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Trevor H Lund is a writer, encourager and authorprenuer. As a writer he entrusts words to print, ebooks and audiobooks at https://TrevorLund.com and as an encourager he builds up others with blog posts, podcast and live casts at https://revtrev.com and as an Authorprenuer he teachs in courses, coaching and community as Founder of Live LIGHT Academy at https://livelight.ca . His passion is to help you enjoy peace and joy and hope at all times and in every situation. He holds you capable and Holy Spirit trustable for the transformation needed for that to occur in your day-to-day of everyday.
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Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp, who himself had known the apostle John. Irenaeus stood against Gnosticism in the second century following Jesus’ death and resurrection. He wrote in his book Against Heresies
The glory of God is man fully alive
Irenaeus Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies), Book 4, Chapter 20, Section 7.
I want to always remember that…
The glory of God is me fully alive. It’s to God’s glory that I live everyday of my life. So I never want to forget…
I need to seek His face always (Psalm 105:4) . I need to seek Him and find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). I need to seek Him and live! (Amos 5:4)
So I thought I would explain this by telling you stories that we often overlook from the ancient Kingdom of Judah.
I have taught each of these points as complete messages in the past. I’ve used them as a series. Today I’m going to try combining them all together by telling you the stories of 3 different Kings of Ancient Kingdom of Judah.
3 Kings of Judah that help seek the Lord and live
King Asa 911 BCE to 870 BCE - 2 Chronicles 14 - 16
his son
King Jehoshaphat 870–849 BCE - 2 Chronicles 17- 20
Jehoshaphat's great-great-great-grandson (107 years following)
King Uzziah 783–742 BCE 2 Chronicles 26
Each of these kings sought God for a time, for a reason, or because of someone else. Each of them found success. Two of them ultimately failed. And all their lives are lessons we can never forget.
Can I pray?
Seeking the Lord a clear theme in 2 Chronicles in two ways.
First, every King is compared to David—the first of their line.
There are 7 times in the complete book of Samuel at David inquired of the Lord, (1 Samuel 23:2, 1 Samuel 23:4, 2 Samuel 2:1, 2 Samuel 5:19, 2 Samuel 5:23, 2 Samuel 21:1) and 7 is significant. It means total and complete. David was a man after God’s own heart because he always sought the Lord, not because he always did everything right, but even when he did things very wrong, he sought the Lord. So in Chronicles the kings are compared to David if they completely sought God, sometimes sought God, sought God then stopped or didn’t seek God than started. It’s full of great stories.
And secondly the theme of seeking God is prevalent in that when the king and people sought God, they found Him and had peace and prosperity. When they didn’t… all kinds of terrible things happened…usually. Sometimes they sought God and terrible things threatened—but we’ll get to that in a bit.
King Asa
Let’s start with life of King Asa. 911 BCE to 870 BCE -
Asa had peace for his reign because the Lord gave him rest on every side because he sought the Lord and commanded his people to seek the Lord.
Asa built up the towns, fortified the cities, had an army of 300,000 infantry and 280,000 archers.
But…
Ethiopia came to attack with an Army of “Thousands upon thousands” – some translations translate that as “a million”. However big it was, Asa felt completely helpless with his army of over half a million.
They had a situation where they saw themselves as powerless.
They called out to God.
He did the work.
When we seek the Lord...
They went from being plundered to getting plunder.
How many of us need that in our lives?
We need to realize what happens when we seek God.
It’s not that we can do more. It’s not that we can do it in our strength. It’s not the size of our army. It’s not the strength of our horse. It’s not the size of our church. It’s not number of ministries we can have going on at the same time. It’s us seeking God and God being found when we seek him.
When they got back to Jerusalem, a prophet gave him a warning that foreshadowed what would happen.
2 Chronicles 15:2 “Listen to me, Asa!” he shouted. “Listen, all you people of Judah and Benjamin! The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him! Whenever you seek him, you will find him. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you.
The Lord is with us, when we’re with him. When we seek him we’ll find him.
If we abandon him, he will abandon us.
How did Asa respond to this prophecy to seek the Lord?
It’s all about how we respond to the word of the Lord. Remember the parable Jesus told of the seed. Same seed, different types of ground. What is the condition of your heart when the word of God is spread?
