2 Chronicles 36:22-23

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah—the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 23 "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up [to Jerusalem]!'"—2 Chronicles 36:22-23

My heart trembled and my spirit was encouraged as I read these words from 2 Chronicles this morning. God had promised the restoring of the captives and the rebuilding of Jerusalem at the end of 70 years...God’s word is here fulfilled by the mouth of Cyrus. God keeps His promises!  God has a plan!  

“It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd (ruler),

And he will carry out all that I desire—'

Saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall [again] be built,'

And of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall [again] be laid.'"—Isaiah 44:28

Here in this verse from Isaiah 44 and contiguous verses from chapter 45, God shows His people that He knows the end from the beginning. He announces by name who will deliver his people from the Babylonian exile 200 years before the deliverer, Cyrus spoken of in 2 Chronicles was born!  

For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would fail before Me, And the souls [which] I have made.—Isaiah 57:16

For the Lord will not cast off forever.

Though He causes grief,

Yet He will show compassion

According to the multitude of His mercies.—Lamentations 3:31-32

For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.—Matthew 5:18

1 Corinthians 1:2-10

There is much to glean in the first 17 verses of 1 Corinthians.  As I read through I stopped first at verse 2.  

To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

I have been sanctified (set apart, made holy) in Christ Jesus, God’s Son. I am called as a saint...I am His beloved child.  This letter is to the church of God at Corinth; but it is also to me because I am one of those who call on and honor the name of Jesus Christ my Lord and my Savior.  Open my eyes, Father, that I may see wondrous things from Your law!

I paused next at verse 3:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In a world filled with unending pressure, confusion, misinformation, disease, unrest and much uncertainty, peace is very hard to come by.  Beloved, there is no true peace available save the peace that is found in God through faith in His indescribable gift of grace to us in His Son. This peace of heart and mind is not only found at the moment of our salvation but is also His gift to us on a moment by moment basis as we set our minds on Yah, the Lord. 

You will keep him in perfect peace,

Whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You.

Trust in the LORD forever,

For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.—Isaiah 26:3-4

I paused again at verse 4.  Are you beginning to sense a pattern here? 😂 

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,

5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge,

6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,

7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

I am called to be thankful!  Being thankful is what a believer is...it is how he lives. I find that when I obey this command my whole attitude changes. Being thankful cultivates humility.  It makes me kinder and more gracious. Being thankful in all things and for all things, sets my mind on God because He is the source of all good. In Christ, we as believers, have everything we need. Ephesians tells us that our God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.  God has justified us by the unmerited, undeserved and priceless gift of forgiveness that is found by our faith in His Son. Because of this our lives can and should be one long song of thanksgiving. His steadfast love to us never ceases...His mercies never come to an end.  Our God is faithful...He is sovereign and changes not. He will sustain us to the end that we may be guiltless in the day of Jesus Christ.   

The last verse I stopped at was verse 10:

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

God’s word establishes the truth upon which our unity as believers rest.  I think it was John MacArthur who said:  “Right doctrine...right living.  Wrong doctrine...wrong living. Philippians speaks to this:

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, (Philippians 1:27, ESV)

1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,

2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:1-8, ESV)

The Miracle of a Changed Heart...

And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. 11 Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon. 12 Now when he was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.—2 Chronicles 33:10-13

Manasseh’s story of repentance never gets old!  I am as surprised by the richness of God’s mercy and grace toward him as I was on my very first read.  His conversion hits my heart harder than even Paul’s in the NT, because Manasseh was a total apostate.  Paul was a religious leader, a Pharisee of Pharisees.  

It stands out also, because as Manesseh suffered and was alone with his thoughts, I am sure he spent much time contemplating his father Hezekiah’s relationship with God.  Manesseh had had the opportunity to see not only Hezekiah’s humility and dependence on God, but also God’s subsequent mercy and grace toward him when he repented.  

I am so thankful that God uses us, as frail and fallen human beings, to come alongside Him in His work both in the here and now and even after we have left this earth.  Our good works, that He prepared beforehand for us, are eternal in Him and are used for His eternal purposes.  Our work is never in vain in the Lord. 

