2 Kings 17.13; 23b 13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and
Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and
keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I
commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”
23b So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria
until this day. (ESV)
I’m not sure who the writer of 2 Kings was: whoever it
was seemed to have a dim view of the shenanigans of God’s people and their
insistence on ignoring God’s prophets and seers. It’s like the writer was saying:
“I told you and told you, but you kept
ignoring and ignoring…and now there is no remedy for what you’re going to go
through. I (God) cannot save you from the choices you’ve made.” God’s
people were called and held accountable to His law. It required faith, but it
also required obedience as well. I’m not sure which is harder: walking in faith
according to the Law, or walking in faith according to grace. They both require
relationship.
Verse 23 above leads us to believe that the reproach was
so great that it persisted: “…to this day.”
In other words, for the reader then it was ongoing and for the reader today
(centuries later) it still hasn’t been fixed – there’s still a problem. It’s
not like God didn’t tell them.
It makes me ask the question: what has God been asking us about in our own lives – that we should
deal with – that we’ve been ignoring? What issues might we have that
persist to this day? Are there secret sins? Is there unforgiveness and
bitterness? Are there attitudes that affect our gratitude, or altitude? How
about poor choices; persistent petulance?
If someone had an inside view into my life and chronicled
that view, of what, would they say, has persisted in me…to this day? How much of
me is talk, and how much is walk? Do the two match up?
God is still in the warning business. For Israel, to this day, it is still an issue of
their keeping His law; and for the rest of us, to this day, it’s walking in
loving, trusting response to His grace. Either way, there is reward for right relationship,
and consequences going our own way.
God is a God of love there is no denying that, but there
is a way of mistaking that: we try to blame God for not coming through in
circumstances that are painful or don’t provide for us the kind of response we
feel we deserve from Him. God is God and, fortunately, we are not.
The only way for me to deal with the persistent stuff I
battle is to draw closer to God and to seek His help. Without either I’m toast.
I’m learning and reeling in the present day that much of what I have held dear
and espoused over the years was just misguided hogwash and it is time for me to
remember: humbly with God, saying what He tells me to say is much better,
infinitely so than going my own way. I want the persistent stuff (at least the
bad persistent) to die and to live free from the thoughts, words, and deeds
that have held me back –
O Father, may it be so! Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment