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2 Chronicles 14:2 – 15:19 Making Good Use of Time

by fol CHURCH on June 14, 2021

In the preceding verse to this passage we are told that King Abijah died and that Asa, his son, succeeded him as king. There then followed 10 years of peace in the land.

Asa approached his new role with vigour and dedication to the Lord. He immediately set about removing all traces of idolatry and directed the people of Judah back to God. He then spent time fortifying the towns and building up an army. When an attack came from Zerah and the Cushites (Ethiopians) he was prepared. Although his army was much smaller in number God blessed the work that he had done, heard his heart cry prayer (14:11) and the Cushites were heavily defeated.

It struck me that in the intervening peaceful years Asa could have led his people in one of three directions

1 - They could have gone further down the route of idolatry and had a 10 year party of “anything goes”

2 - He could have crushed the idolatry, but then had a restful period of not doing much, and effectively stagnating

3 - He could choose to make productive use of the peaceful period by fortifying the towns, building up an army and the people’s faith, and preparing for future attacks.

King Asa wisely chose the third option.

 As it appears that we are coming out of a global pandemic we have also had three similar choices, as individuals, as a church (both locally and globally) and as a nation and society. Many people have suffered as a direct or indirect result of the pandemic, and this can obviously affect how they have been able to approach these choices. However, for those of us who have just been inconvenienced by it, how have we used the time? It is exciting to see that many people and groups within our church have been using it to learn new skills, to put them into practice, to grow their own faith and to disciple others. We are starting to move into a season where we will see further fruits of this. We know that there is a thirst and a need for the good news of Jesus out in the world. We need to remember that we can work only in God’s strength, not our own. Now let’s see where he takes us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How do you use God-given opportunities? What could he be leading you into next?

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