Greetings,
"And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance and My wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak." II Chronicles 12:7
Throughout the Word of God there are consistent phrases and repeat of word usage for our learning and application. As I read through the Bible twice each year, I always am marking, recording, new word and phrase studies. Yes, I know there are apps and programs that can do this for you; but I prefer the personal study of my own mind and hand of what the 'Spirit is saying' to me. I have done almost 3 dozen word & phrase studies in the Bible. This time through, the word 'deliver' was pressed upon me to mark and document. Over 600 times the word is used throughout the Scripture. I am almost 1/2 way through this time. And as I am coming through another word has already appeared to me to do next time through (Lord allowing), the word 'destroy'.
Recently my prayer email was used to address this combination of polar opposites, deliverance or destruction. Only a few verses in Scripture have the comparison of the two contrasting 'D' words, deliverance or destruction. I was drawn to the account of Solomon's son, Rehoboam, in II Chronicles 12 that demonstrated a very needful lesson for our day in our nation and the church.
Why is there the need to address our destruction? and why are we in need of deliverance?
Before I address the two issues of deliverance and destruction, let us look at this passage and see what shaped there situation that they was facing one or the other, destruction or deliverance.
1. What had happened
Rehoboam's father was the wisest man in the earth, Solomon the king, the son of David, the man after God's Own heart. Yet Solomon, who was given so much by God, 2 Divine encounters from the Lord, wealth & riches, the largest realm of Israel ever, peace and safety from enemies (because David had put down all the enemies of Israel, 'for the Lord was with David whithersoever he went') and great wisdom, knowledge and understanding. However with all this, Solomon departed from the Lord and after years of building the temple, worshiping the Lord, ruling and reigning over the nations, in the last half of his life, in his old age, the strange wives of Solomon, who he was not supposed to marry or associate with, turned his heart away from the Lord . And Solomon, who knowing better, but did not do better, followed and worshiped the false gods of the nations.
And because of this act of disobedience and rebellion, God stripped the house of David of the kingdom over all Israel and gave the tribes to Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin a great sin against the Lord. Rehoboam was established in foolishness against the wisdom of the elders of his father, and turned and listened to his young friends who cause the prophecy of the Lord to be fulfilled. And with this chaotic beginning for Rehobioam, he served slightly the Lord at the beginning, but we see in verse 1 of chapter 12, 'When Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel (rather all Judah) with him." Thus provoking the Lord to anger and to a response. Not just because of Rehoboam, but remember Solomon had begun with the false in Jerusalem and Judah during the last half of his years. thus, causing Judah to sin with him.
2. On the verge of destruction
Because of the mounting sin and aggression against the Lord, we read in verse 5 that the Lord had sent His prophet to speak to the king and the people. 'You have forsaken Me and therefore have I left you to the hand of Shishak.' Egypt's army was coming to destroy them. and in the midst of facing such destruction, life and death, Rehoboam and Judah humbled themselves in the presence of the Lord.
1963 - Within our nation we have proceeded down the same path of destruction. We allowed a little old contrary woman, Madalyn Murray O'hair to complain that her son was hearing the Bible read on the public school intercom each morning. And she sued the Baltimore public school system and then the Supreme Court agreed that it was a violation. One little old woman took the Bible from the public venue. But how much worse for churches and pastors to have all kinds of access to the Bible, yet go days, weeks and months if not years and never read it nor study it, nor memorize, nor know it.
1973 - Roe vs. Wade - and now at present it is estimated that 60 million babies have been murdered; an entire generation destroyed by the hands of selfish men and women. and their blood cries out from the earth, 'how long Lord before you avenge us?' And avenge He will. For just as God addressed Cain regarding his brother, Abel, whom he slew, 'Your brothers blood cries out to me from the ground.' This destruction facing our nation is a culmination of all these things. and abortion is only one side of the blood coin. The other side is the homicides, public executions and murder-suicides that are haunting our public square and personal homes.
2013 - the great perversions of our moral failure continue to multiply provoking the Lord to destroy us. and in 2013 with little resistance by the church the abomination of homosexuality was all but made the law of the land by the Supreme Court. Opening up the doors for greater and greater perversion and evil. Only sending us to our fate that much faster. What deliverance is there for such a people that have sought their own destruction by the hand of a holy God?
Deliverance
From what?
--we need deliverance from our greatest enemy, our selves;
--we need deliverance from the advancement of hell's agenda in our nation; every abomination in Scripture that God has pronounced His anger toward, we have or are in the process of legalizing it;
--we need deliverance from the flesh and the world; One of the reasons that sin is rapidly advancing in our day, is because the church is so carnally minded and given to the flesh. We, as the church needs deliverance from this and 'set our affections on things above, and not on things of this earth'.
--we need deliverance from our enemies;
--we need deliverance from God's wrath and anger; The prayer of the day is 'Lord, in wrath remember mercy'.
Destruction
What does this destruction look like?
Because of the sins of Israel, Judah, Solomon and Rehoboam, God sent the king of Egypt against to destroy them. 'The wage of sin is death'. The church has forgotten that there is a huge price to pay for sin. Our nation has continued to legalize sin thus compelling us at a rapid pace toward our own destruction.
Consider for a moment the destruction that we have seen, specifically in our nation over the last 17 years:
1. 9/11/2001;
2. August 2005, Hurricane Katrina;
3. 2007/2008 - housing market collapse and almost world wide economic destruction;
4. during the 8 years of Obama - drugs and homicide deaths have filled the streets, homes throughout the US;
5. heighten increase in murder-suicides; public executions; school tragedies; etc.
Not counting the abortion deaths, cancer related deaths or other issues of our nation, in general we are destroying our own selves from within. You see from the above mentioned dates the relevance of destruction upon our nation. Terrorism destruction, natural disaster destruction, economic destruction, society, order and value of life destruction. IN all these it is hurling us toward God's hand that has gone out against us. And whereas, Rehoboam and Judah humbled themselves and found mercy, we have not done that.
What is the only thing then that will deliver us from destruction?
They humbled themselves and God was intreated. This is not something Washington, DC or the nation will do at this time. The course and choices of the nation right now is to go in the exact opposite direction of the Lord. The church knows better, or should know better. And the church should know these things and do these things that are pleasing in His sight. By their example and means, the rest of government leadership, and the nation may realize our grave situation in these days.
In days gone by, when our nation was in trouble, faced war, calamities, evil happenings of terror, murder, etc. there was a call for a national day of mourning. a reflective point of the church to actual be still, mourn, and call upon the Lord God for help and mercy during those days. With the absenence of God from our public venues; legalizing the removal of Christianity from our existence, our hour of need is greater than it has ever been before. What would this look like?
--a day of fasting;
--a day of mourning; Mourning over the loss of life, destruction, and mourning over our sins that have provoked the Lord to allow such an event.
--a day of humbleness; Just as they Judah humbled themselves before the Lord, He was intreated; Is He not the same God of yesterday, today and forever?? Would He not be intreated if His church and a nation bowed themselves low before Him and confessed and asked for help?
--a returning unto morals, goodness, and holiness; Streets, homes and hearts are filled with hate, violence, evil and sin and the only thing to deliver us from that road of destruction is His deliverance in the hearts of His people. 'Return unto Me, and I will return unto you."
Started: August 29, 2017
Continued: 8/30;
Finished:
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