Monday Morning Cover to Cover

UPDATED: I responded to your comments in Coment Section.

George MacDonald writes that to hold a doctrine or an opinion with the intellect alone is not to believe it. “A man’s real belief is that which he lives by.” So, what does my life really look like to the LORD? Everything may be going fine for you but are you relying on God or on things going well. This has not be an easy week for me to understand what God is saying to me. The pain is overwhelming at times for all of us. But am I after relief or release of His life in me? “We try to understand where it is impossible to understand except by obeying. To ‘do’ his works is to enter into a vital relationship with Jesus.
To obey Him is the only way to be one with Him.” Welcome to Cover to Cover. What rules our heart this week? One theme lingers with me this week:

RELY ON THE LORD YOUR GOD.

Asa was fully committed to the LORD all his life. 2Chron. 15:17. But something happened to Asa just like it does to me and you. A prophet came to Asa in 2Chron. 16:7 and warned Asa that he was relying on a plan to win his war and not on his LORD. Remember, Asa, when you fought a mighty army with 300 chariots. You relied on your God then, why not now, Asa? Now Asa relied on what he could see and touch. And the next verse, a beautiful word for us all…For the eyes of our Lord range and roam throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him 2 Chron 16:9. Asa’s heart was fully committed but his life didn’t cause his God’s eyes to stop. Will our lives today cause our God’s eyes to even pause at our address? Asa wanted something more than the love and will of his Christ. He wanted proof he could win---wanted it in his hands. What is our “ruling passion” as some call it. Success? Significance? Security? Even in his old age, 2Chron 16:12 says Asa was afflicted with a severe disease but he did not seek help from the LORD, only from physicians. What do we long for this day?

Those who DID NOT follow God in the chapters we read---some kings trivialized their sins I Kings 16:31. Like Jeroboam who “thrust God behind his back.” And the story of “the man of God” who was led to believe one thing by a prophet and this man went on the whim of opinion of the interpretation rather than God’s word. Let’s look at five people who made a different choice in their life.

GOD FELL ON Jehoshaphat's KINGDOM
Jehoshaphat taught the Book of the Law of the Lord in 2Chron 17:10 and the fear of God fell on his kingdom.

JUDAH RAISED A BATTLE CRY AND RELIED ON GOD
Judah saw he was being attacked at both the front and rear. The men of Judah raised a battle cry in 2Chron 13:14-20. God routed their enemies because they relied on their Lord.

REHOBOAM SAID "TOO MUCH TO SEEK GOD" YET HUMBLED HIMSELF
Rehoboam abandoned the Word and strengthened his own family, his own stuff. Uh, oh. We can do a lot on our own to make our lives stronger. God says: 2Chron 12:1-12 "if you abandon me, I will abandon you. Rehoboam’s response: he humbled himself, obeyed the Word, and relied on his God. This was the same king who said in I Kings 12:28 that it was “too much” to seek the Lord and demanded it be easier.

GOD HELPED THE POWERLESS AGAINST THE MIGHTY
Asa did what was right in the sight of God. 2Chron 14:2-11. He called on his Lord in a HUGE battle saying “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord, for we rely on you."

ASA, THE LORD IS WITH YOU WHEN YOU ARE WITH HIM
Azariah said to Asa in 2Chron 15:1-17: “The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you. In their distress, they turned to the Lord. Asa took courage. He removed the idols. He even deposed his grandmother, the queen!

ELIJAH FOUND HIS GOD IN A GENTLE WHISPER
Elijah said: ENOUGH God, take my life, after he ran away in fear of Jezebel.. This Elijah was the same person who had relied on God over and over and over to give life back to the dead boy on whom he layed, for whom he prayed. God said “Stand up Elijah.” Alone in the wilderness, Elijah stood up in His presence and got right with his God. And God revealed Himself not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire---but it was a gentle whisper to Elijah…here I AM.

May we all take courage in what God is saying and doing in our lives to move into our world to seek our God with all our hearts, love our neighbor, and advance His Kingdom. Psalm 73:24 says: Guide me with your counsel, LORD. Let me embrace my suffering, and repent of what I’m doing that doesn't rely on my God.