HOW Did She Do It?

Do you ever stop and think about the mothers of the great men of the Word?

HOW did they do it?

I mean, seriously!

Think of King David's mother.

How did she raise a man after God's own heart?

HOW, Lord....oh how?

What about Daniel's Mom?

HOW DID SHE DO IT?

How did she raise a young man who, after being taken into captivity by a Godless nation, would stand up and offer HIS LIFE as a living sacrifice to God...at 15 years old!

I confess, I don't even know her name...I haven't studied Daniel extensively. I'm not even aware of whether her name is listed in the Word or not.

Yet still my question remains...HOW did she do it?!

What about King Josiah's Mom?

Is her name listed in Scripture? Anyone know?

Whomever she was, this I do know...Josiah's father was a Godless man, as the Word makes it clear that King Josiah's father was an idol worshiper, who DID NOT tear down the high places in Judah, who DID NOT rip out the idols from the land, as God had commanded.

No...it took his son to do that.

His son, who became the king at the ripe old age of.....

hang on.....

wait a second....

you ready for this.....

EIGHT YEARS OLD!

It was during Josiah's reign that the HIGH PRIEST (hello!) found the Word of the Lord in the House of the Lord!

HELLO!

The Word of God was lost in the temple of God!

You know what King Josiah did when they told him what they'd found?

He tore his clothes!

He mourned.

He knew that the judgement of God was coming because of the grievous sin of the nation and the rulers.

Then, he commanded that every high place erected to a false god, be torn down.

Oh, how I want to meet him!

Can you imagine?!

A boy king with that kind of heart to obey God.

Oh, that I will raise one just like him!

( You can find his story in 2 Kings chapters 21, 23, and 2 Chronicles chapters 33, 34, 35 and also Jeremiah chapters 1, 3, 22, 25...or just go to BlueLetterBible.org and enter "King Josiah" into the search bar.)

What about Paul's Momma....who was she?

HOW DID SHE DO IT?!

Granted, Paul was lost under a false system of "righteousness" for a long time, but when he was called by God, for HIS glory...oh how God used him to impact the Kingdom!

I am the mother of a David.

A Daniel.

A Josiah.

A Paul.

Oh, how I want him to walk as they walked!

Oh, how I want him to choose their path instead of being a Jonah.

I'm sorry. I'm just being honest here..I find Jonah to have been a whiner. Maybe that's just me.

So today, when I was ready to start spitting green goo out of my head because I was so done,

I asked my son...

Whom I just told LAST SUNDAY, that I know he's a David, a Daniel, a Josiah....

I asked him, "Son...how are you going to live? Are you going to be a Jonah? Is it going to take being in the belly of a fish before you choose to walk in obedience? What's it going to take?"

Now mind you, he's such a good and kind little boy on most levels...but DADGUM if he didn't get his Mommy's strong will!

And I gotta say, by comparison, I look like a wimp!

The problems present themselves when he has an idea that is contrary to ours.

He even had the gaul to say to me today,

"Mommy. After the 3rd time, I was going to listen to you and not tell you again what I wanted."

Um. Oh, no you didn't!

Hello!

McFly!

What's wrong with this picture?!

I asked him, "Caedmon, how many times it is supposed to take before you obey?"

"One."

Darn-tootin!

Oh boy...I'm still left asking, "HOW DID THEY DO IT?"

I thank God for His Word, into which I told my son to run today...that is, after I told him that he was taking a nap!

I thank God for my husband, the leader of our home, who leads with a love of the Lord, but doesn't allow his 9 year son to treat his wife poorly.

I thank God for chocolate...I need a piece right now! I'm going to the pantry!

Whew! Tomorrow will be here in T-7 hours!

Love you today,

Jes

Kings, Prophets, and You and Me

I want to confess something to you tonight...

I am constantly writing blogs. I write them every day in my head, it's just that most of them only make it that far...they never see the light of day, so of course they don't make it to blogger. :)

I've been doing some self reflecting about this...trying to figure out why I don't sit down and write every cool thing that I learn from the Word on a daily basis.

Truly, I'd love to do just that. But I don't. So the obvious question is "Why not?"

I think it's because what I've been studying the past 8 months or so has been so awe-inspiring to me; so new; so laden with the history of Israel, of which I am no expert, that quite honestly, I've had to have some time to really meditate upon what I've learned.

I simply mean I've had to chew on these truths I've been learning. I've had to have time to let them solidify in my heart.

Does that make sense at all?

I sure hope so, for your sakes. For my sake, I'm all good with it. :)

The major lessons for me in our study of "A Divided Heart, A Divided Nation" - (1Kings & 2nd Chronicles) were :

1. It's all about God being glorified. All of it. It has to be. Anything less from us is total    disobedience.

The temple - a place for God's glory to reside

Jerusalem - the city which God chose for Himself where His Name would dwell

King David - God's chosen man, for God's glory and God's purposes although he sinned grievously, he never once turned from serving the One True God, the God of Israel, to serving idols...never. He was repentant over his sin, and submitted to God's discipline all the while trusting in His mercy and lovingkindness.

Solomon - at first it seemed he started his reign well, but I'm not so sure I think so. At the time that he prayed his prayer for wisdom from God, he had already made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh to marry his daughter. This was total disobedience to God.

Yet, at times he really knocked it out of the park with his prayers. He prayed as someone who knew the Lord, and was genuine in his prayer to him, or so it seems.

Yet, his life did not imitate his prayers.

 

I'm still "chewing" on what I've learned about Solomon. Some would say he had a divided heart. I'm not sure that's possible. I love how one of the ladies in our group put it...."If you cut your heart in half, you die."

How did Solomon do with bringing God glory? Not so good...he worshiped false gods, built houses for the many gods that his 700+ wives served. Yes, he built the temple to God, but then he built other temples/high places to idols! And lots of them!

Rehoboam and Jeroboam are next in line. You see, after Solomon, the nation of Israel divided. 

There were definite consequences to disobeying the Word of the LORD.

There are still consequences to disobedience to the LORD Most High. We don't often hear about that in some of our churches these days, but it's the truth. 

God disciplines those whom He loves.

For our good, for our edification. 

What loving parent wouldn't discipline a disobedient child? If your child keeps putting his head in the oven so he can smell the cookies baking, repeatedly ignoring your instruction not to do that because he could get burned, aren't you going to discipline him at some point, for his best?

Think about this....a kid who is putting his head into a hot oven IS going to be disciplined one way or another....either by you, or by the oven. 

I have a friend who says that either she will discipline her children, or the world will. 

So it is with God. He loves us, and knows what's best for us, even if we don't agree. If we belong to Him, His plans are always to do good for us in the end. (Deut. 8)

What did I learn from Kings & Prophets?

It's all about God glorified. 

In Kings 

In fulfilled plans, like the temple being built 

In honored promises, like how there has always been and will always be a King on the throne of David. 

In Me- My daily question needs to be, "Lord, how to you want to be glorified in me today?

What is my job assignment for Your glory, Lord?"

In You - will you obey? Will you live for His glory in all things, and not for your desires?  

Will you begin your day tomorrow talking with the Lord, and telling Him,                

 

"I'm here Father, a ready ambassador of Christ Jesus...a minister of the reconciliation that you performed for mankind. Your bond-servant. What "field" do you want me to work today, Master?"

Can you tell that I'm still "chewing" ?

We'll talk about the first King of Judah and the next King of Israel, next.

And, we'll talk about the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, too!

Much Love ... 

Jes