Legacy

September 17, 2020 – Debbie Graham
1 Kings 15:1-24; 2 Chronicles 13-16

Legacy

Focus Verses
1 Kings 15:3-4a “He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been. Nevertheless…”

Back and forth we go.  Good King; bad King.  Followed the Lord; did evil in the sight of the Lord. 

Not much is told about Abijah who succeeded his father Rehoboam, who was the first king of Judah, but we are told that in the three years he reigned, “he committed all the sins his father had done before him and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God.”  We read in 1 Kings 15, “there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam, and Abijah rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David” (vs.7-8).

Abijah “committed all the sins his father had done…”  I love that we read in the following verse, “Nevertheless, for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong” (vs.4).  For David’s sake… because of his grandfather David, God gave him success as king.  Something to be said about the faith or our fathers.

Asa followed the Lord and did what was right in His sight.  He banished all perverted people and removed all idols his father had made.  He even removed his own grandmother Maachah as Queen because she had made an obscene image for the worship of Asherah!  He cut down the image and burned it.  It is said of Asa in 1 Kings 15:14, “Nevertheless Asa’s heart was loyal to the Lord all his days.”

Please do not let it be said of me that my heart was not fully devoted to the Lord like Abijah.  I want it said of me that, “she did what was right in the sight of the Lord” and “her heart was loyal to the Lord all her days” like Asa.  May the legacy I leave for my offspring be that of faith in the Lord and something that the Lord would be pleased with. 

How about you?  Are you following in the paths laid out for you by someone who did their own thing and did not submit to the Lord, or are you following in the path of what King David, a man after God’s own heart, patterned?  Are you removing all of the idols, everything that could draw you and your family away from our Lord, out of your lives?   What legacy are you leaving for generations to come?

Prayer

Lord God, please help me to always walk in Your ways and follow Your commands.  May I not get caught up in titles, things, or successes.  May my heart be fully devoted to You.  As David wrote in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  Help me to leave a legacy for my children and my children’s children that speaks of You.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

Praise the Lord!

September 7, 2020 - Debbie Graham

Psalm 134, 146-150

Praise the Lord!

Focus Verses

Psalm 134 “Behold, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who by night stand in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. The Lord who made heaven and earth Bless you from Zion!”

Psalm 146:1 “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!”

The passages I get to write about today are about blessing and giving praise to the Lord.  Psalm 134 begins with, “Behold, bless the Lord, …”  Psalms 146–150 all begin and end with the same three words.  “Praise the Lord!”  John Piper says, “Bless the Lord is almost synonymous with praise the Lord,”  and “Blessing the Lord means speaking well, singing well, using your lips and your mouth to say appropriate things about His greatness and goodness.”  King David has taught us so well how to praise the Lord. 

Though everything around us may be troublesome, David tells us in Psalm 146 how to be happy.  If we hope in the Lord who made heaven and earth, we will have freedom in Him.  He opens our eyes and raises us up.  It would do us well to recognize it is in Him that we can truly be happy and freely praise Him.  We read in Psalm 147 that “It is good to sing praises to our God, for it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful” (vs.1).  Praise is beautiful.  Who is it that should praise the Lord?

All of creation is to praise the Lord.  Psalm 148 tells us “Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light! Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens!” (vs.2-4), “Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all the depths; fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word; mountains and all hills; fruitful trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl; kings of the earth and all peoples; princes and all judges of the earth; both young men and maidens; old men and children” (vs.7-12).  Wow!  I don’t know about you, but I have never truly realized the magnitude of this passage before.  The trees, mountains, hills, sea creatures, snow, clouds, wind, animals, and earth all are to praise the Lord along with all peoples!  

We praise the Lord because as His own, we are told that He takes pleasure in us and will(has) save(d) us.  “For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation (Psalm 149:4).  For this we should truly be joyful, sing aloud, and let His praises be in our mouths! (Psalm 149:5-6).

Psalm 150 sums it all up by telling us who to praise, where to praise, why to praise, and what to praise Him with.  We are to praise Him in His sanctuary, for His mighty acts and His greatness, with instruments, dancing, and with loud and clashing cymbals (boy do our drummers love that!).  Everything that has breath is to praise the Lord!  This passage says to praise the Lord 13 times in the 6 short verses! 

My brother Dan recently preached in one of his sermons that all of our faculties are to be used when praising the Lord.  We are to be fully engaged in active worship, lifting our praise to God by lifting our head, our hearts, and our hands.  Expressive and free worship as described in the Bible may make us uncomfortable.  He wondered if we were all blindfolded and we couldn’t see anyone, and they couldn’t see us, if we wouldn’t be more expressive and freer in our worship and praise to the Lord.  We are a people of praise and need to be doing that!  These passages help us to recognize who God is in our lives so we can praise Him with our whole being. 

I want to encourage all of us (looking in a mirror) when we gather together to join in corporate worship, to worship as if no one in the room is looking our way, leave the cares of the week at His feet, focus on Him who is worthy of all praise, honor, and glory, and sing our hearts out in reverent worship to Him!  Say it with me.  Praise the Lord!

Prayer

Father God, thank You for these passages in Your Word that explain to us how important it is to praise You.  Thank You for Your wonderful works.  Thank You that our praise is beautiful to You.  Please help us to implement Your praise into our everyday lives.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.