After a series of reasonable or good kings we come to a bad one, Ahaz. Now this following of other religions is not some quaint thing, but something that is utterly evil. He worshipped idols and this involved the sacrifice of children. We should also note that God had driven these people out of the land. Many people object to the instructions in Joshua to drive out all the inhabitants of the Promised Land, killing them as well. Some of these things are difficult to come to terms with, but we need to be aware that at least part of the reason was to rid the land of detestable practices, practices which harmed and destroyed peoples' lives. Choosing to worship another god is not a matter of personal choice but a matter of rebellion against the Lord and an act that will lead to all sorts of evil consequences. We may think this idol worship, and especially child sacrifice, has nothing to do with us any more, but consider this, close to 200 000 children are aborted each year in the UK, and this is just one country. Millions of children have been aborted, and for the vast majority it has not been because of foetal abnormalities. Should this not at least make us think?
So Judah was delivered into the hands of the Arameans. Israel too was given victories over Judah. The most important thing we can do is worship the Lord and obey Him.
Israel committed some atrocities as well. In any act part of it can be the will of God, part of it can be our disobedience. God sent a prophet to the returning army telling them not make slaves of the people of Judah and they followed the prophets command.
Instead of repenting, Ahaz sought help from Assyria. When we get in trouble we should always seek the Lord. Instead, Ahaz just increased his idol worship, and all that went with it. As our society turns away from God and encounters all sorts of problems it just rushed with even greater haste into godlessness. The consequences do not bear thinking about.
No comments:
Post a Comment