No One's Fault but Your Own...

I was arrested and taken to jail in 1997 for failure to ID an 18 year old who bought a six pack of beer in a convenient store where I worked. I lost my job and became greatly in debt for not being able to pay my bills and using credit to get by. I finally got up the nerve to go back to work at another convenient store that sold beer in 1998. I learned the law and determined I would not go to jail for the same crime again. The law says you have to be over 21 to buy alcohol AND you have to have a VALID TEXAS ID. So I carded everyone, even if they were 50.

One day, the line at my register was terribly long and I was the only cashier on the premises. An older man had his beer and I carded him. He did not have his ID so I said, "I am sorry, sir. I cannot sell you that beer." He threw a tantrum in front of all the people in line. I still refused saying, "I am not going back to jail for you."

As he was cursing and walking out, I stopped him with, "Sir?" He stopped and looked angrily at me. I asked, "Before this law passed, did you know it was on the table to be voted on in the Texas Legislature?" He said, "Yes. But I didn't think it would pass." I said, "Did you write or call your state representative and tell him how you felt about it?" He said, "No, I didn't think it affected me." I said, "Then don't get mad at me for following a law you could have prevented."

Everyone in line clapped and cheered.

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Daily Bible Reading: 2 Kings 16

After Pekah had ruled for seventeen years, Ahaz ruled Judah. He was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he was evil in the sight of the Lord.

Rezin, king of Syria and Pekah, king of Israel went to war against Ahaz. They besieged Ahaz, but was unable to conquer him. It was during that time that Rezin took back Ahath and drove out the Jews.

Ahaz allied with Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, and he asked for help from the besiegement by Pekah and Rezin. He gave all the gold to Tiglath-pileser he could find from the temple and the king's house. So, Tiglath-pileser killed Rezin and took Damascus captive.

King Ahaz saw an altar in Damascus that he liked, so he had Urijah the priest make one like it and place it in the temple for the king's personal use. Then, Ahaz died and his son Hezekiah became king.

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My Comments
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All of Judah's gold, and all of Israel's gold is steadily being depleted in order to gain political allies and maintain their independence. Slowly, God is exacting His punishment for their failure to follow Him. They still have an opportunity, but will they take such opportunity to turn from their sins and receive the blessings of God and live in the peace and splender that Solomon had enjoyed, or will they continue down the road that will eventually lead to their demise and utter destruction?

Compare this with the America of today. We started as a blessed nation. We won the favor of all the world. Then, over time, because of our tolerance of other gods and other beliefs; and, as we continually let other viewpoints conform us and change us, we put God on the back burner and now we are faced with enemies that get paid to be our allies and terrorism around every corner. Our country, which once was the richest country on earth is now over $16 trillion in debt. Our credit is steadily maxing out, and slowly we are being sold into slavery. There is corruption in every level of our government.

We still have the opportunity, but will we take such an opportunity to turn from our sins and receive the blessing of God and live in peace and splender that God gave us after the Revolutionary War, or will we continue down the road that is steadily leading us to our eventual demise and utterly be destroyed?

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Daily Bible Reading: 2 Kings 15

When Azariah began to reign, Jeroboam, who was king of Israel, had been reigning for 27 years already. Azariah followed God, but like his forefather, he didn't take down the high places where some of the people of Judah still worshipped. So, God struck him with leprosy. Because Azariah had to remain separated from the people, Jotham, his son, judged Israel for him. After 52 years reigning Judah, Azariah died and Jotham became king.

During Azariah's 38th year as king, Jeroboam of Israel died and his son Zachariah became king. But Zachariah only reigned for six months. He was evil in his reign. So Shallum conspired against him, killed him, and took the throne. Zachariah was fourth generation, So God had lived up to his promise of letting Jehu's sons rule until the 4th generation. Now there was new blood on the throne.

Shallum reigned only a month before he was killed by Menahem, who then became king. When the people of Tiphsah refused to acknowledge him in business, Menahem killed all of them and ripped open the women who were withchild, killing their posterity as well. He was evil in God's eyes, but he ruled for ten years.

When Pul, the king of Assyria came against Israel, Menahem collected taxes from the wealthy in Israel and gave Pul one thousand talents of silver (or $10,760,000) so that Pul would be his ally. Pul then left Israel alone.

When Menahem died, his son, Pekahiah, ruled. He, also, was evil. After two years, Pekah killed him and took the throne. He also was evil.

While Pekah was king, Assyria took eight of Israel's cities and made the people captives. Then Hoshea conspired and killed Pekah.

When Pekah had been king over Israel for two years, Jotham became king of Judah. He followed God, except that he, too, failed to take down the high places. So, God began subjecting Judah to attacks from both Syria and Israel.

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My Comments...
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In Leviticus Chapter 26 God sets before the Israelites the consequences He has planned for their actions if they obey, and if they disobey. Israel and Judah's disobedience was reaping the consequences of those promises in 2 Kings 14.

America, today is also reaping consequences. We still have a chance. We still have a choice as to who we wish to follow, God or the secular world. Jesus did not come to take away the consequences. He came to provide a graceful sacrifice so that we could afford to turn away from our sin. He became the last payment. But, in Leviticus, it says that when we make our sin sacrifice and repent, we still will have to live with what we've done. We still have to pay for our past mistakes, but our way becomes easier and more blessed over time. Paul, in the New Testament, says that God can take our failures and use them for His good and His purpose, and turn them into blessings.