When people compliment my preaching, it tells me more about the condition of their heart than it does about my preaching. When people complain about my preaching—sometimes it’s me, but often—it’s more about the condition of their heart, than it is about how I said what I said.
When Asa heard this message he “took courage” and he removed idols from the high places. He repaired the altar of the Lord and he called an assembly to seek the Lord He even deposed his grandmother because she made an Asherah pole.
(It’s not just the King who deposed his brother. It’s happened before that family needed to be removed.)
What Asa missed about how to seek the Lord
Seeking the Lord can be an event, but what Asa missed is that it needs to be a lifestyle.
Asa didn’t do that. He didn’t seek God always. He sought God for a season. He liked to have events.
He saw peace for a long time.
But in the 36th year of his reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded and fortified a town in Judah.
And Asa didn’t ask God what to do. He failed to seek God’s guidance.
He had been king 36 years, he knew how to govern. He had success. He knew what other kings did. He formed an alliance with the King of Aram. He put his trust in a foreign power.
The prophet Hanani stood up and called him on it:
2 Chronicles 16:7-9 At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa and told him, “Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram instead of in the Lord your God, you missed your chance to destroy the army of the king of Aram. Don’t you remember what happened to the Ethiopians and Libyans and their vast army, with all of their chariots and charioteers? At that time you relied on the Lord, and he handed them over to you. The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What a fool you have been! From now on you will be at war.”
God is seeking those who seek him.
How did Asa respond to this prophecy?
Not well…
He put the seer in prison and started oppressing some of his people.
2 Chronicles 16:12-13 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a serious foot disease. Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the Lord’s help but turned only to his physicians. So he died in the forty-first year of his reign.
WOW, what happened?
In his heart he did not set apart God as Lord. He thought seeking the Lord was an event and he had been there, done that, got the t-shirt. He had a season of seeking God. He had events of seeking God. He saw success seeking God.
But in the last years of his life, he would only seek the advice of doctors. He took offence at God.
Doctors are good, but put your trust in God and Seek the Lord
This verse is NOT telling us to NOT to seek the advice of doctors. It’s an indictment on what we may be trusting in.
Jesus is a name above every name. His name is above every prognosis. The name of Jesus is above the name of every type of cancer. His name is greater than heart diseases, greater than hearing loss, greater than hernia, greater than sciatica. His name is greater than fibromyalgia, greater than diabetes and greater than IBS and greater than seizures.
He is greater than any prognosis or problem.
But it’s not one versus the other. It’s what are we trusting in.
I know It’s easier to trust prognosis than it is to trust God to heal the prognosis.
For me it’s a matter of where my peace stays. Is God going to give me strength and grace through this or is he going to heal me of it. If it’s for His glory that I’m fully alive, what does fully alive look like with this prognosis. I can’t decide for God what will give him more glory. I need to seek him to find out what he wants me to do.
We wrestle for our peace.
Don’t be like Asa. The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. He will renew your strength.
King Asa:
God is searching for hearts fully devoted to Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9
King Asa story reminds us: We need to seek His face always (Psalm 105:4)
That takes us to his son Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat
I’ll summarize the story the best I can. I want you to see what seeking the Lord meant for Jehoshaphat.
2 Chronicles 17:3-6 The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father David before him. He did not consult the Baals but sought the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel. The Lord established the kingdom under his control; and all Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, so that he had great wealth and honour. His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah.
But he had an alliance with Ahab. Yes, that Ahab. The one from the stories about Elijah. The one who married Jezebel.
And Jehoshaphat’s alliance was a marriage alliance—we’ll hear more about that in a bit.
Ahab wanted his help to attack Ramoth Gilead. I’m going to have to let you read the story in 2 Chronicles 18.
I want you to know the thing that amazes me about that story. In antiquity this story has very unique elements that we do not find in any other contemporary sources. This book tells us the good, the bad, the ugly, the funny. All other contemporary stories sugar-coat the good.
Not in this book.
You don’t get the insight you find from the Bible from contemporary Assyrian texts or later Babylonian and certainty earlier Babylonian or Egyptian. Hittite - I haven’t studied. It’s only been translatable since 2009. What I’ve read in translations, it’s the stories in the Bible that are unique. What I’m saying is when you see the personalities in this story, you only get that in this book. It’s ancient and it is amazing.
Make sure you read the story in 2 Chronicles 18.
