I have seen and lived three-quarters of a century of life on this planet. I have observed the ebb and flow of my culture and Christianity over the years. While reading through the Bible again this year and rehearsing the walk of humanity, specifically the plight of the Jews in the earliest of centuries, I got to chapter 17 of II Kings. I found myself lost in this verse:
“Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols.”
This 17th Chapter is what I call a “summary” or review Chapter. The Israelites had begged for a King. God was their KING, but the people insisted on an earthly king. God gave them their desire and what they deserved in Saul. A man who proved that earthly kings are fallible and have a blindness to the reflection of our true God, as KING, perfect and infallible in comparison! The evil heart of man revealed itself over and over as the kings came and went. With few exceptions, these people were bent on their desires, they were unrighteous, disobedient, idol worshipers, murderers of their own children on heathen sacrifices to false gods of stone, rebellious to God’s will and ways, resistant to God’s purpose, His Wisdom…
“…they have done evil in my eyes and have provoked
me to anger from the day their forefathers came out of Egypt
until this day.” (vs.14, Chapter 21)
The nation divided and fought each other and the surrounding towns. The kings were competitive and combative. They strayed from God’s will, purpose, desires, wisdom, and righteousness. They rejected the true God, lost the blessing of the covenant God had made with Abraham and David and in its place, experienced the penalty and its replacement…the curse of disobedience.
In Chapter 17 the culmination of many years of rejecting God and His ways are realized by the King of Assyria! God sent lions to consume the rebellious generation…
“The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthuh, Avva, Hamath and
Sepharvaim (remember this group? They burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Drammach!!)
and settled them in the town of Samaria to
replace the Isrealites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns.
When they first lived there, they did not worhip the Lord…
so HE (God) sent lions among them…” (vs. 25,26)
When the report that the people were being killed by lions came to the King of Assyria, it was noted that “the people that had been deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria DID NOT KNOW WHAT THE GOD OF THAT COUNTRY REQUIRES.” The lions came because the people did NOT KNOW WHAT HE REQUIRES! Sooo, what does this heathen king do?
“Have one of the Jewish priests who had been exiled from
Samaria come and live in Bethel and teach them how to worship the LORD!!” (vs. 28)
We are that heathen nation that has forgotten
how to worship and rejected our LORD God!
When we gather with our family on Sunday nights or when we meet with couples or small groups, we are the old guard…the exiled priests, called by our living God to teach those in coming generation how to know and worship our GOD.
We are a royal priesthood…called to be that beacon of truth so others
“know what God requires” in a dark and needy world.
Are you busy living and teaching your prince and princesses
God’s will (not their own),
God’s purpose for their life,
God’s desires (no entitlement…only what is on HIS heart),
God’s Wisdom
and Godly righteousness???
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