If it was easy, it wouldn't be life. The difference is that we have to pay for what we do while we are here, and then when we are in God's kingdom after we leave this earthly life, we will have all the blessings without any more consequences.

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Daily Bible Reading: 2 Kings 14

Now, when Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, was king of Israel, Amaziah, the son of Joash of Judah was king. Amaziah did well in the sight of the Lord, except he didn't take down the high places of he idols of Judah and some of the people still worshipped there.

He killed the servants that had conspired and killed his father, but he did not kill their children. He followed God's law that the children should not be put to death for their father's sin, only for their own. He defeated Edom, then he invited Jahoash to visit him.

Jehoash said, "Yeah, right. You defeated Edom and now you are feeling cocky and want to try your hand at me." But Amaziah finally convinced him. Jehoash defeated Amaziah and broke down the gates of Jerusalem, took all the treasures of the temple, then returned to Samaria.

Jehoash died and his son, Jeroboam, took his place.

Then Amaziah was conspired against and slain in Lachish. Judah made Azariah, his son, king. He was only sixteen years old.

Jeroboam did evil in the sight of the Lord, but God let him restore all of the lands that were lost in his father's day.

When Jeroboam died, his son, Zachariah, took his place.

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My Comments...
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A famous movie director, Steven Spielberg, once sported a quote from Shakespeare in his movie Something Wicked This Way Comes. It said, "O, what a wicked web we weave, when at first we practice to deceive." The web was getting more and more wicked as Israel and Judah continued to sin. The consequences were growing worse with each passing king, and continual refusal to repent.

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Daily Bible Reading: 2 Kings 13

After Jehoash had reigned for 23 years, Jehu's son, Jehoahaz took the throne of Israel. He was evil and this made God angry. So God let Hazael, king of Syria, take Israel. Then, Jehoahaz prayed to God to help them; so God, being a God of mercy and forgiveness, sent them a leader to help break the bonds of Syria, then they went back to their former lives. They continued in their old ways.

Jehoahaz died, and his son Jeroboam reigned.

When Israel was taken by Syria, it was Elisha that Jehoahaz went to for help to talk to God. Elisha told Jehoahaz to beat the floor with his staff. Jehoahaz hit the floor three times, and Elisha reprimanded him for his lack of determination. "If you had hit the floor at least five times, you would have drove the Syrians away for good! But, you will only be able to defeat them three times now."

Elisha was old and sick. He soon died. They placed him in a tomb. Later, the Moabites invaded the land. Once, when they were in a funeral procession for another man, they saw a band of men coming that they supposed were enemies, so they quickly put the dead men in the tomb with Elisha's bones. When the dead man touched the bones, he immediately came back to life.

Hazael, king of Syria, oppressed Israel until he died. Then, his son Benhadad became king. Jehoahash took back all the lands Hazael had taken when Benhadad became king.

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My Comments:
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"I'm sorry" only works if you turn from your actions that you are sorry for and determine not to do it again. If you say you are sorry, and ask for help, you may be helped. But if you turn back to your old ways, the one who helps you may be more likely to let you wallow in your misery. God has patience, to a point. After a while, though, He determines to practice "tough love" by letting you wallow in your misery until you learn why you should turn from your sin and determine to sin no more.

God doesn't want to hear His children cry. But, if they fail to learn from their mistakes, the only option He has is to let them suffer the consequences.

When God asks you to do something that will help you, then you should do it whole-heartedly. If you just half-heartedly do it, you will only get a half-hearted result, and the problem could come back at full force later. It's best to whole-heartedly take care of the problem once and for all.

Elisha had so much faith and spirit in him that the power God gave him even permeated his decaying body.

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Daily Bible Reading: 2 Kings 12

When Jehoash of Judah began his reign, Jehu had been king of Israel of seven years. Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord, except he never took down the high places of t, he idols of the land, and some of the people still worshipped other gods there.

Jehoash ordained that taxes and offerings should be made to the temple, to be set aside for repairs on the temple that age had set in disarray. After he had reigned for 23 years, he noticed that the repairs had still not been made. In a meeting with the priests, it was settled that he would no longer collect taxes from the people if it was not going to be used where it was supposed to be used.

At this point, Jehoiada put a bucket in the temple on the right side of the altar and asked for donations to be placed in that bucket. After a while, there was found quite a bit of money in that bucket, and they took it to the king and told him that they found the money in the temple and started the repairs.

Then Hazael, king of Syria, took control of Gath and started toward Jerusalem with intentions of taking it, too. So, Jehoash took all the dedicated treasures from his forefathers houses and gave it to Hazael to keep him from invading Jerusalem.

Some people didn't like how Jehoash handled the problem, or the kingdom, so his servants conspired and killed him.

His son, Amaziah, took his place.

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My Comments:
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Just like today, there is corruption in the highest offices of the land. No matter who is the leader of our people, there are going to be people who are constantly criticizing how he handles things. People are so full of hatred, they can't tell the difference between truly good intentions and outright attacks on our beloved system.

Ecclesiastes says it best when it says "There is nothing new under the sun." Maybe the way that things are carried out is different, but the reasons behind it are one and the same.

Jehoash was doomed to die anyway because of his neglect to take down the high places of the gods. But, God was merciful on Israel with his leadership for awhile because he tried to be a good person for God in spite of his failure.

God won't let your failures go unpunished, but He is more tolerant of those who try, and He gives them more room to come to their senses.

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