Am I Proud of God?

I read an interesting verse this past week about Jehoshaphat, King of Judah. When Jehoshaphat became King, God was with him because he, “sought the God of his father, followed His commandments, and did not act as Israel did” (2 Chronicles 17:4). Then in verse 6, it says this...

“He took great pride in the ways of the Lord and again removed the high places and the Asherim from Judah.”

The word pride can mean to be haughty, but in the Greek it can also mean “to soar.” In his heart Jehoshaphat greatly exalted God. As a result of his zeal and excitement about God, he went through the land of Judah and removed the “high places and the Asherim.” In other words he removed the the works and objects of idolatry. He wanted people to worship the one true God and set aside all their other gods and objects that they put their trust in.

I want my heart to be like Jehoshaphat’s, filled with “great pride in the ways of the Lord,” such that I am willing to remove those “high places” in my own heart. To tear down those things that I hold more dear than God, to put aside those things that I put my trust in before I trust in God. I want to see God as plan A, where there is no plan B.

Asa, Jehoshaphat’s father, when faced with war, “relied on the King of Aram” instead of looking to the Lord for deliverance. When his body was sick with disease he “did not seek the Lord, but the physicians” (2 Chronicles 17:7, 12). I do not believe the Bible is telling us not to go to doctors, but it is warning us that whatever we are dealing with in life, we need to turn first to God for our deliverance.

Jehoshaphat “took great pride in the ways of the Lord.” How about you? What does it mean to put God first in everything, even those things that we find scary? How have you looked to God first?