5/15/2011 7:35:21 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus:
Jehoahaz—crisis
faith
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference:
2Kings
13:1-9
Message of the verses: “1 ¶
In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah,
Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel at Samaria, and he reigned
seventeen years. 2 He did evil in the
sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with
which he made Israel sin; he did not turn from them. 3 So the anger of the LORD was kindled against
Israel, and He gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Aram, and
into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael. 4
Then Jehoahaz entreated the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to
him; for He saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Aram oppressed them.
5 The LORD gave Israel a deliverer, so that they
escaped from under the hand of the Arameans; and the sons of Israel lived in
their tents as formerly. 6 Nevertheless they did not turn
away from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel
sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah also remained standing in Samaria.
7 For he left to Jehoahaz of the army
not more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and 10,000 footmen, for the king
of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all
that he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles
of the Kings of Israel? 9 And Jehoahaz
slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and Joash his son
became king in his place.”
The
scene now moves back to the northern kingdom of Israel where the son of Jehu
becomes king, and his name is Jehoahaz.
I think that it is sad to see only nine verses given for the account of
this king who reigned for seventeen years, but there are later kings who only
have one or two verses written about them.
There are four books in the OT recorded about king David, but the is
surely the exception and not the rule.
Jehoahaz
had what is referred to today as either “crisis faith” or “foxhole faith” and
neither of them is really good and lasting faith. I am sure that there are cases of foxhole
faith that were real conversions to faith in Jesus Christ, but again that is
surely the exception and not the rule.
Foxhole faith is what this man had as a crisis came upon him and the
text says that a deliverer came from the Lord, however that deliverer is not
fully explained, but could have been the Assyrians who began to attack Syria as
the deliverer, and others say it was one or both of Jehoahaz’s successors,
Jehoash (verse 25) and Jeroboam II (14:25-27).
At any rate Jehoahaz was not around to see it. Israel was only left with a small army
afterwards, but if they would have put their trust in the Lord and not in their
small army no one could have defeated them, but that was not the case for them
at all.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I suppose that I have had crisis faith, or
better foxhole faith when I was nineteen years old and in the army, where I did
not want to be and I prayed to the Lord to get
me out of the army and if He did I would no longer swear. He did but I didn’t.
Other
times since I have become a believer and I prayed for something to happen or
not to happen and I forgot to praise the Lord for His answer to my prayer are
times that cause me pain. I don’t want
to forget the good things that the Lord has done in my life, and I don’t want
to forget to praise His name or give thanks to Him for His goodness to me. The Word says “in everything give thanks for
this is the will of Christ Jesus.”
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Romans 12:1-2.
2.
Philippians 4:11.
3.
Psalm 139:23-24.
4.
1Thes. 5:18.
5/15/2011 8:11:20 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment