Awakened by the old testament

Every passage has so much truth and life and I feel like I missed every. single. one. my entire life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DiSYCQ3wd4&feature=youtu.be

I have decided something of significance in my life. A game changer so to speak. Wondering what it is? OK...here it goes. I have come to the realization that when I read the Old Testament in my past, I must have been asleep! Honest. There is no other explanation. Every passage has so much truth and life and I feel like I missed every. single. one. my entire life. Passage after passage just leaps off the page at me now and the only explanation I have is that I was a “sleep-reader”. That has to be it. Because no one misses this much goodness, no matter how young they are, if one is actually awake while reading! Praise the Lord that He impressed in me to start at the beginning and just read through the Bible again. He knew I was asleep every other time! The passage of life and truth He revealed to me this time? 2 Chronicles 20. So much gold in this one little chapter that I want to share with you. In fact, there is so much that I am going to have to break it up over two days! Let’s look at Part 1. 

A very brief backstory first.  King Jehoshaphat has just cleaned up the way the nation of Judah was run by sending officials and priest out to the cities of Judah to teach the Book of Law (Chapter 17), by giving the Levites the authority to judge over “cases” of the people and by removing the Asherim poles (idols) from Judah. Because of those efforts, the nation of Judah was beginning to turn their eyes and hearts back to God. Here is where we pick up the story. One thing we all know to be true, as believers, is, the moment people decide to set their mind and heart onto God, Satan attacks. Without fail. Without prejudice. Jehoshaphat and Judah are no exception. Jehoshaphat, as we saw over the previous Chapters, was beginning to get Judah to surrender to the Lord and His ways and just as they were getting their feet under them, BAM!, they got attacked by other nations. Jehoshaphat had options as to how he could respond. He could panic. He could immediately attack back. Or he could seek the Lord. 2 Chronicles 20:3 tells us, “Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set himself [determinedly, as his vital need] to seek the LORD;”. He was afraid. BUT. He set himself “determinedly, as his vital need” to seek the Lord. There is seeking the Lord and then there is SEEKING THE LORD. Jehoshaphat did the latter. He sought God as if his life depended on it. And it did. His and the nation he governed. The beautiful thing to see from this is not just the passion in which Jehoshaphat had for and sought after the Lord. It’s what came from that passion. The rest of 20:3 says “;and he proclaimed a fast throughout all of Judah”. Judah’s response? I mean, they have been known to denounce God in times of trouble. 2 Chronicles 20:4 says, they “gathered together to seek help from the LORD; indeed they came from all the cities of Judah to seek the LORD [longing for Him with all their heart].” All of Judah came, from ALL the cities, to seek the Lord, LONGING for Him with all their heart. Why? Why the quick turn around? From worshipping false gods to now, truly and sincerely, longing for God with all their heart? One word. Jehoshaphat. God placed Jehoshaphat over Judah and he led them straight back to the Lord. They saw the fervor and passion that Jehoshaphat sought the Lord with and it was contagious. And it didn’t stop there. As they are staring war face to face, Jehoshaphat doesn’t get prepared by readying the troops, he...prays. For seven verses Jehoshaphat calls God out on His promises, ask for His protection, and ends it with his, and all of Judah’s, surrender, by declaring, “we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You”. This beautiful story and lesson is one I missed when I was “sleep-reading” in my younger years. Thank God, He woke me up! Otherwise I would have missed, through Jehoshaphat’s story, how He could use me for influence if I “sought Him determinedly, as a vital need”. Whether through parenting or just living, my influence can be, should be, like that of Jehoshaphat’s. All he did was live his life for the Lord. He made sure he, as Judah’s leader, put in place the things of the Lord and removed the things that were not of the Lord. It was that simple. From that, an entire nation changed their ways and surrendered their entire being over to the Lord. I may not have a nation, but I do have a family. And I may not have a nation, but I do have a community. I want my influence to be as far reaching and deeply life changing as Jehoshaphat’s was. I want to stand with my family. My community. Stare our battles in the face. And declare “O our God, we are powerless against this great multitude which is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” Because the best thing I can do as a Mother is help my family during trying times, or easy, keep their eyes on Him. And the best thing I can do as a friend, or perfect stranger, is lovingly help others see when they feel powerless they can actually be their strongest with God. Ultimately, my influence can either turn others from the Lord, like other king’s did with Judah before Jehoshaphat, or it can turn them to seek the Lord, longing for Him with all their heart.  I pray I always lead, with passion, toward the Lord, as if our lives depend on it. Because it does.