“For a long time Israel was without true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them.”
-2 Chornicles 15:3-4, NIV
In 2 Chronicles 15, Azariah said that Israel, for a long time, was without a true God
– and that started when King Rehoboam reigned in Judah and King Jeroboam in Israel. The
Israelites had sinned greatly because of what the kings of Judah and Israel has introduced to the people
prior to King Asa’s reign. They have worshiped false gods and forgot the real
living God, who delivered the fathers of Israel
out of the hands of Egypt,
and had helped them overcome the inhabitants of the “promised land”. And
because of this sin, the Judah
and Israel
was in great distress for a very long time.
But in the time of King Asa’s reign, he has done what is
good and right in the eyes of the Lord. Not just because he didn’t do any evil
in the eyes of God, but also because he has led all Judah to go back into
worshiping the real living God when he commanded all of the people to seek the
Lord their God and to obey all of His commands. And because of this, whole Judah was given
rest from their distress.
When I was observing this event, it came into my mind that
our world today was in the same situation as Judah
and Israel
when they were in distress. It’s very easy to tell, this world has been for a
long time without a true God. All men in this world had become worldly, everyone
is seeking for their own satisfaction. The men of this world has made their own
desires their god, they have done evil in the eyes of the Lord like what the
Israelites did prior King Asa’s reign. No one is seeking the real living God –
the God who created this world. And this causes this world we are living in
today to be in great distress.
Still, many are just waiting for this world to be given rest
from this distress, but I believe nothing will happen if no one will move. Now God
has revealed to me that it is us Christians who should be doing the move. We
Christians must be like King Asa and imitate what he did to whole Judah – for we
are His chosen leaders. We must help the people of this world draw nearer to
God – to seek Him and to obey Him! We must continue to do our calling – to win
souls and make disciples, for this is the only way that this world will be
given rest from its distress!
We shouldn’t get tired from this calling, even though we
think it would be hard to win this world for our Lord Jesus Christ, for we are
the only hope of this world. We shouldn’t give up for we know that we would be
rewarded in our hard work – just like what Azariah spoke to King Asa (2
Chornicles 15:7). We must continue to harvest and believe that there is greater
harvest in this great distress.
Original link for the photo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Manual_harvest_in_Tirumayam.jpg
