DCLM DAILY MANNA - WARD OFF HIS WRATH

Monday January 23, 2017

WARD OFF HIS WRATH

-2 CHRONICLES 19:1-11

KEY VERSE:

"And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD" (2 Chronicles 19:2).

It is commonly said that "there is no smoke without fire." Most things that happen to people, especially those that are unpleasant and unfortunate, are not causeless. The Bible rightly says that "As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come" (Proverbs 26:2). There are times that some Christians experience things that shouldn’t naturally befall a child of God going by the promises of the Scriptures. When such things happen, instead of the Christians searching and examining their lives to find out why such wrath is upon them, they ignorantly engage in the wrong kind of prayers and battles in search of solutions. In our text today, God’s word reveals clearly one of the things that can bring the displeasure of God on the believer and how we can ward it off. Jehoshaphat had just returned from the battle in which he joined forces with the ungodly and wicked Ahab, king of Israel. God sent the prophet, Hanani to him to confront him with this sin of unequal yoke in going to help the ungodly. The prophet told him clearly that this affinity with the wicked was what brought about the wrath and displeasure of God upon him. Jehoshaphat got the message clearly and did not only repent but went ahead to bring back to the Lord all those he had wrongly influenced by his actions. Thus, this wrath was averted. God does not hide His displeasure against unequal yoke. He dislikes any form of affinity that a believer goes to have with the wicked and ungodly. Those who ignore God’s stand on this and go ahead to get into partnership with the ungodly either in marriage, business, friendship, worship or any other kind of close relationship risk the wrath of God. Do you then wonder why negative things are happening in your life? Do you wonder why it appears that the business you have committed so much into, instead of prospering is nose-diving? Are you lost on why there appears to be no peace or progress in your family? And why it appears that the blessings and favours of God are always eluding you? Stop thinking it is an attack from a perceived enemy! Check up properly; it could as well be as a result of an ungodly relationship or partnership you have gotten into.

Thought for the day: A friend of the world is an enemy of God.

Bible Reading in one Year: ACTS 20 - 21