Turning your back
This week is on 1 Kings 1:1-4:
Ahaziah was the new king in town after Ahab died. He basically fell off his porch partying and needed to get some help. However, instead of approaching the God of Healing, the God whose name was all over Israel and Judah, he decided to turn to witchcraft and practice the religion of the pagan country next door. It was a horrible decision, and he paid for it with his life.
How messed up do you have to be to turn your back on God and go seek out a false god to answer you? God was right there, but Ahaziah sent a messenger to go all the way to another country to get an answer from Baal-Zebub. What a waste! And what's worse is what kind of message he sent to his people by doing that. It was as if God didn't exist, and Baal-Zebub did, not the other way around.
God makes his point: "Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub?" When he puts it like that, Ahaziah's decision just seems ridiculous. But don't we have our own superstitions we trust in, instead of going to God when we need help? "I need more self-discipline. Let's see what the self-help section of the bookstore has to say." "I twisted my ankle. I wonder what the Internet recommends." "I'm low on cash this month. Hello Lotto." "I have to make a big decision. Let's see what my horoscope for today is."
There's nothing wrong with educating yourself, or asking for help, or making plans, but if we do it without even acknowledging God, we can be a bit insulting. It's one thing if we pray and nothing happens. It's quite another to leave him out of the process entirely. Maybe God wants to improve your character, or heal your body, or bless you with money or charm or whatever it is you need. But how will you know if you act like he doesn't even exist?
It's a problem for us to be Christians and not to go to God, just as it's a problem to be God's appointed king and not go to God. We're his representatives. If we don't acknowledge him, how can we ask others to consider him? If we muscle past him to try to solve everything on our own, how does he get any glory from our situation?
When we encounter trouble, or we need help, we should start with God, not end up with him when all else fails. See what guidance he has. See if he wants to step in. If he's silent, or he wants you to solve it yourself, you've lost nothing. But what if he isn't silent, or he wants to step in and intervene? Isn't that better than anything you would have found on your own? Nobody can see you then and assume your God is just an intellectual construct. Your beliefs are clear at that point.
When we are stuck, we should turn towards God, not away from Him.
After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel. Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.”
But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!’” So Elijah went.
Ahaziah was the new king in town after Ahab died. He basically fell off his porch partying and needed to get some help. However, instead of approaching the God of Healing, the God whose name was all over Israel and Judah, he decided to turn to witchcraft and practice the religion of the pagan country next door. It was a horrible decision, and he paid for it with his life.
How messed up do you have to be to turn your back on God and go seek out a false god to answer you? God was right there, but Ahaziah sent a messenger to go all the way to another country to get an answer from Baal-Zebub. What a waste! And what's worse is what kind of message he sent to his people by doing that. It was as if God didn't exist, and Baal-Zebub did, not the other way around.
God makes his point: "Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub?" When he puts it like that, Ahaziah's decision just seems ridiculous. But don't we have our own superstitions we trust in, instead of going to God when we need help? "I need more self-discipline. Let's see what the self-help section of the bookstore has to say." "I twisted my ankle. I wonder what the Internet recommends." "I'm low on cash this month. Hello Lotto." "I have to make a big decision. Let's see what my horoscope for today is."
There's nothing wrong with educating yourself, or asking for help, or making plans, but if we do it without even acknowledging God, we can be a bit insulting. It's one thing if we pray and nothing happens. It's quite another to leave him out of the process entirely. Maybe God wants to improve your character, or heal your body, or bless you with money or charm or whatever it is you need. But how will you know if you act like he doesn't even exist?
It's a problem for us to be Christians and not to go to God, just as it's a problem to be God's appointed king and not go to God. We're his representatives. If we don't acknowledge him, how can we ask others to consider him? If we muscle past him to try to solve everything on our own, how does he get any glory from our situation?
When we encounter trouble, or we need help, we should start with God, not end up with him when all else fails. See what guidance he has. See if he wants to step in. If he's silent, or he wants you to solve it yourself, you've lost nothing. But what if he isn't silent, or he wants to step in and intervene? Isn't that better than anything you would have found on your own? Nobody can see you then and assume your God is just an intellectual construct. Your beliefs are clear at that point.
When we are stuck, we should turn towards God, not away from Him.
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