II Chronicles 12
In this chapter we read that the new King Rehoboam established his kingdom, and then 'forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him' (verse 1).
As a result the LORD allowed the King of Egypt to invade and take over Judah's defence cities and then advance to Jerusalem. God mercifully sent a prophet to Rehoboam, who told him that God had allowed the invasion because they had forsaken him.
In response to this message, King Rehoboam and his princes humbled themselves before God acknowledging God's righteousness. Because of this, God sent them another message via the prophet, telling them that he wouldn't allow them to be destroyed but they would still have to pay service to the Egyptians. This included treasures from the temple, Rehoboam's house, and all the gold shields which Solomon had made.
Following this, Rehoboam made brass shields to replace the lost gold shields - the guards used these when he came into the temple - and we read that 'in Judah things went well' (verse 12).
The chapter closes with details of Rehoboam's age and duration of reign.
Today, I was struck by verse 14:
"And he (Rehoboam) did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD". My study Bible's notes interpret this as 'it not being his basic purpose' to seek the LORD.
This surprised me. Rehoboam had been obedient to God's messengers in this chapter and the previous. After forsaking God he had humbled himself. We read of him going up into the temple. I had thought that having humbled himself he had repented and was a sincere follower of God. But this summary tells us otherwise. God knows all hearts, and he reveals to us here that Rehoboam was not a true seeker.
Are we real seekers? Or do we try to live moral lives and perhaps worship God on Sundays, but really we just do this because it's what we have been brought up to do - it is what is expected of us?
God tell us to love him with all our heart, soul and might (Deuteronomy 6: 5); to seek knowledge of him as someone looking for silver and hid treasure (Proverbs 2). This would be a persistent search, that doesn't give up. Those who are lukewarm in their seeking, God says he will 'spue (or spit) out of his mouth' (Revelations 3:16), but those who seek him with all their heart he promises will find him (Jeremiah 29:13).
Some of us know this seeking for God - a deep longing within us that cannot be satisfied. Sometimes we may feel like giving up because we can't seem to find him...but perhaps our anxiety to know that we are eternally safe keeps us praying...or perhaps we feel an attractiveness for the things we hear and read of Jesus and want to know his forgiving love for us personally.
Even after believing in the Lord Jesus as our personal Saviour, we find that we continue to seek him - this surprised me too. After I was converted I felt so close to the Lord that I couldn't imagine I would ever not feel his presence and need to pray earnestly again to him to reveal himself to me.
We may be conscious too that we can be half-hearted in our following him; that we don't always want to seek him, read our Bibles, pray to him or do the right things in our daily lives. But, we see God's kindness - we can ask him for everything we need - we can ask him to give us more interest in him, to make us want to seek and know him with 'all' our heart. He tells us in Jeremiah 24: 7 'I will give them an heart to know me', and in Matthew 7:7, 'ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find'.
We can pray with the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 119:33-38...
'Teach me thy ways, O LORD...give me understanding...make me to go in the paths of thy commandments....incline my heart unto thy testimonies...quicken (revive) me in thy way...establish thy word unto me....'.
Praise and thanks be to God that he hears and answers our prayers and will not forget the promises he has given us in his Word!
Image available at <https://unsplash.com/photos/_OyMf5BbAxA> with thanks to Katerina Kerdi. [Accessed 28/10/2020]
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