Faithful to Answer

“…and they cried out to the Lord,… So Judah defeated Israel on that occasion because they trusted in the Lord, the God of their ancestors.” 2 Chronicles 13:14b, 18

We see the character of our Heavenly Father throughout the scriptures.  In 2 Chronicles 13 Israel was divided, and the northern kingdom of Israel was attacking the southern kingdom of Judah from both sides. In verse 14 it is recorded that King Abijah of Judah and his people looked to the Lord and cried out for help. Even though Abijah was a very evil king, he looked to the Lord in a time of deep crisis and the Lord answered.

Look at the willingness of our God to respond swiftly to prayer when offered with sincerity.  Our enemy repeatedly lies to us that the Lord won’t hear or answer because we haven’t prayed in a week, or we made a mistake, or we are not seeking Him.  Yet, the prayer of King Abijah and the people was received and answered because they relied on the Lord God of their fathers.

What an encouragement this is that the Lord was still faithful to answer them even though Abijah was not a godly king.  Surely the people of Judah were not fully following the Lord either, yet we see God being fully faithful to those that have been unfaithful. No matter where we are in our walk with the Lord, He is willing to hear and answer when we come to Him. 

This speaks of the character of God. He pursued us before we became citizens of Heaven and He continues to pursue us.  He wants us to seek him and pray to him regardless of what we have done because we are His.  When life is difficult and doubts creep, we need to keep praying and refuse to listen to the lies of the enemy.  Our Heavenly Father loves us and is eager to speak to us.