Today’s Scripture
Reading (November 6, 2013): 2 Chronicles 27
I recently
read a blog entry that assured me that the perfect man does exist. It was
probably the assertion that kept me reading because perfection is not something
that we are confronted with very often in life. According to the article, there
is not just one perfect man, but there are actually five perfect types of men. The
evaluation of perfect of course was from a woman’s point of view. However,
apparently there is only one type of man for each age stage of a woman, because
apparently what a woman wants differs at different stages of their lives.
Sometimes it is common interests that is attractive to them, but at other times
it is a specific body type. During one stage women are interested in younger men,
but during another stage it is older men that are attractive. At one stage it
is money that is important, but not at every stage is money attractive to a
woman. So the only conclusion that I could arrive at as I read the article is
that apparently, the perfect man has to change into five very different men as
they grow older, if they are going to truly be considered perfect.
One of the
great things about the Bible is that it does not present a lot of perfect
people as it tells the story of God’s interaction with our world. But Jotham is
one of the exceptions; he is one of the perfect ones. Jotham is the only king,
starting from Saul, David and Solomon and then continuing down the lines of the
both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, in which
God does not seem to have a complaint. Other good kings were not able to
maintain their rightness before God throughout their reigns. For every other
king, even the good ones, the king failed God at one point during their reign.
But Jotham is the exception.
Although
there is no record of a national revival during his reign, Jotham seemed to
quietly and humbly follow the instructions of his God. He built up the
fortifications in Jerusalem and in other cities in Judah, but the temple was
never ignored. As a king he made God his priority.
And God
blessed Jotham. He was given victory over his enemies and his boundaries and
people were made secure. Charles Spurgeon simply comments about Jotham that he
“must have been a man of prayer. He
could not have prepared his ways thus anywhere except at the mercy-seat. He
must have been in the habit of taking his daily troubles to his God, and of
seeking guidance from him in his daily difficulties, and of blessing him for
his daily mercies. He must have been in constant communion with his God, or
else he could not have ordered his ways aright before him.”
So this
humble king was perfect, because he continually relied not on his own strength,
but on God’s.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2
Chronicles 28
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