Ladies Bible Study Thursday, March 8th God’s Waiting, Just Turn Around

by | Mar 8, 2012

2 Chronicles 15: 2  And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, “Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while you be with him; and if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him he will forsake you.”

The Israelites had a habit of going back and forth, one king would serve God and the next one would pull out the idols.  Asa’s Mom had idols but in spite of the way he was raised he chose to seek God and as a result Azariah had this message from the Lord for Asa.  It’s amazing how often people want God to be there when they need Him but they have no desire to seek Him.  This verse is pretty clear – if you seek Him He will be with you and if you toss Him aside, He will toss you aside.  God also makes it clear that if we turn around like Asa was trying to do and we go from forsaking Him back to seeking Him the Lord is always willing to be found.

Now, do you need to be “found” by God or does someone you know need that?  Sometimes when we are truly seeking God Satan will try to make us feel as though it isn’t doing any good.  He will try to make you think you have gone too far this time and God wants nothing to do with you.  It is hard telling how Asa felt at the point Azariah came to him but he obviously needed to hear these encouraging words because in verse 8 of this chapter it says, And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord that was before the porch of the Lord.  

Don’t let Satan have the victory today whether it is you that is struggling to get your relationship back with God or someone else.  Know that God’s desire is for a close walk with each of us and as many times as Israel turned their backs on God He was still there for them when they turned back and since we are living under grace and God sees us through His son, Jesus Christ how much more can we expect Him to be there when we turn our hearts toward Him! (No, it doesn’t mean we can live any way we want with the idea in mind we can just ask for forgiveness and it makes it ok, that attitude is pure rebellion and rebellion is no different to God than the sin of witchcraft.)  Repentance puts us back in favor with God, seeking Him today will help us find Him.  Never give up on yourself and certainly never give up on others, be that encourager, be the one to help push that person who is struggling today in their walk to a whole other level!  Asa heard the encouraging words and took everything to a whole new level of obedience you just never know what an encouraging word can do today.

Quote:  “An optimist is someone who believes that a house fly is looking for a way out.”  George Gene Nathan

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