When King David was at Ziklag, mighty men of valor came to help him. They were remarkable men, but my personal favorites are the men of Issachar and the men of Zebulun.
There were two hundred men from Issachar who understood the times and knew what Israel should do. What's amazing to me is that their kinsmen knew they understood the times, too, so they followed them. Think about that for a minute.
The men of Issachar knew what was right to do. People knew they understood what was right, so they followed along and did the right thing, too.
Oh, that we would be so concerned with doing right!
The men of Zebulun were awesome men. Here's what Scripture said about them:
"Of Zebulun, there were 50,000 men who went out in the army, who could draw up in battle formation with all kinds of weapons of war and helped David with an undivided heart." 1 Chronicles 12:33 nasb
The men of Zebulun were disciplined.
They were diversified and multi-talented.
They recognized authority and submitted to it.
They had singleness of purpose and allowed no distractions.
Imagine 50,000 talented, skilled, and disciplined people who were submitted wholly to a common cause.
We've seen what that kind of dedication can do from those who have submitted wholly to the cause of ISIS. It's remarkable. And terrible.
But what if the body of Christ in this country finally said, "We've played at fake church long enough? Let's get totally real and follow Christ with every fiber of our being."
What if we understood the authority of Jesus Christ and submitted wholly to it?
What if we had one goal: loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves?
What if nothing deterred us from following Christ?
I told my son about some people from my church recently and he said, "Wow. They sound like adventurers. That must be so fun."
He was right. If we understood the adventure of following Christ and were willing to embrace that adventure with an undivided heart, our walk of faith would be fun, too. Maybe hard, but definitely worth it.
Our country is in a mess, and, though we'd like to blame the lost people for our problems, Scripture suggests a different root cause.
It's the people of God who influence a nation. When we aren't light in the darkness, the darkness increases. And that's what's happened.
We have tried to shine our light from dirty lamps, and it's not working.
So, people of God, arise! Let us become more like the men of Zebulun. They submitted undivided hearts to their King and they helped to change the direction of a nation.
We can do that, too. If we will.
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In case you missed it, here's the link to yesterday's post: God wants a bride
If you're interested in the Hosea Bible study, here's the link to the Hosea Introduction.
If you're interested in the Hosea Bible study, here's the link to the Hosea Introduction.
#undividedheart #letyourlightshine #Jesus #linesfromleanna
