2 Kings 21:1-25

There is clearly a battle that rages for the hearts and souls of men.  This is a fallen planet and Satan has great power and influence over the inhabitants of the Earth.  Hezekiah had just finished tearing down all of the high places in Israel.  This was obviously not something that Satan was pleased with and he would not stand by and just let this happen without any response.  Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son is an instrument in Satan’s hands and he goes out a rebuilds all of the idols that his father had torn down.  We must be careful to not relax after a great spiritual victory or ever consider any area of sin in our lives to be “conquered.”  We must be constantly vigilant knowing that we are vulnerable to temptation and failure no matter how victorious we have been in the past.

MANASSEH CONTRADICTS ALL THE GOOD HEZEKIAH HAD DONE: Hezekiah had a difficult but productive reign.  He was obedient to the Lord and cleaned up the idol worship in Israel better than any king ever had.  Despite, or more likely because of, his faithfulness, he faced constant war, he was likely highly criticized from within and he had poor health.  There are no guarantees in life that if we are faithful to the Lord that all will go well with us.  Actually, the Scriptures promise just the opposite; Paul tells us that ALL who live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  Manasseh chose the path of least resistance.  He saw his father suffer for doing good and wanted no part of it.  He decided the price for serving God was too high and decided to rebuild all of the high place his father had destroyed and build altars to idols in the temple of the Lord.  He had a long reign of 55 years and likely had much more peace than his father did.  From a human perspective Manasseh was much more “successful” than Hezekiah.  But on the judgment day when all men will stand before God; I would much prefer to be Hezekiah than Manasseh.  We must never fall into the trap of measuring our success by human perspectives or standards.


AMON CONTINUES ALL THE EVIL MANASSEH HAD DONE: Amon, Manasseh’s son reigned after him but did not fare quite as well.  His reign only lasted for two years and at the age of twenty-four he was assassinated.  In reality, Amon was fortunate to have survived that long since his father had sacrificed several of his siblings as acts of worship to the many false gods he served.  Amon continued to follow the way of his father and he displeased the Lord greatly.  There are times where God steps in and interrupts history and says: “enough is enough;” however, those instances are not as common as we would like them to be or think that they should be.  We must trust these things in the hand of our sovereign Lord and know that when He acts, or chooses not to act; He does so from the position of an all knowing, all powerful God.  We must simply learn to trust Him in all of these circumstances.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Isaiah 54:1-17

Hope is a wonderful blessing from God, without which we would be vulnerable to all kinds of destructive tendencies in our lives.  Today’s society is marked by depression, anger, fear, anxiety and self-righteousness, in large part, because of the sense of hopelessness that prevails in our culture.  Isaiah writes to a people who are about to be taken into captivity because of their sin.  God knows that they will feel rejected, threatened and hopeless so He reveals His future plans for the nation in order to give them hope in the midst of the coming trial.  Hope is the expectation of good based upon the promises of God.  Many times when our lives are marked by the sins mentioned above it is because we have forgotten or failed to focus upon the promises of God’s Word. THE PROMISE OF GOD: From the very first day that God revealed His plan for the nation of Israel, He promised numerous descendants.  God chose Abraham, not because he was more righteous than any of the other people of his
Read more

1 Timothy 1:3-7

As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not   to teach any different doctrine,   nor   to devote themselves to myths and endless   genealogies, which promote   speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.    The aim of our charge is love   that issues from a pure heart and   a good conscience and   a sincere faith.    Certain persons, by   swerving from these, have wandered away into   vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law,   without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.   There will always be false teachers that come into the church attempting to distract people from the truth and destroy people’s faith.  When this happens, it is the job of spiritually mature leaders to confront these false teachers and correct their teachings.  However, it is important that this correction be accomplished with the right motives and methods. 
Read more

1 Timothy 2:11-15

Let a woman learn quietly   with all submissiveness.    I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.    For Adam was formed first,   then Eve;   and Adam was not deceived, but   the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.    Yet she will be saved through   childbearing—if they continue in   faith and love and holiness, with self-control. There is certainly controversy and confusion about this passage in many churches today.  The idea of a distinction between men and women and their roles in the family and church certainly goes against the flow of many cultures around the world.  Some would argue that the literal and plain teaching of this passage is no longer applicable to today’s culture.  However, it is always dangerous to discard biblical teaching or try to interpret Scripture based on the cultures in which we live.  Certainly, the Spirit who inspired this text was aware of the many changes that would occur in future cul
Read more