Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Secret things

"The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right." - 2 Kings 17:9

This is one of those passages that sums up the sins of the nation of Israel. It goes on to detail their idol worship and God's resulting judgment. All the kings in this book have been evaluated in a verse or two, usually something like, "He did evil in the eyes of the Lord," or "He followed the Lord, but not wholeheartedly like his ancestor David," or "He followed the Lord but he did not remove the high places."

"He followed the Lord, but..." Chances are, if you are reading this blog, you are not committing great evil in the eyes of the Lord. Assuming that, how is your walk with Him? Is it, "I follow, but...?" Last night, Lizzye made a passing comment: "He's like most Americans. You know, prays when he's in trouble, maybe goes to church on Sunday, but lives however he wants."

In the book of Kings, Israel is divided. The temple is in the nation of Judah, and if the people want to worship the Lord, they should do so there. But when Israel split off from Judah, their king (Jeroboam) set up idols for them to worship so they didn't have to go so far. Obviously, he had political motives, but it was also much more convenient. And the Israelites had long had the practice of "high places," local shrines that allowed them to worship God without exactly doing what He said.

2 Kings 17 details the idolatry of Israel, ending with, "They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger" (verse 17). Anyone, if we start with that verse, would recognize that sin. But it begins with "secretly doing things that weren't right." How can you be secret before God? That is only an illusion, but we are good at deluding ourselves. Let His light shine in your life; you don't have to fabricate His conviction. If there is anything that you think He's winking at, or overlooking, beware. You cannot keep your secrets and live in His blessing with light and truth.

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