Know God - Day 22

 1 Kings 12

God is speaking through his prophets...and the kings weren't listening. of course.

After Solomon died, the country split.  One trip went to the north calling themselves Israel with Jeroboam and the others stayed south with Rehoboam. These were called Jew-duh (Judah) and included Jerusalem - the City of David.

What is God saying to us?  He tells us to 'don't be as evil as Jeroboam' and 'don't be as unwise as Rehoboam.'

The northern tribe approached the southern tribe and offered to serve them if theyhelped lighten their load.  Wisely we sought out the advisors and elders.  Unwisely he ignored them.  and turned to his peers for what they said.  God is telling us to seek wise advice, but stick with it!!  Don't wait until you hear what you want to hear.

Have we ever searched for advice we wanted to hear? how did it turn out?  Of course. I am a stubborn human.  And it never turns out well.  I always end up going back to the original advice that I tried to ignore.  Begrudgingly...

1 Kings 14:7-10; 15:26; 34; 16:13, 19, 25, 30; 22:52
2 Kings 3:2; 13:2; 13:11; 14:24; 15:9; 15:18; 15:24; 15:28; 17:2
(read until you notice a definite pattern)

All the kings of Israel were evil. End of story.   I heard a pastor recently that found a trend - all the evil kings of Israel had short reigns.  The righteous ones, the ones who did good in the eyes of God had longer reigns.  You can read and notice how long they ruled. (or didn't)

Now - the consequences -

2 Kings 17:5-9
We hurt God - often! By our sin, rebellion, evil.  And we pay for it.  Here the consequence of the sin, evil and rebellion is God removing his hand of protection.  I know without a doubt that I need - not just want - NEED God's hand of protection on me.  Pastor says we need to confess our sins. Now.

Now the kings of Judah:
1 Kings 14:22; 2 Kings 8:18, 27; 21:2, 20; 23:32, 37; 24:09, 19

Lots of evil here too.  But there were some that did return to God. Evil=stirring up God's jealous anger (not very wise), did evil in the eyes of the Lord...

2 Kings 18:1-3; 22:1-2
Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and destroyed the high places.
Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, destroyed high places, walked in all the ways of David and did not turn aside to the right or left.  Pretty high praise after all the evil kings we've seen.

Then there were those in the middle of the road...
1 Kings 15:11-14; 22:43
2 Kings 12:2-3, 14:3-4, 15:3-4, 34-35

They did what was right. However,  ...

From Pastor: how many of us live "good ... but ..." lives?  They kings didn't remove the high places - the pagan gods of fertility, of the sky. temple prostitutes (you can guess their role). These kings followed God, but allowed the pagan places to remain. Tolerated heresy in the land.  A double standard.

How do we live "good ... but ..." lives?  In what ways do you and/or society officially worship God, but allow pagan places to remain? Is it good or bad that tolerance seems to be the highest value in our society today?

Oh - we're messed up!!!  I am good, but.. I sin. I don't try hard enough not to most of the time.  Me, you society - we allow pagan places to remain. With our freedom of religion, it can be a fine line to do away with it.  It drives me batty that tolerance is the seemingly highest value in our society.  Why do we have to tolerate someone who'd just as soon cuss you for your belief than let you walk quietly by?  It is going to the extreme in society.  Christians are being told to be tolerant of everything, yet others are not expected to return the favor.  (hmm wonder how I feel about this.)

Pastor's count on the kings of Judah was unofficial, but it is safe to say that a very large majority of the kings were evil. What was the final verdict on Judah?

2 Kings 24:1-4
(This passage has some of my favorite bible names.  Say them out loud.  They bounce!)
The Lord was not willing to forgive the shedding of innocent blood.
What???? Judah did not obey. God removed protection.  Ouch.

Pastor writes a prayer:
"O Lord, do not take your hand of protection from me.  Turn me from evil that I may live.  Help my heart to be less divided so I may follow you."
Amen.