Today's Scripture Reading (February 4, 2023): 2 Kings 13
In "The Message,"
Eugene Peterson uses these words as he opens up his version of Jesus's
beatitudes, the opening movement in the Sermon on the Mount. "You're blessed when you're at the end of your
rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule" (Matthew 5:3 The
Message). I have always liked the phrasing of the statement. When we are at the
end ourselves, we are often more willing to accept the existence and help of a
supreme power because we don't know what else to do. It is at this moment in our
lives that programs like Alcoholics Anonymous try to take advantage because it
is often in the worst moments of our lives that we are finally open to welcoming
the help that we need to start to turn our lives around.
But those moments of repentance are
not always genuine. Too often, when the moment of crisis passes, so does our willingness
to accept help. That moment when an alcoholic has a brush with death is
sometimes enough to get the person to seek help, but the further they get from
the moment of crisis, the more likely they will return to their earlier
behavior. It is a process that I have watched friends suffer through several
times in my life. And whenever another friend has an experience that turns them
toward help, I can only hope they will stay the course and not return to their
addictions.
Jehoahaz has continued the sin of the
leaders of Israel that have preceded him. No one dared to break the tradition
of corruption that Jeroboam began when he had his break with Rehoboam and the
Kingdom of Judah. Every king stayed on the path Jeroboam started them on,
including Jehoahaz. And the writer of Kings makes it clear that God was angry
with Israel for this reason. In his anger, he allowed Hazael and Ben-Hadad, the
father-son Kings of Aram, to rule over Israel. The rule of Aram had not been
benevolent. The Kings of Aram had made life in Israel miserable.
Conditions in Israel had gotten so
bad that Jehoahaz found himself at the end of his rope. And it was in that
moment of desperation that Jehoahaz decided that he had no choice but to turn
back to the God of Abraham. And in that moment of need, God heard the prayer of
Jehoahaz and began to deliver him and his nation. Even after all of the sins of
the Kings of Israel, God still loved his people in the Northern Kingdom and was
still willing to show his mercy to them. But Israel never did return the favor.
As with so many people who finally turn to God during the worst moments of
their lives, the repentance of Jehoahaz did not last; soon, he would return to
the evil behavior of the Kings of Israel.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading:
2 Kings 14
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