Set Yourself To Seek God

UZZIAH SET HIMSELF TO SEEK GOD IN THE DAYS OF ZECHARIAH, WHO INSTRUCTED HIM IN THE FEAR OF GOD; AND AS LONG AS HE SOUGHT THE LORD, GOD MADE HIM PROSPER. 2 Chr 26.5.

Being a Field Representative for the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship and a medical doctor in private practice for many years, I have had the opportunity to meet with many businessmen. Many are fervent in their businesses and in the business of the Lord too! The Lord has been good to them and has made them prosper, some beyond measure! It has made me very glad.

However, I have also been ministering in the Church for more than four decades and have seen a phenomena that has saddened me much. Many a young man and woman come into the church and show great promise in spiritual growth and ministry. But quite a number of them get too engrossed in their profession or business even as they are blessed by the Lord. As they begin to climb the ladder of success, sadly they begin to put God aside. More and more of their time is taken up by business and pleasure and they neglect the church and even their spiritual lives. Since God still blesses, they assume that God is still pleased with them and their lives. As for giving tithes, they give even much more. There are those who come and put their offering in the bag and scoot off! They have paid off their dues!

This is a greater tragedy and today's deception by the devil is worse than what happened in the days of God's people of the past! When they become too wealthy, healthy and prosperous, they forget that it was God who brought them up in the first place. They begin to trust in themselves and become too proud, taking all the credit for their success and prosperity!

God is taken by surprise by today's desertions or yester years of ingratitude of His people. We should read the warning that the Lord gave to His Old Testament people of Israel. “When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you--a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant--then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you - wealth, health and prosperity. For the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah. Do what is right and good in the Lord's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers” (Deut 6.10-18).

Dear believer, whether you are a top professional, CEO or a common clerk, give God His due praise if God has been good to you. Do not forget Him or His goodness just because you have now prospered, some of you beyond your dreams! If you do, remember, if God did not spare Israel, His chosen people and even their kings, like Uzziah, He will not let you go! His curse will haunt you to your grave as King Uzziah found out in his selfish pride!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, You have commanded, “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that He may lift you up in due time” (1 Pe 5.6). You have also said, “Pride goes before destruction” (Pro 16.18). Keep me humble when You lift me up. Amen.