Week 14 of the Word Wednesday Challenge finds us in II Chronicles.
II Chronicles 7: 1-3 (NIV)–When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “He is good; his love endures forever.”
Know why I like these verses? Because God showed up. He showed up in such a huge and awesome way that nobody could even get into the temple. How’s that for mighty and powerful? And notice this… God showed up in this huge, fiery, overpowering, amazing way, yet nobody fled screaming. They bowed before Him and spoke of His goodness and His love.
So, do you think this couldn’t happen today? Another reason I like these verses is because God never changes. Never. He is the same God then and now and forever. And I truly wonder if we, as His people, would get it together and put Him in the proper place in our personal lives and in our corporate worship… If we could agree that God is God and we are not… If we would acknowledge Him and stand up to the world to proclaim His name… If we genuinely, truly, honestly, faithfully, sacrificially worshiped God with all we have instead of complaining about how horrible the world is getting… I wonder if He wouldn’t show up.
Think about it.
How about you? Take a walk through II Chronicles and share your favorite verse, either in the comments here or on your own blog with a link here. Can’t wait to hear from you! Loving the comments every week here, on Facebook, and by email. You guys rock!
-JB
Dawn Lucowitz says
2 Chronicles 26:16 – But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the alter of incense.
The rest of the paragraph continues in 26:17-18 saying – Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. They confronted him and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the Lord God.”
I think this was so meaningful to me because pride totally gets in my way sometimes. Well, a lot of the time! Uzziah had been faithful and did right in the eyes of the Lord and was totally blessed. The Lord allowed him to be successful in war against the Philistines, break down walls, build towers, dig cisterns. He had a well-trained army that he provided very well for. He had great fame that spread all over and he was “greatly helped until he became powerful.”
As soon as Uzziah forgot started to become prideful, so did his downfall. When we start looking at ourselves and become impressed without ourselves and not thankful for the blessings God has given us and for the successes he has allowed us to enjoy, we begin our own destruction and downfall. I have fallen into this prideful attitude many times. We forget that even though we work hard and do something well, it’s all because God has allowed it, it’s all a gift from God. We must not ever take that for granted!
Jodie says
Wish I had picked that one, Dawn. Pride… ugh. Awesome analysis. Seems like we get so high up the mountain of God’s blessings that sometimes we look around and think we are surveying “our” kingdom instead of His. That’s a big issue for me too, one I still battle. Sometimes I wonder if we ever fully defeat that one.
Jen says
We like to keep God boxed in our nice rational theological box, don’t we? We’ve gotten so accustomed to natural laws, we forget the Creator of those laws is limitless, w/out bounds. Loved that verse and your application, thanks!
Jodie says
Thanks, Jen. I wonder WHY we find it so easy to forget God when He is EVERYWHERE? What is wrong with us?
Jen says
II Chronicles 29:11- “Do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him.”
Do I need to elaborate or are you sensing a theme here? 🙂
Jodie says
Yep. God’s definitely on to something with you…