This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It’s spoken by Hanani, The Prophet, to Asa the King of Judah after he looked to Assyria for help against his enemies instead of turning to God for help. Hanani doesn’t understand why Asa didn’t trust God in his greatest moment of need. “Don’t you know, ” He says, ” the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”
I’m always doing that also. When I face challenges and hardships, I try to deal with them on the basis of my own strengths and resources. I’m reminded of the disciples who saw the five thousand people on the mountain side. They came to Jesus and told him to send the people home because it was getting late and they would be getting hungry. Jesus said to them, “You feed them.” But they looked at the problem and was overwhelmed by the task and said, “no way. It would take a year’s wages to feed that many people.” Rather than trust God to provide for the challenge He gave them, they looked into their wallets, balanced their checking account, measured the task and said, “No Way!”
Jesus hasn’t asked me to feed five thousand. God hasn’t sent me to do battle with the Egyptians. No I have more personal battles. They may be less challenging in comparison, yet I sometimes feel that I don’t have the strength and/or resources to deal with them. That’s when Hanani’s words encourage me. The New Living Translation, puts it this way: “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. ”
Chuck
“Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8 (NLT)