Bible Verse of The Day – 12-16-20

2 Chronicles 24:18-20 (NKJV) 18 Therefore they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served wooden images and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass. 19 Yet He sent prophets to them, to bring them back to the Lord; and they testified against them, but they would not listen. 20 Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you.’ ”

There is an amazing, important lesson for all of us to learn from these verses.

Judah and Israel had abandoned God in favor of idols; false gods. Because of this, wrath had come upon both nations.

God did His part to try to steer the people back to Him, but they failed to heed His promptings and warnings. And because they had forsaken Him, He forsook them. He left them to their own devices.

If we look closely at this, there are many small details that make this much more meaningful than if we just breeze through it.

In verse 19, the word says that He sent prophets to them, to bring them back to the Lord. But they would not listen.

Verse 20 tells us that the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah. “Came upon him” literally means “clothed him”. The Spirit of God literally clothed the man of God and equipped him to speak to them with God’s authority.

But do you know what they did? Not only did they reject him, they stoned him to death.

This is heartbreaking. God is always faithful to give us time to repent. He is merciful… for a season. And then His mercy gets pulled back.

And so it was in this situation. After a period of time, God sent a small army from Syria to defeat them, even though their own army was large and powerful. Why? Because “they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers”.

God will seldom let His people go very long without confronting their sin. He doesn’t do this to punish us, but to remind us and nudge us to get back on track.

Most times He will give us many chances to make the necessary corrections. Then, if we fail to heed His promptings, He will bring correction to us Himself, in whatever way He sees fit.

Because of this, it’s important that we pay attention to the promptings of the Holy Spirit when he convicts us of our sin.

God wants the very best for us, so He will let us know when we’re getting off track or dabbling in things that are harmful or that dishonor Him.

All we need to do is pay attention and follow instructions. Doing so will help keep our relationship with Him strong, as well as preventing us from having to be dealt with on God’s terms, as the Israelites had happen to them so many times.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

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