66 Love Letters - I & II Chronicles

These past few weeks have been a blur. I'm grateful for your patience. This week I decided to play catch up and include a  summary of both I and II Chronicles. It's a big chunk of Bible to chew, but I know you girls are up for a challenge!

Based on its contents, the books may be divided into four parts:
1.The beginning of 1 Chronicles (chapters 1–10) mostly contains genealogical lists, concluding with the House of Saul and Saul's rejection by God, which sets the stage for the rise of David.

2.The remainder of 1 Chronicles (chapters 11–29) is a history of David's reign.

3.The beginning of 2 Chronicles (chapters 1–9) is a history of the reign of King Solomon, son of David.

4.The remainder of 2 Chronicles (chapters 10–36) is a chronicle of the kings of Judah to the time of the Babylonian exile, concluding with the call by Cyrus the Great for the exiles to return to their land.

My favorite part of scripture is found in II Chronicles 1:7-12

That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” 8 Solomon answered God, “You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place. 9 Now, LORD God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. 10 Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

11 God said to Solomon, “Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth, possessions or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, 12 therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, possessions and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have.”

Can you imagine? The Lord tells Solomon to ask for whatever he wants. What an offer. Do you realize God has given you the same offer?

• Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7)

• If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. (John 15:7)

• Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14)

King Solomon had a heart surrendered to God. When we take the same humble posture as Solomon and submit our life into His hands, be prepared to be used.

Whatever is on your plate today, seek the Lord first, surrender your plans for His, then ask for wisdom to accomplish whatever He brings you.

66 Love Letters - 2 KINGS

Do Not Make Solomon's Mistake: Success is not Greatness

The Book of 2 Kings continues where 1 Kings left off: sharing the story of the royal line of King David. There is one story inparticular that gave me a lot of spiritual food for thought this week. It was the story of King Hezekiah.

His story can be found in chapters 18-20.

Isaiah confirms the King's fears, he will die from his illness. Yet, the King cries out to the Lord to live and the Lord tells Isaiah to comfort King Hezekiah with these words: you will live another fifteen years.

Good news for anyone, right? Well, it seems so at first. But, once you read the rest of the story you discover that King Hezekiah father's one of the most evil sons to reign in his place, King Manneseh.

Yep, it sure got me to thinking...

A Few Points to Ponder

• How often do I pray diligently for something that may not be God's will for me?
• Just because I'm raising my children in a home that loves the Lord - there is no guarantee they will follow Him.
• Maybe, just maybe, I need to pray less for the things I want and more for His will to reign in my life. 

1 Kings

The people of Egypt carried the Ark of the Covenant for many, many years before Solomon built its permanent resting place. 

King David felt compelled, possibly out of guilt to build a structure for the Lord, but the Lord refused him.  He had other plans for King David and higher designs for His temple.

Solomon, son of King David, was wise - - if you’ve been reading 1 Kings, you’ll see that in Chapter 4:29-34 just how God blessed him. 

1 Kings 4:29-32 Solomon’s Wisdom

 ²⁹ God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 

³⁰ Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 

³¹ He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 

³² He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 

³³ He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 

³⁴ Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.

Sounds like the Lord was pretty pleased with Solomon and gave him great knowledge.  You can be sure that when He asked Solomon to build His mighty temple, He would be assured that Solomon could follow His wishes to the tiniest of details. 

I have often asked the Lord for wisdom, or discernment and have been pretty satisfied that He’s honored my requests.  There are some things in this world that we cannot understand; some things God says He’ll reveal to us in time.  Other things, we may never have an answer for. We may find the answer once we reach Home.  Still there are other things that, when we finally do make it to Heaven, we may find we never needed to know in the first place.  It’ll all just make sense. 

I’m looking forward to that.

Points to Ponder

• Have you ever asked God for wisdom?  
• Has God asked you to do something seemingly impossible for Him?
• Have you learned to spot the nuggets that God has for you in His Word?

Katie Chaney