Scripture: 2 Chronicles 5-6.  

OBSERVATION
(What is God saying here?)

2 Chronicles 26:5 (NLT)

5 Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. And as long as the king sought guidance from the Lord, God gave him success.

2 Chronicles 27:6 (NLT)

6 King Jotham became powerful because he was careful to live in obedience to the Lord his God.

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

There are so many cases in the Bible where we read about God being so intimately involved and allowing His mighty hand to work powerfully in the life of an individual. In these two verses I noticed that King Uzziah was successful as long as he kept his eyes on God and respectfully feared Him. It wasn’t until he became cocky and took the view that it was his power and wisdom that brought him success, that he began to fail. This was so disappointing to God that He struck Uzziah with leprosy and caused him to be placed in isolation. Lesson #1: When we realize that God is no longer effective in our lives, or that we have become powerless or ineffective in our witness, let’s look deep inside and allow God’s Holy Spirit to reveal to us the error of our way – the sin that separates us from God.
In the case of Uzziah’s son King Jotham, it appears like he learnt from his father’s error, for he lived in obedience to God and he became a very powerful King. Lesson #2: Obedience – consistent obedience to God brings the blessings of God and subsequent success in our efforts to follow Christ and live in His ways. We can see from previous chapters that often sons inherited the throne of their fathers and they personally chose their fate by whether they would follow in the way of their obedient dad, or follow their own evil ways. Jotham learned from his dad’s mistakes and chose to follow God persistently in in total obedience to Him.
Today we have the same choices to make. We know that obedience to the Word of God will bring honor to God and subsequent success to His ministry. Oh that we will commit ourselves to following His will, His Word, His love, His example and His witness so that others may see and believe. I believe that ministry to the lost would be so much more successful if the people could see and believe, and not just hear the Word, but seeing the messengers off doing as they please.

PRAYER
(With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

Father, You have established Your kingdom for Your children to abide with You. I am convinced that You will not build Your kingdom with disobedient kids. Please help me to live daily in total obedience to the Savior that I have committed my life to, and as a result of my obedience may You find a vessel that You may successfully witness through. I would never desire to see success come with any strings to something I may do, but rather that You may receive full credit for all that is accomplished through me. Thank you for the life of Your servant Jotham who, in spite of a pompous father, yet he chose to follow You and be obedient to You. Please help me to look for no other example to follow other than Yours.

 

àWords underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
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