May the mumbling commence!
It is one thing to abandon the Lord. It is a whole other thing to close the door
for other people. Such was the way of
King Ahaz of Judah. Read from Second
Chronicles chapter twenty-eight:
And when trouble came to King Ahaz,
he became even more unfaithful to
the Lord. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus
who had defeated him, for he said, "These gods helped the kings of Aram,
so they will help me, too, if I sacrifice to them." But instead, they led
to his ruin and the ruin of all Israel. The
king took the utensils from the Temple of God and broke them into pieces. He shut the doors of the Lord's Temple so that no one could
worship there and then set up altars to pagan gods in every corner of
Jerusalem. He made pagan shrines in all
the towns of Judah for offering sacrifices to other gods. In this way, he aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.
(Verses 22-25)
Trouble will reveal our true natures. King Ahaz embraced other gods… the gods of
the people the Lord had driven out before Israel. Why did he worship other gods? Ahaz worshiped them because their people had
defeated him. Never mind that his
wandering from the Lord was the actual cause.
Defeat was only a symptom.
To make matters worse, Ahaz shut the doors of the
Temple. Not only did he refuse to worship
the Lord, he also wanted to keep anyone else from worshiping the Lord. Ahaz encouraged the people to worship other
gods by setting up idols and shrines.
It’s no wonder that the Lord’s anger was aroused!
Everything that we do and feel should be connected with
our relationship with the Lord. Worldly
concerns and circumstances need not affect that relationship. Keep us focused on You, O Lord… whether we
experience poverty or wealth… trouble or prosperity. Read from First Corinthians chapter seven:
Happiness or sadness or wealth should not keep anyone
from doing God's work. Those
in frequent contact with the things of the world should make good use of
them without becoming attached to
them, for this world and all it contains will pass away. In
everything you do, I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. (Verses 30-32a)
Help us to use our worldly treasures to further the work
of the Lord. Everything that we have and
are we owe to the Lord. Why should we
become attached to what we have or what we do?
We find our identity through our relationship to God and our
relationship with the adopted family of God, the church.
Let go of those concerns of this worldly existence. Let go so we can pick up the work that the Lord
has set us to do. Worship the Lord. Serve the Lord. Praise His Holy Name.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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