The rest of the story <3
It’s Friday so there is that to look forward to, right?
We have a busy weekend ahead and this one right here managed to lock herself out of her website around 10 PM last night. In case you heard an extremely frustrated cry of exasperation in the vicinity of our home.
I certainly have had multiple opportunities to apply the lessons of 2 Chronicles 20 as we made our way through the past week or so.
And today I want to just finish it off with the balance of that passage.
Because ALL of Scripture is, as we know…breathed by God into human pens and thus useful to us for correcting and guiding and teaching and warning. And that would be my very rough translation of 2 Timothy 3:16.
So I would be remiss to not point out two things…one lovely and one so typical of the human story line.
Because the remaining verses tell how after they collected the spoils of war and praised God and returned to their homes, the land experienced peace.
I love how it is worded in my NKJV bible…how the fear of God came over all those who might have attempted to do likewise around this tiny kingdom and the best part…
“Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.”
Even as I type those words, I breathe deeply and longingly to be able to say the same.
Then Laura’s life was quiet…and her God gave her rest all around.
The thought of it tugs at a tender place in my heart that has wistfully wanted all endings to come like Disney writes them…and they all lived happily ever-after.
And we will someday, you know.
But for now we are a flawed and prone-to-wander bunch of travelers, are we not?
My bible type is set up in such a way to completely finish the story of King Jehoshaphat, you have to turn the page after reading the passage I just shared.
And that brings us to the “rest of the story” that would kind of be a downer if this were a Paul Harvey radio show. (If you have no idea who Paul Harvey is, you missed a rich part of American story-telling, so google it my friend)
Because while we learn that King Jehoshaphat did a lot of good things in the right way – those dang high places, that God’s people always seem to have a hard time parting with, remained.
And the people once again began that forgetting-what-God-did pattern as they continued to leave room in their hearts for other little-g gods.
And Jehoshaphat himself?
Well, at some point he had a big decision to make about joining forces with a less than godly king and rather than seek his God again, he moved forward in his own counsel…and shipwrecked, literally, his kingdom.
Oh friends.
Even as we have seen the wonderful pattern of successful kingdom warfare modeled by King Jehoshaphat, let us be wise in how we move forward after God-ordained victories.
Let us choose carefully who we align ourselves with, and not foolishly abandon our God who would only ask us to be willing to show up and praise Him as He fights our battles for us.
Why would we ever take matters into our own frail and faulty human hands again?
God bless you this weekend in whatever you set out to do. May you see and know the love and power of your God in every battle and may our praises rise to Him and to Him alone.
He is worthy <3