Verse of the Day 6/4

Through the Bible - 2 Chronicles 16-18, John 15:18-16:15   Good morning, The Old Testament reading (above) for the last couple of day in 2 Chronicles has detailed King Asa, one of the "good" kings of Judah.  He followed the advice of his ancestor, David, and sought to know the God of his ancestors.   As a good father he passed this on to his son Jehoshaphat, as a leader of the nation, he also challenged the people to "seek the Lord" and removed from the kingdom some of the articles of false worship that had crept in.   2 Chron 14:4 He commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment. 5 He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom was quiet under him.   NKJV He sought the Lord and the Lord blessed the kingdom with "quietness", peace under his rule.    With the kingdom and in our lives the times of peace should not just be for resting.  They should be for growing in strength spiritually just as a nation should shore up it's defences in times of peace.  The result of not doing this, of forgetting God in times of peace can be disastrous when trouble comes to disrupt that peace.   This happened towards the end of Asa's life.  Instead of depending on God when trouble came he sought worldly alliances without consulting God.  Here we see the result.   2 Chron 16:9 The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What a fool you have been! From now on you will be at war." NLT "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown, but we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us. And we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated by unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us: It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."  - Abraham Lincoln.   How does that strike you personally today?  May we not forget His blessings, and may we pray for our country and it's leadership, that they might understand this.   In Christ, Mike   2 Chron 14:1-8 Early Years of Asa's Reign 14 1  When Abijah died, he was buried in the City of David. Then his son Asa became the next king. There was peace in the land for ten years. 2  Asa did what was pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord his God. 3 He removed the foreign altars and the pagan shrines. He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles. 4 He commanded the people of Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to obey his law and his commands. 5 Asa also removed the pagan shrines, as well as the incense altars from every one of Judah's towns. So Asa's kingdom enjoyed a period of peace. 6 During those peaceful years, he was able to build up the fortified towns throughout Judah. No one tried to make war against him at this time, for the Lord was giving him rest from his enemies. 7 Asa told the people of Judah, "Let us build towns and fortify them with walls, towers, gates, and bars. The land is still ours because we sought the Lord our God, and he has given us peace on every side." So they went ahead with these projects and brought them to completion.   NLT