Our God is the same yesterday today and forever.  The God who brought Manasseh into affliction and to repentance is the same God who did that work in my own heart. My spirit testifies with Manesseh’s that my heart change was all of God from beginning to end. It is also God who continues that good work today and will continue to perfect and complete it til the day of His return. There is no explanation for my coming to God except for His unfailing love and grace.  I am a woman who has been forgiven much. I could not, not sin. I had tried everything I knew from self-help books to gritting my teeth to become a “good” person.  BUT EVEN IN MY FAILURE GOD IS TO BE PRAISED AND GOD IS TO BE THANKED!  He used my hopeless and helpless condition to draw me to Him.  

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved ME, even when I was dead in my trespasses and my sin, made me alive together with Christ, His Son.  I have been saved the same way Manesseh was saved....the same way Paul was saved...by grace...by God’s unmerited favor toward me.

I knew then and I know now that conversion is supernatural and all of God. Truly a changed human heart is God’s greatest miracle.  If God can forgive and save Manesseh, He can and will do the same for you.  

And who can complain that the way of heaven is blocked up, when he sees such a sinner enter? Say the worst against thyself, here is one as bad who finds the way to repentance. Deny not to thyself that which God hath not denied to thee; it is not thy sin, but thy impenitence, that bars heaven against thee.—Matthew Henry

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,

And to present you faultless

Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

To God our Savior,

Who alone is wise,

Be glory and majesty,

Dominion and power,

Both now and forever.

Amen.—Jude 24-25

Turn to Me...

16 Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me,

For I am desolate and afflicted.

17 The troubles of my heart have enlarged;

Bring me out of my distresses!

18 Look on my affliction and my pain,

And forgive all my sins.

19 Consider my enemies, for they are many;

And they hate me with cruel hatred.

20 Keep my soul, and deliver me;

Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You.

21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,

For I wait for You.—Psalm 25

Father,

Thank you that when I feel alone and afflicted, I am never left desolate, for You are ALWAYS with me.  I turn myself to You, and I am helped. Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, and Your tender mercies surround me. Thank you that You are my support. You bring me out of my distresses and enlarge the path under my feet so I do not slip. You consider my troubles!  You think on me!  As one whom his mother comforts, so You comfort me!  

You FORGIVE my sins!  Lord...for this I have not enough words of thanksgiving!  Toil and trouble will be mine here on this earth, and I am content because You pity me in all of them...BUT You  have made my sins as far as the east is from the west.  You remember them no more. A way has been made in the wilderness for me. I am Yours. In Christ, Your precious Son, nothing...not even my sins...can separate me from Your love. 

My love for You incites men to hate me...BUT You are my shield and my exceedingly great reward.  May I never desire to have it any other way,  For You say:

"Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! For so did their fathers to the false prophets." But, "Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in Heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the Prophets."

Make my trust in You my battle cry!  Your banner over me is love. I WILL trust You.  I will look to You and be radiant...my face unashamed. 

I will lift up my eyes to the hills--

From whence comes my help?

2 My help comes from the LORD,

Who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, He who keeps Israel

Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD is your keeper;

The LORD is your shade at your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD shall preserve you from all evil;

He shall preserve your soul.

8 The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in

From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Father...Even though for now my heart is crushed with sorrow, Your eye of compassion rests on me.  As You said to Ephraim of old, You say to me, Your child:

“I do earnestly remember him still” (Jer. 31:20)

I will wait for You, my Jesus.  May my faith be my song!  I will keep my eyes on the bow that You have placed in the cloud. My heart is steadfast, Father, You will not allow my foot to be moved. Your promises are mine...I can say with Job, though You slay me, yet will I trust in You. 

Putting Off ME...

