A Letter from God Himself...

And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying,

Thus says the LORD God of your father David:

Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 13 but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father's household, who were better than yourself, 14 behold, the LORD will strike your people with a serious affliction—your children, your wives, and all your possessions; 15 and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines, until your intestines come out by reason of the sickness, day by day.

16 Moreover the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians who were near the Ethiopians. 17 And they came up into Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions that were found in the king's house, and also his sons and his wives, so that there was not a son left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

18 After all this the LORD struck him in his intestines with an incurable disease. 19 Then it happened in the course of time, after the end of two years, that his intestines came out because of his sickness; so he died in severe pain. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning for his fathers. 20 He was thirty-two years old when he became king. He reigned in Jerusalem eight years and, to no one's sorrow, departed. However they buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.—2 Chronicles 20:12-20

I had to hit the “rewind” here and reread these verses.  King Jehoram received a letter of warning from the LORD God Himself!   Now I don’t know where Jehoram was in his reign or in his sin when this letter arrived, but it is clear that it had no restraining effect on him.  God even gives him a very graphic description of what would come upon him.   

behold, the LORD will strike your people with a serious affliction—your children, your wives, and all your possessions; 15 and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines, until your intestines come out by reason of the sickness, day by day.

But it had no effect on Jehoram.  He died alone and in agony without hope and without comfort.  I liked what Matthew Henry wrote about these verses.

“Good men may be afflicted with diseases; but to them they are fatherly chastisements, and by the support of Divine consolations the soul may dwell at ease, even when the body lies in pain. To be sick and poor, sick and solitary, but especially to be sick and in sin, sick and under the curse of God, sick and without grace to bear it, is a most deplorable case. Wickedness and profaneness make men despicable, even in the eyes of those who have but little religion”

Father... Like Jehoram, I have a personal letter from You!  I have Your word.  May I never esteem it lightly!  Give me a tender heart and a sensitive conscience.  Instruct me and teach me in the way I should go!  Guide me with Your eye.  Let me not be like the mule which has no understanding and must be harnessed with bit and bridle else they will not come near.  Let me hear Your voice in the morning saying, 

“This is the way, walk in it,”

Whenever you turn to the right hand

Or whenever you turn to the left.

Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;

But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.

Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous;

And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!—Psalm 32:10-11