Don't Believe Your Own Hype!

Good morning! (Or afternoon or evening, depending on when you're reading this.) I hope you're enjoying the read through 2 Chronicles a little more than 1 Chronicles--many more little narratives and a lot fewer lists.

I also hope you're keeping up with "My Book of Chronicles" too! I was so glad to hear how many people were willing to share where they see God at work in their lives during worship on Sunday. (For those of you who missed it: two Sundays ago, I preached on 1 Chronicles 5. I talked about how 1 Chronicles was the story of a family's faith and witness of seeing God at work in the everyday, mundane details of their lives, which is why the Chronicles were so precious to their descendants. So I handed out little notebooks to those who were there and encouraged them to write down where they saw God at work in their lives; hence, their own "book of Chronicles" which could be handed down through the generations of THEIR family.)


Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
What does Paul ask the Christians at Ephesus to do? (Eph 3)
Ephesians 3:13 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. I belatedly realized this is a reading from Wednesday's schedule, not Thursday. Sorry!

And here's the question of the day:
What did Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, do when she learned her son had died? (2 Chron 22)


And here's the reflection of the day:
2 Chronicles 24 has an interesting little story for us today. "Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years."

Sheesh, seven years old. How many of you parents barely allow your seven-year-old to pick out his or her own clothes, let alone rule over Israel?! But that's the way it goes with passing down the kingship through lineage. It is just one of the tragic results of a life, for better or worse, cut short.

Fortunately, Joash had Jehoiada. We have read much about Jehoiada in the last couple chapters of 2 Chronicles, so we know he was a no-nonsense kind of guy, clearly anointed by the Lord for leadership over his people. For forty long years, Joash did "what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years of Jehoiada the priest" (v2). Isn't that a little different than what we're used to reading about these kings--usually it says they did "what was right in the eyes of the Lord" period. There's not usually an end limit on their obedience; generally they are obedient all of their lives.

The text doesn't tell us exactly what went wrong, but my guess is that Joash believed his own hype. It does tells us, "After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them" (v17). Maybe Joash started to believe his own hype.

And it all went downhill from there. Joash seems to have forgotten all that Jehoiada had done for him and taught him. He was one who guided Joash, acting as a direct connection between the king and God. Jehoiada was probably also the one who kept Joash's ego under control. Once that presence was gone, things fell apart.

The moral of the story? Be careful of the company you keep. Surround yourself with people who will give you sage advice, who will keep you accountable, and will help you not believe your own hype!

Have a splendid day!
Allison

Excuses, Excuses

Woot woot! Did you notice? We finished Genesis! Hurray!

I love hearing stories from people about how it's going as they read the Bible. One person said it's so interesting that sometimes she keeps reading beyond the assigned chapters! Another couple were on a car trip and decided whoever was NOT driving would read to the one who was driving! And the person I was visiting in the ER Saturday night was lamenting the fact that he wasn't going to get his reading done for the day because he didn't have his Bible with him. (I guess "Do you want to bring your Bible with you?" is not a standard question ambulance drivers ask.)

As a pastor, it does my heart good to hear stories like this because I know it does God's heart good too. I think I'll schedule a "Year of the Bible" evening at the church, for people to chat about how things are going and so they can ask their "Stump the Pastor" question. Check back here in a couple of days for more details.


Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Sun, Jan. 25: When the new king (who didn’t know Joseph) comes into power in Egypt, what does he decide about the Israelites and their pro-creation rate? (How else can I say that?) (Ex 1)
Exodus 1:8-11 8 Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. 9 "Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country." 11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

And here's the question for today:
Mon, Jan 26: Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?” Jesus tells a parable as part of his answer. At the end of the story, what does the master do to the servant? (Matt 18)


And here's today's reflection:
Excuses, Excuses

Hmm . . . I've always noticed something about Moses, but until reading through the Bible like this, I never really noticed that it took up almost two whole chapters! Moses is FULL of excuses! He comes up with every excuse in the book for why he's can't be "Johnny on the spot" for God. And one by one, God takes away every excuse. One by one, God answers Moses for every concern and insecurity he comes up with to use as an excuse.

We know we all have excuses. We all have flimsy excuses we cling to as reasons we can't do something for God: too young, too old, too busy, too ill; not good enough, not smart enough, not enough faith; can't pray out loud, can't speak in front of people, can't teach a class. Inside, we know these are just excuses. We know that if we were in Moses' shoes God would have an answer to each of these excuses.

But we're not in Moses' shoes. We didn't see the burning bush. Or maybe we did, but we were afraid so we just kept walking on by. God's probably not standing in front of us with a clear task that He wants to do. Or maybe He is standing in front of us, but we're slinking by with our eyes averted.

I could preach until I'm blue in the face about casting off our excuses and facing up to what God is calling us to do, but the truth is, I can't make you do anything. I can't; I'm just one person. What I CAN do is encourage you each to find an accountability person--someone you know and trust and love. Find someone--if you haven't already--who can look you straight in the eye and say, "That's just an excuse." Find someone who will encourage you to look at the burning bush and to listen to where God is calling you to go.

Keep on reading!
Allison