He Departed Without Being Desired
Todays Reading – 2 Chronicles 21 – 23
Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.(2Chronicles 21:20)
This verse is perhaps one of the saddest verses in all of the Bible. Here we see the life of Jehoram, a king of Judah: the son of Jehoshaphat, a great king. The verse tells us that when he died he was not desired: nobody wanted him. How sad it is that a person with so much opportunity for good; so much opportunity to impact his nation, would die without being desired. Why did this happen? What would cause this man to be so evil; so different from his father, who was loved and desired by all? Believe it or not, I think the blame belongs to his father. His father, though a great man himself, was not a separated man. Though he loved God, he was very close and friendly to others who hated God. He got so close that he actually allowed his son, Jehoram to marry one of wicked King Ahab’s daughters. The Bible tells us that after the death of Jehoshaphat, Ahab’s family became the counsellors of Jehoram. His father followed God; but the son chose to follow evil.
Parents, please be very careful about what and who you allow to get close to your children. Though you as parents may be strong enough to stand in a wicked environment, your children may not be; and may succumb to the wickedness around them. Live a separated life. Don’t allow the things of this world; or ungodly people to be an influence to your family.
My life will not be judged merely by my own conduct. People will also judge me by whether or not my children walk with God, and serve their generation. I want my kids to be better than I am. I want them to have more love and compassion for their fellow man than I ever could. I want them to be desired.
When you die, will you leave here without being desired? Or will people miss you? Will they grieve for the void that will be there because of your parting? This life is not about you; it’s not about me. It is about glorifying God; and serving our generation; and then training and teaching our children to serve their generation.
Posted in Devotions by Phil Erickson with 5 comments.
I feel as this world changes, it becomes harder and harder to separate ourselves from ungodly people or the negative things our world has. At times it seems to be an uphill battle, but that is ok. God is all that is good and powerful and if we trust in Him, He can lend us a hand in removing what is ungodly in our life
Another blessing from God. Wednesday night’s message hit a cord with me. I was not going to come to church despite Pastors plea for me to be in my place. I dragged myself to church only because when my flesh is weak from work and lack of sleep and I do not want to go I always get an unexpected blessing, and last night was no exception. I know first hand that what Pastor preached is true. I believe that God has called me to do something along the lines of mission work but several times I have walked away from that calling. It is true that you loose your joy and after that it is a slippery slope. My heart has been vexed over this for 2 years now and counting. I pray everyday that God would continue to give me a hunger for His Word and for the things of His World and I am hopeful that I am going in the right direction once again. I agree with you Rich, that this blog and the freedom to share my thoughts and read the thoughts of others has helped me immensley to stay in the word. Please continue to pray for me. Thank You!!!
Alot of what I do is for my children. I watch as much as possible who my kids are with and what they are doing. Any time I see a kid that my boys are hanging with that is beinging disrespectful the leash gets yanked on. I want my kids to be better than I am with serving the Lord and people. I wish I could do better with being an example.
Here’s a poem I wrote that I would like to share:
We can never trust ourselves too little
We can never trust our God too much
It’s easy to believe when it’s what we long for
It’s so difficult to see what we refuse to touch
I can do nothing by my own power
But instead create problems and misery
When I let my God have my all
I can do all things
through Christ who strengtheneth me
We can push on
Trying to force our way
We can complain that life’s not fair enough
The Lord sees farther down the road than we
So trust Him when that road gets rough
He can see us through our darkest hour
We can pull away thinking we know best
Putting more faith in the creature than the Creator
Prevents us from getting God’s peace and rest
My yoke is easy, He once told us
Yet we choose to try and go our own way
Dragged along in pain and hardship
I’d rather walk in step with Him than stray
Meredith King
I feel as this world changes, it becomes harder and harder to separate ourselves from ungodly people or the negative things our world has. At times it seems to be an uphill battle, but that is ok. God is all that is good and powerful and if we trust in Him, He can lend us a hand in removing what is ungodly in our life