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Getting Our Fingers Burnt

Every one of us is quite familiar with the first commandment. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength". (Luke 10:27)

But when I was reading 2 Kings chapter 1, I realized how serious God was about this command.

2 Kings 1: 2 - 4

Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of Baal- zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness.” But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal- zebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore thus says the Lord, You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die".

Here Ahaziah enquired of a god which is worshiped in the Philistine city of Ekron. And the result of this venture was death.

Ahaziah's father Ahab was no exception. He did something quite similar....  In 1 Kings 22 Ahab and Jehosaphat were getting ready to attack Syria.  Jehosaphat  suggested that they enquire of the Lord, God.  Ahab agreed to enquire of the Lord, but he gathered 400 prophets who will prophesy favorably to him.  Jehosaphat again reiterates that there is  "a prophet" who will speak the words of the LORD. But this is Ahab's response:

1 Kings 22 : 8

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil"

Here we see that Ahab was not comfortable listening to Micaiah as he would not speak what Ahab wanted to hear.  And in the later part of this chapter, even after listening to Micaiah, Ahab did exactly the opposite of what Micaiah had clearly warned Ahab not to do.

Ahab was afraid that Micaiah's prophesy was true, so he went to the battle in disguise!!! Still with all his workarounds, he died in this battle just as Micaiah had prophesied.

These incidents recorded in the bible point us to a very humbling take away, 

• That we need to look to the Lord our God and no one else for our decisions, direction and blessings. 
• And when God says something which is not what we were looking forward to here, we still need to obey God's word. 
• Unlike olden days when the spirit of the Lord rested on a single individual, a "Prophet", today the Lord has promised to pour out his Spirit on all people. So instead of enquiring of a person, take time to sit at God's feet and enquire of the Lord and wait for Him to speak through his word. 

Stones of Memorial!

I was reading the book of Joshua

In Joshua chapter 3 and 4 the people of Israel cross the Jordan. There God asks Joshua to do some thing very unusual....

verses 1,2,3

When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests 'feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight"

Why did God ask Joshua to do this????

verses 6,7

When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you? ’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.

One thought that the Lord impressed in me when I was reading this was , it is important for us as parents / leaders to build "memorial stones" when we experience the goodness of the Lord in our lives. Take a picture and add it to the family album, buy a decorative item, a verse , something  and keep it in your home.... 

And every time you look at it you will be reminded to share the testimony of God's goodness to your children and family and friends....

Especially sharing God's goodness and especially what God did for us (personal experience) to our children is very important , as it will be a cloud of witness which encourages them.  As the world around them questions their faith as they grow, these memorials, testimonies will keep them rooted in God.

Our thankfulness not only edifies us, but  also builds a strong foundation of faith in our children.... Amen.