Following God with Devotion
I want to do a short three week series on some of the forgotten kings from the Old Testament. Names that I think a lot of Christians don't know that well. But men who I think really can teach us a lot as we read about them in 2 Chronicles.
Who Was Jehoshaphat?
It was a time just after Israel had split into the northern and southern kingdoms. There was great bitterness between the two, and a few generations down from David. We learn about a man named Jehoshaphat. It's not the most popular name anymore! But he was a good man. And I think we can learn some things from him today.
Let's look at how he gets introduced in 2 Chronicles 17, which reads, “Jehoshaphat succeeded his father Asa as king and strengthened himself against Israel.” After all, he was the king of the Southern kingdom Judah. “The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father, David, before him. He did not consult the Baals, but sought the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel. The Lord established the kingdom under His control, and all Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat so that he had great wealth and honor. His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord.”
Being Devoted
I really like that last phrase. His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord. To be devoted to something, according to the dictionary, means “to give all or most of one's time or resources to something”. And so when you’re devoted to do something, you're defined by it. And I think it's easy for us in the modern world to live our faith in a kind of half-hearted way without our hearts being fully devoted to the ways of the Lord.
We get so distracted, don't we? Our hearts get captured by other things. We show up to church now and then, If we feel like it. we pick up our Bibles now and then if we feel like it, we pray now and then if we feel like it, we don't really share our faith. It's just not that important in our lives unlike Jehoshaphat, whose heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord.
Success is Costly
Here's a quote from A.W. Tozer, which stings a little, I'll be honest, but it's worth hearing. At least it was for me. “The amount of loafing practiced by the average Christian in spiritual things would ruin a concert pianist if he allowed himself to do the same thing in the field of music. The idle puttering around that we see in church circles would end the career of a big-league pitcher in one week. No scientist could solve his exacting problem if he took as little interest in it as Christians take in the art of being holy. The nation whose soldiers were as soft and undisciplined as the soldiers of the churches would be conquered by the first enemy that attacked it. Triumphs are not won by people in easy chairs. Success is costly.”
That kind of effort, as I read it this week. But I think he's right. Most Christians spend so little time nurturing their faith, growing in their relationship with God that they can hardly call themselves devoted.
Let’s Commit
And so let's learn this from Jehoshaphat today. Let it be a wake up call to us. Let's be devoted. Let's quit the laziness in our faith. Let's truly commit ourselves to loving God whatever the cost. It takes discipline. It takes focus. It takes effort. But if we want that closeness with God, if we want the power that He offers and the joy that he offers, it's going to take a life of devotion to his ways through and through.
