kingdom and the work of their hands until their time of death.
These two scenarios are resounding and are so repetitive throughout the four books! The message is loud and clear! It just shows how much God values our consistency NOW in our walk with Him. He can easily forgive our past if we would just come back to Him.
2. God rewards Obedience and Faith
This leads me to the second point. God loves to give good gifts to His children. When God says He rewards "good gifts", He meant it! He rewards prosperity to those who are obedient and faithful to Him. Who doesn't want prosperity?! AND the thing is the kind of prosperity and riches He gives is the one that lasts and that is out of a clean conscience (I'm sure you know what I mean). A clean conscience btw is also very rewarding. It gives you a peace that is priceless.
2Ch 31:20-21 "This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered. "
Remember the word is "reward". Rewards are given when you do good things not bad things. So don't expect the "reward" if you're bluntly disobeying Him.
2Ch 32:29 "He built villages and acquired great numbers of flocks and herds, for God had given him very great riches."
This verse seems just like a simple narrative passage, but this really struck me. Look at the last part "for God had given him very great riches." Think about it. God CAN give you/us riches because He is God and He has the power to do so!
This passage was very encouraging for me because lately ever since I started working, I have started to become bothered by finances. AND I really thank God for reassuring me once again of His lifelong promise to me:
Jer 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD , "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Again, to claim the reward, all you have to do is take hold of your faith and be an obedient child. There is blessing in obedience. REMEMBER, God also credits our righteousness through our faith in Him.
Rom 4:3 What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
SO keep the faith burning!!! NEVER let it puff out! Walk the faith!
3. Your choices and actions as a leader can either bless or curse the people around you
I've been through a lot of leadership positions and I realized that my relationship and walk with God has a lot of impact on the people who are placed under my leadership.
Reading through these four books, it can be observed that the way the kings lived their lives, the decisions they made regarding their walk with God and their faithfulness to Him had a great impact on the their kingdom. The decision of one king led to either the kingdom's prosperity or downfall, wars lost or battles won, disasters or blessings upon the land.
Just one person, just one choice, but it affected an entire nation.
What leadership position are you in right now? Is it at work, in your relationships, in church or in an organization?
Are you passing blessings? or are you bringing down curses?
I won't sum this entry to anything. These are things God spoke to me about. I hope that you're blessed as I have been blessed! God bless!
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