This year my goal is to read four chapters a day in the Bible. I'm already well into Second Chronicles and I've read the story of Ahab, Jezebel, Jehu, Jehoram, Athaliah and Jehoida several times. It's recorded over and over.
Such significance.
Each time I read it I am appalled at the wickedness of "God's People," the Israelites. I'm also amazed at God's mercy, and His fulfillment of His promises.
These stories are not boring. They are gruesome, full of action, and hard to read for me. I have an overactive imagination.
God is a Just Person. He always was, always will be.
That is fearsome for humankind.
His holiness prevents sin from His presence. Jesus bridged the gap, paid the price, restored relationship. God sees Jesus when He beholds us, His own children. WE CAN'T DO A THING to earn His goodwill. Impossible. The Apostle Paul tried to nail that truth into people, but they just don't get it.
They prefer to "do" things for a false god, in pride and self justification, rather than humble themselves and repent.
Athaliah was a horrible human being. Wicked to the core, she influenced an entire kingdom against God. When her son, the king, was brutally murdered, she murdered every single member in the kingly line-up, every one that she could find.
A princess hid a young toddler in a chamber and smuggled him away to grow up with Jehoida, the priest.
Jehoida's righteous influence on this child changed the course of the kingdom for good.
Please read 2 Chron. 20 for the whole story. You'll be fascinated.
There are so many things to apply from this story! I'll focus on one.
Athaliah was a mother who wielded much power and influence. Being evil, she reveled in sinful customs. We all know sin can be pleasurable, for a time, and we all know that we naturally revert to sin. It's easy. It's our nature. "In sin did my mother conceive me."
It's much more difficult to do righteously. It's almost impossible to have purely righteous thoughts and intent. Pride is always the default sin, and it's the one that got Lucifer.
Thank the LORD he's got a solution for those thoughts in eternity. We are washed in the blood of the Lamb, and we are counted righteous.
But for now, we have them. We all have them. Human nature is tainted.
There's no solution for it except Christ alone. "There is salvation in none other." (Acts 4:12)
Athaliah followed her own pride and power. She worshiped idols and lived for her own pleasure. The Bible says that she was the king's counselor, so she had access to influence. Then, she became a self-declared monarch.
I wonder if we recognize Athaliah in ourselves at all, because that spirit is in all of us.
When you unleash a sinful spirit you have no sense of true righteousness.
Last week there was a horribly sad situation in California where a family of eight were killed. It appears that the perpetrator was one of the mothers of the group. She had chosen a lifestyle that catered to her own pleasure. Her god became herself. She became the ruler of her own world.
When her world clashed with God's world she chose a path that had no moral significance, just as she had lived. Murder is no worse than anything else, right?
Too often people in alternative lifestyles lose their moral moorings completely. You'd be amazed at the murder/suicide rates among these individuals. It makes perfect sense, though. When you abandon your morals life becomes a fuzzy mess of existentialism. Murder is nothing to such an existence. It's part of what you choose.
Scary thought.
Atheists always have a weak argument for this. They insist that preventing harm is an evolutionary trait. Their position is easily disproved. If that were the case we'd all be nurturing and loving. None of us are! The feelings a mother has for her baby are certainly natural, but when that child defies her something inside of the mother dies. It's natural. We still love, but there are natural consequences of sin! Relationships suffer from sin.
Athaliah is a prime example!
We NEED God's moral Laws to keep us from such madness. We need to choose righteousness. We need to repent from sin.
God is LOVE, God is GOOD! God is merciful and wonderful.
Why would anyone choose anything but God?!
It is in our sinful nature to seek our own way.
Athaliah was a seeker of her own way. God prevailed. She was destroyed, and God's plan was carried out despite her satanic role in attempting to thwart it.
God's plan is always carried out. He's all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present.
Get on His side today, and live for Him. He loves you. He wants to use you in His kingdom work. He wants you to snatch souls from the fire of hell (Jude 23).
Get on it!
Maranatha!!!
Such significance.
Each time I read it I am appalled at the wickedness of "God's People," the Israelites. I'm also amazed at God's mercy, and His fulfillment of His promises.
These stories are not boring. They are gruesome, full of action, and hard to read for me. I have an overactive imagination.
God is a Just Person. He always was, always will be.
That is fearsome for humankind.
His holiness prevents sin from His presence. Jesus bridged the gap, paid the price, restored relationship. God sees Jesus when He beholds us, His own children. WE CAN'T DO A THING to earn His goodwill. Impossible. The Apostle Paul tried to nail that truth into people, but they just don't get it.
They prefer to "do" things for a false god, in pride and self justification, rather than humble themselves and repent.
Athaliah was a horrible human being. Wicked to the core, she influenced an entire kingdom against God. When her son, the king, was brutally murdered, she murdered every single member in the kingly line-up, every one that she could find.
A princess hid a young toddler in a chamber and smuggled him away to grow up with Jehoida, the priest.
Jehoida's righteous influence on this child changed the course of the kingdom for good.
Please read 2 Chron. 20 for the whole story. You'll be fascinated.
There are so many things to apply from this story! I'll focus on one.
Athaliah was a mother who wielded much power and influence. Being evil, she reveled in sinful customs. We all know sin can be pleasurable, for a time, and we all know that we naturally revert to sin. It's easy. It's our nature. "In sin did my mother conceive me."
It's much more difficult to do righteously. It's almost impossible to have purely righteous thoughts and intent. Pride is always the default sin, and it's the one that got Lucifer.
Thank the LORD he's got a solution for those thoughts in eternity. We are washed in the blood of the Lamb, and we are counted righteous.
But for now, we have them. We all have them. Human nature is tainted.
There's no solution for it except Christ alone. "There is salvation in none other." (Acts 4:12)
Athaliah followed her own pride and power. She worshiped idols and lived for her own pleasure. The Bible says that she was the king's counselor, so she had access to influence. Then, she became a self-declared monarch.
I wonder if we recognize Athaliah in ourselves at all, because that spirit is in all of us.
When you unleash a sinful spirit you have no sense of true righteousness.
Last week there was a horribly sad situation in California where a family of eight were killed. It appears that the perpetrator was one of the mothers of the group. She had chosen a lifestyle that catered to her own pleasure. Her god became herself. She became the ruler of her own world.
When her world clashed with God's world she chose a path that had no moral significance, just as she had lived. Murder is no worse than anything else, right?
Too often people in alternative lifestyles lose their moral moorings completely. You'd be amazed at the murder/suicide rates among these individuals. It makes perfect sense, though. When you abandon your morals life becomes a fuzzy mess of existentialism. Murder is nothing to such an existence. It's part of what you choose.
Scary thought.
Atheists always have a weak argument for this. They insist that preventing harm is an evolutionary trait. Their position is easily disproved. If that were the case we'd all be nurturing and loving. None of us are! The feelings a mother has for her baby are certainly natural, but when that child defies her something inside of the mother dies. It's natural. We still love, but there are natural consequences of sin! Relationships suffer from sin.
Athaliah is a prime example!
We NEED God's moral Laws to keep us from such madness. We need to choose righteousness. We need to repent from sin.
God is LOVE, God is GOOD! God is merciful and wonderful.
Why would anyone choose anything but God?!
It is in our sinful nature to seek our own way.
Athaliah was a seeker of her own way. God prevailed. She was destroyed, and God's plan was carried out despite her satanic role in attempting to thwart it.
God's plan is always carried out. He's all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present.
Get on His side today, and live for Him. He loves you. He wants to use you in His kingdom work. He wants you to snatch souls from the fire of hell (Jude 23).
Get on it!
Maranatha!!!
