Grace For The Humble

2 Chronicles 12:1-10

Grace for the Humble

July 16, 2023

The Apostle Peter says, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. When King Solomon died, he left a kingdom that was filled with splendor, power and the presence of God. But unlike his father, King Rehoboam was a very foolish and wicked man. After Israel’s rejection and rebellion the kingdom was split into North and South. Rehoboam, who was king in the south called Judah, had an every opportunity to walk with God and enjoy the blessings of the Lord, because Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord were in his kingdom. Even the priests and the Levites left the Northern Kingdom and moved to Judah to serve the Lord, 11:13-17. Yet, Rehoboam walked away from God, refusing to serve the Lord like David his grandfather or Solomon his father. Rehoboam simply refused to commit his life to God and he and his people paid a terribly high price. God is worthy of our very best. Romans 12 says that total surrender to the Lord is “your reasonable service.” In other words, the least we can do for the Lord, in light of all that He has done for us, is to give Him the best we have. OSWALD CHAMBERS is quoted in 1935, “Shut out every other consideration and keep yourself before God for this one thing only—My Utmost for His Highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and for Him alone.” Oswald Chambers was a principal of the Bible Training College in London and a chaplain during World War l. After his death, his wife from her own shorthand notes of his teaching into a famous daily devotional, My Utmost for His Highest!

I. v. 1 THE DEPENDENCE - Verse one is a real eye-opener regarding the character of King Rehoboam. When he established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord AND all Israel with him! We are told that he operated in pride; that he disregarded the Word of God, and that he led others astray from God as a result. The problem that affected Rehoboam was a problem in the heart. He believed that neither he, nor his nation, needed the Lord; the Lord’s directions; or the Lord’s involvement! The bible says in verse 14, “And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.” This is the perfect example of a life that God does not bless nor use for His glory! God is looking for people who prepare their hearts to seek Him. He is looking for people who realize their dependence upon Him – John 15 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” Jesus said, in John 14 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John also wrote “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” The Apostle James said, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” In order to truly depend on God we must humble ourselves before Him! So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, "The Lord is Righteous."

II. v. 7 THE DIFFERENCE “They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance… Nevertheless they will be servants of the king in Egypt, that they may distinguish My service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations.” Rehoboam and Israel sinned and God used the King of Egypt as His method of discipline. But God said that there is going to be a difference between how I make you serve and how the world makes you serve! God said I will not let the enemy overtake you! God said that I will give you SOME deliverance! God saved us so that we might “walk in newness of life,” Romans 6:4; and so that He might use us for His glory. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” God has always been about using His children to DISTINGUISH how He does things DIFFERENT from the world. You will never fit in with the world because you are different. Your difference is by God’s design! You see, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed!” But, when you are His child and you refuse to walk in His will; He will not hesitate to send chastisement into your life. King Solomon taught in Proverbs 3 "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives." The Hebrew writer adds, If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Just as He did in Israel, God will often use this world as His rod. Jesus said in Revelation 3 “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten.” He will use whatever is necessary to speak to your heart because your difference is by design!