When Jehoshaphat returned from battle where Ahab died…
2 Chronicles 19:2-3 Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him. “Why should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?” he asked the king. “Because of what you have done, the Lord is very angry with you. Even so, there is some good in you, for you have removed the Asherah poles throughout the land, and you have committed yourself to seeking God.”
How did Jehoshaphat respond?
Very well.
Jehoshaphat started appointing judges and instructed them how to establish justice. He appointed Levites, priests and heads of family to and gave them orders to serve wholeheartedly in the fear of the Lord.
And you would expect all rainbows and sunshine, wouldn’t you. But that’s not life when you live in a fallen world.
He was about to face a situation where he didn’t know what to do. He got word that three armies were on their way to attack him.
But because he had been seeking the Lord, he knew he had to seek the Lord.
You and I might have taken offence. We might have tried to explain to God that we had appointed good and godly judges, that we had encouraged the people to return to God, that we had removed the pagan shrines and Asherah poles. We might have had to pity party. We might have had a good lament.
But he had been seeking the Lord, so he knew he had to seek the Lord.
He called a fast and he called an assembly. And in that assembly he led a prayer that you and I may need to pray at times.
It talks about the greatness of God. It talks about the promise of God. It doesn’t deny the real problem they are facing. And it ends up with a prayer I know I’ve prayed more than a few times.
2 Chronicles 20:12 (NIV) Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
What if you and I knew how to seek the Lord when we don’t know what to do?
What if our default was to not blame God for our circumstance but to draw near to him so he could draw near to us?
Jesus told us to “Seek first Kingdom and his righteousness.”
We are going to have bad news. In this world we will have trouble. What if you wouldn’t fear bad news, even when it comes?
That’s what happens when we seek Him and know we’ll find him.
Everyone is standing there waiting with anticipation. What would be God’s response?
It was a great response. I prophet stood up and encouraged them I just want to highlight one verse.
2 Chronicles 20:17 (NIV) You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.”’
How many agree that’s a good word?
Jehoshaphat once again responded with faith.
Then King Jehoshaphat bowed low with his face to the ground and all the people worshipped God. The next day the worshippers were placed at the head of the army who marched out to meet this great host.
Except maybe at Jericho, this is the first time the praisers went before the army. Think a drummer standing in the line during the US civil war. Now have everyone except the drummer take a few steps back. Enemy at the front. Person making the most noise in between. This is what’s happening real time.
Yet what happened in the natural is so crucial for us in the spiritual. We’ll get to that in a bit.
At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves.
They did their part. God did his part. They praised him before the answer came. Praising him brought their answer.
That’s a good word right there. You’ll naturally praise him when the answer comes. Praise him before the answer comes. It might release the answer to come.
That’s the dance we’re all in. We do our part—trust him before the answer comes enough to praise him to allow the answer to come. Well that, and he empowers us to accomplish every good work prompted by faith.
King Jehoshaphat and his men went out to gather the plunder. They found vast amounts of equipment, clothing, and other valuables—more than they could carry. There was so much plunder that it took them three days just to collect it all!
On the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Blessing, which got its name that day because the people praised and thanked the Lord there. It is still called the Valley of Blessing today.
King Jehoshaphat: When you don’t know what to do, trust God enough to seek Him.
King Asa’s story reminds us: We need to seek His face always (Psalm 105:4
King Jehoshaphat’s story reminds us: We need to seek Him and find Him (Jeremiah 29:13)
Let’s move on to the final story… King Uzziah
Maybe I should give you part of the backstory and catch you up on what happened between Jehoshaphat and his great-great-great-grandson.
Why there was two Kingdoms?
The kingdom was united under Saul, David and Solomon, then Solomon’s son Rehoboam answered the northern 10 tribes poorly and they separated and created the Kingdom of Israel, while Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to house of David and became the Kingdom of Judah.
In the 209 year history of the northern kingdom of Israel there were 19 kings and 7 of them were murdered, one committed suicide before he could be killed. There was a 42% chance you’d be murdered or kill yourself if you were a king of Israel. There is no mention of any king of Israel dying of old age or in peace. One might have. History was written mainly from the ones in the south.
In the southern kingdom of Judah, where the line of David ruled—for all but 8 years—in its 347 year history starting with Rehoboam, they had 20 kings and only 4 were murdered. Three of those in rather quick succession and it had everything to do with the line of Ahab and Jezebel from Israel.
