October 23, 2020 DCLM Daily Manna Devotional : Topic – NO BED OF ROSES
Read previous DCLM Daily Manna Devotionals here
DAILY MANNA
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2020
NO BED OF ROSES
TEXT: 2 Chronicles 24:23-27
KEY VERSE:
“For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash.” – (2 Chronicles 24:24)
The future is man’s creation, prepared in the present and parcelled into the bosom of time. The future is not God’s imposition, but what we brew through our actions or inactions. So, when man reaps the good or evil consequences of his lifestyle, it amounts to saying he is lying on the bed he prepared years ago with his own hands. He has no one to blame if he finds the sheets strewn with thorns.
Joash did not get a bed of roses waiting for him. His mentor, Jehoiada the priest, died and he forsook the Lord and that opened the floodgates to fatal personal and national crises, all waiting to catch up with him at a later date. He did not remember the “kindness” of the priest when he and Judah conspired to kill his son, Zechariah, the servant of God. The king himself was struck with “great diseases”. His servants moved against him and slew him as he lay helpless in bed. He failed to get a royal burial.
Judgment also came upon Judah for betraying the Lord. A very “small company” of the Syrian military force invaded the land and conquered “a very great host”. They overpowered all the chieftains of Judah and took a great deal of treasures of the land that they sent back to their king in Damascus. It was a depressing era in the history of Judah. They were reaping what they, the princes and the king sowed years back.
We must be wary of the building blocks we mould for the future. They must be fashioned under the guidance of the word of God. Salvation is the foundation, upon which must rest the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit. Each step we take, in ministry or secular enterprises, must pass strict biblical tests. None should abide with us that fail these demands of heaven. We are guaranteed a happy future here on earth as we remain faithful to the Lord. But it is a glorious eternity that awaits us in heaven.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Don’t expect a bed of roses if you sow thorns.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Jeremiah 5-6