7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 COME NEAR TO GOD AND HE WILL COME NEAR TO YOU. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4
We’ve been reading about different Kings of Judah after the division of the land. Israel ten tribes of the north, Judah and Benjamin to the south. There are no good kings recorded in Israel, no doubt because of their worship of the bull idols, or Baals. (The city of Birmingham in England has just declared bankruptcy after hosting the Commonwealth Games 2022. Birmingham presented a moving, six ton sculpture of a bull as the symbol of those games, with red eyes, a blatant symbol of Baal. One picture of the bull even had the caption, ‘I am Birmingham’. Idol worship is still very much alive in our time.)
The best King of Judah we’ve looked at was Jehoshaphat, with four chapters in 2 Chronicles 17-20 devoted to him. He cared about the people, removed places of false worship and on two occasions 2 Chronicles 17:7 and 19:4 sent priests to teach them the proper way to worship God. He also appointed judges to deal justice to the people under the fear of God.
Abijah also stood faithful to the Lord during a major battle against Jeroboam, a very wicked king of Israel. God gave Judah victory and there is no record of him having fallen away.
Asa was faithful to the Lord for many years, (In 36th year of his reign, Judah was attacked) but in the end he turned to man for deliverance and was rebuked by Hanani the seer.
9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war. 2 Chronicles 16
Joash stayed faithful to God as long as Jehoiada the priest and his boyhood mentor was alive, but then was misled by the false counsel of other advisers. He too turned away from following the Lord.
Amaziah also obeyed the word of the Lord through a prophet and was victorious in battle, but then brought idols from Seir back to Jerusalem. He started well but fell away and died in battle.
Uzziah was greatly blessed of the Lord and had many good abilities and qualities, but in a single moment of pride and madness in the Temple of the Lord he was judged and lived out the remainder of his life as a recluse.
Each King was different in character, lived in different times and faced their own challenges, but all were eventually judged on whether they stayed faithful to the Lord.
The late Neville Johnson had an encounter with someone in heaven who was so full of light and life that he could hardly stand before them. In the encounter Neville was told, ‘People walk away from the Lord, but He never walks away from us!’ That is something to hold on to in the days we live in, God is Faithful.
God bless and keep you today and every day.