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Day 114, or April 24. God sees through our worst motives. Our thoughts today are from

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2 Chronicles 15, verse 4. But in their distress they turned to the LORD the God of Israel,

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and sought Him, and He was found by them.

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And now the big picture surrounding this verse. There was a time during the divided kingdom

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when the revivals in the south attracted the backslidden northerners. Before the Assyrians

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scattered the ten tribes of the north, it is very likely that the more faithful people

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from all these tribes migrated south to Judah. The only part of the twelve tribes that survived

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was the southern part, and yet it dropped its name of Judah and became known as Israel,

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which was the name of their patriarchal father after it was changed from Jacob, father of

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the twelve tribes. The Gospel of Luke records details of a prophetess called Anna from the

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tribe of Asher, so it seems some did hold on to their tribal names, but remained ever

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faithful to God.

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And today's action step. There are few qualities in people less attractive than selfishness,

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and yet it is this attribute that tends to propel us toward God for His free gift of

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salvation. I have yet to meet a person who came to Christ because they wanted to please

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God. They usually trace their first steps towards repentance down the road of self-preservation.

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Yet God welcomes us despite our initial selfish motives. He hasn't changed. In the days of

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King Asa the chronicle records the nation's response to the message from the prophet Azariah.

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The Bible tells us that they were distressed by what He told them, and they turned to God

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and sought Him out. The text goes on to tell us that they found God, but in Hebrew it is

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more accurate to say that God let them find Him, which is amazing. So that's how God

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treats self-centered people. Remember this when you next come across individuals who

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put themselves first in everything and try to be as compassionate with them as God is

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with you and me.