Blundering



2 Kings 14:17-29
17 Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.
18 Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
19 And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there.
20 And they brought him on horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.
21 And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.
22 He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.
23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years.
24 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.
25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.
26 For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel.
27 But the Lord had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

The story is getting a little repetitive. The kings of Judah and Israel fight either with their neighbors or with each other. They disrespect God and chase after idols. The two nations continue to circle the drain. The rest of 2 Kings will continue in much the same fashion. As we read these stories, we wonder if anyone will ever get it right and come back to God. In the northern kingdom, the answer is ‘no’. They continue in their apostasy until God sends them into permanent exile. In the southern kingdom, there are two good kings who try to follow God and undo the damage of those before them.

Maybe it is time to take a moment and look at the big picture. While man blunders around on earth trying to make his own way, God still has a plan. We know that even in the mess that the kings of Israel and Judah made of it, God was working to provide the Savior He had promised. Even though God’s children lusted after idols and turned their backs on Him, He did not turn His back on them. The promised Savior was still coming and would fulfill the work that He was sent here to do – pay the price for our sin. It’s a simple reminder, but one that we all need to hear over and over again.

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