Continual Burnt Offering: Daily Meditations, March 16 (17:3-5)
“And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim; but sought to the Lord God of his father, and walked in His commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honor in abundance”―2 Chronicles 17:3-5.
THE path of obedience is the path of blessing. This is the great lesson emphasized in the life of Icing Jehoshaphat. Disobedience always results in sorrow and disappointment. Yet how slowly we learn these things, simple and so often demonstrated as they are? What can be more foolish than to suppose that we, poor finite creatures of a day, are capable of ruling ourselves and finding lasting happiness in acting in accordance with our own unrestrained impulses, rather than by yielding ourselves unto God to do His will and be controlled and directed by Him as He has revealed His mind to us in His holy Word? It is His love for us that leads Him to give us suited instruction for a safe way through this scene. Our greatest wisdom is manifested in surrendering ourselves wholly to Him, in order that He may be glorified in and through us.
—Annie Johnson Flint.