June 22, 2022: Day 132 – II Chronicles 17-21 and Proverbs 14

Once Asa dies his son takes over, Jehoshaphat and we see that he continues along in the way of his father, that is in the way of the Lord.  That is good news, for now.  As a result of his love for God there is peace in the land.  It always amazes me in Scripture that there is a correlation between the love of a king for God and the amount of peace that is in the land.  It seems as if the ruler loves God then there is a corresponding dose of peace that is given out.  The more love for God, the more peace is present in that person’s reign.  

He makes an alliance with the northern kingdom, that would be Israel, that in itself is not negative.  Together they are about to go into battle as a unified force but Micah tells them that they will be defeated.  The two kings don’t listen to Micah and go into battle anyway and the king of Israel is king.  Jehoshaphat makes it out alive and continues in his reign.  God continues to show him favor in defeating his enemies in battle.  

Once Jehoshaphat dies then things start to go south, I mean in a bad way.  Jehoram takes over and starts the downward slide toward apostasy.  Elijah warns him and tells him that because he walked away from God and is ruling apart from God that his death would be a painful one with his bowels coming out of his body.  Yeah, that sounds terrible and that is what happens.

In Proverbs we see the result of what happens when someone fears the Lord.  It is a fountain of life.  That is advice that seems to be eternal and something upon which we can rely.