Jehorham
Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram married Athaliah. That was the political marriage for the alliance I talked about. She was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. Jehoram and Athaliah did evil things in Judah. He killed all his brothers and they worshipped Baal.
God had raiders come and nations revolt and gave Jehoram a disease and in the second year of that disease his bowels burst out and he died in great pain.
Ahaziah
Ahaziah, (Athaliah and Jehorm’s youngest son) was made king when he was 22. His older brothers had all been killed raiders. And his mother encouraged him to do wrong. He made another alliance with the house of Ahab. He was with his cousin when Jehu started executing judgement against the house of Ahab in the northern Kingdom of Israel.
Jehu killed Ahaziah. Athaliah heard the news that her son was dead and her family was being all executed and wanted to secure her place. So she started killing everyone in David’s line.
Jesus came from David’s line. This was a pre-emptive strike against a davidic Messiah.
But Joash was one year old and the sister of the wife of Jehoidia stole him and his nurse away and he was raised in the temple for six years.
Joash
When Joash was 7, Jehoidia showed his strength and a rebellion against Athaliah occurred and she was killed. Joash was made king and all the years that Jehoidia was alive Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
The good news was Jehoidia lived 130 years.
The bad news was once Jehoidia died, Joash listened to the advice of officials and abandoned the temple and worship at the Asherah poles and idols resumed.
Jehoidia’s son was Zechariah…not the one who wrote the book; that’s Zachariah and he lived during the Babylonian exile. It’s Zechariah—not the Zechariah we’ll see in a couple generations. You’ll see why in a second.
2 Chronicles 24:20 Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands and keep yourselves from prospering? You have abandoned the Lord, and now he has abandoned you!”
And Joash didn’t like that, so he had him stoned.
And Joash’s officials didn’t like that, so they killed him. They set him up, they’re going to take him down.
Amaziah
Then Amaziah (Joash’s son and Uzziah’s dad), became King and killed the officials who killed his father and didn’t kill their children because the law said you shouldn’t.
But when he stopped seeking God - other people killed him.
Four kings from David’s line were killed. Three of them happened within the reach of the lifetime of the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.
And that brings us to Uzziah.
King Uzziah
Uzziah reigned from 767-740 BC… He died 260 years before the Greek Classical Period.
Did you catch that?
I’ve stayed away from dates, because when I say dates people’s eyes gloss over. But you need to understand how ancient these events actually are.
In 2025, Canada is 158 years old and the US is 249 years old.
Uzziah started to reign almost 300 years before Athens defeated Persia at the Battle of Salamis. That might not be impressive to you, that that was the start of the classical period in Greece. These stories happened before Socrates and Aristotle and everything we considered classical. That’s how ancient these stories are.
2 Chronicles 26:3-5 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his father, Amaziah, had done. Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. And as long as the king sought guidance from the Lord, God gave him success.
Remember Joash (Uzziah’s grandfather) had Jehoidia.
2 Chronicles 24:2 Joash did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight throughout the lifetime of Jehoiada the priest.
Uzziah had Zechariah.
2 Chronicles 26:5 Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. And as long as the king sought guidance from the Lord, God gave him success.
They sought God…and maybe it was to impress someone they were impressed with.
You can’t seek God to impress anyone. That can’t be your motive.
How many husbands come to church because of their wives? How many kids go through the motions because of their parents?
God has no grandchildren
What I’m trying to say is God has no grandchildren. You need to have a personal relationship with the creator of the universe.
Yes, the believing spouse can sanctify the unbelieving spouse (1 Corinthians 7:14-16). And yes, parents are told to bring up their children in the way they should go..
I’m not giving an invitation for the unbelieving spouse to remain unbelieving. And it’s not an invitation for kids to go through the motions.
This is a challenge and invitation to have a real empowering relationship with the creator of the universe. It’s for His glory that you are fully alive! Understand He is seeking for you to seek Him always. To seek Him and find Him. To seek Him and live.
Uzziah didn’t realize that.
As long a Zechariah was alive he sought the Lord and God gave him success.
He re-subjugated the Philistines. He built towers. He built cisterns. He had a well trained army. He had machines of war. Uzziah died 380 years before Alexander the Great was born. He had machines of war that could shoot arrows and hurl large stones.
It was amazing.
