JUNE 8, 2023 – Inviting Trouble

  June 8, 2023
  Daily Reading – 2 Kings 20-22 / John 13:18-38

 

 GOD’S WORD:

2 Kings 21:9 But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.

 

 GETTING INTO GOD’S WORD:

        Trouble seems to always be waiting right around the corner. Sometimes we find ourselves in the midst of other people’s troubles. While it is good to help someone, we must be mindful not to get ourselves into the same trouble we are trying to help them out of. Too often we invite trouble into our lives. In the Disney movie, The Lion King, Mufasa, the father lion tells his son; “I am only brave when I have to be. Being brave does not mean you go looking for trouble.” There is always trouble out there, that does not mean we must go look for it. Jesus warned of trouble in Matthew 6:34 when He said, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Someone once said, “Do not trouble trouble until trouble troubles you.” That is just a clever way of saying, if you see trouble, run the other way. Stay away from trouble. 

 

        Hezekiah was a King who worshipped God. His son, Manasseh, who followed him as King of Judah, must have seen his dad’s faith in God. He knew of the captivity of Israel for not obeying God. He knew his dad destroyed the false gods, yet he rebuilt them. Even the Children of Israel around him had to know this was not right. Yet his sinful heart decided to do things his own way. Doing so is just inviting trouble. When you invite trouble in, trouble always accepts the invitation. 

 

 GETTING GOD’S WORD INTO ME:

        Some troubles of life cannot be avoided. In John 16:33 Jesus said, “…In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Jesus did not say there would be no trouble, just that he is bigger than you biggest trouble.

 

Will you trust Him?