Friday, July 22, 2011

U Turn

1 Kings 15:18
Asa then took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the LORD's temple and of his own palace. He entrusted it to his officials and sent them to Ben-Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus.

A change of mind is to have a different opinion or intention than you had before. Why would we do that? Is it because we failed to see the big picture before? Did we just become a different person all of a sudden?  Did the outcome betray our expectations? Or we’re really not committed in the first place? I have a friend who backed-out from her wedding a few days before the set date and even after flying across continents. Worse, she totally cut herself out of their relationship. The guy’s family was understandably furious and demanded for her to pay back all their expense to the last cent. Some of the cousins who were once her buddies became indifferent as well. Both sides had a change of mind. I wonder, where did all the love go?

King Asa had a good, righteous start. He reformed all the evil practices his family brought to Judah. He expelled all the male prostitutes and got rid of all the idols his father Abijah had made, and with a strong will, deposed his grandmother the position, power, and prestige of being queen mother. Then war broke between him and Israel’s king Baasha. Next thing we read is him taking out all the silver and gold in the Temple and used it to bribe the King of Syria to break alliance with his northern brothers. In Chronicles, when Hanani the seer rebuked him for this, he was so enraged that he put him in prison. So where did all the ‘he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord’ go? He risked his family relationship for God but here he’s clinging to heathens for a fight with his brothers. Those dedicated articles he himself brought to the temple, he’s here taking it all back as grease offering to Ben-Hadad.  We hope this is the best time for another change of mind. Sadly though, to his deathbed, even in severe illness, he never again sought help from the Lord. His good beginning was no guarantee for a happy ending :<

Backsliders are those who once knew the truth then completely turn their backs from it. It’s harder to undo their change of minds for they’ll brag to have been there. Did they leave because God was insufficient, or because His will is different from theirs? Pride is to see yourself, and your plans, better than God’s.  You shift gears, like Asa,  because you want answers now, deliverance now, perfect life now. When storms come, sickness strikes, pain remains, you become disoriented and you can’t connect it with a good God. So who left who? If God is unchangeable, whose mind faltered here?  If His Word is true, whose promises were left unkept? Let’s not carry our pride ‘til our deathbed. We can have that change of mind now. The Father is always on the wait for the prodigal. It’s Ur-Turn to take that U-Turn back home.

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U Turn

1 Kings 15:18
Asa then took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the LORD's temple and of his own palace. He entrusted it to his officials and sent them to Ben-Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus.

A change of mind is to have a different opinion or intention than you had before. Why would we do that? Is it because we failed to see the big picture before? Did we just become a different person all of a sudden?  Did the outcome betray our expectations? Or we’re really not committed in the first place? I have a friend who backed-out from her wedding a few days before the set date and even after flying across continents. Worse, she totally cut herself out of their relationship. The guy’s family was understandably furious and demanded for her to pay back all their expense to the last cent. Some of the cousins who were once her buddies became indifferent as well. Both sides had a change of mind. I wonder, where did all the love go?

King Asa had a good, righteous start. He reformed all the evil practices his family brought to Judah. He expelled all the male prostitutes and got rid of all the idols his father Abijah had made, and with a strong will, deposed his grandmother the position, power, and prestige of being queen mother. Then war broke between him and Israel’s king Baasha. Next thing we read is him taking out all the silver and gold in the Temple and used it to bribe the King of Syria to break alliance with his northern brothers. In Chronicles, when Hanani the seer rebuked him for this, he was so enraged that he put him in prison. So where did all the ‘he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord’ go? He risked his family relationship for God but here he’s clinging to heathens for a fight with his brothers. Those dedicated articles he himself brought to the temple, he’s here taking it all back as grease offering to Ben-Hadad.  We hope this is the best time for another change of mind. Sadly though, to his deathbed, even in severe illness, he never again sought help from the Lord. His good beginning was no guarantee for a happy ending :<

Backsliders are those who once knew the truth then completely turn their backs from it. It’s harder to undo their change of minds for they’ll brag to have been there. Did they leave because God was insufficient, or because His will is different from theirs? Pride is to see yourself, and your plans, better than God’s.  You shift gears, like Asa,  because you want answers now, deliverance now, perfect life now. When storms come, sickness strikes, pain remains, you become disoriented and you can’t connect it with a good God. So who left who? If God is unchangeable, whose mind faltered here?  If His Word is true, whose promises were left unkept? Let’s not carry our pride ‘til our deathbed. We can have that change of mind now. The Father is always on the wait for the prodigal. It’s Ur-Turn to take that U-Turn back home.