2 KINGS
MOMENT – (26APR19) Israel and Judah had king after king and most of them did
not follow in the ways of the Lord. Israel’s kings were often assassinated causing
instability in their leadership. One thing that was common with all the kings,
including the few that served the Lord, was that they did not tear down the high
places. Therefore, the Israelites continued to worship their foreign gods
despite some of the kings removing the other idols. We can learn a major lesson
in this repetitive narrative. It is not good enough to only remove what we
desire in our lives that is not of God. We may get rid of one thing and then
choose to hang on to our “favorite” sin. Anything that is not brought under the
full submission to God is a sin. Although Israel may have given up some of
their idols at times, they were still holding on to their high places of
worship that were for their foreign gods, which was unacceptable to the Lord. This
is why the kings did not have to worry about Israel worshiping the true God because
their high places were signs of sin still remaining among them. Israel needed
to have completely eradicated their high places because this only tempted them
to continue in their sins, which they did. God is not looking for us to only
give a part of ourselves to Him. He wants us to be fully dedicated to Him. When
we do so, we can expect the full favor of the Lord on our lives. But when we
operate in disobedience, we can expect the Lord to be displeased and not pour
out His blessings that He would have otherwise bestowed. Something to ponder…
QUESTION OF
THE DAY – (26APR19) Ahaz, the king of Judah did not follow in the Lord’s ways.
He took on the practices of the foreign nations and even had an altar built by
the priest, Uriah, to replace the Lord’s altar at the temple. The priest should
have stood up to the king and refused to take part in his desecration of the
Lord’s sacred things and ordinances, but he was fully complacent in appeasing
King Ahaz. Therefore, he had a hand in Israel turning to idolatry instead of
worshiping the true God who had delivered their ancestors out of Egypt. We have
many in the 5-fold ministry (pastors, teachers, apostles, prophets, & evangelists)
who claim to be of God, and yet, they are like the priest Uriah by failing to
stand on God’s solid word. Nevertheless, the question you must ask yourself is
this, “Will I stand for God regardless of who may not stand with me? Will I not
allow people, places, or things to interfere with my beliefs in Christ? Will I
be a witness to others even if I am persecuted for it? Will I refuse to compromise
God’s word for the sake of political correctness and social acceptance?” In the
times that we live in, this is becoming more of a challenge by the day, and
yet, God requires that we be faithful to Him regardless of if His leaders and
others are not. Those who remain faithful will receive a great reward in the
end. Something to ponder...
2 KINGS
MOMENT – (26APR19) Israel eventually went into exile. They had forfeited their
blessings of promise that had been made to them and their ancestors. They took
on the ways of the heathen neighbors by building themselves high places in their
various towns, setting up Asherah poles and sacred stones, worshiping the stars,
bowing down to Baal, practicing divination, seeking omens, and sacrificing
their sons and daughters to Molech. They had totally turned against the Lord
and even when they were taken captive, they continued to worship the foreign
gods of the land. Therefore, God gave them over to their enemies to serve them.
The land of America is following in the ways of Jeroboam. We too have our own Baals
both literally and figuratively. We worship money on Wall Street, idolize
actors, sports players and musicians. We have tree huggers and those captivated
by the climate change theorists. We have Christians consulting the horoscopes,
those who call themselves witches, and members in the pews who consult prophets
for profit as a psychic instead of wanting a true Word from the Lord. We start
wars with other nations, sacrifice our undesirables to Molech, and even though
we see our nation falling, we continue to defy the Lord in the spirit of PRIDE.
We too will have our day of destruction as a nation. Yet, God is still wanting
to save souls. It is no longer about the nation as a whole, but the salvation
of individual souls. Rather that is one soul or many, every soul counts to the
Lord. Let us not follow in the ways of Jeroboam, but submit our lives totally
to Christ because He is the only answer for what we need today.
No comments:
Post a Comment