Let each one of us [make it a practice to] please his neighbor for his good, to build him up spiritually. 3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written [in Scripture], "THE REPROACHES OF THOSE WHO REPROACHED YOU (the Father) FELL ON ME (the Son)."—Romans 15:2-3 AMPL

I don’t know about You, but I cannot do the “heart” of what is required in these verses without the Spirit of God’s moment by moment power.  Self-sacrificing love, charitableness, duty to others, sympathy, empathy, self-denial, unselfishness....these do not come naturally to me. I need to depend on my God constantly to put another’s good before mine.  Even when I get it right, sin always lies at my door and its desire is for me.  Only by the Spirit’s power can I rule over it. Even in marriage...even for someone I love as much as I love my husband, it is so difficult. Maybe even more so than for a “neighbor” because how he is and what he does affect ME greatly!  I want peace, I want comfort and very often choosing to walk in another’s shoes and actually feel their pain, grief fear or longing is hard.  

My heart’s default position is ME. It is hard to put off what I might want for my day...and put on, feel and make my priority what another wants.  It is hard to love others sacrificially because what I want for ME so often gets in my way!  Here is the thing, though.  What I notice as I draw increasingly close to my God and stand in the light of His grace, my sinfulness also comes to light and begins to overwhelm me. That might not seem like such a good thing, but it is, because it drives me to my God.  It helps me to really “see” my own weakness and need and cry out all the more for His grace and power in my life.  

but He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you [My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough—always available—regardless of the situation]; for [My] power is being perfected [and is completed and shows itself most effectively] in [your] weakness." Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ [may completely enfold me and] may dwell in me. 10 So I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with difficulties, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak [in human strength], then I am strong [truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God's strength].—2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death?  I thank my God through Jesus Christ, my Lord, who delivered and continues to deliver me from the scourge of ME, MYSELF and I.  Truly, I can cast all MY cares upon Him for He cares for ME!  He will perfect that which concerns ME.  He is my Shepherd. As His beloved daughter, He looks out for ME!  I can put off selfish ambition.  In Christ, I have everything I need. I can edify those I love by pointing them to Him...I can trust those I love into His care...I can trust ME into His care because He CARES for ME too!

Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us,* to the glory of God.—Romans 15:5-7

A Way of Return...

And he stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for thus was the commandment of the LORD by His prophets. 26 The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD also began, with the trumpets and with the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 So all the assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. 29 And when they had finished offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed and worshiped. 30 Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.—2 Chronicles 29:25-30

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. God provides a way of return!  We are NEVER without recourse when we sin. Prior to salvation my heart would often think after I had sinned, that there was no way back...I had gone too far...God could never forgive me.  Tragically, I used these thoughts to sin even more because I had already gone beyond (in my view) the point of no return.  Today, when I sin my heart sorrows, but not as one who has no hope.  I rejoice as the people of Israel did, because God has provided me with a way back into fellowship with Him.  God has accepted His Son’s propitiation!  Jesus’ perfect life, death and resurrection has made me free from the law of sin and death. My sins...past, present and future are forgiven!  I am alive to God. The life I now live, I live unto Him!  I still struggle in my flesh but praise God, sin no longer has dominion over me.   When I bring my heart to Him for cleansing, there is sorrow, but there is also much joy in the Holy Spirit. As a believer in Jesus, I stand justified before God.  I LIVE in His grace!  His mercy surrounds me.  I sing with the Levite’s:

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.—Psalm 136:1

And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. 19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.—Hebrews 10:11-14; 19-23

Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. 13 Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. 14 For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. 15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.—Hebrews 13:12-15

1 Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!

2 Serve the LORD with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

3 Know that the LORD, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

5 For the LORD is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.—Psalm 100:1-5

Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!

They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.

16 In Your name they rejoice all day long,

And in Your righteousness they are exalted.

17 For You are the glory of their strength,

And in Your favor our horn is exalted.

18 For our shield belongs to the LORD,

And our king to the Holy One of Israel.—Psalm 89:15-18 

Love is the Fulfillment of the Law...

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.  11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.—Romans 13:8-12

This portion of Romans has had a profound impact on my life. In my humble opinion, it is one of the most powerful portions of Scripture from both a doctrinal and practical standpoint. Love is the debt that is always owed..it is never repaid. Love set us free from the law of sin and death and that same self-sacrificing love will enable us to walk in the Spirit...putting on our Lord Jesus Christ, whose love fulfilled every jot and every tittle of the law for us who believe.  Love is the summation of our obedience for in it the whole law is fulfilled. 

