20 Years to Go



2 Kings 24:1-20
http://www.esvbible.org/2 Kings 24

In this nation, we have been blessed with prosperity and peace. We have never known a time when an invading country has come to our borders and taken us over. We hear about other countries that suffer that fate, but we are unfamiliar with the experience ourselves. Maybe we don’t appreciate this blessing enough!

Our reading for today paints a pretty bleak picture of life in Judah. The nation does not belong to itself. For the past several decades they have been the servants and vassals of invading nations. First the Egyptians come along and strip them all their wealth, and then the Babylonians come and take them over, reducing them further into destitution. Along with the Babylonians, the Arameans, Moabites and Ammonites take their turn as well. As you can see, Judah is left with nothing. They will struggle along in this condition for a couple of decades, receiving no help or leadership from the king. They have abandoned God and He has left them to their choice of idolatry.

It’s a terrible thing when God gives us over to our choice for sin. In Romans 1:24-25, Paul addresses this same situation, only in terms that were appropriate for 600 years later.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

To be left by God the evil choices of our own hearts is a tragic event. But God does not force us to choose Him. Instead, He lets the consequences of those evil choices bring us to our knees, for His goal is always to bring us back to Himself. Again, let’s remember that even during this desperate time in the history of God’s people, there were those who remained faithful to Him. We know that is true because the stories of those people are told to us in the Scriptures. There were people in the community who knew God and could share His grace and peace with those around them. The fact that they were rarely heard doesn’t matter. They were there and they spoke with God’s voice.

Even though times became terrible, God still had a plan for the redemption of His people. Jesus still looms on the historical horizon for the people of Judah and God’s plan is not thwarted. In Jesus we have forgiveness even when we go our own way. In Jesus we find restoration with God. It is what He wants and it is what we need.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The...
Read more

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv...
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl...
Read more