DCLM DAILY MANNA DEVOTIONAL FOR MAY 5, 2023 (UNREPENTANT HEART )
TOPIC : UNREPENTANT HEART
Text: 2 Chronicles 21:12-20 (KJV)
2 Chronicles 21:12-20
New International Version
12 Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said:
“This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: ‘You have not followed the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah. 13 But you have followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did. You have also murdered your own brothers, members of your own family, men who were better than you. 14 So now the Lord is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow. 15 You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.’”
16 The Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites. 17 They attacked Judah, invaded it and carried off all the goods found in the king’s palace, together with his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah,[a] the youngest.
18 After all this, the Lord afflicted Jehoram with an incurable disease of the bowels. 19 In the course of time, at the end of the second year, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great pain. His people made no funeral fire in his honor, as they had for his predecessors.
20 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
KEY VERSE: “And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the LORD… thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, But hast walked in… the whoredoms of the house of Ahab…” – (2 Chronicles 21:12,13)
MESSAGE
A righteous man died, leaving three sons and a daughter behind. His first son, now heir to most of his properties, decided to undo most of the things his father had done. He took back a property donated by his father to a local church and barred every member of the assembly from coming close to it. Twos years after, he was struck with a disease and spent much of his money on the sickness. Worse still, he refused to seek repentance and divine help until he died.
This story captures the life of Jehoram, the son of a righteous father, Jehoshaphat. He abandoned the ways of his father and Asa, two God-fearing kings of Judah before him, but preferred the idolatrous lifestyles of Ahab and other foolish kings of Israel. He killed his half-brothers which was abominable before the Almighty.
God, therefore, sent Elijah to pronounce judgment on him. His family would be struck with a great plague; he would also be smitten with an incurable bowel sickness, and the Philistines and other strange countries would plunder Judah. After hearing this prophecy, the young man hardened his heart and refused to repent until all these came upon him.
There are many people in our society who refuse to change their ways after God’s pronounced judgment. Because sentence against their evil work is delayed, they refuse to repent and ask for His forgiveness. They wait and watch until God’s judgment comes to pass.
Like Jehoram, the end of such people is often terrible and their eternal destiny is hell. However, God is not willing that your life should end like that. Things can turn around when you repent and reconcile with God.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: One sure way to be stranded is to take God’s warning and entreaties for granted.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judges 8-10
Daily Manna is the daily devotional of the Deeper Christian Life Bible Ministry (DCLM) written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi. It is an extraction of God’s Word designed to draw the sincere seeker closer to God on a daily basis through an insightful exposition and analysis of God’s Word.