If we truly love the people God puts in front of us, we will always do what is in their best interests.  We will care for them in the same way that we want God to care for us.  

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12, ESV)

This kind of love fulfills the law because it does no harm...only what is good, what is right or what is best.  This kind of love speaks truth, ministers to needs, sets a godly example, covers faults, forgives, endures and sacrifices on behalf of others. The only way we can love this way is by relying on the power of God’s Spirit in our hearts.  I like it because it is simple...one law...the law of love.  Love is always the right response...love never fails. 

Day by day the time draws nearer for our Jesus to return for His church.  Truly, as we look around, our salvation IS nearer than when we first believed.  Because this is true, let us cast off the works of darkness and live in the light of His love...freely sharing it with others. Show the people in Your life in Your outward behavior, the inward reality of the love the Spirit of God has shed abroad in Your heart!  Draw them to the One alone, who can save them, by Your love.  

Father...we want to love like this!  Thank You that You have shed Your love abroad in our hearts.  You are our Shepherd and have given us all we need to love others as you have loved us...to meet them at their point of need.  We submit  to Your Spirit right now and ask that He would purify our hearts and teach us to love. Thank you that you have made the fulfillment of the law so very simple...even a child can understand. 

❤️Romans 12❤️ Psalm 22❤️

Romans 12...

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Serve God with Spiritual Gifts

3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. 20 Therefore

"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

If he is thirsty, give him a drink;

For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head."

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12 is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of practical Christian living.  Reading through it is ALWAYS convicting.  My inner man truly wants to live out all of it!   Like Paul, I delight in the law of God in my inward man. My desire is to love and serve Him with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength!  Sadly, I find myself, also like Paul, doing those very things that I will not to do!  Those things that are the polar opposite of what I read in Romans 12. Oh wretched man that I am!  So thankful for my Jesus who did deliver and continues to deliver me from this body of death.  Through Him, I am more than a conqueror!  

When I had finished reading Romans 12 this morning, my OYB took me to Psalm 22 verse 19. 

But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me;

O My Strength, hasten to help Me!

This morning, I am crying out with Jesus,...oh Lord...be not far from me!  Oh, my Strength, hasten to help me!  

Father,  Enable me to walk in Your way, by Your strength and power..teach me to stay myself on You and find my comfort in Your support.   Oh Lord! Do this work in my heart.  I want to walk in Your Spirit doing those things that are good and right. ❤️

A Tale of Two Women...

Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs of the house of Judah. 11 But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were being murdered, and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah so that she did not kill him. 12 And he was hidden with them in the house of God for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.—2 Chronicles 21:10-12

One evil woman, Athaliah, seeks to destroy God’s kingdom by putting out the lamp of David in Judah and setting up for herself and her posterity a kingdom.  Perhaps intending, as Matthew Henry says, to transmit the crown of Judah after herself to some of her own relations, that though her family was cut off in Israel by Jehu it might be planted in Judah.   One good woman, Jehoshabeath, seeks to preserve God’s kingdom by saving Ahaziah’s youngest son, Joash, from being murdered and hiding him away in the house of God for six years.  God’s word does not return void.  Not a jot or tittle will be left unfulfilled.  Good overcame evil...Joash became king at the ripe old age of seven and Athaliah was executed.   God used one good woman whose heart was for Him to establish His word.  

Father...Give me a courageous and loving heart like Jehoshabeath that desires to do Your will and not my own.  May I be a woman after Your own heart whose hands and heart edify and encourage Your people desiring only their good and Your glory. The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands. This precious woman was truly like the one spoken of in Proverbs 31:31. 

Give her of the fruit of her hands,

And let her own works praise her in the gates.

 Even today, her works are still praising her in the gates!  

Through wisdom a house is built,

And by understanding it is established;

By knowledge the rooms are filled

With all precious and pleasant riches.—Proverbs 24:3-4

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