But as he became powerful, it led to pride and a haughty spirit led to his downfall.
He thought he was all that, and entered the temple of God to do things only priests could do. And they tried to stop him, but he got angry and swung the censor around. And as he was swinging the priests saw leprosy break out on him.
And until he died he had to live in isolation. And he was buried in a field, not with his ancestors.
And the last words on his life were “He had leprosy.”
As long a Zechariah was alive Uzziah sought the Lord and God gave him success.
Throughout the lifetime of Jehoiada the priest, Joash did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight.
Do you think these two kings sought God for the right reason?
Or were they trying to impress someone they were impressed with? Or impress someone they thought they had to satisfy?
What we can remember from King Uzziah:
“Stay humble and keep seeking God—even when He prospers you.”
King Asa story reminds us: We need to seek His face always (Psalm 105:4)
King Jehoshaphat story reminds us: We need to seek Him and find Him (Jeremiah 29:13)
King Uzziah’s story reminds us: We need to seek Him and live! (Amos 5:4)
We need to seek Him and find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). We need to seek His face always (Psalm 105:4) . We need to seek Him and live! (Amos 5:4)
Do you?
Will you?
I was raised in the church and while I was never taught this directly, for a long time if you asked me what it meant to “seek the Lord”, I would tell you something about praying longer or praying louder or maybe fasting if the situation was really serious. I had no idea what the Bible says.
But Jeremiah 29:13 says:
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
But then when I found out the Hebrew understanding of whole heart, I set off on understanding what it meant to seek God with all my heart.
Remember our heart is the seat of our decision, our emotions and our actions.
That means I make the decision to seek Him, I long for his presenceand my actions change to seek him always.
Decision -
Psalm 27:8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek.
There are
7 things the Bible says we can to say to our souls:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul.” Psalm 103:1-2
“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; ” Psalm 62:5
“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God,” Psalm 42:5
“Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.” Psalm 116:7
“Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, my soul.” Psalm 146:1
“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. Psalm 130:5
“Seek His face! Your face, Lord, I will seek.” Psalm 27:8
Speak to your soul and say “Seek His face.”
Have I made the decision to seek the Lord?
Emotion -
Psalm 119:2 Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts.
Sometimes it’s the longing that gets us going. Sometimes it’s a gentle invitation that helps us to start.. When you’re seeking Him it’s joy you feel.
Am I finding joy as I seek Him?
Action -
I’ve found 14 ways to seek the Lord. 7 x 2 = 14. It's a significant number.
14 ways to seek the Lord
- By praying to Him. Call upon Him and pray to Him. Jeremiah 29:12-14a
- By praising and worshipping Him. Psalm 22:22
- By Serving Him. with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind. 1 Chronicles 28:9
- By doing good. Keep your tongue from evil, turn from evil and so good, seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:12-16 Have clean hands, pure heart, don’t lift your soul to idols, don’t swear by what is false. Psalm 24:4-6
- By not doing bad. Forsake evil ways and thoughts. Isaiah 55:6-7
- By confessing and repenting. when you don’t do good or if you do bad. Isaiah 55:6-7
- By living humbly. Do what’s right and live humbly. Zephaniah 2:3
- By expecting you’ll find Him and He’ll reward you. Hebrews 11:6 Psalm 9:10 Lamentations 3:25
- By fasting. Daniel 9:3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
- By obeying His Word. Psalm 119:10-11 NIV I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
- By obeying His voice. Isaiah 45:19
- With an event. 2 Chronicles 7:14
- With your whole heart. Jeremiah 29:13
- With your whole life . Psalm 37:3-5 Psalm 105:4
Do I seek him and live?
It’s glory for God for you to be fully alive.
Seek His face always (Psalm 105:4) Seek Him and find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). Seek Him and live! (Amos 5:4)
It’s not just an event it’s a lifestyle. We are entering a season where we can rely on what God’s entrusted to us and live as if we got there on our own merit. Don’t forget to Seek His face always (Psalm 105:4) Seek Him and find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). Seek Him and live! (Amos 5:4)
What would it feel like to be fully alive? In His presence is fullness of joy. Spend time in his presence and ask him how he wants you to seek him or trust him or know him more.
My experience with him calling me to seek him. I sought him and he heard me. I shared how I seek Him in prayer every day.
Can I pray?
