Today we begin looking at 2nd Chronicles in our project of reading through the Bible in the next two years. If you haven’t been reading with us, why not start with this book and join us. In 2nd Chronicles you’ll find that the kings of Israel and Judah had friends or foes involved with them. If they had true friends, who really cared for them, they were assisted in becoming men who lived for God. But often they had foes, even in their inner circle, who led them astray.
To illustrate this: One spring, crows began to pull up a certain farmer’s young corn. Loading his gun, he went out to frighten them away. This same man had a parrot, which when he saw the crows, went over and joined them. When the farmer finished shooting, he found to his surprise that besides killing three crows, he had also wounded his pet. “What did it, Daddy? What hurt our pretty Polly?” cried his children when he arrived home with their bedraggled pet. The farmer answered solemnly, “Bad company. Bad company.”
King Solomon counsels us, “He that walks with wise men shall be wise but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” We must be careful that the one who poses as a friend is not a foe in disguise. A study of the kings of Judah in 2nd Chronicles confirms this warning, for many of the kings were deceived and defeated by foes posing as friends. The best way to find a true friend is to walk with God yourself and choose your friends from among those who also walk with God.
Your companions will either make or break you.
